Payments are made once per month, for the previous month. First, because we offer a strong 14 day guarantee, we wait a full 30 days to approve and pay commissions. So your January commissions will be paid out first week of March.
Second, you will receive all your commission notifications at once when we approve commissions at the beginning of each month. You can still see how you are doing real-time by logging into http://affiliates.photocrati.com/ and clicking on COMMISSIONS >> PENDING APPROVAL. That page will show a list of all your commissions to date.
Our system sometimes generates duplicate commissions for a single sale. We identify duplicates by looking for the same purchase emails, IP addresses, times, and affiliates, and we delete those duplicates as part of the approval process. We also delete any commissions where the customer has requested a refund.
One other note – our affiliate program is set up to send commission payments at $40. It is a necessary precaution so people don’t set up affiliate accounts just to buy the theme themselves using their affiliate account. As soon as you make a second sale, we start the approval process.
That’s a quick review of how we approve and pay commissions. If you have questions, please let me know.
I also want to mention that there are a few ways to use the affiliate program. There are banners available for you. They are found in the Marketing Materials section under BANNERS. You can also utilize the pre made text ads available under the TEXT ADS and of course, standard text links are available under the TEXT LINKS section.
Last, but not least, there are two campaigns available:
- Linking to the homepage
- Linking to the eBook
You are welcome to use whichever you prefer, but can also create your own custom links under the ALTERNATE INCOMING PAGE LINKS section.
We do not allow coupon and deal sites as affiliates of Imagely, or other LionSher Technologies brands.
Affiliate Marketing Basics
- Reviews are timeless, so don’t be afraid to continually re-promote your reviews over time. Get a social schedule and take advantage of it. Here’s a little on that.
- Cross promote content whenever relevant. Don’t be afraid to post in Google + Communities, Flickr or Facebook Groups. If it’s relevant, people will appreciate it.
- Participate in conversations about WordPress and photographers. Share your knowledge on the subject and when it fits, talk about your experiences with Photocrati products.
Using Screenshots
Instead of just trying to add a text link in a blog article or links page, try adding screenshots. Take a screenshot of the product you’re trying to market and using a Photoshop like tool, add commentary with arrows and text. Show specific components of the product. Make your screenshots eye-catching and convert more affiliate sales.
Higher quality screenshots convert more
Show your website visitors clear screenshots of the Photocrati theme in action. If you don’t own the theme, visit the demos and pick your favorite preset. The better the quality, the better the conversion. Use your blog’s real estate and make the screenshot as large as it can fit, nicely.
eBook Promotion
On November 5th, 2012, we released a free eBook for the photography community. The eBook is called 10 Tips To Supercharge Your Photography Website. We have also added banners to your affiliate options. By promoting the eBook using your affiliate link, you have additional chances to make sales. So log in to your affiliate and visit the banners section to grab an image and your affiliate link to the eBook.
Alternative Incoming Page Links
There is a feature in the affiliate software called Alternative Incoming Page Links. The reason why this can be useful for is you because of blog articles and pages. Let’s say you really enjoyed the latest blog article from us. You can log in to your affiliate account, paste the blog link into the Alternative Incoming Page Links section and then share the article using your link.
This means that anyone who clicks the link you shared, will automatically be tracked using your affiliate link and if a purchase is made, you receive the commission.
Spend Time Adding Context
- At detailed context in your article, explaining the many benefits of theme
- Record a screencast to compliment the text content
- Use high quality screenshots to show the backend and features.
- Use the alternatie incoming links feature and link to various demos
- Share a tip from our eBook, 10 Tips To Supercharge Your Photography Website eBook
Affiliate Track Log
We had a question come in from a Photocrati affiliate, and this month we will answer the question as the affiliate tip.
Within your affiliate links, is there a place for me to put a tracking code so I can see where clicks come from?
There sure is. If you log into your affiliate panel, you will see a tab that says Traffic Log. There you will be able to see trackable sources of click throughs and using this section, you can see what articles/pages are driving affiliate traffic.
Sharing Theme Updates
When the Photocrati theme has an update with either bug fixes or new features, share it with your community. Log into your affiliate panel, create an alternate incoming link and link to the changelog announcement. Doing so will grab people’s attention and also increase the chance of making sales.
Affiliate Link Masking
Do you know a masked affiliate link is? Basically it is when an affiliate marketer uses yourdomain.com/affiliate-name rather than affiliate-name.com/yourid. This is commonly done when an affiliate marketer wants to hide the fact that they’re using affiliate links rather than being open about it with their readers. However, my personal view is that is helps with branding while promoting other products.
If you’re interested in affiliate masking, here are some ways you can go about it.
- Ninja Affiliate
- Pretty Link
- GoCodes
- Redirection
- Mask Affiliate Links With A Plugin You’re Already Using (an advanced method)
Short Social Snippets
Displaying an affiliate ad on your website can be effective to make sales, but being honest and organic can increase that chance dramatically. Make a list of 10 short tips about the Photocrati Theme, or 10 things you love about it. Then use Buffer App to schedule these tips to scatter over time. Use your affiliate link or link to your review of the Photocrati Theme. Combine all of these things and boost your sales.
Say It More Than Once
Recent BufferApp studies have shown that if you tweet about a product more than once in a day you are much more likely to get clicks and conversions. So come up with around 5 different tweets you can share about the Photocrati Theme and then post them at optimal times throughout the day. If that works for you, try it on Facebook or Google Plus as well.
Make sure that whatever you write is personal and not a sales pitch. Otherwise it’s less likely to convert.
Also, use FollowerWonk combed with BufferApp to see the best times to tweet.