Tool King Join Forces With LinkConnector

PhotobucketAs our affiliate program continues to grow, we have looked to other affiliate networks to recruit affiliate partners who have not yet joined the Tool King Affiliate Program. Although the primary reason is to recruit new affiliate partners, we believe this will also benefit our current affiliate partners with the choice of their network preference.

Tool King has joined forces with LinkConnector.com to bring you state-of-the-art tracking and reporting on all Affiliate generated traffic. LinkConnector provides exclusive technologies that aren't found in other affiliate networks:

Naked Link Technology®

Pioneered by LinkConnector, our patent-pending Naked Link Technology provides merchants and affiliates with a direct linking method. It is not meant to replace the current standard linking method that exists in LinkConnector and other networks, but instead acts as an alternative linking method.

There are numerous benefits merchants and affiliates gain by running a Naked Link campaign. The largest benefit is it allows merchants to complement their search engine optimization efforts while they promote their site on LinkConnector's Network. Naked Link Technology also benefits affiliates by allowing affiliate websites to seem more editorial in nature to users and search engines, thereby improving their standing as an authority site.

Affiliate Connections™

Most new technologies introduced into affiliate marketing networks consider only direct benefits to the merchant. However, technologies that improve an affiliate's ability to generate revenue will also indirectly benefit the merchants with whom they have relationships. LinkConnector's Affiliate Connections technology does just that. With Affiliate Connections, affiliates will be able to create and establish a connection and then manage that connection from within the LinkConnector interface. They will be able to add multiple promotions to one connection to be randomly (or specifically) served. These promotions could be all from the same merchant or could include multiple merchants at the same time. Over time, LinkConnector will automatically recognize better performing promotions and optimize the views to maximize an affiliate's earnings.

In addition to the obvious benefit to affiliates, merchants will also benefit from this technology. Affiliate Connections helps more affiliates find an optimal match for their traffic. This increases the number of top performing affiliates for a merchant. Not only will merchants be matched up with better performing affiliates, but these affiliates will find the merchants quicker.

How to Join

Simply complete the brief online application and once you have been accepted for a campaign, you can begin placing links on your site and earning commission immediately. Below is a list of Campaigns Tool King is currently offering at LinkConnector. Click on the Campaign Name to learn more.

Joining is as easy as 1 2 3:
  1. Simply complete the brief online application, and read the affiliate terms & conditions.
  2. Select the campaign(s) you wish to join and apply.
  3. Once you have been accepted for a campaign, place links on your site and start earning commissions!
Click Here to Join Now!

Olympic Games - Win with Tool King

"We don't always agree. But for a few shining weeks we set it all aside and we come together to stand and cheer and celebrate as one. We forget all the things that make us different and remember all the things that make us the same," a commercial with the voice of Academy Award-winning actor, Morgan Freeman, while waiting for the Olympic Games to come back on.

China hosted the Olympic Games this year and I think they did an amazing job. The opening and closing ceremony was mesmerizing, artistically beautiful. If you have noticed, our coupon code themes for the past 2-3 weeks has been inspired by the Olympic Games. This week, Tool King has more savings with these coupon codes (hurry as they expire on September 1, 2008):

  • Coupon Code RED: Take $65 off of orders of $1000 and up
  • Coupon Code WHITE: Take $30 off of orders of $500-$999
  • Coupon Code BLUE: Take $10 off of orders of $200-$499
Congratulations to all the countries and athletes who came to compete with some of the best in the world.

Porsche Design Multihammer P'7911

"A perfect rotary hammer," as stated on Metabo's website. It's probably not far off as the "perfect" rotary hammer, because it is designed as a result of the cooperation between Porsche Design and Metabo. One thing I can say for sure, it looks good... real good! The radiant carbon fiber and sleek "aerodynamic" upside body of the Porsche Design P'7911 reminds me of something else Professor F.A. Porsche designed: the Porsche 911 Turbo (even the name sounds alike - just a letter and number off).

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Not only is the P'7911 designed to look good, it's also engineered to work just as good as it looks. The Multihammer from Porsche Design and Metabo unites the power of a pneumatic hammer with the functions of a drill. Its main purpose: hammer drill in stone, wood, concrete, and metal. Here are some more info on the tool:

Metabo 600911420 Porsche Design P'7911 Technical Specifications:

Diameter drilled in
- Concrete with hammer bits
- Steel
- Softwood


20 mm
10 mm/6 mm
20 mm/14 mm
No-load speed
0 – 1.000 /0 – 2.800 /min
Single-blow energy
2,0 J
Rated input power
705 W
Weight
3,2 kg [without mains lead]


Metabo 600911420 Porsche Design P'7911 Includes:

Metabo 600911420 P'7911 Porsche Design Hammer
Hammer Chuck for SDS Plus Shank
Keyless Chuck
Side Handle
Carry Case
2 SDS Plus Hammer Bits
Tool King is offering one of the best deals online right now at only $239.99! As stated on the creative, it was originally priced around $650. Perfect time to promote the P'7911. I just did a quick search and the next lowest price I found on another site was starting at $325 and another at $599. You can get more information on the Metabo 600911420 P'7911 Porsche Design Multihammer Drill at ToolKing.com.

The Cheating Affiliate Culture

“I've not only pursued the American dream, I've achieved it. I suppose we could say the last few years, I've also achieved the American nightmare,” stated Kenneth Lay. Kenneth Lay was an American businessman, best known for his role in the scandal of Enron Corporation. Like many in today’s society the American dream has lead us astray from the American dream to an American nightmare. We now live in a culture where the mentality of success tempts us to cheat in order to stay ahead because everyone else is doing it.

David Callahan describes a different kind of people, a different culture, and a different world not too long ago in the book, "The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead". James Bryce, an English scholar who traveled to many parts of the United States in the late 1800s, was astonished by how trusting and generous Americans were compared to Europeans. Bryce wrote, “People who meet on a simple and natural footing with more frankness and ease than is possible in countries where everyone is either looking up or looking down. It gives a sense of solidarity to the whole nation, cutting away the ground for jealousies and grudges which distract people.” (Callahan, 63)

Why is today's culture, a cheating culture? Where did our morals and ethics go? The prisoner’s dilemma teaches us the importance of cooperating or defecting by comparing and contrasting what the outcomes are: win-win, win-lose, lose-win, and lose-lose. For majority of the population, people play the game of life to win, not to lose. Winning to majority of the people means to have an excessive amount of money or as Aristotle states, "that what the masses say what makes them happy is what they don’t have at the moment." So when a person is stuck in a dilemma of having to cooperate or defect, the majority will choose what the best outcome is for them self and not others.Though everyone likes a win-win situation, they are rare to come by; especially when most are playing a win-lose game.

In the affiliate marketing world, some of these affiliate/publishers are playing the trademark poaching game. Trademark poaching is a problem for recognizable brand names such as Tool King. For the very reason that majority of Tool King's traffic comes in organically through the search term, "toolking", trademark poachers tries to take advantage of not only the merchant, but other affiliates as well. It doesn't take more than 4 minutes to setup a campaign using a merchant trademark that is going to get search by customers to begin with. Trademark poachers provide no added value to advertisers/merchants and shouldn't be credited with the sale.

It was late, almost midnight, sitting at the computer of my home, when a PPC campaign popped out of no where (or so I assumed). The room suddenly became somber when I saw our trademark was being bid by one of our affiliates. My first thought was, I wondered which affiliate I was going to have to notify to take off this PPC campaign? To my disbelief, it was an affiliate that I have sent a 'thank you' card to in the past. I was thinking of a new affiliate who might of just joined, someone who doesn't know our terms of service. I was wrong... but had no clue how long this has been going on.

This person was sneaky... turning on the PPC ad during certain times of the day and geo targeted every State except for Colorado (which was why I didn't catch him until now). I read on www.trademarkpoachers.com about how you can search for a keyword that is Geo Targeted. Here was the useful tip I used from Trademark Poachers:

On Google:
Do a search for your URL or trademarked expression then add the following to the end of the address for the results:

&gl=us&gr=us-ST&gcs=CITY

Replace the “ST” with the two letter abbreviation for the state and replace “CITY” with the name of the city you’d like to have search results for. Make sure you hit the enter key after making the changes to see the results.

For Example a results url of http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&q=WWW.YOURDOMAIN.COM&btnG=Search

Becomes…..
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&q=WWW.YOURDOMAIN.COM&btnG=Search&gl=us&gr=us-IL&gcs=Chicago

Checkout the screen shots below from AdTargetingPreviewTool:

Notice how this affiliate geo targets to the state of Alaska
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But didn't geo target to the state of Colorado where Tool King is located. Hmm...
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As noted in our TOS: Affiliates cannot over-bid or out-bid Tool King’s ad copies at any time during any bidding process. The use of the words "cheap" or "sale" in Ad Copies is prohibited. Affiliates may not bid on Tool King trademark or any misspellings or variations of our company name. They include and be it separately or in combination with other keywords, but not limited to the following:
  • toolking
  • Tool King Store
  • Toolking.com Store
  • Tool King stores
  • Toolkingstore
  • Tool King
  • The Tool King
  • The toolking.com
  • toolking.com

If Tool King determines, in its sole discretion, that the affiliate partner is bidding on "Tool King" keywords as mentioned above in the "Not Acceptable" section, than Tool King may pursue any or all of the following actions: withhold all payment on any sales commission beginning with the date on which the affiliate partner started bidding on the prohibited trademarked terms or remove the affiliate partner from Tool King's Affiliate Program.

In order to for us to become the culture Bryce once wrote about, we need to cooperate and practice doing what is right, making it a habit. This will make it easier for all of us to do the right thing when we are faced with a prisoner's dilemma. Rewards should go to those who are doing what is right for the right reasons.

Bosch DLR165K - Smallest Professional Laser Rangefinder

PhotobucketThe Bosch DLR165K Digital Laser Distance Measurer Kit is a must have tool for the DIYer, interior designers, to the real estate appraisers. This little tool has received nothing but praised from customers who has bought it. Customers will wonder how they ever got by without one.

What makes this tool special? The most notable feature is probably the accuracy of the Bosch DLR165K. It is accurate to 1/16" from distances of 2 inches to 165 feet! It will measure the length, area, and volume measuring capability in three measurement systems: feet and inches, decimal feet, and metric.

How about the ease and comfort? As reviewed by Ben of Toologics, "The DLR165K isBosch DLR165K supremely easy to use: I've been playing with the tool for the better part of the morning, and without even reading the instruction booklet, I've been able to figure out how to do pretty much everything on it." The Bosch DLR165K is also considered the smallest professional laser rangefinder in its class, standing at only 4 inches. Check out the picture from Toologics to get a glimpse of how comfortably and small it is in your hands.

You can find the Bosch DLR165K Laser Rangfinder at Tool King for the price of $119.99.

Blog Makeover

It was time to give the Tool King Affiliate Program Blog a makeover. I think it looks more organized now, which also makes it more attractive to the eyes. For those that are looking to setup a quick blog through Blogger.com, you can find a good amount of free templates here:

I decided on a template I found at BTemplates (which is the current layout you are looking at now). Blogger made it very easy to switch the templates. The templates will come in a Zip File, so you will have to take out the XML file. Once you're logged on to Blogger.com:
  1. Click on the Layout tab
  2. Edit HTML
  3. I would recommend downloading your old template first for backup
  4. Browse and Upload the XML file
  5. Preview the page
  6. Save the template if you like what you see
All your old post switches over, but you might have to re-add all your gadgets back on and customize the text/images. That pretty much sums it up - it's that easy!

Trifecta

Tri - fect - a: a type of bet, esp. on horse races, in which the bettor must select the first three finishers in exact order.

There's no betting involved here, but there will be three finishers. I believe WIN is going to finish in third place, PLACE in second place, and SHOW in first place for the coupon code with most orders. Race analysis of how I think it is going to go down:

SHOW (1st place):
Wins by a big margin because SHOW holds the highest percentage of saving at 10%. Tool King's affiliate program average order is around $300 and the next coupon code doesn't activate until $500.

PLACE (2nd place):
Coupon code PLACE will have a hard time with WIN, but i think it is going to win by a nose. It does have a higher required order than the average order of $300, but it does have the second highest percentage of saving at 7.5%.

WIN (3rd place):
Though it will barely lose to PLACE, it does offer the highest amount of saving at $75 Off! Double the amount discount of PLACE and seven times the amount discount of SHOW.

Hurry as the race ends at Midnight on Sunday, August 10th, 2008.


Favorite Affiliate Tools

Just received my FeedFront Magazine Issue 2 in the mail yesterday. At first glance, it looks a little thicker and it feels heavier. Issue 2 of FeedFront magazine does contain more content this time, almost twice as much as the first issue (60 pages vs 34 pages).

There is an article written by Missy Ward that talked about some of her favorite affiliate tools that people might not be using. We currently have 2 of the 4 tools that she mentioned available for our affiliate partners to use:

You can read more about how you can build a Tool King store by clicking here.