Software Business Blog

Until recently, the sitelinks that you have most commonly seen have probably looked something like this:

The purpose of sitelinks is to help searchers navigate a specific page they are in need of as quickly as possible. However, earlier this week, Google announced its improved and expanded version of sitelinks. The newer version is arranged as a column of links and appears more prominently on the search engine results page.

The new sitelinks is certainly helping brands dominate the search results page. According to Google, displaying more sitelinks is designed to help users quickly navigate to the most relevant section of a site. But, let’s try and understand how the changes will affect websites, and how they can adapt and take advantage of them.

For starters, the new sitelinks takes up a large chunk of the first page results thus ruling out potential competitors and other less relevant sites sneaking above the fold. Online user behavior will change as more users will want to click on the pages listed in sitelinks than look for websites listed below in search results, thus helping brand conversions significantly. Also certain is the tangible increase in organic visits and sales from keywords containing brand permutations.

Adapting to this change is critical and website architecture is really important (directory structure, URL naming conventions etc…); also, make full use of Google’s webmaster console to manage sitelinks and take Google’s humanized results page and ranking factors into consideration.

Yet another Affiliate Summit went by – the largest yet so far with almost 4,000 attendees. It had all the good stuff an Affiliate Summit would come with: interactive sessions, captivating keynotes (videos available Mark Ostrofsky, Wil Reynolds and Bryan Eisenberg) and the hyper-dynamic Meet Market which is a first class networking area.

So how was it for Avangate at ASE this year?

There were 2 first-times on our part:

1) We held a presentation on 5 Software Niche Affiliate Success Stories which got the venue full and generated lots of questions from the audience.We covered some of our affiliate partners’ strategies to successfully promote software online, from approaching a certain software niche (utilities, multimedia etc.), using the deal-of-the-day business model to tailoring an entire shopping experience to a target audience’s specific needs.

From the feedback we got, it seems that we should do this more often :)

Here’s a copy of the presentation on Slideshare, in case you missed it:

2) We had a table in the Meet Market area where thousands and thousands of people flocked during the 6 hours scheduled. We got some great leads there and we’re looking forward to turning them into working projects.

One of the best things about these conferences is that you get to meet your partners face to face and get to know them better. We met with some of the affiliates in our network and gathered important feedback – this will be put to good use for future developments in the platform so that you can benefit from new and exciting tools.

We didn’t have much time to attend the sessions, since our goals were mainly on the networking / leads side, but the ones we did were very enticing – congrats to Shawn and Missy for yet another successful event.

So, looking forward to the next Affiliate Summit and to meeting our partners. See here our pictures from the event.

Software presents big opportunities for all online affiliates, so as an established software specific affiliate network, we will be on hand to offer insight on the benefits of promoting software online. We will do that both through networking during the event, and Avangate’s very own Michael Ni will be speaking on “5 Software Niche Affiliate Success Stories” (thank you for that!).

Be sure to drop by on the first day of conference (August 21^st), 11 AM, to visit us at the Murray Hill Suite. After 12 PM, you can find us in the Meet Market at booth #49, where we’ll be ready to exchange ideas and see how we can work together with some of the affiliate marketing industry’s best and brightest. We even have a few surprises in store.

Drop us an email to schedule a meeting or contact us directly to meet us in the Big Apple: Adriana, Corina, Mike (our speaker) and Cristian are looking forward to meeting you.

The Avangate Critical Response Team identified earlier today bogus purchase confirmation emails with Avangate’s name on it, with a link to malware. First of all, Do NOT click any links within that email.

The malware message confirms a credit card charge and contains a link (false download PDF invoice link) to a malicious content (virus) that automatically installs on the machine.

Obviously, it is not sent by Avangate or any of Avangate’s partners– see example of the fraudulent email below.

Users who received these emails are NOT necessary Avangate shoppers, so if you have it in your inbox, please immediately delete it and certainly do not click on the PDF link. The message should be found as infected by the majority of antiviruses.

How to figure out whether you received a malware message in Avangate’s name or not?

• Always look at the sender’s email and name. Emails coming from Avangate are sent from @avangate.com domains
• Notifications sent by Avangate do not address multiple recipients
• We always address our shoppers with their name and not generically with “Dear client”
• The Avangate order number has 7 or 8 digits (Order reference number: xxxxxxxx) and the malware email had only 4 (Order reference number: #1456)
• We always write our name “Avangate” never “AvanGate” (come on…)
• The PDF invoices we send are attached to the email and not as a link to download

MALWARE Message

Malware email message with Avangate name on it

Avangate is focused primarily on the shopper security and integrity of data (Avangate is PCI DSS Level 1 Certified) and the Avangate Critical Response Team has taken all the necessary measures to bring down the host(s) of the malware and to announce and offer support to those that have been receiving this email.

Will keep you posted. Follow our twitter stream as well for faster updates.

Please comment below if you need more details or advice on this issue.

The Avangate Team

We’re heading off to Germany at the beginning of June 2011 to attend A4U Expo Europe – one of the largest European affiliate conferences.

I’m particularly excited because this year we’re going to have our own meeting room during the first conference day and already set up a couple of important get togethers.

So if you’re into the software business, as a merchant or as a publisher, drop by the Avangate hosted meeting room “Miro” on June 7th. Me and my colleagues Adriana and Sorin will be looking forward to meeting new partners. We also have lots of surprises for you there ;)

And speaking of surprises – if you haven’t yet booked your ticket for the event, do it today and use this special Avangate coupon for 10% off the registration price: AVAN_MUNICH_10.

Don’t be shy – ping us at affiliates@avangate.com or leave a comment here so we can schedule a meeting.

Outside the event, I’m looking forward to seeing Munich again and, of course, delighting myself with some unfiltered Bavarian beer :D

If you’re reading this you’re probably a fan of digital goods and you know that software is one of the verticals in which affiliates get the highest commissions in the industry. It can generate a lot of sales and revenue if done the right way.

We’re going to Affiliate Summit East 2011 and we want to share some of the strategies that successful affiliates in the software niche use. We definitely see it as a win-win situation for both merchants and affiliates.

Adriana Iordan will prove this on our part, but we need our proposal to be accepted as a session at the event – vote now for Avangate at Affiliate Summit East! Voting will be closed on May 13th!

By the way – if you’re attending the event or are in New York in late August, do let us know. We would be happy to chat over a cold beer in the Big Apple ;)