AC Lens coupon affiliates will be pleased to here we’ve added a coupon code box! In one of the biggest changes to the affiliate program in a while, the coupon code box should help affiliates who are concerned with the old setup where shoppers had to enter the code in our “Special Instructions” section.

The coupon code box is set with a cookie so PPC and other affiliates need not worry about losing orders to those searching for a coupon code. Here’s how to set a coupon code box on AC Lens.

http://www.aclens.com/go.asp?MID=138&kw=1&CB=1&GO=default.asp

Let’s break down the link:

go.asp – The URL must pass through the go.asp parameter to set the cookie correctly.

MID – This should be one of our affiliate network ID’s which is 138 for Commission Junction and 147 for ShareASale.

KW/CB – Both of these parameters must be set to 1.

GO= – This directs the link anywhere on our site. In the example above, it’s going to default.asp which is the home page. If you want it to go to an internal page, say this one, http://www.aclens.com/displaylens.asp?LensID=282, you would take everything after the slash (displaylens.asp?LensID=282) and change any question marks to & so that it would look like this: http://www.aclens.com/go.asp?MID=138&kw=1&CB=1&GO=displaylens.asp&LensID=282. There should only be one question mark in the URL at any time.

This is a big change for the affiliate program and we think coupon affiliates will notice an increased conversion rate. All of the standard links in ShareASale and Commission Junction have been changed so if you use those, you don’t need to do anything. If you created your own custom links, and use coupons, you can follow the instructions above to take advantage of this new feature.

Good luck selling.

AC Lens participates as a merchant in For Me To Coupon, an automated affiliate coupon feed. For Me To Coupon (FMTC) is a great tool for affiliates to take the hassle out of running and maintaining a coupon site. FMTC’s coupon experts provide manual review and manual data entry, totaling hundreds of hours per month. All coupons are reviewed, edited, and corrected before being entered into the feed.

FMTC supports thousands of merchants, AC Lens included. For a free trial, feel free to visit their site and contact them for more information at http://www.formetocoupon.com.

The newest list of best selling products by AC Lens affiliates. The list is in no particular order and based on affiliate sales only. Be sure to feature these products on your site when promoting AC Lens.

Contact Lenses

O2 OPTIX
Proclear Compatibles
ACUVUE OASYS
Soflens 66 Toric
1-DAY ACUVUE MOIST
ACUVUE 2
ACUVUE Oasys for Astigmatism
AIR OPTIX NIGHT & DAY AQUA
Focus DAILIES 90 pack
1-DAY ACUVUE
ACUVUE Advance for Astigmatism
AIR OPTIX AQUA
ACUVUE Advance
Biofinity
FreshLook ColorBlends

Vision Care Accessories

Bausch & Lomb Renu MultiPlus No Rub – 12 fl. oz.
Ocusoft Lid Scrub Foaming Eyelid Cleanser – 7.25 fl. oz.
Boston Advance Care Kit
Lobob Soft Contact Insertion/Removal Kit
Hilco Children’s Prescription Swimming Goggles
Lobob Optimum Rewetting Drops – 1 fl. oz.
Ocusoft Lid Scrub – Pre-Moistened Pads
Miraflow – .7 fl. oz.
Ultra Comfort Prescription Swimming Goggles
Flip Top Lens Case – colored
Lobob Optimum RGP Cleaning/Disinfecting Solution – 4 fl. oz.
Hilco Prescription Swimming Goggles
Lobob Optimum Extra Strength Cleaner – 2 fl. oz.
Opti-Free Express Multi-Purpose Solution – 10 fl. oz.
Renu MultiPlus Lubricating & Rewetting Drops – .27 fl. oz.

Designer Sunglasses

Dragon Calaca Sunglasses
UrbanSpecs Polarized – Aquinnah Sunglasses
Dragon Calavera Sunglasses
Fit-Overs Navigator Sunglasses
Ray-Ban Aviator Large Metal RB 3025 Sunglasses
Fit-Overs Aurora Sunglasses
Gucci 2985/S Sunglasses
American Optical Flight Gear Original Pilot w/ Wirespatula Temples
Diesel DS0032/S Sunglasses
Dolce & Gabbana DG 6029B Sunglasses
NYX Golf Carbon Professional Sunglasses
Dragon Phase Sunglasses
Ray-Ban Aviator Large Metal Sunglasses
UrbanSpecs Kids – Jacob Sunglasses
Solitaire Fit-Overs Modified Rectangle Sunglasses

Here are the best selling products in no particular order updated through September 4th 2009:

Contact Lenses

1. Proclear Compatibles
2. Biomedics 55
3. Acuvue Oasys
4. Focus Dailies 90 Pack
5. Acuvue Advance contact lenses
6. 1-Day Acuvue Moist
7. 1-Day Acuvue contact lenses
8. O2 Optix
9. Acuvue Oasys for Astigmatism
10. Acuvue 2 contact lenses
11. Air Optix Night and Day
12. Soflens 66 Toric
13. Freshlook Colorblends
14. Acuvue Advance for Astigmatism
15. Soflens 38 contact lenses

Accessories

1. Thera Tears Nutrition for Dry Eyes – 90 capsules
2. Oxysept UltraCare Formula 12 fl oz
3. Boston Advance Care Kit
4. Purilens Plus Solution 12 Pack
5. Renu MultiPlus No Rub 12 fl oz
6. Ultra Comfort Prescription Swimming Goggles
7. Lobob Optimum Rewetting Drops 1 fl oz
8. Ocusoft Lid Scrub PreMoistened Pads
9. Tears Naturale Free 60 Vials
10. Hilco Prescription Swimming Goggles

While contact lenses can sell well during the holiday season (see this post), sunglasses are truly the gift that keeps on paying in the ACLens.com affiliate program. 

As most of you know, AC Lens carries one of the largest lines of designer sunglasses on the net. Our wide selection includes Ray-Ban, Christian Dior, Gucci, Bolle, and over 40 additional brands with 2000+ colors and styles.

With so many sunglass models available, it can be hard to decide how to promote this department effectively but it can be done. Here’s a few tips on taking advantage of this massive and very lucrative holiday category at AC Lens.

Promote Updated Best Sellers.

I receive frequent requests for our updated best seller list but did you know you can find that info right on our site. The sunglasses homepage updates every 24 hours with our best selling items over the prior 30 days. Better yet, these items are guaranteed in stock and ready to ship since inventory is updated every 24 hours as well.

Narrow your focus.

It’s not necessary to promote the entire line of sunglasses to receive a steady stream of sales. You can easily earn a great affiliate check by only promoting a select group of manufacturers or styles. Finding a niche way to promote a particular style is a great way to get high rankings in search engines and earn the credibility needed to see high conversions from buyers.

Sunglasses, We Don’t Need No Stinking Sunglasses.

The AC Lens sunglasses department is also home to numerous products that aren’t “sunglasses” per se. We carry Bolle Ski Goggles,  Adidas Ski Goggles, and a few other styles of snow goggles. It may not be the time to ride, but you can also find a popular line of Motorcycle goggles which help keep dust and debris out of your eyes while riding. Our Harley Motorcycle Sunglasses by Urban Specs are one of our most popular models and a great gift idea. Any of our swimming goggles would make a great gift this holiday season as well.

There are tons of ways to take advantage of the holiday season at AC Lens and hopefully these few ideas get your brain churning for the many more available. Please contact us if you need any special creatives or help building out links.

I get quite a few emails from new and even experienced affiliates asking how they can improve their organic rankings for our products. I thought a post on basic SEO elements would help clear up some of the most frequently asked questions. I’ll cover the four main SEO factors and provide some basic information. Lets start:

On-Page Factors

On page factors are obviously anything on the actual page that could affect your rankings for certain terms. You should include your targeted keywords throughout your page while not over doing it. I’m asked frequently what ratio or percentage of keywords should be used. There’s really no hard rule in place as I’ve seen pages rank well with one term on-page and other sites have ranked with 10, 15, even 20+% of their page using keywords. The real key is to make sure your terms fit into your content so the viewer has a seamless, positive experience on your site.

Another on-page factor is the way you link to other pages within your site. Linking to a manufacturer page saying, “click here“, doesn’t tell the SE anything. You should link using the terms you’re targeting without over doing it such as a manufacturer link like this: “Freshlook Contact Lenses“.

Meta Data

Meta data is essential to search engine optimization. The title and description tags not only help your rankings in the search engines but also are the first thing people view before clicking through to your site. Include relevant information in your title such as “Compare Prices on Contact Lenses at YourSite.com”. Lists in your title are normally frowned upon like this: “Contact Lenses, Contact Lens, Acuvue, Freshlook at YourSite.com”.

Descriptions should be exactly that, a short concise couple of sentences that summarizes everything your page covers. Here’s an example: “‘Your Site’ offers a detailed comparison of prices for major contact lens brands including Acuvue, Freshlook, and Focus.” The description includes several terms you may target while also being user friendly. Here’s a description that would probably not be recommended: “Contact lenses, Contacts, Contact Lens, Acuvue Contact Lenses for sale.” Not only will SE’s probably frown on this description, users receive no benefit when seeing this in search results.

URL’s

URL’s are a debatable topic. While some SE’s say using terms in the URL’s don’t help, research shows that it does. Either way, it’s probably best to use terms in your URL’s simply because search engines will bold/highlight those terms in search results increasing your chances at a click through. URL’s are best formulated something like this: www.yoursite.com/acuvue-contact-lenses.html.

In-Bound Links

The golden goose of search engine optimization is of course links. In-bound links are a vote for your site and weigh heavily in your rankings at most search engines. Having unique, relevant content is always a great way to increase the number of links your site receives. Contests, freebies, and similar offers are other great ways to receive links. Each site is different so trial different linking strategies and stick to the one that works best for you.

I hope this covers a lot of the most frequently asked questions about SEO. Feel free to contact me if you want a review of your site.

Bob