Archive for category Affiliate Tools
Coming Soon: The Legacy Learning Affiliate iPhone App
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Tools, Legacy News on June 11th, 2010
On the heels of our ultra-successful Gibson Learn & Master Guitar iPhone App, I am excited to announce the upcoming release of the Legacy Learning Systems Affiliate Program iPhone App!
Thanks to uBuildApp and their owner/affiliate manager Brad Waller I was able to create the app in less than two hours. Most of their apps take less than an hour, but I am a bit pickier (OK, slower and prone to error).
The app, which will be released within the next two weeks features:
- Program updates and special offers/bonuses only available through the app. The first page will feature these updates and news items.
- All episodes of our podcast in an easy to download format.
- Our blog in an easy to read format.
- Our Twitter stream, because you know you want to read that.
- Our YouTube videos so you can view tutorials, special announcements, and more.
- My contact information…all of it.
- A Sign-Up form.
- Link to our affiliate section.
- More to come very soon, such as a tools section and more!
Here are some screen shots. I’ll let you know when it is released!

You Ask: ShareASale Answers
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Marketing News, Affiliate Tools on May 7th, 2010
Yesterday I was chatting with an affiliate who had a suggestion for the Merchant Timespan Report on ShareASale.
Here is a snippet of the conversation via Instant Messenger. I removed his name.
[14:36] Affiliate: also, it would be nice to see in the report on sales by day the conversion rate. It doesn’t have that column.
[14:36] legacylearning@live.com: http://shareasale.com/fixit/
As you can see, that chat took place at almost 5:00PM last night. I suggested he fill out a request on ShareASale’s FixIt page.
At about 1:40PM today, less than 24 hours later, I saw this tweet from @ShareASaleNews:
Thanks for the great feedback to http://shareasale.com/fixit/ We upgraded the “merchant timespan” report! Keep them coming!
Well, that was fast!
Sure, the change was simple. They added a single column to the Merchant Timespan report - Conversions. It’s pretty simple: Sales / Clicks = Conversions.
Nonetheless, I am impressed, as usual, with their support and speed. Thanks for listening ShareASale and thanks for making that change!

Bass Guitar, ShareASale License Plate Links, iPhone App Graphics, Affiliate Tools…Legacy Affiliate Podcast Episode Seven
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Tools, Bonuses, Coupons and Deals, Podcasts on April 16th, 2010
Episode Seven of the Legacy Learning Systems Affiliate Podcast is here and ready for your listening pleasure.
This week I talk about the launch of our Learn & Master Spotlight Series Bass Guitar course, ShareASale’s new license plate links, our new iPhone App graphics, our affiliate tools, and the results of our Tax Day bonuses.
You can listen or download below and you can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.
Here are this week’s Show Notes:
Learn and Master Spotlight Series: Bass Guitar with Tony Marvelli is officially live!
Announcement Link | Bass Guitar Coupon with 40% commission | Bass Guitar Graphics in ShareASale | Product Shots in ShareASale | ShareASale Video Section
New ShareASale License Plate Links - Info and Tutorial Video
New iPhone App Graphics - Announcement Post with samples | Guitar iPhone App Category on ShareASale
Legacy Learning Systems Affiliate Tools Section
Tax Day Bonuses - Announcement Post
New ShareASale Feature: Shortened URLs for Social Media
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Tools, Viral Marketing/Social Media on April 15th, 2010
ShareASale has just introduced an awesome new feature for using shortened URLs in Social Media (or anywhere for that matter)!
They call them “License Plate Links” and they are easy to make.
Below is a video tutorial that Brian Littleton, their CEO, did showing you how to create a License Plate Link. I happen to like the company he uses as an example
Basically you go to the “Create a Custom Link to a Page” link under “Get Links” and then select “Yes” in the dropdown for “Create License Plate Link? (shortened URL).”
It will give you a link such as this one: http://shrsl.com/?~4f (Not a real link).
Well done as usual ShareASale!
Legacy Learning Affiliate Tools Section
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Tools, Pay Per Click (PPC) on April 15th, 2010
Quick post since a lot of affiliates have asked me about it.![]()
Have you checked out the Legacy Learning Systems Affiliate Tools Section? If not, you should.
In it you will find ShareASale Video Tutorials, an article and news archive, keywords for Pay Per Click, FTC disclosure guidelines, content for your site, an archive of our Affiliate Insider Newsletter, course demographics, and more!
It is updated frequently and you can follow us on Twitter or stay tuned here for updates.
I hope the tools help you!
Both Sides of the Track Podcast on Pay Per Call
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Tips, Affiliate Tools, Pay Per Call, Podcasts on April 7th, 2010

I really enjoyed my guest appearance last night on the Both Sides of the Tracks Podcast with Jason Rubacky from ShareASale, affiliate Eric Nagel, and Rob Duva and Jason Spievak of RingRevenue.
The major topic of discussion was our Pay Per Call program on ShareASale.
We talk about the success we have had with our program and ways to improve it, as well as ways that affiliates can best use this platform.
As many have pointed out recently, it is the best affiliate podcast out there (even if I am biased towards our own haha).
Give it a listen below:
RingRevenue CEO Writes about Legacy’s Pay Per Call
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Tools, Legacy News, Pay Per Call on March 26th, 2010
(Please note this is a duplicate post due to a database error and it was lost)
Jason Spievak, CEO of RingRevenue, wrote an awesome article earlier this week about Pay Per Call.
Here are some highlights, but I highly suggest reading the full article.
One of the easiest ways to boost the performance of an ad is also one of the simplest: include a phone number.
This is absolutely a great way improve the performance of your ads. It literally instantly increases the trust factor.
In an instant, a potential buyer sees that the advertiser is real, tangible, and can be reached if necessary, raising their comfort level with entering into a business transaction.
Jason points out that a phone number is really useful for increasing conversions and sale amounts, especially with higher priced items like ours.
Not surprisingly, calls convert at higher rates — and with higher average ticket prices — than clicks, thanks to the consultative sales skills of a trained agent. Clicks generally convert at 1% to 3%, while calls convert at a much more appealing 30% to 50% rate with 1.5 to 2 times the ticket price on average, thanks to the upsell and cross-sell capabilities of the call center agent.
He shares a well-documented statistic about those people who research online and buy offline. The numbers, even in 2010, are staggering.
More than 60% of shoppers do their research online, but purchase offline.
As for Legacy Learning Systems, how exactly is it working for us so far? Well as Jason says,
Take the guitar lesson example. Legacy Learning Systems provides instructional DVDs for music and the arts. Customers often want to speak with someone about the DVDs and talk through their options. When customers call, those calls convert. In fact, when they come through the company’s affiliate base, all calls that result in a commission are converting to sales.
In short, what are you waiting for? Pay Per Call is, simply put, extra money for you. It will increase clicks and calls, conversions, sale amounts.
You can learn more about our Pay Per Call on ShareASale and read about the first Pay Per Call payout increase we gave and then be sure to sign-up for it today!
To the right is a sample creative…but there are a TON more, including text links. In case you did not know, clicks track to your account as normal 
More Information on our Pay Per Call program on ShareASale.
New Videos Added to ShareASale
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Tools, Legacy News, Video Marketing on March 9th, 2010
Last night we added three new videos to our ShareASale Videos and updated two others.
We added videos for the Learn & Master Spotlight Series Blues Guitar course as well as the Spotlight Series Guitar Set-Up and Maintenance course and our Home School Painting course.
We also updated the videos for our Home School Editions of Guitar and Piano.
Videos are easy to find and easy to add from the ShareASale interface. And they track to your account!
Just login to your account and go to “Get Videos.”

Do a search for “Legacy Learning”

Click on “Get Video Code”

Click on Get this Video Code - Notice how ours are organized with titles such as “Award-Winning Ballroom Dance Course Medium”
We give them titles that are user friendly (the people viewing them) but the last word is always the size so they are easy to find.
We have three sizes: Small, Medium, and Large.
Copy and paste the code from ShareASale

Coming Soon: Sample Lesson Videos!
Here is a preview of the Guitar Set-Up Video as an example.
Update on New ShareASale Traffic Report
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Tools, Legacy News on March 9th, 2010
As I posted Saturday, ShareASale has a new Traffic Report for tracking clicks, conversions, EPC, and more by bannerID and afftrack.
They made a few tweaks recently including to default it to Month-to-Date (MTD) and to allow you to run it for the current day.
Well done once again ShareASale!
New ShareASale Traffic Report
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Marketing News, Affiliate Tools, Legacy News on March 6th, 2010
ShareASale just released their new Traffic Report and it is AWESOME!

It allows you to run a report for a period of time and view the clicks and the data associated with them such as hits, commissions, sales, conversions, EPC, etc.
You can run and order it by the following parameters (there may be more that I am missing):
- various creative types (banners, text links, widgets, videos, etc.)
- each merchant or all merchants
- sales, commissions, epc, voids, etc.
- afftrack and bannerID
As far as I am concerned, it may be the best report they have put out to date…although I do have a few personal favorites.
You can find it Under Reports/Stats.
It looks a little something like this:

Scott on ABestWeb did point out that it is missing default date values such as last month, month to date, and this week. Those would be good additions, but as it is I give this new report a 9 1/2 out of 10 stars!
Great Domain for Sale
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Tools on March 2nd, 2010
Just found out that the domain http://www.myguitarspace.com/ is for sale.
Here is the contact information for the owner if any of you are interested:
Andy Rice - caandyr [at] ix.netcom.com - 708-227-7543
Three Cool Tools to Choose Your Website Colors
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Tools, Web Design on February 22nd, 2010
As you know, the colors you use on your website play a big role in the overall impression that your visitors get of whatever it is you are trying to sell to them.
I am a big believer that color schemes must be well thought out. I personally have some favorites, but sometimes I get tired of designing the same old sites or my own favorite colors don’t match a product.
I have used three tools that I highly recommend for choosing a color scheme that I wanted to share with you. I have seen others, but these are my favorites. All of them are FREE!
Am I missing one? If so, share your favorites here!
Very easy to use color theme creator. There are six palette settings: monochromatic, complimentary, triad, tetrad, analogic, and accented analogic color that you can choose depending on what type of site you are designing. The best feature and why it is my number one pick, is the ability to preview the scheme on a dummy web page. You can also export your color palette as a Photoshop palette, HTML+CSS, TEXT, XML, and GPL .

One great feature of Colorotate is the ability to browse through various user templates. They are a great source of inspiration.
I don’t find it as easy to use as the Color Scheme Designer, but it is still a good resource. Another great feature and one that makes it totally worthwhile is using the 3D interface to see the multidimensional nature of the colors. You can also upload images and use those colors if you already have a logo or design in place.

Least favorite of the three. You can extract color schemes from images which is good, but I personally don’t like the interface. Like Colorotate, you can look through previous users themes and get some inspiration, which is a great feature.

Product Level Reporting on ShareASale
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Tools, Legacy News on February 12th, 2010
As of about one hour ago, we now have Product Level Reporting on ShareASale!
This means that you can now see what product was purchased by the customer on every sale going forward.
It’s very easy to access this information too. Just click on “Activity Details” under Reports/Stats (upper left when you login to ShareASale), then run the report for the time period you want and each sale will report the product that was purchased. It looks like this:

If there are more than one products purchased, it will show each of them separated by a comma. If more than one of a product is purchased, it will display the number that were bought.
I hope this helps you with promoting our products. As we add more and more courses, I am sure this will be even more relevant.
Speaking of new courses, be sure to check out the updates here on the blog about our upcoming Bass Guitar Spotlight course (and Fingerstyle Guitar as well)!
Also, if you got the email about it, don’t forget the look for the Easter Egg!
Essential Tools of Matt McWilliams
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Tools on February 12th, 2010
One of my favorite blogs is Char Polanosky’s Essential Keystrokes. 
One of the main features each Friday is the “Essential Tools” of someone in affiliate marketing.
I was honored to be featured this week and divulge some of my essential tools each day, including HootSuite, PDF995, and yes, even Windows Movie Maker. So 90’s right?
You can check it out here.
Featured in Internet Marketing from the Real Experts Book
Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Tools, Legacy News on January 28th, 2010
A new book on internet marketing is out and I am delighted to be one of the authors.
Internet Marketing from the Real Experts is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Borders online as well as offline bookstores.
Internet Marketing from the Real Experts is a wonderful collection of thoughts on affiliate marketing, email, blogging, podcasting, video, search engine, and social media rock stars that go through the hows and whys of online marketing in a clear and easy to understand way.
There are 87 other great authors from Brian Clark, Jim Kukral, Brian Littleton, Scott Jangro and more.
These are people who do this stuff every single day. They are affiliates, affiliate managers, thought leaders in marketing online, many of whom have been around for 5+ years in this business.
This book is a great opportunity to learn from their experiences, mistakes, successes, and advice, so check it out and get your copy today!














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