PopShops Brings Affiliate Marketing to the Masses

July 26, 2007; 04:12 AM
Imagine an enormous warehouse where the shelves are lined with virtually every product you can think of. Now imagine you can reach out, pick the things you like, and seamlessly integrate the products into your blog or website in just a few minutes. PopShops™ (www.popshops.com), the provider of next generation affiliate power tools for everyone, today unveiled a first-of-its-kind service that makes this vision a reality for anyone who wants to add commissionable products to their blog or website. Unlike existing widget builders and canned storefront generators, PopShops is the only service that provides users the control to pick products from the largest searchable catalog of affiliate products on the Internet, click to create a customized look and feel, and then pop anything from a small widget to a large, multi-merchant custom storefront into their site. In addition, users keep 100% of earned commissions and the basic service is free.

"Innovation is what makes PopShops so exciting," said Shawn Collins, a co-founder of the Affiliate Summit, the leading global conference on the affiliate marketing industry, author of the Affiliate Tip Blog, and manager of the PayLess affiliate program. "The PopShops service is blazing fast, allowing affiliates to quickly display affiliate products on their site within minutes. They have taken the guesswork out of manipulating merchant data feeds, allowing affiliates to focus their efforts on what they do best -- creating compelling content and marketing."

Prior to the introduction of the PopShops shop-builder service, adding affiliate products to blogs or websites from more than one merchant was a time-consuming process. Those lacking technical skills were limited to look-alike widgets, page and link generators, poorly converting banners, or template services that take a cut of earnings. Even for the Web savvy, the process of building a tailored set of relevant products -- from navigating the various affiliate network setups, to acquiring and processing datafeeds and customizing a store layout -- remains a complex and tedious task. Conversely, PopShops provides a solution that empowers users, regardless of technical ability, to quickly publish shops featuring their own combinations of commission-earning affiliate products.

"If you can use a mouse, you can put products on your site," said Jessie Jones, Founder of PopShops.com and a 14-year technology and product design veteran from Microsoft and Expedia.com. "PopShops gives anyone with a Web presence an easy way to monetize their website or blog with instant access to the largest catalog of cross-network affiliate products currently available. Whether you operate a niche website, a blog, or are a power affiliate, PopShops radically simplifies the process of creating a fully customized shop. And unlike other tools, PopShops is free to use, and affiliates pocket 100% of their hard-earned sales commissions."

PopShops users can choose from more than 17 million (and counting) commissionable products from about a thousand different merchants. These merchants ranging from brand-recognized retailers such as www.Buy.com, www.Overstock.com, and www.CafePress.com to hundreds of highly specialized retailers like www.Bentgear.com, www.ThingsFromAnotherWorld.com, and www.HalloweenMart.com that offer everything from the eclectic to the extraordinary.

"Our goal is to empower users," explains Angel Djambazov, Marketing Director at PopShops. "Those who have wanted to participate in the affiliate marketplace, but lacked the technical resources, now have a means to do so. PopShops is proud to serve as a technology partner to networks like LinkShare, ShareASale, Commission Junction, and Performics, to help affiliates achieve new levels of success."

PopShops's position as a neutral, 3rd-party toolset ensures the relationships between affiliates, merchants and networks remains private. This allows PopShops to aggressively expand its catalog to include additional affiliate networks and merchants, while continuing its focus on bringing innovative new services to the industry.

Pick, Click & Pop -- Three Easy Steps to Affiliate Success

PopShops leverages the latest Web 2.0 technologies to facilitate the process of searching, selecting, and placing products in a shop. The basic PopShops service includes a number of fully integrated features, such as:

--  Fastest, Most Comprehensive Product Search -- PopShops users can
    quickly browse by merchant, category or search by keyword from the largest,
    most comprehensive catalog of affiliate products available today. Users
    also gain a means to discover new and relevant products they may not have
    otherwise come across, ranging from the popular, kitschy and cool, to the
    rare, exclusive and even hard-to-find items.
   
--  Drag-and-Drop Capabilities  -- At the heart of PopShops is an
    intuitive drag-and-drop system that makes it possible for even a Web
    neophyte to create their own customized shop by simply clicking to add
    products, dragging to arrange within their storefront, then pasting to pop
    the shop into their blog or website.
   
--  Fully Customizable -- PopShops users have unparalleled customization
    options for product displays including arrangement, text editing, image
    sizing, color, borders and layout to seamlessly integrate their shops into
    existing websites and blogs.
   
--  Blog Widget -- PopShops currently supports TypePad and Blogger and
    will be rolling out support for additional popular blogging platforms,
    including WordPress in the coming months.
   
--  Dynamic Updates -- PopShops keeps products current with relevant live
    updates so that affiliates never have to touch code to fix a dead link or
    an outdated price.
   

Anyone can sign up for a free PopShops Basic account, which includes up to 10 individual shops featuring 100 products each (embedded using JavaScript or a blog widget). For users who require greater functionality and enhanced search engine optimization, PopShops offers two paid subscription levels: "Pro" ($5 per month) and "Enterprise" ($30 per month). Pro users can create unlimited shops using PHP or ASP, and leverage the AutoFeed feature to automatically add additional SEO-friendly pages with similar products to their site or blog. At the Enterprise level, users can take complete control over their affiliate shops by embedding XML or RSS feeds, using SEO tools to add keywords to their meta data and text, and managing multiple affiliate IDs. Discounts are available for 6-month and 12-month plans. More information about PopShops's account plans can be found at: http://www.popshops.com/faq/plans

ABOUT POPSHOPS

PopShops™ next generation affiliate power tools make it easy for anyone to populate their own online shop with relevant products. Website owners, bloggers and affiliate marketers can now quickly and seamlessly add items to their site, and keep their hard earned commissions. PopShops's patent-pending service provides users with access to the largest searchable selection of affiliate products currently available on the Internet (over 17 million and growing) for free. Founded in 2007 by technology veteran Jessie Jones, the company is privately held and headquartered in Seattle, Washington. See it to believe it @ www.popshops.com