We have been looking at ways that our members are using our ECUs, and have come up with a new layout which may suit some sites. Specifically aimed at price comparison, this new horizontal layout paves the way for some future developments we’re working on.

We have made this layout available to all members. To choose it, simply add your products to a unit (or select an existing unit). On the edit unit page, go to the ‘Unit Size’ tab. Click on ‘Product Layout’ and then select the new Horizontal II option:

To get the effect below (for a price comparison of the new Ice Age 3 Wii Game), I unselected Product Title, Description and added a Shop Now button. Changed the unit width to 200 to improve the layout:

We hope you like the new layout.

This is very much work in progress, so if you have any ideas of your own, please let us know, here, via email, via a support ticket or now you can join the discussions at Facebook.

Well, we’ve been busy adding lots of features and functions to ECU without giving too much creedance to how things were looking, and for new members, things must look a bit daunting. Over the coming weeks we are going to be tweaking the layout, to make things a little more intuitive for you, so that common tasks are easier to accomplish.

As part of this, you may notice things disappearing from your account area, don’t panic we’re not taking away any functionality, just moving it, or hiding some things which are not used. If you notice something missing that you really need, let us know and we’ll reactivate it for you.

First thing we have done is removed the two ID boxes for Amazon on the My Details page. this was confusing many affiliates as there is effectively only one ID possible now. So we’ve hidden the ‘Classic ID’ box. For those of you who have already given us the ID, don’t worry it’s safely stored and being used, if you’re a new member who has a Classic ID, please contact us and we’ll add it for you.

Why does it matter? Well if you have a Classic ID it effectively removes the Cap on commissions for items over £175. So older affiliates may have one (they abolished it in July), if you do, then we will automatically work out which ID should provide the best commission, and serve that in your unit

We have also changed the ‘Create a Unit’ page to avoid confusion. We have removed the options for the random units, and put them on the next page, so that affiliates are not confused as to where to put product information.

So now you just need to put in a Name for the unit, and then choose whether you want a random unit (where the system generates the products based on a keyword/brand/category) or a Search based unit (where you choose the products you want to feature).

The next pages are the same for you, at the moment, however the options for the Random Units will be spread out to avoid the confusion surrounding Amazon and Networked Merchants.

We have just released a new feature onto Easy Content Units called Favourite Merchants. You’ll find new menu item on the left hand navigation bar which takes you to a page where you can set your favourite merchants. These may be merchants that you are signed up to at the networks; merchants products which track through a certain network; maybe a select group of merchants which you use for your websites.

Once you have selected your merchants, you can use a new ‘Favourite Merchants’ option when you search for products. Instead of ‘All Merchants’ or Specific merchants, you can select Favourite Merchants and the search will only return results for those merchants.

This feature has been suggested by one of our members, and to be honest I think it’s a great addition for many members, to limit the results to those merchants you have a close working relationship with will help speed up the process of finding products.

You can update this list at any time, just by visiting the Favourite Merchants page.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know below:

We have recently launched our own Last Order Dates content unit which we have made available to affiliates to use on their sites. We are updating this unit with new dates as we get them, as well as removing listings as time passes.

If however you would like to feature your own list of merchants, I thought it would be handy to show you how we did it (creating your own Last Order Dates units are available for Pro Members Only):

Before I do, please ask us if you would like us to drop a copy of our unit into your account, so that you can edit the merchants featured, save making one from scratch. This service is for Pro Members only

First you’ll need to create a new ‘Search based’ unit. Pop in a name for the unit, ensure the ‘Search’ is selected and click on continue.

On the search page, click on the link marked ‘Add Merchants (non product)’

This will open up a merchant selection page. Simply tick all the merchants you’d like to feature in this unit.

Click the ‘Add Merchants’ Button at the bottom of the page when you have selected all the merchants you would like to feature. Don’t worry you can come back later and add/remove merchants from the unit if you wish.

Next onto editing the merchant details. To achieve the Last Orders Unit, we changed the Product Title to the date, and the Product Description to the type of delivery (you can add further information here if you like such as price of delivery/expected delivery time etc). You will also need to ensure the deeplink is correct and has your affiliate ID in it.

I have edited the details for Flying Flowers, but not for Interflora

Once you have edited all the merchants that you added, then it’s back to the styling page, via the ‘Customise Unit’ link at the top of the page. You can style the unit any way you like. Make sure you only show the information you need like merchant logo, product name and description. You’ll not need price in this instance. You could show a ‘Shop Now’ call to action if you’d like.

Once you have finished styling, that’s it the unit is ready for your site.

You can add/remove merchants any time, by following the Add/Remove Merchant’ Button on the Unit Edit Page. Once you save the changes, they show live in your unit.

Good luck! If you’d like us to create a last order unit for any vertical, please ask, and we’ll manage it too!

House of Fraser ran an affiliate competition for those affilaites using ECUs to promote their products.  There were in fact two prizes, £100 for first prize and £50 for the runner up.  All you had to do is put up a unit featuring House of Fraser products, and email the link to the unit.  Each sale from the unit gave one entry into the draw.

The lucky winners, were:

First Prize: Joe Connor from Discount Codes

Second: Richard Davies from Mens Wallet

Our congratulations go to both these winners who are using Easy Content Units in two very different ways!

Today we have seen a flurry of new managed units being creating by a variety of Linkshare merchants. These merchants are joining the ranks of House of Fraser, Radley, Isabella Oliver and more who have all created managed units for their affiliates to use.

They all recognise the importance of providing affiliates with product content units which they update for the affiliate, yet are still fully customisable for the affiliate to use on their sites.

Today we see the following units being launched:

Sweaty Betty:

Jigsaw:

Benefit Cosmetics

Avon

There’s plenty of products to choose from with these managed units.

If  you have yet to discover the range of merchants on Linkshare – click here to join

It’s with great pleasure that we can announce that we’ve added a whole new suite of Call to Action buttons. These are designed to optimise the click through ratio, and to fit in with most sites schema. Of course you are still able to specify your own button to ensure a complete fit with your site.

We have completed some testing with our own sites and have seen a 10-20% increase in the click through ratio, of course we will continue the testing and look at stats from across our network, and will hopefully report back on our findings.

Here are the new buttons:

Feel free to use them on new units, and by editing your existing units, you can change over to these if you wish. Please ensure the URL field is empty when you save as this overrides any selection.

If you have any comments on these buttons, please leave them below: