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Friday, September 11, 2009

Find an Online Store Asssociate When You Need One

A short time ago Bermudaonion shared a list of things she is going to do to improve the feeling of community among book bloggers. One of her ideas was  "When I purchase something from amazon, Barnes & Noble, or an indie bookstore, I will try to find a blogger who is an associate of that site and go through them."

I really like that idea. I purchase quite a few items (mostly books) online and instead of just going directly to the store I would be happy to go through an associate first so that person gets some benefit from my purchase.  But if this is going to work for me I need a list of people who are associates close at hand.  When I'm ready to make a purchase I don't want to search all over the net in hopes of finding a store associate.

A few days ago I was on someone's blog who mentioned The Book Depository.  That was a store new to me.  Luckily she provided a link to their site and I bought a book.  I was happy that that store associate would get a little kick back from my purchase.  I have since become an associate for The Book Depository myself.  I'm also an associate for amazon.com.  The problem is I cannot buy through my own links so when I do buy books nobody gets a kickback.

In view of this I decided to start a new blog, Polka dot com, that would serve as a directory for online store associates.   Let's say you are a store associate for an online store and you'd like to increase your sales.  You can get your blog and store listed.

The best part is for those who want to purchase online.  They can quickly find an associate, no hunting for one or keeping a paper list, and they can make that purchase through a store affiliate.  It doesn't cost the costumer any more money, but it does help out a fellow blogger.

Polka dot  com is just a baby and it won't be extremely helpful to shoppers until it grows some.  It's entirely free of charge to get your name included or to use, but it will take some help from those who visit here to join and use the site.  I hope you'll stop buy Polka dot com and see what you think.  If you are a store associate/affiliate I hope it will help boost your income and if you shop on the internet I hope you will stop and shop through one of the associates you find there.  Feel free to spread the word.  Remember I won't be making money on this enterprise, UNLESS someone clicks on my name as an associate and then buys through one of my shops.  The same holds true for anyone who joins and is a store associate.

The shopping categories include apparel, books, electronics, jewely, house & garden, music, and toys.  I may include others if there is enough interest.

15 comments:

Hazra said...

That's a really great idea! It would be really useful for all current associates, and for people who are looking to buy books and help a book blogger in the process.
A related question: I'm not an associate yet, but I'm thinking of becoming one. What do you think about the programs?

Anonymous said...

That's a great idea! I'll be checking back to see who's joined.

Mel (He Followed Me Home) said...

what a brilliant idea! I joined amazon but never really expected to get anything out of it, will check this out :)

karen! said...

What a nice idea.

Carrie K said...

That Amazon one click is really addictive. I try to buy my books locally, there's pretty good evidence that the cash stays in the local economy, but this is a really good idea. Chappy's Mom has a link too.

Gilion at Rose City Reader said...

I think that is a great idea. I often try to buy books through fellow bloggers, but the difficulty I find is finding the book I want on someone else's blog. If it is some weird old book, it is not likely that another blog has linked it to amazon. :)

It would be great to have a co-conspirator blogger service -- someone who would link specific books just so I could buy them!

Staci said...

This is a totally fantastic idea and would that I would love to support!!!

Elizabeth said...

Great idea - I've bookmarked it. Thanks!

Becca said...

What a fabulous idea! I am going to go bookmark it now!

I have given you an award!

Les said...

What a creative idea!! And I love the name of the site. :)

I'm an associate so I'm off to sign up. Thanks for organizing this for us. Every little bit helps!

Lisa said...

What a great idea! I haven't checked it out yet, but I suspect quite a few bookish associates will be listed.

bermudaonion said...

This is a fantastic idea! I'm going to check polkadot.com out right now!

Les said...

I just had to come back and say how much I love this idea!! Thank you, Booklogged, for setting up such a great new site. I hope you don't mind that I reduced the size of the widget so it would fit in my sidebar. I need to post a little write-up about your site once I get a free minute. Hope that happens sometime in my lifetime. JK! :)

Jessica said...

This is a great idea. I loved Bermudaonion's suggestion, but I agree that a place to find those associates would be invaluable. I'm heading over to polka right now.

Natasha @ Maw Books said...

I always use an associates link when I purchase something online. Especially, if they are the one who recommended the book in the first place. I'm going to check this out!