We have had several people ask us what to do if they don't currently have a website, and want to sign up in ShareASale so that they can be a Vessel Affiliate. The good news is that there are quite a few options, with additional choices available soon.
Build Your Own Website
There are numerous free to low-cost (depending on what features you use; some are a free trial period but then there's a monthly fee) website builder sites out there. Sites with the best ratings include:
Wix (www.wix.com)
Weebly (www.weebly.com)
SiteBuilder (www.sitebuilder.com)
Wordpress (www.wordpress.com)
GoDaddy (www.godaddy.com)
Sitey (www.sitey.com)
You don't need to have an online store function, as your ShareASale link will take customers to the Vessel store. And in fact, you should not have an online store so as to not confuse customers. Each of these sites is user-friendly, and you don't need to know HTML to use them. Some sites offer a free domain name as well.
Create a Blog
If you have a passion you want to share, or knowledge that others would find useful, a blog is a great vehicle to use. A blog might be the best tool for you if you have an audience you would like to reach, and information to share with that audience. For example, my daughter has started a blog about traveling with kids. Or you might be an essential oils professional, with experience and knowledge that others would really appreciate. What you want to do is to create something that people look forward to reading and want to come back to on a regular basis - so it is critical that you keep your blog fresh. Your blog audience becomes your Vessel customers, as well as others who hear about Vessel through your blog audience.
There are many free blogging platforms available which are user friendly. Here are some good sites:
Blogger (www.blogger.com)
Blogspot (www.blogspot.com)
Tumblr (www.tumblr.com)
Wordpress (www.wordpress.com)
SiteBlog (www.siteblog.com)
You can be approved with your personal Facebook account (assuming that there's nothing lewd or illegal on it), but a better idea would be to create a new Facebook page for your Vessel business. The only requirement that we would have is that you name this page in such a way that there is absolutely no confusion about whether or not it's the official corporate Facebook page (www.facebook.com/VesselScentsOfStyle). For example, you could call it "Barbara's Vessel Affiliate Page" or "Vessel Affiliate - Jane Doe" or similar. You just need to make it clear that you are an Affiliate of Vessel.
Storefront - Two Versions (Available Soon!)
Vessel will have two templates on ShareASale for a "Storefront." A Storefront is a sort of "replicated website" within ShareASale that you can personalize with your own photos, and of course the Vessel links you want to use. One version is a generic Vessel page; the other is set up for fundraising. Please note that these are Vessel-branded pages; therefore, you can't put links from other merchants on them. Everything on your Storefront goes directly to Vessel and Vessel only. We will be doing another post in the near future about how to set up a Storefront page. Also, it is critical to note that if you want to use this option, you need to wait until we have a unique link for you to use, rather than signing up in one of the methods described above.
Once you have signed up and been approved by ShareASale, you can also begin to share text links by email, text or social media. These links operate the same way they do on your website or blog.
If you have questions about any of this information or need further help, we would be glad to assist in any way that we can. ShareASale is also a great source of information, with webinars, blog posts and video tutorials all aimed at helping Affiliates succeed.
To Your Success!
