General Questions

What is the Zoundry Blog Writer?

The Zoundry Blog Writer™ is a rich WYSIWYG blogging editor that's as easy to use as a word processor. With just a few clicks of a mouse instead of complex HTML coding, you can do things like drag and drop images, create block quotes, and format links to open in a new window. If you are also a Zoundry Service member, the Blog Writer also features our unique Product Placement Engine™ that inserts affiliate links in your posts so you can earn money from product recommendations.

What is a blog?

A blog, short for "web log," is just a new, easier way to create a web site. Instead of creating pages in HTML and uploading them to a web server, a blog writer ("blogger") writes text and simply clicks a button to publish content, called a post, to the blog. The blog server handles the placement of the post (usually in reverse chronological order, like a journal) within a design template chosen by the user.

Blogs originally started as online diaries but have now evolved to become important sources of news, commentary, and topical information. At the same time, blogs are also becoming popular for families to create simple, private web sites to share news and photos.

We believe a blog is a great way to share your product knowledge online with your friends & family, and/or the general public. You can create a dedicated product review site, say for MP3 players, or you can use Zoundry to add related product recommendations, such as books or music, to the regular content of your blog.

What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is the process by which a web site (or blog) drives traffic to an online merchant through specially formatted links, and the web site's publisher earns commissions on clicks, leads, or purchases made through the links. Pioneered by Amazon.com in 1996, affiliate marketing has now grown to a billion-dollar industry and drives a significant share of customers to online retailers.

It's easy to understand why affiliate marketing is so popular for web publishers and merchants. Without any upfront costs, a web publisher gets rewarded for referring customers, and a merchant pays a commission only after a sale is made. Almost every leading online retailer has an affiliate program, many of which outsource to an affiliate network such as Linkshare or Commission Junction. (For more details on how affiliate tracking technology works for each network and its merchants, visit their web sites.)

Although retailers may offer a variety of commissionable actions (clicks, leads, or purchases,) Zoundry focuses on purchase commission programs. We want to encourage people to share their honest, first-hand experience with products they use and enjoy.

Until now most non-technical people have been too intimidated by the complexities of affiliate marketing to take advantage of these programs. By introducing our software on the ultra-easy blogging platform, our goal is to simplify affiliate marketing for the masses. We envision that one day everyone will be able to recommend products online to friends & family and the general public, and earn commissions on referred purchases.

What's the difference between a blog and a web site?

The short answer - not much. A blog is just another form of a web site that is better suited for frequent posts of text and images. It takes less time to manage the page layout, design, and publishing for a blog, so you can have more time to write.

Is Zoundry a blogging service?

No, Zoundry is not a blogging service and we do not host your blog. Our software works with leading blogging services such as Blogger and TypePad that would actually host your blog.

I don't have a blog - where can I get one?

The easiest way to get a blog is to sign up for an account at one of the blogging services that we support. Currently this includes the following:

BlogHarbor - offers a free 30 day trial. Large feature set including FTP for images and podcasts.
LivingDot for MovableType - excellent hosting service for Movable Type
LivingDot for WordPress - excellent hosting service for WordPress.
Blogger (a service of Google) - free account, but does not support categories or trackbacks.
TypePad (a service of Six Apart) - three paid plans. Large feature set based on the MovableType platform.

For more information on these services, visit their web sites. If you are new to blogging, read our Getting Started Guide.

Can I still use Zoundry without starting a blog?

Yes! Use our new Zoundry Toolbar and post brief product recommendations to social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us.

Can I try your software without signing up for an account?

Yes, we are offering the Zoundry Blog Writer as a free download regardless of whether you register for an account with us. However, you will not be able to earn any commissions for yourself without an account. Instead, you can select a charity from our Charity List to be the beneficiary of your commissions. If you do not select a charity or register for an account, any commissions you earn will go into the Zoundry donation jar and will help us pay for the costs of running this service. To request an invitation for an account, click here.

How secure is your web site and my personal information?

We treat your privacy and personal information very seriously and will do everything we can to keep it secure. We have encrypted our database and secured it using the latest in protection technology. And all transmissions between you, the Zoundry Blog Writer, and the Zoundry server are encrypted using SSL, the technology used by online banks.

I have strong HTML skills and prefer to work at the HTML source code level. Why should I use your WYSIWYG editor?

True, if you are an expert in HTML and prefer to work with HTML code when it comes to web site design, you don't have to use our application. However, the beauty of blogging is in its simplicity. Why not take a break from HTML "programming" and simply use our application. You can spend more of your valuable time gathering your thoughts and writing. Don't worry, we developed our editor to create W3C and XHTML compliant CSS styles and tags.

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The Zoundry Software

What's so hard about HTML coding and why should I use your Blog Writer?

Just like any software language, HTML requires precise syntax in order to render web pages properly within a browser. If you're not experienced in HTML (and even if you are), you can make typos and other mistakes. Instead of typing HTML code directly, you can use our Zoundry Blog Writer to write, format, create links, and place images in your blog as if you were using a word processor.

Our Blog Writer is a WYSIWYG editor, which means "What You See Is What You Get." Your post will appear as you've laid it out in the editor; our Blog Writer creates the correct HTML code for you behind the scenes. See an example of HTML source code versus creating the same content using the rich editor in our Blog Writer.

What's so hard about inserting affiliate links and why is your Blog Writer better?

Affiliate links are long, complex URLs that contain special information that track click-throughs and purchases. Normally you have to register as an affiliate with an online merchant first, then enter a product page URL to create the affiliate link, and finally copy and paste the affiliate link into the HTML source of your blog. If you have to edit the link in order to move it around your blog, you might accidentally change a character in the URL and damage its ability to track transactions for you.

The Zoundry Blog Writer hides the complexities of affiliate links. All you have to do is highlight the product name, right click and select Create Product Link. Find the right product in our Zoundry Product Chooser and click OK. It's as simple as that. We save you time and more importantly, prevent mistakes that can damage the link from tracking properly. See an example of copying an affiliate link from a merchant versus using our Zoundry Product Chooser.

Does your Blog Writer work on the Mac or Linux?

No. We have limited resources so we decided to focus on the Windows platform. But let us know if you want support for the Mac or Linux - we make decisions based on customer input.

Editors for the Mac platform are available from other software vendors (not affiliated with Zoundry) such as Ecto (Kung Foo) and MarsEdit (Ranchero Software).

What blogging APIs do you support?

The Zoundry Blog Writer supports the Atom API, which is the latest format used to edit, format, and syndicate weblogs and similar web sites.

Starting with build version 0.9.118 (Aug. 2005), Blog Writer supports the metaweblog and movabletype XML-RPC API for platforms such as Wordpress, Blog Harbor, Drupal, and Nucleus.

LiveJournal.com (LJ xml-rpc API) is supported starting with build version 0.9.133 (Oct 05, 2005).

Blogger XML-RPC API v1 and v2 is supported starting with build version 0.9.137 (Nov 02, 2005). These two APIs are very limited in their capability. If your blog server supports post title, categories and file upload, we recommend you use metaweblog or movabletype XML-RPC API.

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The Zoundry Service

How do I sign up for an account?

Currently participation in our beta program is upon invitation only and limited to residents of the United States. If you would like to request an invitation, click here.

How do I make money?

You place affiliate text links in your blog using the Zoundry Blog Writer. Ideally, you would place the link within a product review or other content that discusses the product so readers are motivated to click through the link. If a reader purchases the product within that session or within a certain number of days (depending on the merchant's policy), then you earn a commission calculated as a percentage of the sale. These commissions are called "Qualifying Revenues." Zoundry records these revenues you earn from the merchant, and every quarter pays you your accrued commissions less our fee for managing the affiliate relationships and product searches for you.

You keep a higher percentage of your commissions as your revenues increase, as shown in the table below:

Total Qualifying Revenues
in a calendar quarter Referral Fee Rate
(Percentage of Qualifying Revenues)

$50.00 or less 70%

$50.01 - $150.00 75%

$150.01 or more 80%

For example, if your site generated $100.00 in Qualifying Revenues in a calendar quarter, you would earn $75.00 in Referral Fees from Zoundry. For more information on our Referral Fee Schedule, please review our Program Agreement.

Check out our Blogging Suggestions section for ideas on how your can maximize the amount of money you can make.

What if readers don't trust my reviews because I'm making money from them?

We understand the issue of "separation of church and state" in which writers want to separate objective editorial from revenue-generating content. You are the writer and publisher of your blog, so we want you to do whatever you're most comfortable. For example, you can disclose on your blog that your links are affiliate links, or you can designate a charity from our Charity List as the beneficiary of your commissions. You should feel free to state on your site either way - that you are earning commissions to support the cost of running your blog, or that all of the money is being donated to charity.

If your readers find value in your writing and believe you are writing honest recommendations, then they shouldn't have a problem helping you to support the costs of your blog. The commissions are paid by the merchant so no money is coming out of the pocket of the reader/consumer.

How do I get paid?

Once you accrue at least $25 in Referral Fees in a calendar quarter, we will send you a check roughly 60 days after the end of the quarter. We are required to collect your social security number/Tax ID for tax purposes if you earn more than $600, but for the beta you don't have to give it to us unless you reach $600 in Referral Fees. After our beta program, we will likely have to require Tax ID info from all users. Almost every merchant's affiliate program agreement requires your Tax ID info at the time of application.

If you're giving away your software, how are you making money?

We are offering a free license for our software in order to encourage people to try it out. We make money through our Zoundry service because we act as your master affiliate. In return for managing your account and making it easier for you to work with our merchants, we keep a small percentage of your commissions. You don't have to make any money in order to use our software, but we both benefit if you do. So give it a try. See how easy it can be to share your product knowledge with friends and family and get rewarded for referring sales to retailers.

What merchants do you have?

See our current merchant list here, and we are planning to add other name brand online retailers soon. Our goal is to be your one-stop shop for creating affiliate links for any product being sold online.

What if I can't find a product or merchant in your system?

Send us an email at contact@zoundry.com. We will try to add that product or merchant to our system as quickly as possible.

What's the difference between your Blog Writer and the online editor at my blogging service?

The main difference between our Blog Writer and online blog editors is our unique Zoundry Product Placement Engine that creates affiliate links for you. Secondly, our software is a client application, meaning that it is installed on your PC instead of being accessed through a browser. Think of the difference between using an email client, like Microsoft Outlook, and an webmail service, like Hotmail. Both allow you to compose, send, and read email, but Outlook works even when you're not online. On the other hand, you can access Hotmail from any PC or kiosk that has an Internet connection. Outlook also gives you more functionality to search, sort, and format email.

The Zoundry Blog Writer gives you similar advantages as a client application. You can write posts offline (except for inserting product links which requires Internet access), move around images in your post, and easily format text using our editor. But you should feel free to use both our Blog Writer and the online editor at your service depending on your situation - your posts will be synchronized between the two.

Is affiliate marketing a replacement for ads, such as Google's AdSense?

No, you can do both. In fact, we encourage you to sign up for Google's AdSense to place sidebar ads in your blog, and use Zoundry to place affiliate links within your posts. Our revenue models are slightly different - Google gives you money for every clickthrough, but you earn Zoundry affiliate commissions only when someone clicks through and purchases at the online retailer.

You can read more about the pros and cons of affiliate marketing vs. advertising at this post on our Zoundry Blog. For more information on Google's AdSense, click here to visit their web site.

I'm already an Amazon Associate, why should I join Zoundry?

With our integrated Blog Writer and Product Placement Engine, Zoundry offers a seamless writing, formatting, and linking solution. As you know, right now you have to login to Amazon Associates Central to search for a product and create a text link. Then you have to copy and paste that link into the HTML of your blog or web site. We save you several steps and make affiliate link creation as simple as 1-2-3:

1. Highlight the word or phrase where you want to create the link.
2. Right-click and select Create Product Link.
3. Select the right product and click OK - it's as easy as that!

Do you have an API for the Zoundry Service?

Not at this time. Although our service is based on web services, we do not have a general API for other blogging clients. We may open an API in the future, so send us an email at contact@zoundry.com if you're interested in hearing more about our API plans.

What is a Zoundry Guest ID and how do I share it?

A Zoundry Guest ID is a public version of your Zoundry username that you can choose to share with friends and family and/or the general public. If you decide to share your Guest ID (via a setting within your Account page in the Zoundry Service), people will be able to enter your Guest ID into the Zoundry ID field within the Zoundry Blog Writer and their commissions will go into your account. This option works well if you are the administrator of a group, such as a book club, and will manage or distribute commissions among your members.

The Guest ID option also works well if you are a school or nonprofit organization and want to use Zoundry as a fundraising tool. You can ask your community members to enter your Guest ID into their Zoundry Blog Writers and all commissions they earn will go into your account as donations for a school trip or charity campaign. Note that if someone enters your Guest ID and earns commissions for your nonprofit organization, that person will not be able to claim those dollars as a charitable contribution for tax purposes. We are not able to track the performance of each individual guest using your shared Guest ID at this time.

If I designate a charity to receive my commissions, will I be able to claim the value of those commissions as a charitable deduction on my taxes?

No. Although you will be earning the money that will be donated to the charity, the actual donation will be from Zoundry. In addition, if you do not have an account with the Zoundry Service and are using a charity ID in your Zoundry Blog Writer, we will not be able to track the amount of commissions that you have earned for the charity. However, if you have an account with the Zoundry Service and receive a payment check from Zoundry, you can choose to donate that money to a charity and claim that as a tax deduction.

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Nitty Gritty Questions

I've heard about link hijacking - should I be worried?

Link hijacking is when someone intercepts your links and substitutes his affiliate ID for your affiliate ID in your links and steals your commissions. We have created a proprietary solution that will prevent link hijacking. Our Zoundry product links encode your Zoundry ID so that no one will be able to change your ID even if they intercept it. It's just one of the many benefits you receive as a Zoundry member. Please note that in order for your commissions to be properly credited, you should not manually modify or edit Zoundry product links.

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Total Qualifying Revenues in a calendar quarter	Referral Fee Rate (Percentage of Qualifying Revenues)
$50.00 or less	70%
$50.01 - $150.00	75%
$150.01 or more	80%

General Questions

Zoundry Software Questions

Zoundry Service Questions

Nitty Gritty Questions