MediaForge Teams up With LinkShare

Tony Zito of mediaFORGE is one smart fellow.

I spoke of him and his widget ad company a few months ago here on SEOish – Mediaforge and widgets for affiliate marketing.

Tony has led the widget space for affiliate ad widgets and has come up with some unique and profitable revenue models for the widget world. Officially, his company is described as….

About mediaFORGE
Founded in 2005, mediaFORGE is socializing and monetizing branded, immersive, and portable widgets that leverage existing online advertising inventory. The company received a $1.5 million Series A in July 2006 led by Prospector Equity Capital and private equity firm Gazelle Investments. www.mediaforge.com

(Unofficially, I would describe Tony as someone it is wise to have a beer or two with while discussing widgets.)

MediaForge will now be teaming up with Linkshare as a widget provider. From their press release…

“mediaFORGE announced the integration of its socialized widget ad platform with LinkShare’s Flex Links and Targeted Merchandiser API. This powerful combination gives retailers in the LinkShare affiliate network the benefits of mediaFORGE’s visually rich and highly portable widget ads along with LinkShare’s contextual targeting at the product level – driving greater engagement rates and campaign success across affiliate sites.
mediaFORGE adds an entirely new social dimension to banner ads by incorporating extensible widgets that enable users to interact with content – whether it’s browsing exclusive deals, watching a promo video, taking advantage of personalized specials, viewing product details, or searching a retailer’s website – right from inside the ad. As a result, retailers can create meaningful brand interactions on a social network site, vertical site, or even a consumer’s desktop.

By integrating mediaFORGE widgets with LinkShare’s technology, affiliates can easily add rich, interactive content to their site, by simply copying and pasting a link. As a result, retailers can increase customer interaction and sales conversion across their network, as well as use mediaFORGE’s rich analytics to accurately track and measure the engagement of ad units on affiliate sites. LinkShare’s Targeted Merchandiser API automatically populates the widget ads with product offerings optimized for each site based on keywords and relevance.”