Affiliate Links In ClickBank Sales Page Footers

[Steve Snively]

I am curious how experienced warriors feel about affiliate links in on merchant pages. This is a common practice. Based on data accumulated by visiting over 600 landing pages in the past few days, at least 55% of all ClickBank merchants have links in their footer on the default affiliate sales landing page.

Affiliates: We’ve seen the rants: With 100,000+ registered CB users the savvy buyer in any market only has to take a few steps to garner a 50-75% discount. This discount comes directly out of the affiliate’s pocket; the merchant’s revenue is unchanged. Is this a real issue? As an affiliate, do you find these links convenient when looking for quality affiliate materials?

Marketers: What is the intrinsic value to this link from a merchant’s perspective? Is it to attract new affiliates, as a convenience for existing ones or to help establish credibility? Is there also a risk for losing direct traffic commissions?
I’ve noticed that most sales landing pages are optimized for search engines. Wouldn’t best practice be to direct ClickBank traffic to a separate non indexed landing page allowing SEO, affiliate recruiting, and affiliate resources on the home page?

Thanks!

[Randy Meirndorf]

I agree with you on the affiliate link, there is no need for that, the vendor should not have that on the sales page that they give to affiliates. The page should be seo optimized as when the vendor submits their product to clickbank, they are giving them the product, and they have to use clickbank also for their sales.

[LB]

Those who know how to get a discount via their own affiliate link don't need to click on a link to do it...they know how. Removing that link won't stop them.