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Is this how affiliate programs work?

by darktemplar
7 replies
Hey guys,

I might have the stupidest affiliate program question to ever be asked on here, but here goes . . I was on a website a while back and they were talking about their affiliate program being really unique, it was some IM related affiliate program. What they said was unique about their affiliate program was that every time someone clicked their affiliate link, they would log that IP address and associate them with whomever's affiliate link that they clicked.

Is this really unique, or do all affiliate programs work the same?

If not, is the standard affiliate program practice that if someone clicks your affiliate link, they have to buy something right after they click it in the same session for you to get a commission?

Thanks a lot everyone.

SS
#affiliate #programs #work
  • Profile picture of the author Denise Hall
    It sounds to me like they're referring to cookies - "they log the IP address and associate them with the affiliate whose link was clicked."

    Most affiliate programs do cookie the website visitor's computer, but if the person clears their cookies, then the affiliate loses the commission.

    Some affiliate programs hard code the vistors, though, and in that case, clearing cookies doesn't cause affiliates to lose commissions. But I think there are very few that do that.

    I hope this helps.

    Denise
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    • Profile picture of the author Catalyst eMarketing
      Most affiliate programs use cookies and cookies can be set up for various periods of time. Many programs have 90 day or even 365 day cookies. Some even have cookies that are never set to expire.

      But we all know cookies don't last forever. So some tracking programs DO offer IP tracking as a back up to cookie tracking. IP tracking by itself isn't ideal either, so it's usually added to cookie tracking so if one doesn't track the other one can.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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      • Profile picture of the author darktemplar
        Thanks guys. Yeah, I mean they kind of played it up to get you to join I suppose. Anyways, so if you are an affiliate and someone clicks your affiliate link, they don't have to buy an item right away for you to get commission, correct?

        SS
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        • Profile picture of the author Jill Carpenter
          I believe the software used with idev affiliate does this. It is not necessarily done with every affiliate program, but who ever you are dealing with is not "unique" in doing it.

          I used to see IP address, which webpage a person came from, and a plethora of other data that when I first started was all gibberish to me.

          It takes time to learn how to use this type of data.
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        • Profile picture of the author Catalyst eMarketing
          Originally Posted by darktemplar View Post

          Anyways, so if you are an affiliate and someone clicks your affiliate link, they don't have to buy an item right away for you to get commission, correct?
          Depends on the program and how it's set up but MOST affiliate programs have a decent cookie length. One big exception is Amazon who only has a 24 hour cookie.
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          ADVANCED Google+ Local Training :: Also offering White Label Local SEO
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