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Affiliate banners, what's the deal?

by avetiquette
13 replies
I'm creating some banners for affiliates, but I'm not familiar with the procedure. I can make jpegs all day long, but I don't know if I'm supposed to include some code in there.

Is it okay to just offer jpeg banners for affiliates on my site, and let the affiliates copy the jpeg and do the rest on their own? Or do I need to incorporate the html code for them as well?
#affiliate #banners #deal
  • Profile picture of the author Joel O
    Well... it's always better to make the job of promoting your products for your affiliates as easy as possible. The easier it is for them to just copy and past, the more affiliates will probably promote.

    Some affiliates may not know how to make the code themselves, so why not include it for them, or maybe give instructions as to what they need to do.

    The more affiliate tools you give and the easier it is for them to use, the better.


    Hope that helps,
    - Joel Osborne
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  • Profile picture of the author MarkAse
    TR-My research, I am far from an expert, is that you're going to want to include the code for them....or at least get in with a service like Share A Sale who can provide you with the code. I think Golden Can might be able to as well, but I'm not sure on that point.
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  • Profile picture of the author daddles
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    • Profile picture of the author Laura B
      Originally Posted by daddles View Post

      I do quite a bit of affiliate marketing, and I have never once had to encode my banners myself, I have never even heard of such a thing. I wouldn't know how to do that and would probably not promote that particular product because it would be the only one on the entire web that I have ever heard of that requires me, the affiliate, to do such a thing, in fact it would be widely viewed as absurd to 99.9 percent of affiliates. I hope this was helpful.
      This is an interesting discussion to me because I recently had an affiliate ask why I don't have their affiliate IDs already embedded in the code. I do provide them with this:
      Code:
      <a href="YourAffiliateLink" title="Affiliate Marketing for Beginners Course"><img border="0" src="ImageURL" alt="Affiliate Marketing Schoolbook" width="120" height="240" /></a>
      and I tell them to replace "YourAffiliateLink" with their link and "ImageURL" with their URL. Since I don't know their ID or affiliate link, nor do I have any clue where they're going to upload the images, I don't know how I'm supposed to give them ready-to-insert code.

      If any experienced vendors can give us some pointers, that would be great!
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  • Profile picture of the author source47
    You can use this basic code and have your affiliates replace the default link with their affiliate link. I hope that this helps!

    <a href="http://www.yoursite.com/affiliatelink"><img src="http://www.yoursite.com/imagebanner.jpg" border="0" /></a>
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    • Profile picture of the author Laura B
      Originally Posted by source47 View Post

      You can use this basic code and have your affiliates replace the default link with their affiliate link. I hope that this helps!

      <a href="http://www.yoursite.com/affiliatelink"><img src="http://www.yoursite.com/imagebanner.jpg" border="0" /></a>
      Yes, that's what I do. But one of my affiliates said it was a royal pain to replace the links. That's where I get confused.
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      • Profile picture of the author Lloyd Buchinski
        Originally Posted by Laura B View Post

        Yes, that's what I do. But one of my affiliates said it was a royal pain to replace the links. That's where I get confused.
        Some people will whine and complain about anything. I feel pretty clear about that.

        That is one of the simplest things you can do with links so I wouldn't really worry about it. If you do have the time and the inclination it might be worth asking for their affiliate id, for their domain name and where they will load the image on their site, and maybe even try to work it out for them.

        Dumb doesn't completely rule out gratitude or even results, but it probably lowers the statistical chances. It could also be someone intelligent who is just getting into this for the first time and would understand the value of this kind of information, and would really appreciate it.

        best wishes, lloyd
        .......__o
        .......\<,
        ....( )/ ( )...

        ps, also with CB and some other programs you just have to enter your affiliate ID and their software will work out a text link with the id included, so some people might be used to that.
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        • Profile picture of the author Laura B
          Originally Posted by Lloyd Buchinski View Post

          ps, also with CB and some other programs you just have to enter your affiliate ID and their software will work out a text link with the id included, so some people might be used to that.
          Right now I'm using e-junkie, and of course they provide the encoded text links too, but all my affiliate banners and buttons are set up on my own site, not theirs, so obviously if they want to use one of my banners rather than a text link, they're going to have to at least paste in the image code, not to mention download the image and put it on their server. That's unless I start personalizing each affiliate's links for them, as you mentioned, which could really get out of hand as I get more and more affiliates.

          So would you say daddles' assertion is overblown just a little:
          I do quite a bit of affiliate marketing, and I have never once had to encode my banners myself, I have never even heard of such a thing. I wouldn't know how to do that and would probably not promote that particular product because it would be the only one on the entire web that I have ever heard of that requires me, the affiliate, to do such a thing, in fact it would be widely viewed as absurd to 99.9 percent of affiliates. I hope this was helpful.
          I just can't imagine that's really the case. Daddles, if you can give me more information, that would be great. I am trying to make things easy for my affiliates, so I honestly would like to know how you came up with that percentage and if that's truly the experience of most AMers.

          And I hope the OP doesn't mind me hijacking the thread, but the discussion has probably been helpful to him as well.
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          • Profile picture of the author Lloyd Buchinski
            Originally Posted by Laura B View Post

            I just can't imagine that's really the case. Daddles, if you can give me more information, that would be great.
            I don't know about the percentages but there are quite a few places where you don't need to do anything with the image source or affiliate link. One is markethealth.com.

            If you are logged in there you can select a banner for anything you want to promote. The images (very good visually) are served up from their servers so the image source is included in the script you get, and your affiliate id is also included from your log in. So you just need to copy the code they put out for the banner you want, and paste it where ever you want it in your html.

            Just as a aside, my sites were mostly dull boring text (at least to people who don't read) and suddenly that was an advantage. The ads had all the visual attraction.
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  • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
    Some people do some coding on their site where the affiliate can put their link in a text box, and the banner code is automatically updated with their link.

    As Daddles indicates, some people are rather accustomed to this - even to the point of not promoting products that expect them to know what their affiliate link is and where to stick it.
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  • Profile picture of the author HomeComputerGames
    For about $50 you can purchase a decent affiliate program that handles all of this for you.
    This is one I use that seems to work well.
    Post Affiliate Pro - Affiliate Tracking Software - Affiliate Program Software

    The system generates the appropriate code for them to use along with keeping stats, affiliate promotions, commissions owed, etc..
    Well worth the investment
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  • Profile picture of the author Laura B
    Thank you, CD and HCG. Is there a simple script that will do as CDarklock suggests if I don't need the whole affiliate program (although I'm glad to know it exists, thanks for the link)?
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  • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
    It's a pretty simple technique. See it in action at http://www.darklock.com/affiliate_replace.html -

    Code:
     
<script>
var baseAffCode="<a href="AFFID"><img src="mybanner.jpg"/></a>";
function ReplaceAffLink(txt)
{
var txt2 = baseAffCode.replace("AFFID", txt);
document.getElementById("myAffCode").value = txt2;
}
</script>
 
<input size="50" type="text" id="myAffId" name="myAffId" value="YOUR_AFFILIATE_LINK"/> <a href="javascript:ReplaceAffLink(document.getElementById('myAffId').value);">Replace</a>
<br/>
<textarea rows="5" cols="60" id="myAffCode" name="myAffCode" value=""></textarea> 
<script>ReplaceAffLink(document.getElementById("myAffId").value);</script>
    Type whatever you like in the top textbox, and when you click "Replace" it will replace the affiliate link in the text area.
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    "The Golden Town is the Golden Town no longer. They have sold their pillars for brass and their temples for money, they have made coins out of their golden doors. It is become a dark town full of trouble, there is no ease in its streets, beauty has left it and the old songs are gone." - Lord Dunsany, The Messengers
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  • Profile picture of the author Laura B
    Thank you both very much! I'm going to try and use both of your suggestions on my site. I really appreciate the info!
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    Free ebook: Affiliate Marketing: Just the FAQs
    Affiliate marketing for brand spankin' newbies
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