15 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
15 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Article Marketing Tracking

by go2green
13 replies
Hi, I have several articles (100+) published in ezines. They do not allow affiliate links, so I bought a cheap domain at godaddy and it is forwarded to the affiliate site. The problem is I have no idea where my hits, or sales, are coming from as everything goes through 'cheapdomain.info' which is not tracked to the source. Is there a way to get tracking stats with a forward or redirect, or some other way to set it up, I don't mind buying a cheap domain but I can't buy hundreds of them.
#article #marketing #tracking
  • Profile picture of the author iVentureBiz
    Are all these articles going to the same offer?

    Why not setup different redirect pages on the cheapdomain.info site which each have a different tracking ID attached to them... Then using any basic stat tracking program you can easily see where the traffic is coming from and whether it's converting.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1655295].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author ExpertWriter
      Originally Posted by Mark-d View Post

      Are all these articles going to the same offer?

      Why not setup different redirect pages on the cheapdomain.info site which each have a different tracking ID attached to them... Then using any basic stat tracking program you can easily see where the traffic is coming from and whether it's converting.

      How can you make a redirect page? I'm new to the game, learning as I go, and I have 13 live articles,, but no tracking device either. How is this done?

      Thanks
      -Cindy
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1655620].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author go2green
    They are all going to the same offer because this is my first try, also I have the same article in many different places. I have understood that you can only use cheapdomain.info and not cheapdomain.info/one cheapdomain.info/two and so on. Only the basic root domain and no extensions. Have I misunderstood the rules?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1655587].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author iVentureBiz
    Only the basic root domain and no extension?

    As far as I know with ezinearticles you can send to any location you want... Try sending to individual pages as opposed to different directories...

    I suppose the other option is to just use something like statcounter and install that on your cheapdomain.info page....

    1. Create a page called index.php
    2. Add these tags to the very top:

    <html>
    <head>
    </head>

    3. Add you statcounter code after </head>

    4. Add the php redirect code listed below

    5. right below that add the </html> tag

    6. Save and upload to cheapdomain.info

    that should log the visitors came from address before sending them to the offer. Then you can see all the user info at statcounter.com

    --------------------

    Redirect scripts are made like this...

    1. Open a new txt file
    2. Paste this code in:

    <?php
    header( 'Location: http://www.yoursite.com/new_page.html' ) ;
    ?>
    3. Save the file as something.php (make sure when saving the file from notepad you select *.* as filetype from the dropdown or it will save it as a txt file)

    Whenever someone goes to that page they will be redirected to the address you said.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1655671].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author go2green
      Thank You Mark, I am using wordpress and am not that skilled, but am getting better every day, I will try a redirect with a counter, I am getting hits and have made sales but need to know which articles are getting responses, so I have an idea of what is working.

      Ezine Articles Editorial Guidelines: (AFFILIATE PROGRAMS):

      Affiliate links will be allowed if the link is a domain name you own which forward/redirects to the affiliate link from the top-level of the domain name. For example, it is permissible to forward to an affiliate link from:

      your-company-name.com/

      ...but it would not be permissible to forward to an affiliate link from:

      your-company-name.com/page.html
      your-company-name.com/subdirectory/
      your-company-name.com/subdirectory/page.html
      sub-domain.your-company-name.com/
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1655717].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author iVentureBiz
        Originally Posted by go2green View Post

        Thank You Mark, I am using wordpress and am not that skilled, but am getting better every day, I will try a redirect with a counter, I am getting hits and have made sales but need to know which articles are getting responses, so I have an idea of what is working.

        Ezine Articles Editorial Guidelines: (AFFILIATE PROGRAMS):

        Affiliate links will be allowed if the link is a domain name you own which forward/redirects to the affiliate link from the top-level of the domain name. For example, it is permissible to forward to an affiliate link from:

        your-company-name.com/

        ...but it would not be permissible to forward to an affiliate link from:

        your-company-name.com/page.html
        your-company-name.com/subdirectory/
        your-company-name.com/subdirectory/page.html
        sub-domain.your-company-name.com/

        yeah.... this for links within the article... Your signature is completely different story. The best way to subvert this stuff when it comes to article marketing is to leave out all links except for the one in your signature... :p

        Another options would be to register a bunch of .info sites at godaddy for $1 a piece. (get 6 or more and get free privacy with each!)
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1655854].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author samar
    Great post and very very information Mark-d...thanks for sharing,but I can't see thanks button here........
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1656399].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Rajan Cajan
    Mark you did a good job of explaining how to track your articles, I often wondered how to do that
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1656464].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Ralf Skirr
    Originally Posted by go2green View Post

    Hi, I have several articles (100+) published in ezines. They do not allow affiliate links, so I bought a cheap domain at godaddy and it is forwarded to the affiliate site. The problem is I have no idea where my hits, or sales, are coming from as everything goes through 'cheapdomain.info' which is not tracked to the source. Is there a way to get tracking stats with a forward or redirect, or some other way to set it up, I don't mind buying a cheap domain but I can't buy hundreds of them.
    Marks solution will work.

    You could also create a google analytics account and put the analytics code on your domain.

    Ralf
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1656644].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Jill Carpenter
      Originally Posted by go2green View Post

      They are all going to the same offer because this is my first try, also I have the same article in many different places. I have understood that you can only use cheapdomain.info and not cheapdomain.info/one cheapdomain.info/two and so on. Only the basic root domain and no extensions. Have I misunderstood the rules?
      No, you have not misunderstood the rules. You are only allowed to use a top level domain for your affiliate link. Or the other way around it is to just direct visitors to your site directly and put your affiliate links on your own site.

      Originally Posted by Mark-d View Post

      yeah.... this for links within the article... Your signature is completely different story. The best way to subvert this stuff when it comes to article marketing is to leave out all links except for the one in your signature... :p

      Another options would be to register a bunch of .info sites at godaddy for $1 a piece. (get 6 or more and get free privacy with each!)
      No, this is not just about the links in your article. It is about the links in your signature.

      In stead of buying a ton of domains, you may want to consider setting up a blog which you can then direct visitors to specific pages on. Each of those pages you'll be able to track.
      Signature

      "May I have ten thousand marbles, please?"

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1656964].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author iVentureBiz
        Originally Posted by avenuegirl View Post

        No, you have not misunderstood the rules. You are only allowed to use a top level domain for your affiliate link. Or the other way around it is to just direct visitors to your site directly and put your affiliate links on your own site.



        No, this is not just about the links in your article. It is about the links in your signature.

        In stead of buying a ton of domains, you may want to consider setting up a blog which you can then direct visitors to specific pages on. Each of those pages you'll be able to track.
        hmmm then they must have JUST changed the rules then because for the longest time I've been using a link to domain.com/file.php style link in my signature.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1657364].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author go2green
          I have tried to use links like this in my resource box but it did not work.

          I am able to get a page to redirect, but not when I add tracking code, fortunately I have a domain that I no longer use to try things out on, so I do not screw up one of my working websites.

          I may just send people to my own website, which does have tracking. I have resisted this idea because I feel that an article is a landing page in it's own right, and this is like sending from one landing page to another. If they are interested I would rather send them direct to the sales page, and not make them click through another page to get there.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1658407].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author go2green
      I do use tracking on my domain. What I want to do is send them directly to the sales page, which I have to do with a redirect to stay within the rules of the ezines, but I am really struggling with finding a way to track the redirect.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1658472].message }}

Trending Topics