{REQ} How Can I Track Where My Affiliates are Sending Traffic From?

12 replies
Hi Guys

just wanted to know if you could help me out,
I have a few affiliates working for me and i'd like to be able to find out which websites they are sending me traffic from.
I don't own the websites they are advertising so i can't put code inside the website itself, but my question is, is there a way to place code inside their tracking link which will give me the traffic source?

Thanks

Any help is greatly appreciated!
#affiliates #req #sending #track #traffic
  • Profile picture of the author Clint Butler
    I think if you do that, then they cloak that link, it might cause problems and result in inaccurate stats.
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  • Profile picture of the author timpears
    I would think that a lot of affiliates would think that if you know where they are getting their traffic from, then you can bypass them and get that traffic yourself and cut them out of the persuasion. So I would guess it probably isn't a good idea.

    Maybe I am wrong as I don't have a lot of experience in this area. But that is my two cents, for what it is worth.
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    Tim Pears

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  • Profile picture of the author callumcoutts
    let me get this straight, you are looking for the referrer of traffic that is arriving at your domain?
    sounds like you are looking for something like this.

    TraceWatch Web Stats - FREE Advanced Traffic Analysis
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    blar blar blar (i talk rubbish most of the time)

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  • Profile picture of the author GuerrillaIM
    The refer information in most cases will show you the affiliates website and not how the affiliate is generating traffic to it.

    If an affiliate is direct linking to your offer on an advertising network thn you can pick that up, but the majority of affiliates that know paid networks well enough to generate a profit will blank the referer by using a redirect on their own site to stop you finding out which network or sites they are using, as if you knew this you would be able to cut out the middle man.

    Have you thought about doing a customer service call to a few people who bought and asking them?
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    • Profile picture of the author verified12
      Thanks for your help guys,
      Yes the affiliates i'm wanting to track are direct linking, so i just want to see they are following the advertising rules for these particular campaigns.
      Although i do understand it may not help if they are running their links through tinyurl etc it wont do me any good coding the link at all.
      Might take a look at that tracewatch platform seeing as its free.
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      • Profile picture of the author JamesFrancisIM
        Hey,

        It really depends on what affiliate platform you're using. Most of them provide a source to track affiliate traffic from inside the admin panel.

        For example, if you're using something like iDevAffiliate, you can track the traffic sources from inside the admin panel.

        Let me know what affiliate platform you're using, and I'll try my best to help you out :-)

        - James.
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        • Profile picture of the author Loren Woirhaye
          Smart affiliates are onto guys like you who want to poach
          their traffic sources and compete with them.

          While I suppose your motives may be pure as the driven
          snow, lots of businesses with affiliate programs do try to
          find out where their top affiliates are getting traffic. Some
          even steal the ads and dismiss the affiliates to cut them out
          of the profit loop.
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          • Profile picture of the author Scott Ames
            Originally Posted by Loren Woirhaye View Post

            Smart affiliates are onto guys like you who want to poach
            their traffic sources and compete with them.

            While I suppose your motives may be pure as the driven
            snow, lots of businesses with affiliate programs do try to
            find out where their top affiliates are getting traffic. Some
            even steal the ads and dismiss the affiliates to cut them out
            of the profit loop.
            I see the temptation. Hopefully not all would do that. What I would do is pat the affiliate on the back for getting me great business and make sure they are never slighted. Cutting them out would be crazy, but that's me. I guess however I would make a mental note of the site for future offers which still might not be in the affiliates best interest.

            There is a need to see what the affiliates are doing too so it's a fine line. I wouldn't want them using an image or a headline that is against my TOS.
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            Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. -Winston Churchill

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            • Profile picture of the author verified12
              The main reason why i want to track the traffic source is so that i know that they are following the rules , e.g email traffic, search, social etc.
              I have no intention of taking their methods that would be pointless for me.
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        • Profile picture of the author verified12
          Originally Posted by JamesFrancisIM View Post

          Hey,

          It really depends on what affiliate platform you're using. Most of them provide a source to track affiliate traffic from inside the admin panel.

          For example, if you're using something like iDevAffiliate, you can track the traffic sources from inside the admin panel.

          Let me know what affiliate platform you're using, and I'll try my best to help you out :-)

          - James.
          Hi James

          I'm actually just running all my offers through hasoffers.com
          Do u know how i could ad some sort of code using them?

          Thanks
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          • Profile picture of the author JamesFrancisIM
            Originally Posted by verified12 View Post

            Hi James

            I'm actually just running all my offers through hasoffers.com
            Do u know how i could ad some sort of code using them?

            Thanks
            Hey,

            I don't personally have experience with hasoffers.com, but you could contact their support desk to see if they have that feature within their affiliate system somewhere.

            The other alternative would be to use Google Analytics and click the "Traffic Sources" tab. Then you can check where your incoming traffic is coming from, and detailed reports of what type of traffic it is.

            Let me know how it goes :-)

            - James.
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