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Hubpages & Your Amazon Affiliate Links

by Dave353
28 replies
I joined Hubpages.com recently and started creating a number of Hubs. One of these hubs which was on a certain technology gadget started doing pretty well considering that it had only been up there for a few months.

However after awhile I noticed that I wasn't making as many sales and thought it was a problem with traffic. After some investigation I found that the position of my hub page in Google was the same and if anything I was getting more traffic but I was still getting fewer click through s to Amazon.

I then realized that my affiliate link wasn't showing as often as it should have been. Hubpages offer a 60/40 click rate which means that 60% of page refreshes will show your affiliate link while 40% will show Hubpages affiliate link. Fair enough as they put up the page etc etc.

So, I then checked by refreshing the page and was very surprised to see that for every 10 page refreshes, only 3 showed my affiliate links. I was able to check this by hovering my mouse pointer over the Amazon product link, your Amazon Affiliate id should appear in the toolbar at the bottom of the page within the long link.

Has anyone else noticed a problem with their affiliate links not showing on Hubpages? Could anyone out there check their Amazon links and count exactly how many times their affiliate links are actually showing when they refresh the page?
#affiliate #amazon #hubpages #links
  • Profile picture of the author x3xsolxdierx3x
    Originally Posted by Dave353 View Post

    I joined Hubpages.com recently and started creating a number of Hubs. One of these hubs which was on a certain technology gadget started doing pretty well considering that it had only been up there for a few months.

    However after awhile I noticed that I wasn't making as many sales and thought it was a problem with traffic. After some investigation I found that the position of my hub page in Google was the same and if anything I was getting more traffic but I was still getting fewer click through s to Amazon.

    I then realized that my affiliate link wasn't showing as often as it should have been. Hubpages offer a 60/40 click rate which means that 60% of page refreshes will show your affiliate link while 40% will show Hubpages affiliate link. Fair enough as they put up the page etc etc.

    So, I then checked by refreshing the page and was very surprised to see that for every 10 page refreshes, only 3 showed my affiliate links. I was able to check this by hovering my mouse pointer over the Amazon product link, your Amazon Affiliate id should appear in the toolbar at the bottom of the page within the long link.

    Has anyone else noticed a problem with their affiliate links not showing on Hubpages? Could anyone out there check their Amazon links and count exactly how many times their affiliate links are actually showing when they refresh the page?
    Don't use HubPages.....could be something sketchy on their part, or could be a real certified error in their platform.

    I would bring it to their attention.

    There is so much sketchy stuff going on in the revenue share community, but, honestly, HubPages, as far as I know, is one of the more upstanding platforms out there.

    Just don't let that Hubber score fall below 75
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  • Profile picture of the author Ryan700
    Originally Posted by Dave353 View Post

    I joined Hubpages.com recently and started creating a number of Hubs.

    After some investigation I found that the position of my hub page in Google was the same and if anything I was getting more traffic but I was still getting fewer click through s to Amazon.

    Hubpages offer a 60/40 click rate which means that 60% of page refreshes will show your affiliate link while 40% will show Hubpages affiliate link.

    So, I then checked by refreshing the page and was very surprised to see that for every 10 page refreshes, only 3 showed my affiliate links.
    I'm not sure if this is the reason but to find out for sure what the "real" rate is go to a different computer (such as the ones at the library) and check it out there. Just like this forum where you actually have to log out to see if your thread that you posted is a "hot" one you may be served their ads more often because of your IP address. It may be that way to discourage people from clicking on their own links.

    Just my thoughts.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dave353
      Originally Posted by Ryan700 View Post

      I'm not sure if this is the reason but to find out for sure what the "real" rate is go to a different computer (such as the ones at the library) and check it out there. Just like this forum where you actually have to log out to see if your thread that you posted is a "hot" one you may be served their ads more often because of your IP address. It may be that way to discourage people from clicking on their own links.

      Just my thoughts.

      Thanks Ryan, I thought about the IP address too. Maybe that's it but it still wouldn't explain why my Amazon stats are so low when Im actually getting the same traffic. I had a high click rate according to my Amazon stats and then it just stopped even though my traffic was the same, thats when I had the idea that Hubpages wasn't showing my Affiliate Id like they should. I'll try another PC at work to test this out and see what happens.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kay King
        So, I then checked by refreshing the page and was very surprised to see that for every 10 page refreshes, only 3 showed my affiliate links.
        I found the same thing with hubpages some months ago and it's true for the adsense, too. It may be as simple as the first impression of your site a visitor has is the one he is likely to click on - users don't refresh the page - and it seems that first impression is seldom YOUR affiliate number.

        I tried to find a pattern that would match the percentage claimed - but it wasn't coming out that way. Now if I do a hub it's just for backlinks. I do make some adsense money from them but very little.

        kay
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        • Profile picture of the author Dave353
          Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

          I found the same thing with hubpages some months ago and it's true for the adsense, too. It may be as simple as the first impression of your site a visitor has is the one he is likely to click on - users don't refresh the page - and it seems that first impression is seldom YOUR affiliate number.

          I tried to find a pattern that would match the percentage claimed - but it wasn't coming out that way. Now if I do a hub it's just for backlinks. I do make some adsense money from them but very little.

          kay
          thanks for that Kay, I dont know what to make of it. Hubpages seems to be a professional outfit. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and see how it goes from here. I'll keep ye posted....
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          • Profile picture of the author x3xsolxdierx3x
            Originally Posted by Dave353 View Post

            thanks for that Kay, I dont know what to make of it. Hubpages seems to be a professional outfit. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and see how it goes from here. I'll keep ye posted....
            I like HubPages...it's one site I would recommend in an overall online strategy. I would recommend using many sites in conjunction.

            One think I like about HubPages is how they are transparent with their revenue share. Unlike eHow, who actually closed up their WCP (writer's compensation program) just a few weeks ago after having a 'secret algorithm' for revenue share distribution, I really value the websites that are transparent. (There is so much room for sites in this industry to engage in some seriously ethically questionable behavior....and, most people just sign up under the potential for revenue share, that they rarely do any research, or even read the site's respective TOS or FAQs)
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  • Profile picture of the author PCRoger
    Originally Posted by Dave353 View Post


    I then realized that my affiliate link wasn't showing as often as it should have been. Hubpages offer a 60/40 click rate which means that 60% of page refreshes will show your affiliate link while 40% will show Hubpages affiliate link. Fair enough as they put up the page etc etc.
    Help me out here..

    How are they switching out your affiliate links?

    IF they are, I think you could stop that by using php redirects off of your own domain and stop that in its tracks.

    Or am I missing something here?

    Regards,
    PCRoger.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dave353
      Originally Posted by PCRoger View Post

      Help me out here..

      How are they switching out your affiliate links?

      IF they are, I think you could stop that by using php redirects off of your own domain and stop that in its tracks.

      Or am I missing something here?

      Regards,
      PCRoger.
      I cant use any redirects as Hubpages is their domain and controlled by them alone. They should display my affiliate links 60% of the time but I'm not seeing that at the moment. I must keep checking and I let ye know what happens.

      Rgds

      Dave
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  • Profile picture of the author Filter
    The 60/40 rule only applies if you use their capsules. Don't use the capsules. hard code your aff link in your text (2 links allowed) and you get to keep 100% :-)
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    • Profile picture of the author Dave353
      Originally Posted by Filter View Post

      The 60/40 rule only applies if you use their capsules. Don't use the capsules. hard code your aff link in your text (2 links allowed) and you get to keep 100% :-)
      Thanks Filter for that. I was doing review sites and listing several amazon products & Amazon links. I should cut back on using capsules and just add my 2 hard coded links instead. I'll try this approach for some of my hubs and see what the CTR is. Thanks again for the help..
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  • Profile picture of the author Filter
    No worries Dave, anytime :-)

    Personally, with Amazon links I've found it best to have a call to action at the very top of the article and again at the very end.

    Having said that, I have also had some luck putting them in context through the article so maybe run a split test over a week or so and see how you go.

    Cheers
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    • Profile picture of the author Dave353
      Originally Posted by Filter View Post

      No worries Dave, anytime :-)

      Personally, with Amazon links I've found it best to have a call to action at the very top of the article and again at the very end.

      Having said that, I have also had some luck putting them in context through the article so maybe run a split test over a week or so and see how you go.

      Cheers

      Thanks for this very useful information. I'll start putting this into practice right away.
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  • Profile picture of the author IM Lover
    Hi Dave353 did you manage to find out the problem with this, reason I ask is I am just thinking about using Hubpages myself soon, however I do not want to push forward if the above mentioned issues are the case without theoretical and probable explanations it would not be a road I want to pursue.
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    • Profile picture of the author x3xsolxdierx3x
      Originally Posted by Lee789 View Post

      Hi Dave353 did you manage to find out the problem with this, reason I ask is I am just thinking about using Hubpages myself soon, however I do not want to push forward if the above mentioned issues are the case without theoretical and probable explanations it would not be a road I want to pursue.
      Didn't read all the responses (and my own responses) to this thread again...but...just letting you know that it's from May of this year....FWIW....
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      • Profile picture of the author IM Lover
        Originally Posted by x3xsolxdierx3x View Post

        Didn't read all the responses (and my own responses) to this thread again...but...just letting you know that it's from May of this year....FWIW....
        Yes I can see the dates and lucky enough I was taught them, however the the last response was not from the OP, which brings me back to my question did he get it sorted out and find out the reason to the issue.
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        • Profile picture of the author x3xsolxdierx3x
          Originally Posted by Lee789 View Post

          Yes I can see the dates and lucky enough I was taught them, however the the last response was not from the OP, which brings me back to my question did he get it sorted out and find out the reason to the issue.
          He has 7 posts. His last post here was made in May, on this thread.

          He may not respond to your inquiry, fwiw.

          a PM may be the best way to get his attention.
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          • Profile picture of the author IM Lover
            Originally Posted by x3xsolxdierx3x View Post

            He has 7 posts. His last post here was made in May, on this thread.

            He may not respond to your inquiry, fwiw.

            a PM may be the best way to get his attention.
            Hi thank you for taking the time to help, would you recommend HubPages yourself is it something you have used before, I recently became a Amazon Affiliate you see so am keen on finding out, I do enjoy writing and creating creative looking articles so it could be right up my alley.
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            • Profile picture of the author x3xsolxdierx3x
              Originally Posted by Lee789 View Post

              Hi thank you for taking the time to help, would you recommend HubPages yourself is it something you have used before, I recently became a Amazon Affiliate you see so am keen on finding out, I do enjoy writing and creating creative looking articles so it could be right up my alley.
              Hey Lee,

              While I have posted on their forum quite a bit, I really haven't had the time to contribute as much as I would like to there. They are a high authority and pagerank site, which means they already bring to the table pre-packaged favor with Google. As an Amazon affiliate, you can certainly earn over there....be mindful of the fact that, if you use their modules, you'll earn an impressions based 60% revenue share, while, if you include your own in-text hypertext links, and someone clicks through and purchases, you will earn 100% of the commission on that sale.

              Per sure that, no matter where you ultimately choose to write and contribute content, that you read through their TOS and editorial guidelines VERY thoroughly.
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              • Profile picture of the author James Vang
                Another thing to keep in mind as an Amazon affiliate is that they have recently started placing their own affiliate links on their own product pages. These "Sponsored Links" and "Product Ads" as they call them advertise similar products on external sites. Sometimes they even advertise the same product as Amazon but for a cheaper price.

                I did some research in the forums of the Amazon Associates site and found out that if a customer buys from those links you get no commission, even if you're the one who brought the customer to Amazon in the first place.

                It's a pretty devastating traffic leak if you ask me.
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                • Profile picture of the author IM Lover
                  Originally Posted by Brandstrom View Post

                  Another thing to keep in mind as an Amazon affiliate is that they have recently started placing their own affiliate links on their own product pages. These "Sponsored Links" and "Product Ads" as they call them advertise similar products on external sites. Sometimes they even advertise the same product as Amazon but for a cheaper price.

                  I did some research in the forums of the Amazon Associates site and found out that if a customer buys from those links you get no commission, even if you're the one who brought the customer to Amazon in the first place.

                  It's a pretty devastating traffic leak if you ask me.
                  Hi There

                  Damn after reading your reply this does bring some what of a problem to the matter, so it seems that you can be doing all the hard work such as spending time to write the review then they pretty much steal your customers, this does not come accross so well to me thanks for letting me no about it, and on that note is there anyother type of Hubpages where this is not the case.
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                • Profile picture of the author x3xsolxdierx3x
                  I'm a bit confused by the wording here. This is something HubPages is doing, or Amazon, itself, is doing?

                  If this is something Amazon is doing, this is a QUICK way to loose associates....

                  People swear by Amazon, but I typically earn more from one Adsense click than most people doing in several sales. Because of the keywords I target, and some other strategies, my Adsense clicks generally range from $1-$3. How many product sales does it take to earn $3? (of course, it varies by pricing of the products)

                  Originally Posted by Brandstrom View Post

                  Another thing to keep in mind as an Amazon affiliate is that they have recently started placing their own affiliate links on their own product pages. These "Sponsored Links" and "Product Ads" as they call them advertise similar products on external sites. Sometimes they even advertise the same product as Amazon but for a cheaper price.

                  I did some research in the forums of the Amazon Associates site and found out that if a customer buys from those links you get no commission, even if you're the one who brought the customer to Amazon in the first place.

                  It's a pretty devastating traffic leak if you ask me.
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              • Profile picture of the author IM Lover
                Originally Posted by x3xsolxdierx3x View Post

                Hey Lee,

                While I have posted on their forum quite a bit, I really haven't had the time to contribute as much as I would like to there. They are a high authority and pagerank site, which means they already bring to the table pre-packaged favor with Google. As an Amazon affiliate, you can certainly earn over there....be mindful of the fact that, if you use their modules, you'll earn an impressions based 60% revenue share, while, if you include your own in-text hypertext links, and someone clicks through and purchases, you will earn 100% of the commission on that sale.

                Per sure that, no matter where you ultimately choose to write and contribute content, that you read through their TOS and editorial guidelines VERY thoroughly.
                Hi x3xsolxdierx3x

                Thank you for taking the time to reply with that bit of information, I will be looking into it a bit more befor I take the plunge so to say.
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  • Profile picture of the author shuvo
    Never investigated on it.But What I think Hubpages is a good way to get some extra income through affiliate networks But I feel having a blog or website with some great content would work best to get more clicks in amazon.At least all visitors coming to your website will see your affiliate links.
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  • Profile picture of the author Stuart S
    O wow, I thought the 60/40 rule was only for AdSense, I'll have to check now
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  • Profile picture of the author IM Lover
    Just spoke to a good friend of mine Steve he told me to look into ClickBank, so I think it will be the direction I will be going now, thanks for the help and replys guys.
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