Presentable Affiliate Links?

2 replies
Hi,

I wanted to write about a certain product for my website but then decided that it wasn't relevant. So I decided to start threads on forums asking people what they thought about the product and added an Amazon affiliate link. People replied without any concern that a link was added.

In two days I got 150 clicks and made 4 sales but only around $5. I would like to try it with more expensive products from an affiliate network however the links dont appear as clean as Amazon and people may become suspicous.

Can anyone advise how I can use more presentable affiliate links?
#affiliate #links #presentable
  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by justlukeyou View Post

    I decided to start threads on forums asking people what they thought about the product and added an Amazon affiliate link.
    Auntie Lexy has looked into your tea-leaves and sees your future including many very briefly held memberships of large numbers of forums, and maybe your IP number ending up on a blacklist.

    The important thing is to avoid things like bit.ly (in particular) and tinyurl, not only because people are (understandably) reluctant to click on them, so they cost you traffic/sales, but also because it makes no sense to let your income be reliant on the continuity, goodwill and reliability of an entirely unnecessary third-party service which can disappear in the night (exactly as tinyurl has sometimes done in the past).

    If you have WordPress, there's something called PrettyLink which does this well. If not, there are relatively simple HTML-based ways of doing it through your own site. What matters is to be in control of it yourself, and not dependent on others. A good url-cloaking/shortening method is anything that you own and control yourself.

    Another way is to use a redirected domain-name (no hosting needed for the domain). That was a good method when you could buy things like ".info" domain-names for $0.99 for the first year, but I think it's not so easy now, and could work out expensively if you're promoting a lot of different products.

    The .ly domain space to be considered unsafe | :Ben Metcalfe Blog
    http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post7408994
    bit.ly... a bit glitchy...
    Does Bit.ly allow unlimited link tracking?
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    what is link cloaking?
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  • Profile picture of the author John Motson
    The way you formulated your question makes me wonder whether you are outright spamming these forums?

    Don't get me wrong, I understand you are hoping to earn affiliate commissions, but are you asking these questions on forums for the sole purpose of promoting your affiliate links, or, are you actually asking legitimate questions about stuff that interests you and to find out more about these products.

    If the former is the case a lot of people reading your threads will rightly take offense to your approach and this is something you should give more thought to. Does immediate gain (of as little as $5 so far as you stated) outweigh the reputation damage incurred as a result of being labeled a spammer?
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