One super affiliate technique is so simple yet tons of affiliates skip this step every single day. This technique is called redirect links.
How many times have you been at a website, seen a recommendation for a product and when you went to click the link you saw a long, ugly, jumbled mess for the link? Are you hesitant to click on it? Perhaps as a knowledgeable affiliate you know it was an affiliate link, but people not in the biz could be turned off by it.
Now, how many times have you decided against clicking the link just because you knew it was an affiliate link? Do you see where I’m going with this? Those long links are such a turn off aren’t they?
The majority of affiliates who sign up for an affiliate program don’t realize just how often people skip over their link and go right to the main website once they see the affiliate link. Or worse yet, they self-discount a product by going directly to the program, signing up themselves and then using their own affiliate link to purchase the product..
Speaking of self-discounts, it’s not good business practice to help yourself to one. It’s not fair to the affiliate who did the work and made you want to buy, and most affiliate programs don’t allow it.
Stop and think about how you’d feel if someone did that with you! Bottom line, Don’t Do It!
OK, now that I’ve gotten that off my chest (sorry about that little rant), let’s talk about a few ways you can create redirect links that don’t look like affiliate links.
- Set up redirect links on your own website. Sure, people who have been around probably realize this is an affiliate link, but it still just looks better and it won’t freak out those people who don’t understand affiliate marketing when they see a link from a trusted source (you) in their email or on your website.To set up a redirect on your website, simply open a text editor (like Notepad) and name it something that makes sense. For instance, if you were promoting KnownSooner.com you would create a page on your site that looks like this: yoursite.com/knownsooner.html.Copy the following code into your Notepad, inserting your affiliate link where it says AFFLINK. Be sure to keep the http:// part in there just once and keep the quotes where they are in this example.
www.BestWebTechTeam.com – takes you through an affiliate link to the main landing page. (see the word “Best” in the link becomes “Your”?)
Of course, you probably won’t want to do this with every single product you promote, but if something is a good seller, a product that you love, something you’ll promote often, OR a recurring commission go ahead and do it.Let’s say you are promoting a product whose URL is myaffiliateproduct.com. A good choice for a redirect link domain would be something similar like myaffiliateproducts.com. (plural). Just be sure that the company you are redirecting to does not prohibit use of their name in your URL. Check the affiliate terms of service before spending your $10. - You can also get a couple of WordPress tools to help you create redirect links. There is a plugin called Pretty Links that will allow you to create a nice looking redirect link (BTW that link uses the Pretty Link plugin). You can do it with the free version but if you are willing to spend a few bucks, the Pro version has a lot of nice features to create redirect links throughout your blog automatically, replace old links, and has some cool Twitter tools.Thesis theme has just come out with version 1.7 with the capability of creating pages that do nothing but redirect links. This theme just keeps getting better.
So, there you have it – setting up redirect links can make a difference in your affiliate promotions and today I want you to choose one of the above mentioned methods and redirect at least one affiliate product link (more if there are more) from your chosen affiliate program.
You’re now one step ahead of the majority of other affiliates in your program! Keep up the great work!
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This post was written by...
Christine Cobb is a web technology consultant, a small business online marketing consultant and provides information for new bloggers and affiliate marketers. Please let me know your thoughts about this blog post. I recommend the products and services mentioned here either because I've personally used them or know the distributor's reputation. Assume links are affiliate links.
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