Do Click Your Own Affiliate Links!!

catherinel · Joined: 13 May 2007 Posts: 62

Ok, we all know that we mustn't click our own adsense links, but do make sure you click on your own affiliate links, because if they're not working, it could cost you a fortune.

I set up a new test campaign on Adwords yesterday to promote a product I've been excited about promoting for ages. Admittedly, I was still quite sleepy as I get up early. Anyway, it was all set up, so I left it for a couple of hours. When I came back, I'd had $70 worth of clicks. Not bad, as I was averaging about 20 cents a click.

So I checked my affiliate stats, and not one person had clicked through to the product. Well, I know I don't suck that much at sales and it's a great product, so I went to check my site. Somehow, I'd not set up my affiliate links properly - I was sending customers nowhere - infact, I was sending them to the page they just left!

So don't be dopey like me. Don't launch an Adwords campaign when you're sleepy, and do check that your links are working first.

Jim Hutchinson · Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 3:28 pm Post subject:

Sleepy or not, I have a habit of checking all my links, affiliate and non-affiliate. Since I create short links for the affiliate links, I test them before and after putting them online.

Otherwise, if a link is broken, the visitors will look for the product someplace else. That is probably why you got so many AdSense clicks. While that is a nice return for a few hours, I will take the affiliate commissions over AdSense any day.

Jim

catherinel · Joined: 13 May 2007 Posts: 62

Hi Jim - yes I learned my lesson well. Sleepy or not, I will now always check the links. How did you know I got a lot of Adsense clicks, or were you just guessing?

When I repaired the links, I actually took adsense off the site altogether. The adsense clicks came nowhere near to covering the cash I'd lost of the links that didn't work, unfortunately.

Jim Hutchinson · Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 1:07 am Post subject:

I knew you got a lot of AdSense clicks because you said you had $70 worth of clicks. Now that your links are fixed, your affiliate sales should far exceed the AdSense.

Jim

catherinel · Joined: 13 May 2007 Posts: 62

Sorry to mislead you Jim - I had in fact had over $70 dollars of adword clicks ran up in my adwords account before i realised the error. Thank goodness it wasn't adsense clicks or my adwords bill would have been horrendous for links that didn't work.

jpatriar · Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 32 Location: Watertown, MA

I always click my affiliate links after and add sub-campaigns whenever possible so I can track which and what pages/links/banners/etc.. convert. I also include the date I added the link/banner in comments just above the affiliate code.