RosalindGardner.com

Learn Blogging & Affiliate Marketing with Rosalind Gardner

You are Losing Money on those Links

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I LOVE the StudioPress Genesis framework and their plethora of beautiful child themes. What I HATE is seeing folks lose potential commissions because they don't bother to change out the footer links which go straight to StudioPress

You can make money on those links!

In the following video I show you how to change your StudioPress theme footer links to affiliate links via their affiliate program on ShareaSale.

Here is the code that I use in my footer:

<div>
<p><a href="#wrap" rel="nofollow">Return to top of page</a></p>
</div>

<div>
<p>Copyright © 2010  · <a href="https://rosalindgardner.com/blog/studiopress" title="Genesis Theme Framework">Genesis Theme Framework</a> by <a href="https://rosalindgardner.com/blog/studiopress">StudioPress</a>
</p>
</div>

 

Comments, questions or suggestions? Please leave a comment below!

Cheers,

sig-ros

Congratulations – You Just Earned $0.00

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I love receiving affiliate commission sales notices that state how much I just earned from the sale of a product that I've recommended on my site.

But those that read “You have earned an affiliate fee of 0.00 USD for the sale of XYZ product on Wed Apr 6 2011 9:44:29 MST“, don't thrill me so much.

They make me sit up and take real notice and ask “Huh, WHY???“. (Imagine a really whiny voice – especially considering I received 2 of those notices within minutes that meant a loss of more than $100 in commissions. Grrrr.)

In this particular case, the answer was pretty simple.

The merchant had moved their program to another affiliate network and was no longer paying commissions on sales generated by affiliate links from their affiliation with the previous affiliate network.

Good grief! I thought I'd changed all those links!

Sure enough, a review through my various sites led me to the errant link quickly.

I changed it even more quickly.

Just one more reason to pay attention to your merchant's email announcements and make sure that your affiliate links are actually generating commissions!

Make More from Your Merchant Affiliations

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Ed is the guy who will spend hours researching and analyzing product listings on eBay, Amazon and other independent online merchants to get the best deals.

He proudly announces his ‘wins' whenever he buys something on eBay for $24 that sells in town for $79.

He's equally proud when he saves just 5 bucks.

To acknowledge his online shopping prowess, I had just posted a compliment on Ed's blog about his ability to find great deals online when not even 15 minutes later he tells me that he's just purchased a Clickbank product to learn how to make his own solar panels.

He then somewhat sheepishly adds “… but I forgot to use my Clickbank ID“.

Duh!

The product that he bought is GreenDIYenergy which sells for $49.97, pays a 75% commission ($32.54).

There's also an upsell that increases the commission to $79.00.

Because Ed didn't buy into the upsell, he only flushed $32.54 down the toilet. (I say “only” rather sarcastically, as I don't like wasting money period — it's better saved and then spent on shoes. 🙂 )

Actually, Ed probably flushed the full $49.97, considering I would have contacted the merchant to ask for a “review copy” which is mentioned on his Affiliate Support pages.

So folks… don't make the same mistake that Ed made.

If you're buying something from a Clickbank merchant in order to do a product review, save yourself some money and request a review copy (if they are offered) or at very least, buy the product through your affiliate link.

Hey, even if you're NOT planning to do a product review and are just purchasing it for your own use – use your Clickbank ID and save some money! (Assuming you're a good Clickbank affiliate, one who makes sales).

Affiliates: Is That Merchant Cheating You Out of Commissions?

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“Zilch, zip, nix, nada, nothing…”
In a NPT forum post entitled “Is This Odd?”, Kaycee reported:

“About 6 weeks ago, all of a sudden conversions from the one of those merchants completely tanked! Zilch, zip, nix, nada, nothing. I'm not doing anything different, links are working fine, their merchant account is active, nothing broken on their website that I can see and I'm still sending them more or less the same amount of traffic which is reflected in my Shareasale stats.”

Given those facts, my immediate assumption was that there was a problem at the merchant's checkout.

Sure enough, Kaycee discovered that affiliate commissions were NOT being tracked, and I suggested that Kaycee request to be compensated for lost commissions.

Kaycee's request was denied.

Most good merchants will compensate affiliates for downtime on the basis of past performance.

Some affiliate program managers will go one better and add a downtime ‘good faith' bonus as shown in the example below:

May 12, 2006 – Downtime compensation for May 11th

Late May 10th until very early May 11th, we came under a strong network attack. The total downtime lasted for approximately 3 hours, however all affiliates will be credited for 6 hours worth of time.

You should see the compensation amount, in the bonus column of your stats for May 11th. This amount is calculated by taking your average hourly earning for May, and multiplying it by 6.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you and thank you for your continued support and loyalty. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact your account rep.

Any merchant partner that does NOT compensate for downtime, especially downtime during which they continue to profit from traffic sent by affiliates, needs to be dumped.

Comments, questions or suggestions? Please leave a comment below!

Cheers,

Ros

Resolving Merchant-Side Affiliate Commission Tracking Problems

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I just re-read the following comment regarding a merchant-side affiliate tracking problem that Kaycee posted to our forum some time ago.

I was appalled by her merchant's response and wanted to make all of our readers aware of how best to handle a sticky problem such as this one.

I have a niche website featuring several merchants. Of those, two have been very steady earners for me for the last year …

About 6 weeks ago, all of a sudden conversions from the one of those merchants completely tanked! Zilch, zip, nix, nada, nothing. I'm not doing anything different, links are working fine, their merchant account is active, nothing broken on their website that I can see and I'm still sending them more or less the same amount of traffic which is reflected in my Shareasale stats. Their overall performance on SAS has flatlined also.

As a comparison, the other merchant is still converting at their usual rate.

Should I ask the program manager about this? I'm not even sure what or how to ask …

Any thoughts?

It sounded to me like the problem was probably a tracking issue at the merchant's check-out and recommended that Kaycee should contact them ASAP.

Kaycee later posted that the merchant confirmed that they had indeed updated their site and accidently left the affiliate code off the “thank you” page and that it was now fixed.

I suggested that Kaycee contact them again and ask that she be paid commissions on estimated sales.

She did, and the merchant's reply was “No, sorry, we can't do that”.

Say WHAT?

Over the years, I've encountered affiliate commission tracking issues on the merchant side several times and the merchants ALWAYS paid up – based on each affiliate's previous traffic and earnings history.

In many cases, a ‘bonus' percentage was added to the commission payment as an act of good faith.

Those merchants realize on which side their bread is buttered. They were still making sales because their affiliates were still sending traffic.

They also know that if they don't take the appropriate course of action to compensate their affiliates fairly, their reputation is at risk. There's no shortage of opportunity to out bad merchants on affiliate forums.

So, “no, sorry” isn't an answer.

The correct response is just basic common sense — you break, you pay.

After receiving an unsatisfactory initial response from the merchant, I would have broached the issue with the network directly. In the unlikely event the network couldn't solve the problem, I would most certainly have advised the merchant that I would no longer promote their product. Seriously, why would an affiliate want to work with a merchant who apparently doesn't know how to work on their own site without breaking it and then cheats affiliates out of commissions.

Last but not least, I would have chatted the issue up on other affiliate forum and named names.

And therein lies the biggest clue. I've never had to resort to that last step.

Have you encountered affiliate commission tracking issues on the merchant side? What was your merchant's response? Were you able to come to an amicable solution? Let us know.

Affiliating in the Season of Love

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Aaah… the season of love. Such a special time of year. For those in love, those looking for love, and ESPECIALLY for those SELLING love – on the Internet! :-))

I started my ebusiness with Internet dating service affiliate programs and the internet dating niche STILL comprises the bulk of my income.

Internet dating services can also be lucrative for you.

You may wonder, “How is that possible? Aren't there too many dating service affiliates already?“

Well, yes, there are TONS of Internet dating service affiliate sites.

Take a good look at them though.

Most of them are complete crap. The pages are covered with banners and links, but ZERO content.

And CONTENT is why my sites are so successful.

I review the services that I promote on my site to help my visitors choose between the vast array of services available to them.

I write articles that help my visitors learn about how Internet dating works and how to make it work for them.

I also send a newsletter to help my visitors stay abreast of new services and good discounts.

Did you notice that I said ‘help my vistors' three times?

Helping your visitors is the ticket to success – and there are still PLENTY of tickets left for that train.

One of the reasons that dating service products sell so well online is because they are relatively inexpensive. They're also available for immediate delivery, and goodness knows, most of us are into instant gratification. Let's not forget that 1 in 2 marriages in North America flounders, so there are MILLIONS of singles out there looking for love.

All of those factors make dating services easier to sell on the ‘Net than hard goods.

Too, generally those who buy an online dating service membership remain a member of the program for between 4 and 6 months, and most dating service affiliate programs offer commissions on recurring sales.

So, instead of making $10 for a one-shot deal, you'll earn 40, 50 or 60 bucks when you signup just one customer!

Courtesy of Yahoo! Personals, here are a few more things for you to consider Internet dating services:

16.3 million (6.1 million women and 10.2 million men) visited personals/dating sites in 2002.
Jupiter Research, December 2002

The popularity of online personals has grown 31 percent between December 2001 and December 2002.
comScore Media Metrix, February 2003

The Personals/Dating category surpassed both Business/Investment and Entertainment/Lifestyle to become the largest paid content category in 2002 with $302 million in revenues, up nearly threefold from $72 million in 2001.
Online Publishers Association, March 2003

Revenues from online personals is expected to grow steadily to reach an estimated $642 million in 2007.
Jupiter Research, December 2002

If those numbers don't convince you, here are the results for some love-related keyword search terms for the month of December 2003.

  • 5,355,479 dating
  • 173,547 romance
  • 634,225 love
  • 110,702 girlfriend
  • 59,139 valentine
  • 200,016 single
  • 302,172 american single
  • 72,130 personal ad

Start your own dating service affiliate site right now and you'll be perfectly positioned next Valentine's to take advantage of what everyone is looking for in the ‘Season of Love' … A DATE!

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