It is common for beginners at affiliate marketing to start off by doing what is commonly known in the industry as direct linking. Basically, what this means is the affiliate’s advertisements and other marketing efforts are designed or focused in “linking” the prospect “directly” to the retailer or merchant’s web site. Hence the term “direct linking”.
Other affiliates, usually the ones who have been longer in the business, move on to building their own landing pages or even more elaborate web pages like product review pages. Some well informed affiliates even replace the merchant’s sales page entirely with their own video sales page!
However, whether the affiliate links to the merchant’s sales page directly or not at the commencement of the sales process, eventually he or she will still have to link to the merchant’s order page to complete the sale process and to collect his affiliate commission. This means that in either case these direct links to the merchant’s web site will broadcast to everyone that they are affiliate links. This raises 2 problems. Firstly, because the affiliate’s identification is revealed, other unscrupulous marketers have the opportunity to hijack the affiliate’s sales commissions. Secondly, even if the affiliate link is encrypted by the network (Clickbank for example allows their affiliates to do this), the link still screams out at the shopper the message that “you are making money on me!”
To solve these problems, some affiliate marketers cloak or hide their affiliate links. One low cost way to do this is to use free services like tiny.url or bit.ly. Doing this is definite better than leaving the link uncloaked. However this technique does not give the affiliate full control over how the link will look and it still does not look very professional.
Good affiliate marketers are prepared to invest in good software that give them an edge over others. One software tool that does this but which has for the most part been unknown to most affiliate marketers is the Power Link Generator. This software solves the 2 issues highlighted above. In addition, it enables the user to track clicks.
A vital advantage of using this software is often overlooked: most hardworking affiliates will probably be promoting many products and services. Keeping track of all these products and services can be a real headache. And even if an affiliate has been faithfully keeping track of the products and services that he or she is promoting, imagine what will happen if this product or service is suddenly taken off the market? Or the company retailing the product may just decide to change their URL. It happens!
After years of promoting and leaving the original affiliate links as it is all over the web, all the affiliate’s efforts will suddenly come to nothing. And it will take him weeks if not months to edit all his previous efforts, assuming that it was possible to do so. Think of all the hard work required. Most affiliates probably cannot even remember what they did to promote the product in the first place. Putting it mildly, it’s a real disaster!
However, if the affiliate was using a software like the Power Link Generator, the scenario just described above will be no problem for him. Firstly, he will be notified almost immediately if a product has been “pulled” from the market, since the software tracks all clicks and conversions. Secondly, and more important, he can easily point his links to the new URL (if that is what has happened) or quickly find and substitute a similar product to the one that has been discontinued. All this is done easily from the control panel of the Power Link Generator program. You can’t do this if you were cloaking your affiliate links with a free service like bit.ly.
In my opinion, just this fact alone makes the Power Link Generator worth many times its retail value.
I have already mentioned the fact that the Power Link Generator makes affiliate links look more professional. With more professional looking links, click through rates will invariably improve and as a result, conversion rates will also go up, sometimes as much as 400%. The software tracks all the clicks (hits), and keeps a record of all affiliate logins in one place. This is a very big advantage.
If someone were to compile a list of indispensible software for the serious affiliate marketer, I believe that the Power Link Generator will be right up there at or very near the top of this list.
Blog, Web, Domain, and Business Online Articles
Internet and Business Online, Blogging, Domain Names, Link Popularity, Search Engine Marketing, Site Promotion, create a website, url, Web DevelopmentArchive
Archive for June, 2010
Although there are many free online services that can cloak your affiliate links, using standalone cloaking software is still important so you can fully control link cloaking operations. Nothing can beat the functionalities of cloaking software so you better get one to protect your links and ensure the profitability of your online affiliate business. Cloaking software has the capability to customize your affiliate links. With free online cloaking services, you are only limited to making your links shorter. But with a cloaking application, you can tweak your affiliate link and make it look like a standard URL or sales page link.This capability is critical because it can have a big impact on your click through conversion. Online buyers usually click on a link that looks like a real URL. Essentially, you can convince more people to follow your links by using cloaking software. Tiny URLs generated by free online services are sometimes banned by some ISPs. Some web services and email providers are also wary of tiny URLs generated by free services. So if you are going to use this cloaking method, there is a possibility that you can encounter issues or problems with ISPs and web service providers. You can avoid all of these by using cloaking software. Developers of cloaking applications ensure that your links will be friendly to ISPs and spam filters. Because of this, you can avoid issues with ISPs and email providers. Your affiliate links therefore will become effective tools in bringing in big commissions for you.
Web Development entails complicated and complex details, and before you could create a website; concepts, contents, maintenance, design should be well-thought of and well-planned. You have to have a proactive relationship and collaborate with your web developers, so that there would be no miscommunication and the concepts and designs will be as you specified. However what involves web development? Before anything else, web development is essential for those who want to be seen and heard all over the world particularly for businesses, because having a website would enable you to reach those customers without delays, and be available for 24 hours and seven days a week. The possibilities of the profits that you could gain just by having a web site are limitless. However, creating, updating and maintaining a website is not a walk in the park. For a simple web site it could be developed and maintained by a single individual, most businesses especially a large scale corporation however would prefer a reliable and credible web development team because creating and maintaining a website needs a group of people that are reliable, knowledgeable and proactive as well, and the advantage of a web development team over a single developer is that there would be no hassles and worries on your end if one of the team member is absent because it will be their responsibility and should be remedied as soon as they could.
The number of members of a web development team would depend on the extent and scope of the web development. A small scale web development team should have a web developer who is also known as the webmaster, he or she should have an above average skill with HTML and other tools that could be used for the web development. The web developer could also be the web designer but if there is a resident web designer then much better. There should also be a web analyst; he or she would serve as the project manager only if the project is not that sizable. However, if the project has a large scope and is extensive then there should be a project manager, web developer, web designer, two or more web analyst, application developer, and a system administrator. The project manager is the overseer of the project and team members. He or she is the representative of the team and is responsible not only for the project but also for the well being of his or her team. The Project manager also serves as the link between the web development team and the client. The project manager should have excellent intrapersonal and interpersonal skills, an above average verbal and written communication skills, have a technical knowledge regarding web development. Meanwhile, the web developer is the bridge between the project and the project manager. He or she should have an excellent knowledge of HTML and other related tools. Then the web designer’s task would be for the graphic designs, the presentation of images, colour schemes (if it was not specified by the client) for the website. Creativity and an extensive knowledge of multimedia tools like adobe Photoshop is a must. For the quality analysis of the web site, web analysts are the people for that. They will be the one to check if the client’s specifications have been met. Another important member is the web application developer. This web development member should have the expanse knowledge of JavaScript, AJAX, CSS, ColdFusion, for he or she is responsible for the functionality of the server side. The system administrator’s assignation then is for the maintenance and security of the web, servers for application and database.
As I have mentioned earlier web development is not easy, so if you want your website to be marketable for the sake of your business then it is better to entrust it to the people who makes web development a walk in the park.
Now days there are several reasons you may want to start creating own website. Every business whether they are large or small should have an online presence. Every year, commerce grows by leaps and bounds on the World Wide Web. As families begin to move away from one another, keeping updated with family information becomes more difficult. Phone conversations can become both time-consuming and expensive. Sharing pictures and family experiences on a regular basis by posting blogs or keeping a family website is beginning to become more and more popular by the day.
Whether you are interested in creating own website for business or for personal reasons, there are some basic items to consider as you embark upon the journey. First, consider that it does not have to be a difficult process. Even the least technologically inclined person can build a website of their own. When the right questions are asked in the beginning, the end result becomes the one you are looking for.
The first item to consider is exactly where to start. Words like, ‘hosting’ ‘domain name’ and ‘site builder’ may as well be spoken in Greek for all you know. If that is the case, the most simple form of creating own website is recommended. These afore mentioned considerations lead us to our first do and do not recommendation: DO find a simple web-based program for you to use. DO NOT try to use an advanced computer-based program.
(The difference between computer-based programs and web-based programs is that with computer-based programs, the actual software is saved to your computer. Web-based programs allow you to access your software anywhere you can get internet access.) The reason it is important to get a web-based software program for creating own website is that if your computer crashes, your information will still be available to you. Also, if you are somewhere where your computer is not, you can still be creating own website as it is accessed online.
Other dos and do not’s are to find a program that offers a free trial. If you are new to creating own website, you DO want to be sure that you like your software program. A free trial is a must. DO NOT give up. Hiring out to have someone else create your website for you is a waste of money. You will spend just as much time managing your employee as you would to just do it yourself. Learn the new skill and DO NOT be afraid. Anyone can start creating own websites. You just need the right tools to do so.
