Adult Internet Marketing Forum
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Today I found over at GFY Dino from Adult Fantasy Artist is concern about domain specific sponsors. He asked some very good questions regarding this possible problem.
Unless I have misunderstood, this ’series’ has made claims that some sponsors do not honor affiliate code links depending on what domains the links are on (eg. a direct SERP).
Much of your ’seo’ discussion has been based on protecting oneself from getting cut out of the SE loop by these sponsors.
Can you offer some qualitative perspective on how many sponsors we are talking about here?
What percentage of sponsors ignore affiliate code links in the way that you have suggested?
Are we talking 50/50?
Or is this a rare exception?
For the amount of discussion (3 parts over several days), one could get the impression that this is a huge problem and, unless one protects their site, they may lose lots of traffic they have built through SEO to all these sponsors.
I have never heard of a sponsor not counting a properly formed affiliate link.
I have always manually checked that my links get counted in my stats and I don’t use sponsors which don’t disclose real-time detailed stats.
Who are all these sponsors you refer to (which merit this concern)?
Thanks
-Dino
Here is my reply:
Hi Dino,
There are so many sponsors available, I can’t tell you what each one does or doesn’t do. What I suggest is that you read their TOS or ask them.
Many times pay per click sponsors will monitor where clicks come from, to reduce their chance of paying for clicks that were fraudulent.
Some sponsors may be domain specific so they can monitor where their services or memberships are being offered. Reduces their chances of showing up in sites that could cause them legal problems. Can’t blame them for that either.
I’m definitely not saying they are doing this on purpose. They have to protect themselves from fraud, spammers, and sites they don’t want to be apart of.
Here is an example of just one affiliate script backend. This script is built to work with a popular store script. (Oscommerce).
Notice the Tie to URL. When set to true, this script would ignore all sales generated from anywhere other than the affiliates domain.
Many sponsors are not domain specific as far as I know. It would be hard for them to be, with as many free hosts that are being used. But I can’t say what their policies are or how their script works.
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I highly recommend Joe Bucks. Joe Bucks Herbal Affiliate Program offering you several ways to promote their products. From text links, banner ads, and branded websites.
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Written by T. Martin aka goodgirl from Adult SEM. Keep an eye out for more great articles and tips at her Adult SEO Blog. Interested in having your linking methods evaluated or your affiliate system evaluated? Contact Lloyd Brown aka baddog at baddog@pimpspromo.com.
SEO Friendly Affiliate Systems Overview
This overview of an SEO Friendly Affiliate System is based on my experience with SEO Friendly Affiliates over the last year and a half. This will go over different stages of what I have seen with SEO Friendly Affiliate Programs.
My Experience
I started like anyone else. I built my first site in 1998 and became an affiliate to generate income off my website. Then over the past 7 years I continued to build websites and promote affiliate programs. In 2001 I began working on an affiliate system. In April of 2002 I launched my first affiliate program. So my overview is based on my experiences as an SEO, Affiliate System and Affiliate.
I understand HTML, PHP, Perl, java scripts, flash, and many other types of web related code and graphics. I have administrated several Unix and Windows based servers (MCSE). I work on over 300 websites. I have an Associates Degree in Computer Science from Sawyer College in Merrillville Indiana and a Bachelor in Fine Arts (Visual Communications) American InterContinental University - AIUonline.com.
Stage 1. SEO Friendly Affiliate System.
During the first stage of working with a SEO Friendly Affiliate System I watched as my site ranked for keywords I targeted. Usually I had several sites that promoted the affiliate programs products or services. Sometimes I would use the same affiliate link in several sites and other times I would use a different affiliate link to track how well a domain was doing. During this stage everything seems well. In the examples I am Affiliate 1 and Affiliate 2.
This is wonderful. I’m ranked and my affiliate links are ranked as well. I like this stage and would be happy to stay in this stage. But as an affiliate system gathers more affiliates and as you continue to push your domains and your links, problems develop.
Stage 2. SEO Friendly Affiliate Systems. Problem 1.
As I continue to promote the affiliate programs products and services and my own domains, I started noticing changes in the SERP’s. Now instead of ranking on Page 1 several times and even my affiliate links ranking, my sites have gained value. At this point my anchor text has promoted the affiliate link making it more important than my own sites. Google starts noticing that the affiliate link is important so it starts ranking them as important. Then Google notices that these links are all the same page. So Google ranks the most important link.
This is ok; I’m still ranking well and generating income from the Affiliate Programs. I can live with stage 2 or make changes to the way I link to the landing page and increase my domain in the ranks again. But from the Affiliate System point of view, I’m getting less traffic because now the landing page ranks and traffic no longer comes through many affiliate sites. On the other hand the traffic is going straight to the landing page which many times will have a higher conversion rate.
I also noticed during this stage, the rankings now changed. Instead of showing several high quality content provider sites that are PR 5 and up sites in the SERP’s. I now see my one affiliate link, and many lower PR 2, 3 and 4 sites taking the spots. Some are even the newest domains I recently started to promote these products or services.
Another SEO Friendly Affiliate System Problem Occurs
Now in Stage 2 with some Affiliate Programs I realize I’m losing money. This Affiliate System is domain specific. They will only pay me on clicks coming from MY domains. Clicks are now coming from Google. During Stage 1, while some of my affiliate links are ranking, I don’t realize this isn’t a good thing for some Affiliate Programs I’m promoting.
Stage 3. SEO Friendly Affiliate System. Problem 2.
During this stage the affiliate system has many links into their site. They are gaining PR and being ranked as more important. My affiliate links are generating less income. I start seeing at first the Affiliate Programs domains ranking right under my affiliate link in the SERP’s. As this stage continues I see the Affiliate Programs Main Domain ranking in place of mine. It could be their main domain or their default landing page. (It depends on the affiliate program and their internal linking structure, which link I see taking my place).
This stage pretty much sucks. My income decreases. I’m no longer getting anything for my wonderful work. Also from the affiliate systems point of view, I’m getting fewer rankings in the SERP’s.
Now at this stage I realize I need to take control back. I can either talk to the Affiliate Program about letting me customize my landing pages or I can start trying to block the affiliate link from being index.
Conclusion
Each SEO Friendly Affiliate Systems will have different problems. Affiliates and Affiliate Systems should review what they have seen or not seen. This way they can plan for these problems. I’m not saying they are bad. But I will value the Affiliate Programs that offer me Customized Landing Pages and NON SEO Friendly Links, so I can have some control over my own marketing methods.
Lastly I would like to thank awall19 the writer of SEO Book for suggesting I create some images showing the flow the stages in this article. Thank you Aaron!
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Written by T. Martin from Adult Search Engine Marketing . Keep an eye out for more great articles and tips at her SEO Blog. Interested in having your linking methods evaluated or your affiliate system evaluated? Contact Lloyd Brown at baddog@pimpspromo.com.
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I highly recommend Joe Bucks. Joe Bucks Herbal Affiliate Program offering you several ways to promote their products. From text links, banner ads, and branded websites.
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Ways to take advantage of SEO Friendly Affiliate Systems
I have had a few questions on what you can do to take advantage of SEO Friendly Affiliate Programs.
SEO Link Builders
It really depends on what you are good at doing. If you just like link building, then you can concentrate on building links into the landing page. So you would link with the affiliate link they give you.
But you have to be really good at building links. This type of affiliate system will be hit by a duplicate filter. You will be bunched with the systems default landing page and other affiliates pages. There can really be only 1 that will rank the best.
SEO Content Builders
Content builders need to find ways to prevent the links being spidered. They want to keep their page ranking in the SERPs instead of the affiliate programs landing page from ranking in the SERPs.
These would be all the things you have learned to stay away from like:
1. Put the link in a flash button
2. JavaScript’s added to the link, like a mouse over.
3. Maybe frames? If you can get part of the frame to be indexed and the part that has your affiliate link not, it might work.
4. Search for the SEO no no’s and see what they suggest you don’t do to your links. Test doing something like that.
How will you know it is working? Well, if currently your affiliate link is ranking higher in the SERPs than your page. Then you will need to watch for your page to start showing up in that spot instead of the affiliate link.
What SEO Friendly Affiliate Programs should think about
SEO Friendly Affiliate Programs can be adjusted to allow affiliates links not to be hit by a duplicate filter. Here are some things they may want to consider.
1. Can we find a way to make each affiliates landing page Unique?
2. Will we need to give affiliates some type of control over the look or text on those landing pages?
3. What legalities can arise from letting affiliates have some customization options for the landing pages?
4. How will any customizations to the landing pages affect conversion ratios?
5. What other ways can we make each affiliates landing pages unique without giving them too much control?
The customization would have to be enough so search engines that have a duplicate filter will not see them as the same page. Is this possible? Right now I think so, but since search engines algorithms change frequently you will need to keep watch on everything.
There are many reason that Affiliate Programs should take advantage of SEO Friendly Affiliate Systems. But there are also reasons Affiliates may need to be cautious of them. If the affiliate doesn’t understand linking or the effects of search engine algorithms then they may need some help from an Affiliate Manager.
Semi-SEO Friendly Affiliate Programs
These are programs that are getting hit by the duplicate filter but are not getting the advantages of PR transferring to the pages. These systems should look to see if they could use Mod Rewrite to become truly SEO Friendly.
They should also be able to prepare affiliates for this. With custom landing pages and a good Affiliate Manager to help affiliates with linking or customizing.
Feel free to come ask me questions or make comments. I would love to discuss this and the different degrees of this happening.
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I highly recommend Joe Bucks. Joe Bucks Herbal Affiliate Program offering you several ways to promote their products. From text links, banner ads, and branded websites.
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___________________________
Written by T. Martin aka goodgirl from Adult SEM. Keep an eye out for more great articles and tips at her Adult SEO Blog. Interested in having your linking methods evaluated or your affiliate system evaluated? Contact Lloyd Brown aka baddog at baddog@pimpspromo.com.
|
I highly recommend Joe Bucks. Joe Bucks Herbal Affiliate Program offering you several ways to promote their products. From text links, banner ads, and branded websites.
|
Want to drastically improve your income with affiliate programs? Learn what affiliate linking SEO strategies can help. Find out exactly what you should do to take control of your traffic.
So you are marketing affiliate programs and other ad revenue programs. Is the Rebound Effect making your shots a slam dunk or is your shot a brick? Are you even in the paint?
You have done everything you can to make your site rank high in the SERPs and your site is getting good traffic. But are you losing sales and you do not even know it? Could the affiliate program you are promoting be a traffic leak?
For about a year and a half I have been watching the changes in Search Engine Algorithms and how they are changing how your affiliate program or ad revenue links rank. Take some time to read this article and learn what to look for and what you can do to take control of your traffic to increase your ROI.
Some of the things we will go over so you can see the Rebound Effect are:
Ok some of you might be thinking it doesn’t really matter, if my site ranks high then I know I’m not losing sales. Really? If your sure, well then you can skip reading this article. But before you go, lets look at some things that might be causing you to lose.
Now first, I’m not saying AT ALL that the Affiliate Program on any of these examples are doing anything wrong or are bad in any way. Also I cannot say that an affiliate system doesn’t have a good SEO. A good SEO that evaluates this and does things in their favor creating a “Technical Foul” against their affiliates or if their SEO is working in the affiliates favor. Honestly some Search Engine Marketers may not even take things this far when evaluating Affiliate Programs. (Technical Foul - an affiliate program that works knowingly to gain PR from affiliates AND set themselves up to rank higher than affiliates).
What I’m really saying is Search Engine Algorithms change and there are things you as an affiliate can do. Also some affiliate systems may want to change how they do things or offer different ways for affiliates to link to them. I know many Affiliate Programs go out of their way to make sure there are many ways for an affiliate to promote their sites.
Now lets get started, I just put the term “MILF” in Google. And who comes up first? When you look you will see that MILFHunter.com does. Below it, you will see a link with code in it. And right below that you will see another link that says, “more results from www.milfhunter.com”. *See screenshot below.
Now lets click more results under the second link that is titled “Milf Hunter” So we can evaluate exactly what is happening. When you click the link you will see more links that are a part of the milfhunter.com website. *See the screenshot below.
Interesting that id=marcoola is higher then milfhunter.com. Why is that? Does marcoola have more weight with Google then milfhunter.com does? Can he or she (marcoola) do anything to change his or her rank? Should they? There are things they can do to make sure they get ranked higher. If they change the way they link to this sponsor they can rank #1 for that term instead of the sponsor. They will have to evaluate how they are linking to that site. They will have to come up with a better way to structure the links so they can rank higher.
Some things an affiliate or publisher of ads might do to improve their results with a system that can be indexed by SERP’s:
This next example I put in the term “smooth snatches”.
As you can see the tracking link ranks high for this term. Also if you go to this link: http://smoothsnatches.com/cf_16758_A you will notice it has PR. Now what does this mean to both the Affiliate and the Affiliate Program? The Affiliate System wins because they are gaining some PR from this affiliate. Is the affiliate winning? Well that all depends on that affiliate. This type of tracking is great for an affiliate that can build many links but doesn’t want to build much content. They can put all their time into building just links and gain PR and rank in SERP’s. But to the affiliate that wants to have the traffic on their own domain and doesn’t want to lose PR, they may want to adjust their linking structure.
Also here is another problem, most affiliate systems ask for your URL when you sign up. Some require the click to come from your URL. If the click is going straight from a search engine to the affiliate systems landing page you will be losing sales. Ask the affiliate program you are promoting if they required the traffic to come from the domain you submitted to them. Or look in their faqs to find out if they mention this.
Now, if you find out that where the click comes from doesn’t matter. Then here is another plus to think about. If you can rank high on SERP’s with a keyword and they go straight to that landing page. That is one less click your traffic has to take for you to make the sale. Another big plus is you can concentrate more on link building with good “anchor text”. (Anchor Text - the keyword or keywords you use in the hyperlink that appears on the page instead of the hyperlink).
For affiliate tracking systems that do not do well in SERP’s. You can usually link the same way you always have. But remember Algorithms change all the time and search engines are trying to index sites better. You need to be aware of how your sites and linking structure is working for you.
Getting The “Slam Dunk” Some things to look at when evaluating an Affiliate Program or Ad Network:
After that, you need to decide how to structure your links or sites to take advantage of how the affiliate tracking system works. Really this includes any tracking system that you use for contextual ads, ad networks, e-commerce stores, and more.
I could go on about many other things to evaluate or do when you promote affiliate programs. But this has become a pretty long article, so I will try to continue to provide tips and articles in my adult seo blog.
But if you want to learn more in the meantime you should really check out SEO Book. It is the ONLY SEO BOOK I recommend to employees that should know some SEO, programmers, webmasters, anyone that wants to know more about SEO and text content providers.
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I highly recommend Joe Bucks. Joe Bucks Herbal Affiliate Program offering you several ways to promote their products. From text links, banner ads, and branded websites.
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Written by Tanya Martin aka goodgirl from Adult Search Engine Marketing. Keep an eye out for more great articles and tips at Adult SEO Blog. Interested in having your linking methods evaluated or your affiliate system evaluated? Contact Lloyd Brown aka baddog at baddog@pimpspromo.com.
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