Affiliate Links In Articles?
PotPieGirl on July 2nd, 2008
One of the hardest things about article marketing is the process it takes to actually convert a reader into a sale. First you have to make sure that someone clicks to even read your article, then you have to hope they read it all the way thru to where they even SEE your author bio box. Then, you have to hope they actually click a link TO your niche site where you offer your affiliate products…and then, you have to hope they click to read the sales page, and THEN, you cross your fingers that they BUY the product.
Whew! Exhausting…and a lot of opportunity to lose a reader in the process! Wouldn’t it be nice if you could simply put your affiliate link straight to the product in your article? But article directories, like EZineArticles, don’t allow that, right?
Wrong! There IS a way to get your affiliate link into your article marketing author resource box so you can send your readers STRAIGHT to the affiliate product.
This is a neat little trick that I’ve been using. It is approved by EZineArticles, and it DOES work! I was doing my ‘hell day’ for one of my sites and found myself using this little trick - it made me wonder if my new readers here at 6StepNicheSites.com knew how to do this, too.
The short answer to getting an affiliate link in your article is to a) buy a domain name, and then b) redirect the domain name to the affiliate page.
Sound expensive and complicated? It’s so NOT! You don’t even need website hosting to do this…. just a domain name!
To do this today, I bought a cheap .info domain name at GoDaddy.com (a whopping 99 cents!). I did NOT redirect the name servers to direct the domain name to my hosting account. Instead, I went into my GoDaddy account, clicked on the domain name I wanted to use, chose “forwarding”, and then put my Clickbank affiliate link in the space for the url you want the new domain to go to. This makes it so when someone clicks the link for mysupernewdomainname.info, it redirects them immediately to the affiliate sales page.
Then, I clicked another tab on the same screen and chose ‘url masking’. This makes it so when someone clicks your forwarding link, they are sent to the sales page (with you affiliate code in tact), BUT they don’t SEE your hop link in their browser window! Since it is ‘masked’ it will show the domain name you bought for this purpose.
Nifty, huh?
Best part is, if the affiliate program I am promoting doesn’t convert well, I can simply pick a new one and have the domain name redirect to THAT product instead!
Now, as we have discussed, the purpose of article marketing (aka “Hell Day”) is not just to get traffic and eyeballs on the products you are promoting, it is also to generate well-keyworded back links to your niche site. Based on this, and based on the fact that EzineArticles will allow TWO links in a bio box, I make one link to my niche site and the other link it my re-direct.
Are You Sure This Is Ok?
Yes, I am sure. But just to clarify, let me quote EzineArticles editorial guidelines:
EzineArticles.com Editorial Guidelines: (AFFILIATE PROGRAMS):
Affiliate links will be allowed if the link is a domain name you own which forward/redirects to the affiliate link from the top-level of the domain name. For example, it is permissible to forward to an affiliate link from:
http://your-company-name.com/
…but it would not be permissible to forward to an affiliate link from:
http://your-company-name.com/page.html
http://your-company-name.com/subdirectory/
http://your-company-name.com/subdirectory/page.html
http://sub-domain.your-company-name.com/Any article with an affiliate link that does not adhere to this guideline will cause the article to be rejected.
Cool, huh? For 99 cents you CAN get an affiliate link within the articles of your article marketing campaigns!
Want the complete directions? Read GoDaddys step by step guide page here.
July 11th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Hey,
This is a really neat trick, thanks for sharing it.
Ed
July 11th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Wow, thanks PotPie — this really is a great tip. Mind if I tell a few friends?
LOL
Melissa
P.S. thanks again for the wonderful “Detox” lens. It’s been quite a little money maker so far.
: )
July 17th, 2008 at 1:03 am
Absolutely brilliant! I saw somebody alluding to this on the Warrior Forum but they didn’t provide this information. Wow.. this is excellent. Thanks as always.
Carter
August 4th, 2008 at 12:58 am
cool trick, now if I can just get ezine to start accepting my articles again lol!
September 1st, 2008 at 1:10 pm
thanks for the great detail explanation , been looking high and low for it =)
September 8th, 2008 at 6:05 am
I am new to marketing.
Do I have to buy a
domain name for each affiliate product then redirect it? Should I host a site and put all my affiliates on one page
with links to each affiliate site?
You can email me back at
bizmail888@gmail.com
Thanks for the help
Franky
September 9th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Hi Jennifer,
I was reading your post on using domain forwarding and article marketing to sell affiliate products.
You mentioned that this strategy will work with clickbank. Do you know if it violates the TOS for Ebay or Amazon?
Thanks,
Marjorie
P.S. Thanks for convincing me to buy the squidoo cash machine.
2 new lenses and 4 sales in 5 days!
September 9th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
@ Franky -
Yes, you will need one domain name per each affiliate product when using this method.
@ Marjorie -
You will need to check the TOS for each advertiser. It’s hard to give a blanket answer to that - and Lord knows, I sure don’t want to be wrong!
4 sales in FIVE DAYS! You go, girl! That is awesome!
September 12th, 2008 at 1:32 am
Jennifer, Could you explain how to get an avatar into Squidoo. I have asked on WA as I cannot log into the forum in Squidoo. I have followed all of the suggestions. It will go into the dashboard and my toolbox not into the lens, Thanks, Marv
September 12th, 2008 at 1:39 am
Hi Marv =)
Marv - have you tried uploading the image directly into the bio area of a single lens? Then choose to make it your ‘default’?
Jennifer
October 22nd, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Hey, I’ve tried this and it still says the page is parked by godaddy. Do I just leave it for a bit longer to see the website show up?
October 22nd, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Yes, Holly… it takes some time for it to “take”. Usually about an hour for me.
October 26th, 2008 at 3:45 am
Hi PotPieGirl,
I am Noor on WA and I have been following you on Squidoo. Today I bought the One Week Marketing and just got to page 25. You are amazing! I am going to follow your OWM to the letter and make it work for me.
I have been trying to make money from the net for over a year now. So far I made about $300, plus the frustrations of seeing a lot of zero earnings lately especially since the economic downturn.
WA has provided me with a good understanding of html, linkings, keyword research and all those internet marketing thingies. But there is this one snag (I don’t know what it is) that keep me from putting all my knowledge into making money online. At times I thought of giving up.
You just gave me hope. I don’t want to be the 97% who give up. I would love to shout out that first Clickbank sale after following your OWM. And I hope you will help me if I get stuck along the way.
Thanks so much for sharing.
October 28th, 2008 at 4:21 am
Hi Potpie, I have been looking for a long time and despite all the money I spent I have not been able to make money on line
Your program looks great and I WILL MAKE IT WORK WITH YOUR HELP!
Thank you
Sincerely,
Manuel
November 7th, 2008 at 12:27 am
Hey PPG,
Do you specifically tell in your book how to create an opt-in box to create a list since Squidoo outlawed those a while back? Thanks! kristie
November 11th, 2008 at 4:48 am
Jennifer, I found this didn’t work for me until I got help from GoDaddy support to change an IP address. Maybe that’s because it’s the first time I had tried to set something like this up.
November 11th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Chris -
That sounds like an unusual situation. Usually it is as simple as buying a domain name, going into your GoDaddy account, and enetering the url you want that new domain name to forward to.
Glad you got it straightened out tho!
Jennifer
~PotPieGirl
November 13th, 2008 at 5:48 am
million dollar tip for 99 cents! I dig it!