What is an affiliate link?
When it comes to affiliate links, they are just like any other type of online link. The contrast is that these links are meant to measure the performance of marketers.
Having the ability to track affiliate transactions is essential because affiliate marketing is based on profit sharing.
There is a unique ID connected with each of your links as well as the vendor's standard URL.
How do affiliate links work?
To identify an affiliate URL, simply hover your mouse over it. The vendor's URL will be at the beginning, followed by an apparently meaningless string of letters and numbers.
As a member of an affiliate marketing network, that particular publication/individual has been assigned these characters.
Whenever someone clicks on the link and then makes a purchase, the seller will be able to view the unique ID. This implies that they came on your website while searching for a product or service.
To the extent permitted by the conditions of that specific program, you will receive a portion of each sale.
How to create affiliate links?
You can easily create affiliate links by visiting the particular platform that you are affiliated with. Next, you need to select the product or service that you want to promote and get the affiliate link for it. If you are unsure about how to get the particular link then you need to contact their support team since the steps varies from one platform to other.
Improving Affiliate Marketing Links
The use of shortened links by affiliates who want to make the decision to click as simple as possible for the visitor (especially for editorial texts) allows them to avoid the deterrent effect of long, obnoxious URLs.
There are a variety of options available for this:
1. Making use of a link shortener.
This may be accomplished through the use of free service providers such as Urlinko. This shortens the link's length, and also provides you with data needed to analyse your marketing campaigns.
2. Making use of a plug-in
Additionally, the usage of content management systems (CMS) such as WordPress is commonplace in affiliate marketing. There are numerous plugins available for this purpose, including those that can manage and mask links, such as Urlinko or ThirstyAffiliates, among others.
Those who have confidence in the programming can also implement the link masking on their own. There are a number of technical solutions available for this process.
3. Forwarding with the use of meta refresh in the HTML header
HTML syntax allows for the incorporation of redirects that may be accomplished with a single HTML element (meta refresh). According to technical standards, the forwarding occurs in the same way as if the site visitors had clicked on a link themselves.
The problem with this implementation for merchants is that the specific origin of the visitors (on the basis of URLs) can no longer be traced later because a "wrong" referrer is passed. However, the terms and conditions of some partner programs prescribe the transmission of the referrer.
4. Redirects are made through the HTML header.
The header of an HTML file can also be used to commence forwarding (this has nothing to do with the
section of the HTML source code, which is a common misconception). The source code does not provide any indication of this information. You need to contact your backend developer for this.
5. Forwarding through the use of server-side instructions in the htaccess file
One last option is available solely for users of the widely used Apache web server application software. There, the forwarding can be accomplished through the use of instructions contained in a web server system file. Short lines of code can be added to the so-called .htaccess file, which can be used to elegantly route a directory to a specified URL, for example.
When using the .htaccess file to forward traffic, the directory does not need to be present in order to work. When you access the website www.example.com/travelscout24.html, the web server will immediately commence a forwarding of your request. As a result, this path can be used for the affiliate links. The ability to use .htaccess is contingent on the hosting provider having enabled this feature.
Redirects are handled differently by different server platforms, such as the Tomcat web application server.
Whichever method is chosen, the affiliate link will be hidden in all circumstances.
The advantages of link shortening.
To begin, there are several significant advantages to tracking.
- All clicks directed to the same subpage in the merchant shop are routed via a page. If a tracking code is put there, the total number of clicks can be logged in the tracking tool.
- It makes the management process much more streamlined. Generally, you'll have much more than a link to a single subpage of a single business. If there are any modifications to the affiliate URLs, they may be made centrally.
- With improved link management, even complex A / B tests are possible. For instance, you can determine whether traffic to a main or sub-category page converts more effectively. To do this, the forwarding must be alternated between two distinct affiliate URLs, each of which must be labelled with a sub-ID.
After analysing data from the affiliate network, it is possible to determine which traffic generates the highest commissions.
