Having trouble linking images to affiliate pages

[jkgourmet]

Some of the affiliate programs I belong to allow deep linking. If I understand, this means that one of the things I can do is take an image from their website, copy it, use GIMP to size it how I want it, upload it to my WP media section, then insert it into my post. Okay so far?

If so, how the heck to I get the affiliate code into the image, so that if someone clicks on the image, it goes to the specific page I want in the merchants site WITH my affilate code? (I know how to have it open in another window.)

[Adriana]

... to I get the affiliate code into the image, so that if someone clicks on the image, it goes to the specific page I want in the merchants site WITH my affilate code?

Try this:

<a href="http://www.youraffiliatelinkshere.com/"><img border="0" src="YourimageLocationHere.jpg" alt="" width="xx" height="xx">

Change the above code to suit you (the width/height of the image, and the image location and affilaite link.

[jkgourmet]

Try this:

<a href="http://www.youraffiliatelinkshere.com/"><img border="0" src="YourimageLocationHere.jpg" alt="" width="xx" height="xx">

Change the above code to suit you (the width/height of the image, and the image location and affilaite link.

I'm still confused (big surprise, right?).

I think what you have above is giving me a source for the image. I already have the image in my wp media - is that the YourimageLocationHere.jpg stuff? If that media image is okay for size, do I need the rest of this code?

How do I get what goes in www.Youraffilaitelinkshere.com?

Where in this is my affiliate code so that if somebody clicks on the image, I get credit (assuming they buy something)?

[Adriana]

How do I get what goes in www.Youraffilaitelinkshere.com?

Where in this is my affiliate code so that if somebody clicks on the image, I get credit (assuming they buy something)?

Can you tell us what merchant this is? Or even what affiliate network? We could probably tell you how to create your link then.

[jkgourmet]

Try this:

<a href="http://www.youraffiliatelinkshere.com/"><img border="0" src="YourimageLocationHere.jpg" alt="" width="xx" height="xx">

Change the above code to suit you (the width/height of the image, and the image location and affilaite link.

Sure. Jelly Belly at Pepperjam (I hate their interface, btw).

[Adriana]

Sure. Jelly Belly at Pepperjam (I hate their interface, btw).

I hope someone familiar with that can help: I am not affiliated with them

If it was a CJ, Clickbank or SAS I could have helped. Sorry. Hopefully Lynn or others will see this and come to the rescue.

[marksierra]

Hi Jeannette, I think I can help you.

I think Pepperjam could improve their interface as well. I'm going to start at the beginning, so forgive me if I'm going back to far.

1. Assuming you're already a partner to the Jelly Belly program, from your dashboard go to the tab "Generate links > Program List".

2. You'll see three dark grey areas. The middle one allows you to select the programs that you've signed up to. That's why I said above that I'm assuming that you're already a partner for Jelly Belly. If you don't see that in the list, then it means you need to apply to them.

3. If you do see them, select it from the pull-down menu. On that new page you can either see all the banner sizes they have available or narrow them down to just the size you want by selecting it in the "Banner size" pull-down menu.

4. Find in the list the banner you like.

5. Now here's where you need to decide if you want to store the image on YOUR server (a few extra steps) or link directly to the image on their's (fewer steps). I don't know what deep linking is, but I do know that it's not about the ability to storing the image on your server.

6. Let's take the easy route and say you want to link to the image on THEIR server. Looking at the banner you like, you'll see an "Encrypted Banner Code" section just for that banner. All you have to do is copy that entire block of code and paste it into the page you want it to display on.

That's it!

However, if you do want to store the image on your server, let me know and I'll post back instructions on how to do that.

Personally, I prefer storing the image on my server because it gives me peace of mind to know that it won't change without my knowledge. But it's perfectly acceptable to use the code they give you as is.

Let me know if you have any questions.

[jkgourmet]

Thanks for such a detailed answer. I knew how to do some of this but your explanation clarified it for me.

Yes, I would like to know how to do this when the image is saved on my server. In this jelly belly example, the product I wanted to talk about in my blog post did not have a suitable banner. So I copied an image from jelly bellys site, resized it in GIMP, then saved it that version on my hard drive. Then I uploaded thru WP to the media images. Then I inserted into my post. So I need to attach the affiliate link WITH my affiliate code AND the address of the page on the jelly belly site that shows this product. Does that help explain my challenge?

[marksierra]

Glad to be of help.

Okay, so you're almost there. Since you've got the image already on your server and on your page, all you need to do is this:

Instead of copying the entire block of code I mentioned earlier (the one in the encrypted banner section), just copy the one line of code in the "encrypted tracking url" field. That is your affiliate link for Jelly Belly or whatever program you choose.

Now just go back to your post, highlight the img tag and add a link to it using the url you just copied and you should be set. So it should look something like this:

<a href="http://www.youraffiliatelinkhere.com"><img src="http://www.yourdomain.com/nameofimagehere.jpg"></a>

Of course, use whatever image format you like and wherever you have your image saved on your server. That should all be taken care of now since you said you already had it uploaded using WP.

Here's a tip:

What I like to do is make the link open a new window when clicked on. It just gives you one more chance of keeping your site in front of the visitor. In order to do that, just add

target="_blank"

(using the quotes just as I have them) and insert it into the anchor tag. So it should look something like this:

<a href="http://www.youraffiliatelinkhere.com" target="_blank">

You should be set, but happy to answer any questions you may have.

[Lynn Terry]

Quick question - we are giving you HTML code here, but are you using the Visual/WYSIWYG editor in WordPress? Or the HTML editor? If you are using the Visual editor you just need to add the affiliate link (for that product, specifically) to the image.

Click on the image in your draft, then click the chain link icon in the menu bar at the top of your post screen - insert the affiliate link. The save the draft and preview, test it and make sure it works properly.