I have been doing affiliate marketing for over two years and have not have great success.

I am a techie so I look at the code for most pages I visit and also have been checking the html code for the sales offers I have been getting with Rex Swain's HTML viewer. (rexswain.com/httpview.html)

For my latest post about Mari Smith her 1 shopping cart does not show any views, 100 hits and no sign ups even to the newsletter or sales.
I used domain php redirects for the links. The hits show up on the affiliate stats page.

I have also used URL shortners like a hyperjava from Mike Filsaime, bit.ly, twtpwr, and others.
For Scott's 30 day challenge I have sent 93 people over there and his affiliate stats show no sign ups or hits. My wife signed up on my link for his newsletter. I used a URL shortner for this from my.hyperjava.

I checked a few recent affiliate links from major marketers and found:
Frank K used Adtrackz and the code has a set cookie in it. ($69)
Jason M used gotrythis and it is now for sale for $15.95 a month
Tellman used Ninja link cloaker

I have not tried .ht acccess but usualy have php redirects and add google code to the page.
One successful marketer uses I frames to drop cookies and sends to a naked link.

I plan to accelerate my affiliate sales and promotions and even use a few ads.

1) What do you suggest for the best cookie management?
2) What do you suggest for tracking?
3) Anything wrong with using plain affiliate links in blog posts and ads?
4) Should I be adding code to each banner and ad on my site to track it?
Would it be advanced google analytics or something like adtrackz or gotrythis?

Thank you,
Clay