For Affiliate Sales what redirects works best for cookies

[Clay Franklin]

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

[Lynn Terry]

Hi Clay,

I have not used any of those methods or services, so I can't comment on those. I use simple html or php code redirects, or I register a domain name and use domain forwarding through my GoDaddy account. Nothing fancy.

I shared the exact code I used in this post.

Cookie Stuffing with iframe is bad bad bad and could get you banned from some affiliate programs or networks.

[Regina]

I concur with Lynn's answer. I use php redirects and via new domains or html - never used that other stuff you mentioned.

[CorpRebel]

Hi Clay!

Like Lynn I use the simple 301 redirects or php code redirects, or register a domain name and use the domain forwarding feature through my registrars account which is also GoDaddy. I see NO reason to do otherwise. IMO, of course.

Personally, I think some people get too carried away with all the BlackHat techniques out there.

CPA networks, for example, are really cracking down on these "cookie stuffing" and iFrames using sites. "Pushing the envelope" is one thing ... but outright fraudulent tactics will eventually catch up with ya!

FWIW ...

[Clay Franklin]

Thank you Lynn!

I updated a redirect to the html version.
Is there a difference on the effectiveness of using the code on your post for a html redirect compared to using a php redirect? like

[?php header("Location: affiliate link"); ?][html][head][title]redirect[/title][meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"][/head][body][/body][/html] 

replaced < > with []

1) Do php and html redirects both put cookies on machines for tracking who sent the visitor or is that done when the visitor lands on the page? If a user does not allow cookies do we lose the commission on most affiliate programs?
2) Do you use google analytics on redirects or another product to keep track of the traffic?

I never tried cookie stuffing but have read about it and will never do it.

Great post by the way and I just read about SSI and am reading about data feeds right now.

Thank you so much!
Clay

[Lynn Terry]

I use the html redirect because I dont know how to do the php version.

How's that for honesty?

The links track, and the cookies work, because I earn quite a bit of money through those links. I dont use any extensive tracking system on them, no. I have Google paranoia which I am currently in a 12-step program for and slowly getting over...

It would be a very small percentage of people who even know now to allow cookies, or go through the trouble of clearing their cookies. That's just the cost of doing business, but I'd have to guess a very very small cost.

Focus on the positives!