The Dark Arts Lesson 1

byBizMaker

175 followers

8 years ago

The Dark Arts Lesson 1

Black Hat marketers use the dark arts all the time to steal affiliate commissions. Some toolbars and a variety of malware are intentionally designed to hijack your links replacing your affiliate link with the thief's link. Some affiliate vendors intentionally steal your commissions by not giving you credit for a sale. Often this is done by closing the sale through email marketing after you captured the lead.

Defense of the Dark Arts Lesson 1

1. Always use a linkcloaker on your affiliate links. It is extremely simple for a program to recognize your affiliate links and affiliate cookies if you do not cloak.

2. If the affiliate program allows encryption of the link, use it. Depending on the program, this can make it difficult for the hijacker to replace the link properly. It's doable by following your encrypted link but much more difficult.

3. When first evaluating a vendor, look for the holes. Opt into the offer's email from a computer that is not used for business/affiliate purposes. Watch the emails and other marketing materials. If your vendor provided stats allow detailed tracking, check to see if tracking is working as expected. If you suspect foul play, purchase the product using a family member's or another person's account. If you don't get credit for the sale, get a refund on the item and report the vendor.

Note: There is sometimes a delay between the click and it showing up in the statistics. I personally allow up to 24 hours but it depends on the platform and vendor. Also, if the email launches a different browser than the one used initially to view a site, the commission is often lost.

4. While I've personally never marketed in gaming or the adult industry, I recommend avoiding those niches all together. Their affiliate programs are notorious for stealing commissions.

Rich Fulton
BizMaker