In reference to a question I recently answered
(Person asking the question)
Hi I was in chat with you the other night ans you said something about affiliate networks not liking having websites in your comments. I have some questions about this.
You see on so many blogs, comments that link to people's websites. A lot of bloggers comment on sites to have that link left. Why would you need to delete them? Wouldn't affiliate networks know that these are just your comments and not free advertisements???
Thanks for your time :)
(My Answers)
Answering your questions in order of receiving.
Why to delete? Well, it has a lot to do with demonstrating to the affiliate companies what your niche is. Having the links of other sites makes it difficult for the affiliate company to know who you are allowing to post to your site.
Wouldn't affiliate networks know that these are just your comments and not free advertisements? Not necessarily. As you are starting your business up, affiliates want to see ZERO other sites that are also on your site unless they are references. Once you have had some sales with the affiliates, THEN it becomes a different story altogether because you have proven to the affiliate company that you are serious about the advertising that you do for them.
But there's a part to the whole comments thing that even Kyle hasn't mentioned. I actually got this information from Avantlink (one of the affiliate companies I am working with).
"You may see the comments of people and their websites as a free enterprise market. Not so with affiliate companies. How are we to know that you are not allowing those websites to have free advertising? Furthermore, you the advertiser don't know which ones of those who are commenting are also clients from the same company. It then appears that the individual (while commenting on another business person's site) is then also advertising for an affiliate company.
"So, rather than get confused in which person is representing a particular affiliate company, don't allow another individual to post their website on your business website. Once you have built up some sales via the affiliate company you are representing, then you can start allowing people to leave their sites."
Now you see why I couldn't give the WHOLE EXPLANATION in chat. Until you begin to show the affiliate company you represent that you are committed to representing them via the successful selling of a product or two, ONLY THEN can you allow the linking of other people's businesses.
And now... an incredible resource that I discovered Sunday night and have really seen some amazing possibilities.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a prosperous 2015!!
Recent Comments
13
Dear CC1 , i salute you again and thank you for your help in a question that I had about choosing proper domain name 2 days before.Now I took the time to read this article but as I am very new to the industry I can't quite follow you and the others on this subject.Do you mean that in our site we must have these 3 fields in the comments section (name-email-website) and that these fields should be requirement for someone to leave a comment?And then we have to show these fields along with the comment?
Couldn't disagree more with this. I've never had any issue with any reputable affiliate network about comments on my site. If they don't know the difference between a quality site and a spam site, regardless of comments, I wouldn't have much faith in them.
Interesting point. Is there any specific way to remove the website field on wordpress sites? I tried going to the discussion settings but I didn't see anything about that..
First I've heard of this. I do allow backlinks for some of my comments and I haven't been denied acceptance to any affiliate program because of it. Maybe I'm missing something here.
Not backlinks. I'm referring to something like these fields on nearly every WA-hosted site:
Name:
Email:
Website:
It's recommended that you fill in your website so that people know which one to comment on.
However, it is also recommended (as a good site owner). to edit out the websites in the above listed fields so that you're not giving free market space on your site.
Affiliate companies like to use your site for free advertising space. They DON'T like to share it with other listed websites.
Right. And I'm saying that I do leave the website url for some people who comment on my sites and I have never been denied acceptance to an affiliate network because of it.
I actually have been denied. Got denied from CJ when I first started my site because I wasn't deleting the comments. I waited 2 months and re-applied. This time, I got accepted.
Personally I think a "good website owner" is someone who moderates and rewards good comments by not editing out the website field.
If I commented on someone's site and they published it with the website removed, I'd be highly unlikely to comment again, and would probably not be interested in helping their site by linking to it.
If it helps them get accepted to a very stringent affiliate program which demands exclusivity of YOUR property in exchange for 10% or even 70% of sales, then that's their choice, but I'd not consider them a good website owner either.
See more comments
This is a bit over my head.