Don't Fear the Link Tracker

We all have fears from time to time, some are rational and involuntary, yet unexplained ( like my deep seeded fear of snakes, don't know why, I have never had a personal experience with a snake but when I see one my central nervous system goes into hyper mode).

Then some are irrational ( like my fear that if I click something I don't understand then whatever I'm working on is going to disappear into the ethers, or my computer will crash, or worse yet I will single handedly obliterate the whole world wide web) pretty sure those thoughts stem from my failed attempts to learn computer programming in college, starting and dropping out of the class three different times.

That was the early 80's when pretty much all computer classes dealt primarily with learning to code and write programs. (oy! I never did well in the math and sciences in school, I was more the creative type, so I avoided numbers and formulas like the plaque, I once took a Chemistry class in high school simply because my Super Brain girlfriend at the time thought it would be" fun" for us to have a class together, I'm not sure who had fun, it definitely wasn't me, after a report card with straight F's in chemistry for the first semester, (no idea how I lasted that long) the chemistry teacher, kindly and cordially invited me to drop the class. Hey, I didn't need the periodic table to fall on my head to know where I didn't belong.

Introducing The Reluctant Affiliate
Remember that T.V. movie "The Reluctant Astronaut" starring Don Knotts or his masterful portrayal of "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken"? That's me sometimes when it come's to learning some of the quote unquote "techy type stuff" involved with being online. But just like those characters, if I face my fears and persist then I know I too will have a happy ending and overcome my obstacles.

So Now - The Fear of The Link Tracker
When I first joined WA, a little over a year ago, one of the first things I did was to forge full steam ahead like a bull in a China shop and click on every link on the page with the confidence of a down hill skier wearing a blindfold. ( My new found advice to anyone just starting out, if there is a link with the words "Getting Started", there's probably a very good reason for that.)

Anyway, one of those links was "Link Tracker" ( mind you I've already admitted that my analytical skills leave a lot to be desired and so I'll also admit that I don't always see the forest for the trees.)
When I got to that page to use the link tracker to set up my WA affiliate link and open wide the floodgates of affiliate income, ( did I mention that what I lack in patience I make up for with an unbridled albeit sometimes misguided enthusiasm) ... and there it was.....

An empty box with a blue create button to the side and this underneath...Valid Characters: [A-Z a-z 0-9],,,(remember my Chemistry experiment gone wrong ) and Oh yea, here were the instructions - Enter Tracking ID - that was it, stopped me dead in my tracks with a feeling in my head like the one you get when you drink a slurpee or an icee way too fast, you know the one I mean?

I tell you when I saw - [A-Z a-z 0-9], I was right back in Chemistry class, (you know, the one I failed?) starring at that room sized periodic chart on the wall behind the teacher as he lectured about... well I don't know what about because all I could think at the time was, Lord in Heaven it's only day one and I'm already as lost as last year's Easter egg.

So I put my affiliate link in the box, starred at it for a few minutes, decided I didn't really know what the heck I was doing and hit the create button anyway.
Bada bing, Bada Boom Betty Boop

Aha.. there it was, my aff. link in the box down below with the word Default under tracking id, off to the right a box for clicks and sales, and I thought, Hoss, you did it and nothing broke, now you're on your way to the big time and you can track where all those clicks and $$$ are coming from with your brand new... DEFAULT link, all you gotta do now is share it with the world. Phfff...who needs [A-Z a-z 0-9] anyway, whatever the heck that is.

Fast Forward to Today and if you're still reading this you have a stronger bladder than I.
Now remember that was over a year ago, so today 3/16/ in the two thousand and thirteenth year of our Lord, (not to mention a new Pope) I looked at my stats page, with my one lonely DEFAULT tracking link and saw that I have had 978 clicks, not horrible I guess, seeing as how I have no earthly idea where in the wide world web I even shared that DEFAULT link over a year ago.

(Fade to Daydreaming scene)
.....Boy it sure would be nice to know where all those clicks came from, maybe if I knew that then I could share it more with the places that seem to be the most active and receptive. And, for a second, I had a Tin Man moment..." Oh if I only had a Brain" and could figure out what - [A-Z a-z 0-9]- means.

Afterall, I've been pretty active on some social networks, blogging, built up a pretty decent group of friends, it sure would be cool to know who's been clicking my link. But how to identify all those places with just one link...guess I could use FB for facebook, yea that would work, TW for twitter, pin for pinterest, okay now I'm cooking, but how, how , how, -[A-Z a-z 0-9]- ...(ah..the ole forest for the trees), suddenly it Clicked,(pun intended).

So I tried the first one, added FB to the end of my affiliate link, hit create button and BOOM, there it was in all it's Affiliate Link Tracking ID Glory, my first true Link Tracker id, my first baby, and I was only in labor for 16 months. So I did another and then another and so on.
But as I made each one, I would then go and post it and make sure it worked and then come back and make another one and upon one return after just a couple of minutes, I happened to notice that I already had 3 clicks on my first link. Coolio, I thought.

Does the Sharing Model Really Work?
Well here are my id suffixes and some results after less than 10 minutes from creation to post.
Def. Link - 1048 clicks ( remember I was at 978 for all time when I opened this page today)
FB - 5 (Facebook)
PIN - 1 (Pinterest)
ST - 18 (Stumbleupon)
TW - 26 (Twitter)
Gp - 3 (Google +)
LkIn - 23 (Linked In)

Pretty nifty huh? So what's the moral of this long winded but hopefully helpful foray?

Don't Fear the Link Tracker.,

Or anything you don't quite understand yet. Everything here has been created with the intent purpose to help guide us along our path, and everything here is really all we need to succeed. If you don't understand something, you can search the site here for the answer simply by typing in the term you're looking for, or go to chat and ask, and for anyone who tries to use the excuse that you're afraid " you may be asking a dumb question" because your so new to all of this, people say it all the time, but here in WA it really is true, there are No Dumb Questions. I may have failed Chemistry in High School, but I did go on to Graduate from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona with a double major in Psychology and Religion and a Bachelor of Science Degree ( I know odd huh, a BS for a guy with an irrational aversion to numbers and the hard sciences, go figure) and I let that silly self limiting belief keep me from simply asking or searching out how to properly use the link tracker for over a year.

So don't put off asking or learning, right now is always the best time. In Fact to prove to you that you are in good company here and have nothing to fear, let's see who thinks they might have the dumbest question by asking it right here in the comments section below. Anyone can ask and anyone can answer. I'll start:
Who Played Lumpy in Leave it to Beaver?( lol. just kidding)

Does anyone know how to move these images around after you insert them?
See ya 'round the water cooler.