Don't Forget To Test Your Affiliate Links
It is really easy to be get so wrapped up in writing those blogs that we just keep moving along post after post. However, if you are including affiliate links on your posts or pages, don't just assume they will continue to work for you and forget about them.
You could be getting a lot of clicks on your affiliate links and then not making any sales. This exact thing just happened to someone here and they have just found out that when someone clicks on some of their Amazon links, it takes their traffic to a page stating "out of stock," "item no longer available," and even a statement that "the page you are looking for is no longer a part of this website."
I'm sure this can happen with other affiliates besides Amazon, but I've had my own share of "item no longer available" as well. It can really mess up your blog, especially if your blog was based on that particular item.
Please, please, take a few minutes each week and check your links. I know it is time consuming and a pain, but if you are losing sales because of issues like this, you need to know about it and remedy it.
Have a great day! :)
Recent Comments
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Great idea. It's even a good idea to have someone make a small sale from affiliate link to make sure you're getting credit for the sale. I do this when I'm stating a new affiliation with click bank vendors.
That's the problem with promoting products on Amazon, BestBay, Walmart etc. Spending lots of time checking if a certain product is still available. Better way is to NOT use product links, but category page links. Then the customer can browse the available stuff......you still get commission.
Does that make sense?
John Worthy
Hi John. I understand what you are saying, but not everyone does it that way. There are a lot of people who have certain products they are promoting, so it is just maintenance that has to be done by many. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Well, I just tried to provide a way to avoid the need to eliminate this constant updating task. If a product is discontinued, the customer will see what's available instead getting the annoying "product no longer available" message.
Thanks for sharing this. I always forget to check mine. I am going to go and take a look through all of them. It could take me a while.
Yes for sure. It will probably take me a few hours. I'm going to get started today. Not sure if I should start with the newest posts first or the oldest ones? Any suggestions?
Hi TanyaRita. I know how easy it is to forget them. I'm guilty! It can be time consuming if you've got a lot of material on your site, but in the end, it is worth it to keep an eye on them. :)
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True, found some last month.