Associate Programs Newsletter #232

CONTENTS:

1. ClickBank tracking changes anger affiliates
2. How to change many affiliate links at once
3. Why I've stopped using Postmaster General
4. I'm off to hospital again
5. Lessons in writing affiliate articles fast - and buying an article for $5
6. Warning on lost AdSense revenue
7. Coming soon: Making a living from selling software
8. Thought for today: Affiliate marketing

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1. ClickBank tracking changes anger affiliates
=============================================

Isn't it frustrating when an affiliate merchant switches to a better system and makes you change all your affiliate links?

Now it's happening with the ClickBank network.

ClickBank is replacing its hoplink system with a new tracking system, and is handling the changeover very badly.

It wrote confusing instructions - http://clickbank.com/kount.html - that puzzled many affiliates.

More than 150,000 affiliates and merchants are involved.

Now ClickBank is frantically rewriting its instructions, and says:

"We have found a solution that will enable all
ClickBank clients to keep all existing hoplinks
intact."

However, if you read on, you find out that NOT all affiliates will be able to keep their existing links.

If you promote ClickBank merchants in your newsletter or in Google AdWords, ClickBank is now talking about making you use a special script to add a datestamp to each link.

What a mess.

I suggest you wait for the dust to clear before doing anything.

ClickBank originally said that affiliates would have to place one copy of your new tracking code on each page where you're using hoplinks. It would go inside the tags.

You would also have to replace each hoplink with a DIRECT link to the merchant.

For example, the link you'd use to Rosalind Gardner's "Super Affiliate Handbook" would be http://www.superaffiliatehandbook.com .

A lot of link cloaking software would be made obsolete.

What if you had hoplinks in places where you couldn't change them, such as in ebooks and forum postings?

"Don't worry," said ClickBank. "In December your old hoplinks
(links with you as the affiliate) will be routed to a page you
can specify in your ClickBank account. This will enable you to
redirect old hoplink traffic any way you like."

Any way you like? How about a few helpful examples? What about the affiliate who has dozens of links in ebooks? Does he have to place them all on one page?

ClickBank failed to explain this clearly.

"The new system can prevent stolen commissions, isolate
fraudulent traffic, eliminate spam complaints, and generate
detailed conversion statistics," ClickBank said.

However, some affiliates said that serious security issues still remained and the fairness of a planned 30-minute cookie was also debated.

So ClickBank has now proposed a different type of affiliate link, in this format: http://AFFILIATE.hop.kount.com/VENDOR/

This is still being tested. It's NOT active yet.

Latest details:
http://clickbank.com/kount.html

The tracking system WAS explained here:
http://clickbank.com/tracking-logic.html
(I just checked. The original explanation has disappeared.)

Rob Yaggie complains about ClickBank cookies here:
http://kountsucks.com/

Harvey Segal tries to make sense of the mess
http://www.clickbankguide.com/hoplinks.htm

ClickBank says the system took a year to develop. Apparently, that wasn't long enough.

Have your say on the forum:

http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/discus/viewtopic.php?t=698

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2. How to change many affiliate links at once
======================================================

If you want to make the same change to many web pages, for example to change an old affiliate link with a new one, a good tool to use is TextPad.

TextPad - from http://www.textpad.com - is a plain text editor similar to Notepad, only better. (Mac users can use BBEdit.)

In TextPad, here's how to make multiple changes reasonably quickly:

Open all the documents you wish to update.

Click on Search.

Click on Replace...

Where it says "Find what", type in the OLD link.

Where it says "Replace with", type in the NEW link.

Check the box called "All documents".

Click on "Replace All"

Caution: Double-check what you're doing. If you mess things up, you'll mess things up on every page.

==============================================
3. Kanoodle wants to put $10 in your account
==============================================

After some tough bargaining, I recently managed to get readers of this newsletter a $10 trial account at Kanoodle pay-per-click search engine.

Those who took advantage of the offer didn't have pay a cent.

Rich Davignon of Kanoodle was so pleased with the response from this newsletter that he wants me to offer the deal again.

If you're quick, you can still get a trial account here:

http://www.kanoodle.com/util/init_refid.cool?refid=68369088

If you use that link, Kanoodle will put $10 in your account and it won't cost you anything.

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4. I'm off to hospital again
==================================

I'll be heading for Brisbane in a few days for extensive tests - heart, lung, skin, that sort of thing - before the chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant begin.

I'm slowly getting used to the idea that doctors are planning to destroy my bone marrow - which creates my blood cells - and replace it with bone marrow from my sister.

It sounds a bit like bad science fiction - bad because in the future there'll be a better way of curing rare blood disorders.

I'll spend three or four weeks in hospital. After that, they tell me, the minimum recovery period is 100 days. For that time, maybe longer, Joanna and I will have to live in special accommodation
near the hospital, in case I need help fast.

We're unlikely to be home for Christmas.

I'll keep posting the occasional health update on the forum in the "Get Well Allan" thread that Eva Rosenberg started:

http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/discus/viewtopic.php?t=226

We're planning a holiday to Fiji to celebrate when it's all over.

Please, don't send me "Get Well" messages. I'm OK. Really. It's just these silly doctors who think I'm sick.

[UPDATE 2011: I ain't pushing up daisies yet!]

I see the forum has topped the 500 mark. We now have more than 500 registered members. Thanks, guys, for making it such a friendly, helpful forum.

It's wonderful to see affiliates helping each other succeed.

Here's a good example...

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5. Lessons in writing affiliate articles fast - and buying an article for $5
=====================================================

How fast can you write an article for an affiliate site?

Want to buy an article for your site for only $5?

In the Site Build It! section of the Associate Programs Forum, speed writer Gary ("speedguide") Antosh of Miami has been demonstrating his skills.

Larry Chamberlain gave him a topic and in almost no time at all, Gary wrote an article.

"How the heck did you produce something that good, that quickly?" Larry asked.

"I just about had time to make myself a coffee, and a cheese and onion sandwich, logged back in, and there it was! 'tis witchcraft!

"I never would have thought of the angle that you used, that's brilliant."

Gary has also identified a way of buying articles for his web sites for a mere $5 per article. He shares the details on the forum.

This is a mind-boggling conversation.

"Newbie SBI owner seeking advice from EXPERIENCED SBI users"
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/discus/viewtopic.php?t=51

(Gary joins the discussion on Page 3.)

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6. Warning on lost AdSense revenue
=============================================

Your web pages may be showing public service ads that you don't get paid for - without you even knowing it - to a large percentage of your visitors.

Audri Lanford describes how to fix the problem:

"Important AdSense Alert"
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/discus/viewtopic.php?t=707

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7. Coming soon: Making a living from selling software
===============================================

I've been interviewing an affiliate who makes a living selling software with the help of a popular newsletter. No, it's not Chris Pirillo.

I'll have the full story in this newsletter soon.

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8. Thought for today: What to sell
===============================================

"Sell Stuff People Want To Buy! There you are. Six words that will solve 85% of the most 'so-called' marketing problems in the world." - Gary Halbert.

All the best

Allan Gardyne