Case study background – the possible “doom factors” that led to smarter linking
The first factor was that I started to receive complaints from my webmail members that some of their emails from their contacts were not arriving in their mailboxes.
The second factor was that I started to receive suggestions from my CoolKiwi.com webmail members that coolkiwi.co.nz would be a better email address for New Zealanders than coolkiwi.com. (I agreed but unfortunately the coolkiwi.co.nz domain name had already been registered and was being used by someone else.)
The third and final factor that could have spelled doom but eventually led to me developing smarter affiliate links was that I started receiving irate emails from the webmaster of coolkiwi.co.nz. Apparently he had set up coolkiwi.co.nz so that all emails would be sent to a “catchall” account. His inbox was being bombarded with misdirected emails from New Zealanders intending to send mail to my coolkiwi.com webmail members but accidentally substituting “.co.nz” at the end of the email address instead of “.com”.
I sent emails to all my members reminding them that their email addresses ended in “.com” and not “.co.nz” but nothing could stop their contacts from sending emails to “coolkiwi.co.nz” by mistake.
Eventually the webmaster of coolkiwi.co.nz got so fed up with all the misdirected emails he was receiving that he convinced the owner to put the coolkiwi.co.nz domain up for auction.
I bought the domain for $400. At the time I wondered if I was doing the right thing. It turned out to be the best investment I ever made, and the decision which led me to discovering the secret to smarter affiliate marketing links.