Business Growth Strategies » Commissions

Affiliates Are Still Being Ripped Off

Ryan M. Healy — Mon, 16 May 2011 19:47:28 +0000

Affiliates are almost always at the mercy of affiliate programs and the people who run them.

Why do I bring this up?

Because many affiliate program managers are knowledgable, ethical, and honest. But I’ve discovered there are a few who are not.

For example, I’ve discovered well-documented cases of affiliate skimming (where commissions are “skimmed” off the top of an affiliate’s earnings), as well as outright commission theft.

I’m also aware of a situation where the affiliate tracking code was accidentally removed from the post-sale conversion page — so affiliates were not credited with the sales they had referred.

Even worse, this was during a launch. The company never told affiliates what happened and did nothing to make it right.

The point is: Affiliates get ripped off more often than they realize.

If you’re an affiliate, are you being paid on time? And are you getting all the commissions you’ve earned?

It’s important to know the answers to these questions.

And if you own or run an affiliate program, what are you doing to make sure you’re not associated with unethical affiliate programs?

One of the reasons I created the Paid On Time Affiliate Trust Seal is to help affiliates find programs that have a reputation and track record of paying affiliates on time.

I also designed the trust seal and web site to promote those affiliate programs that are doing things right.

By the way, right now, you can get special “early bird” pricing when you join Paid On Time. Pay just $9.95 a month (an 80% savings). Or save even more with the annual option: just $47 a year (a 90% savings).

There won’t be a better time to join Paid On Time. Sign up today…

Click here to sign up for Paid On Time for 80-90% off.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

Best Link Cloaker?

Ryan M. Healy — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:54:20 +0000

One reason affiliates lose commissions is because they don’t cloak their affiliate links.

Most affiliate links are long and ugly. If you’ve been online for very long, you can easily tell the difference between a regular link and an affiliate link.

Anytime you use a blatant affiliate link, your potential buyers may feel resistance and avoid clicking your link.

Furthermore:

Long affiliate links sent in an email can “break” and become un-clickable.

ClickBank affiliate links can be easily hi-jacked by other CB affiliates.

It’s for all these reasons and more that I recommend all affiliates use a high-quality link cloaker and link tracker.

My Quest to Find a Good Link Cloaker

I’ve tried a number of link cloaking solutions through the years.

Probably the cheapest method is to modify your .htaccess file. It’s free. But… you don’t get any consolidated statistics, and modifying the .htaccess file can be risky. (I used this technique on one of my sites, but had somebody else do it because I don’t know how.)

I’ve also tried paid WordPress plugins as well as a paid link cloaking service. The paid service was good in theory, but in practice it caused me a lot of headaches. Because of the constant errors, I canceled after about 4 months.

I share all this with you because it’s important that you know that I’ve been trying to find a good link cloaker for YEARS! And I think I’ve finally found it…

The Best Link Cloaker?

Thanks to Michel Fortin, I discovered a new link cloaking and link tracking service that I’ve fallen in love with! It’s called LinkTrackr.

This service not only cloaks your links, but also provides you with consolidated link tracking statistics on a slick dashboard. Here’s a screen shot:

But what I like most about the service is this:

You can register a domain and have ALL your affiliate links use the same domain.

For example, I registered clickora.com for my affiliate links. I then set the nameservers to point to LinkTrackr. Now, whenever I set up a new affiliate link, it looks like this:

http://clickora.com/linktrackr

After the .com, I can put any text I want. This makes all my links short and difficult to circumvent. And all my link tracking stats are in a single place!

What’s more, the week I started using the service, my affiliate commissions started to go up. This has been the single biggest benefit for me. The tool pays for itself.

Free or Paid… You Choose!

Another thing I think you’ll appreciate about LinkTrackr is that you can use their free service or their paid service.

I started with the free service, but upgraded immediately to the paid service so I could use my own domain for all my redirects.

To sign up for a free account (or paid account), please click this link. Yes, it’s my affiliate link and I will get a commission if you sign up for the paid service.

http://clickora.com/linktrackr

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

Copywriter Burn Out and “The Big Push”

Ryan M. Healy — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 17:39:25 +0000

I am a copywriter.

More to the point, I am a freelance direct response copywriter who writes sales letters, manages product launches, and blogs about business growth.

I make about 90% of my gross income from fees, commissions, and retainers for writing direct response sales copy for clients.

But this year, I hope to change this.

In fact, I’m doing everything in my power to shift the bulk of my income from selling my time to selling products that don’t require any direct ongoing investment of time.

Toward that end, I’m planning to release one new product (or one newly updated product) every single month this year, starting on March 15.

So… the first new product I’m releasing will be released on March 15, and then each successive product release will happen approximately every 30 days thereafter (April 15, May 15, June 15, etc.) — unless one product or business really takes off and is worthy of additional leverage.

Crazy or Necessary?

This may sound overly ambitious or even downright crazy, but I believe it’s necessary.

Because for the last few years, my goal has always been the same: to increase the percentage of my income derived from product-based businesses while reducing the percentage of my income derived from service-based businesses (like my copywriting business).

Last year was my biggest, most audacious push yet to start a business to replace my copywriting income.

In fact, I outsourced more work than I ever have in my life just to make it happen. I took a big risk… invested thousands of dollars… and yet the risk did not pay off anywhere near what I had hoped.

That said, I don’t accept this is a complete failure. It’s just one more business experience I’ve been able to learn from. This year, I feel more prepared than I’ve ever been.

Why I Want to Change My Business

It’s not that I dislike writing copy for clients. I actually enjoy it very much.

It’s just that I’m constantly juggling three, four, and five different copywriting projects with multiple deadlines. It can be stressful. And it doesn’t provide the kind of flexibility I would like. (I haven’t taken a real vacation since June 2007.)

Sometimes I feel burnt out.

Like I just need a break.

Or maybe even an extended absence to really recharge my batteries.

And sometimes life throws us curve balls that practically force us to stop working for a time. (This happened to me recently, and I’m just glad the “curve ball” wasn’t more major than it was — because I would not have been prepared or even able to take a full week off!)

My First New Product

As I mentioned above, I’ll be launching the first of my new products/services on March 15.

This particular “product” is called Paid On Time – The World’s First Affiliate Trust Seal. It is an idea I had based on my 5th business prediction for 2011.

If you run an affiliate program (and would like to attract more higher-quality affiliates), then you may be interested in becoming a network member.

And if you have access to people who own or manage affiliate programs, then you may want to become an affiliate. (We will be paying healthy recurring commissions.)

You can learn more about the Paid On Time Affiliate Trust Seal at www.PaidOnTime.net. You can also subscribe to the priority notification list here so you’re first to know when the Paid On Time seal is available.

It’s going to be a good year, and I look forward to helping you and inspiring you along the way.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

A Little Direct Response Gold

Ryan M. Healy — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:31:07 +0000

Do you know Drayton Bird?

In direct response marketing, he’s a living legend.

After all, not many can say they worked with David Ogilvy. And not many can claim being the top trainer for the biggest direct marketing agency in the world (Ogilvy & Mather).

Plus, Drayton’s experience runs the gamut.

He’s helped small businesses, of course, but much of his work has been with big companies… companies like Airbus and American Express.

The breadth and depth of Drayton’s experience cannot be overstated.

To put it in perspective, think about this:

He had mastered the fundamentals of direct response marketing long before most of us were even born!

Anyway, the reason I bring all this up is because both Drayton Bird and Bob Bly were recently interviewed by Ken McCarthy.

This interview is direct response gold. Yet Ken is giving away the interview for free.

Why is he doing this?

Because Drayton, Bob, and Ken will be doing a special copywriting Master Class on the Monday following Ken’s System Seminar in April.

And the free interview is a taste of what will be presented during the Master Class.

Obviously, if you like the interview, maybe you’ll consider attending The System as well as the Master Class.

But even if you don’t, you’ll still get a lot of value from listening to Drayton Bird and Bob Bly share stories and insights culled from decades of hard-won experience.

Here’s the link to download the interview (opt-in required):

http://www.thesystemseminar.com/319-34.html

Just so we’re clear, this is my affiliate link. If after downloading the interview you decide to attend The System or the Master Class, I will get a commission.

But potential commissions aside, I still think this interview is worth your time. With that in mind, here’s the direct link you can use if you’d rather not use my affiliate link:

http://www.thesystemseminar.com/masterclass/

Enjoy!

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts: