The
Scabby Time-Limited Cookie
Wonder why many affiliate program
administrators do not allow their affiliates to be tracked for ever? The
affiliate link is free advertising for the affiliate program. For this
they should be grateful. But many are not.
Many affiliate programs only track the visitor for a limited amount of
time. We see 30, 60, 90 and 120 day cookies everywhere
What this means is that if that visitor makes a purchase after the
cookie expires, the affiliate gets nothing.
It is a fact that many people will not buy
on the first visit or even several months later. They buy when they get
around to it. When they are ready.
Armed with this information, many (if not most) affiliate programs set
time-limited cookies.
Instead of being grateful that affiliates give them free advertising and
sending them traffic they would not have had otherwise, they in effect,
steal the visitor.
Before becoming an affilitae examine the
vendor's site and look for things like:
- A telephone ordering number which does
not have the capacity to track.
- An email capture system which will not
track future sales. If they mail your prospect, you should get the
sale whenever it happens no matter how far down the track that is. If
they buy after a cookie has expired, you lose!
- A discussion forum which will cause your
visitor to delay the decision making process.
- An affiliate sign up link designed to
induce the visitor to purchase from their own affiliate link.
- An affiliate sign up link which will not
pay on a two-tier basis.
- Other products and services on the site
which are not trackable by your affiliate link.
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