Affiliate Link Tracking: Why & How
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The process of affiliate link tracking is in fact how many businesses make money. Commissions are potentially what keep some businesses afloat. However, not all link tracking processes are on a level playing field. There are some definitely better than others.
How exactly can affiliate link tracking be accomplished? Let us walk you through a few different methods. We’ll start at the beginning, to the early days of Internet Marketing.
Old ways
There was a time when affiliate link tracking was done by using URLs and a unique ID that could be tied to the affiliate. That method, used alone, is old and practically gone. Why? It’s too restricting and unfair. Prospects would have to make a sale at the exact time they clicked on the link otherwise a referring business would not get credit for sending them to the affiliate business and helping to make sales.
The combination of URL and unique ID would simply end up timing out- even if the page was bookmarked by the prospect to go back to purchase later. In many ways, this method would ensure the affiliates could not be paid. It led to many marketers wanting a newer, improved way to deal with affiliate link tracking. Then there were cookies.
The Recent
Not so long ago, cookies were a popular thing. They permitted prospects to do things they couldn’t do before, like leave a website, only to come back and purchasing at a later date. They were helpful to affiliates, allowing them to get paid for referrals that they rightfully worked for. This was possibly due to being hosted on Internet browsers and activity tracked for longer than one session.
But cookies had their drawbacks, too. Cookies only work when a prospect allows for a browser to accept them, uses the same browser to return to the affiliate’s website and visits the website while the cookie is still valid. It doesn’t have to be said that a lack in any of these areas can cause a referrer to lose major bucks. In the end, cookies required too much upkeep.
Software
Because of the disadvantages of previous affiliate link tracking customs, programs have been created to try to help bring affiliate link tracking up to where it should be. How? These programs work with a database that is independent from affiliates’ and prospects’ activity. They work with a combination of cookies, referral IDs, IP addresses, unique URLs and more to ensure that referrals get counted when they need to be. In addition, there is substantial data documenting the relationship between the referrer and the prospect. It would be quite a feat to deny that a business sent a prospect to an affiliate if the prospect had correlating cookies in his browser, used a referral ID and a unique URL.
If you look at it this way, it’s the programs actually doing the work needed to get each affiliate paid. This could be the selling point of these programs for every business dealing with affiliate marketing. This investment could prevent someone not receiving credit deserved for referrals they worked hard on. A great affiliate relationship is mutually beneficial. Affiliate programs work towards keeping it that way.
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