Thread: Link Exchange, Affiliate Programs, etc.

I have been looking over this forum and am coming up with lots of questions and thoughts. For a regular website is there an advantage to putting up a page of affiliate links? I'd hate to drive people away from my site. Do people find success with link exchanges? How is the best way of proceeding. Now, after reading several posts in this forum, I am looking at LinkShare and Commission Junction as possibilities. Would setting up a separate domain/website for affiliate linking be helpful? I'd sure appreciate any thoughts re: this as I am VERY new to online marketing. I'd also appreciate any resources people could point me towards. Thanks!

Hello Dan,
I may be able to help you to a degree....As for using link exchanges would be a great way to getting more people to your site. It is free for one thing and having a links page will give your customer's options of view to someone elses site and vice versa. It is a win/win situation and it will not clutter your pages at all. You may have a seperate page for your links. If you are interested in links you may try www.linkalizer.com.

As far as affiliate programs such as google adsense, cj, and linkshare is a great addition to your site. Even though you may or may not be driving your customers away, you are giving them other options if they do not find what they are looking for right now on your site. I wouldn't necessary call it driving away customers, more or less helping them and they helping you. With affiliate programs depending on pay per click, pay per lead, and/or pay per sale, when you have a customer visit your site and you have an affiliate banner and/or text link will add additional revenue for you depending on the affiliates pay program. As with affiliate programs is another win/win situation.

You do not need to have another domain name to do this. You may post it on your site where you see fit....One important information....When applying with affiliate programs, you want to sign up with affiliates who particularly sells the same thing you do or generally in the similar field. For example....if you are selling electronics, then you don't want to apply with affiliates that sells clothes. I hope that makes sense and I hope I was of some help.

Many thanks! I will be looking at much (if not all) of this!

I have another question relative to this. I am getting into a couple of banner exchange programs and I am supposed to put my banner on my server (rather than theirs). Do I use my website URL with the banner name or how/where do I deal with this? Help!

Hello Dan

I am not an expert but this is how I understand it

On some of my sites I include links to other peoples websites, sometimes its text and some times it a banner (image - Animated or otherwise)

All I do is place the objects on BV and then hyperlink them to the respective owners websites

If there is an affiliation going on like VodaHost where you can get paid on transactions, the url is a little different because it will include your ID (so they know who to pay)

All images, text etc will be sent to the server when you publish the page on which they are sent.

Hope this helps

Darren

I must read before I send

Last line should read

All images, text etc will be sent to the server when you publish the page which you've created. As you do with any other page

I have done this, however, does my server reside on "http://www.dpcCrazyCrafts.com/banner.gif"? If this is the case then I would put the banner in my root, however, I am not sure if I have to identify as above or as follows "http://www.dpcCrazyCrafts.com/public_html/banner.gif". I'd love some help and thanks!

I, too, must read before "send". I am talking about MY banner on their site. Where do I store it?

Perhaps I don't know enough or I am not fully undestanding you.

But if I was going to put a banner on my website, i would chose the BV page on which I was going to place the banner, hyperlink it and then publish like anyother page.

have a look at http://www.dcwebsolutions.co.uk and click on the Blue Voda link and tell me if this is waht you are looking to do

thanks

Darren

OK ignore my last posting because you updated yours.
If I wanted my banner on say your site, I would send you my banner ask you to point it back to my url.

As you would have control of the content on your pages, then you would have to do it.

Does this make sense?

Darren

In my situation someone wants to point to my banner, on my site, for inclusion on their page of banner links. They want to only point to other URLs rather than store all of these other banners on their website. Where is the best place, on my site, to put my banner so they can link to it?

First, Dan, I'm sorry to say that site does not load for me so I don't know what you're about.

But, back to your original question:

Originally Posted by dankc908

I have been looking over this forum and am coming up with lots of questions and thoughts. For a regular website is there an advantage to putting up a page of affiliate links? I'd hate to drive people away from my site. Do people find success with link exchanges? How is the best way of proceeding. Now, after reading several posts in this forum, I am looking at LinkShare and Commission Junction as possibilities. Would setting up a separate domain/website for affiliate linking be helpful? I'd sure appreciate any thoughts re: this as I am VERY new to online marketing. I'd also appreciate any resources people could point me towards. Thanks!

You seem to be asking a lot of different questions.

I'm not into on-line marketing in terms of trying to sell teddybears from one drop shipper and toothpaste from another but I suppose some people are able to pull it off and make money. I know a little about adsense. The model for this kind of site is a very informational site (something you know a lot about and offer up your knowledge free of charge and you get good se rankings and traffic because you do) and then give your visitors the opportunity to go off and explore further avenues of the same topic. You get some money when they do. Some folks make decent money off of adsense in this way.

But if I was selling teddybears, I wouldn't use adsense to send them off to other teddybear sellers. Do you get the distinction?

Good Luck and if we could see your site it would help...

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I am aware of what you are saying. My site isn't loading at all - not just for you. I've sent in a support ticket on it. We sell handmade crafts and I am including craft websites (not direct competition) and, of course, Vodahost and Blue Voda. I'd like to have you take another look, maybe tomorrow (after they fix my problem) and give me some more feedback. Thanks much and have a good one!

Originally Posted by dankc908

I have another question relative to this. I am getting into a couple of banner exchange programs and I am supposed to put my banner on my server (rather than theirs). Do I use my website URL with the banner name or how/where do I deal with this? Help!

Hi dankc,
If I understand what you are saying you want to have banners for your website and you would like to have other websites exchange then what you may lean towards is downloading affiliate pro in the treasure chest. You may have affiliate banners to add for other businesses as well as having profit for them if they bring sales for you. If that is what you are looking for and talking about. I haven't found a way in bv to make a banner to where you may exchange your banner link for other websites but I may be wrong.

If you are going through affiliate programs f.e. www.cj.com as a consumer(which is adding companies banners to your site) then you do not need to supply any banners for them. If you are applying through them as a merchant,(where you will be supplying banners for them for affiliates to put on their site for a commission) then that is something completely different. I don't know much about how merchant set up works.

Diane

Dan.

I'll be happy to look again tomorrow and the next day as well....

My website is back up. Some abusive user spawned 550 processes on VHs system and my website (and others, I'm sure) were unavailable for several hours.

Dan

PS - I'm going to look at affiliate pro, however, I mainly only want to put "Crafters" links on my website.

I link exchange, so let me know

use my site to advertise, Mite be able to get you some hits, and you can link exchange with me too