Watch Out For Traffic Leaks

When promoting any affiliate program one thing that you, as an affiliate, has to watch out for is what is called traffic leaks. What is a traffic leak? A traffic leak is something on the merchants site that will cause the visitor, that you referred to their site, to get distracted and leave the merchant site, leaving you with no possibility of receiving any kind of commission.

Having traffic leaks does not mean the affiliate program is a scam or trying to cheat you. It is most likely that the merchant just doesn't realize what they are doing. If you are promoting an affiliate program that is not getting any sales for you, you may want to check for traffic leaks. If you find some then contact the merchant (in a professional manner) and ask if they would consider removing the traffic leaks from their site to increase conversion.

Here are a few examples of a traffic leak:

Advertisement Banners & Links
This is usually the most common traffic link. The merchant will put up a banner ad or two and some text links to "offset" their expenses. You do not want to promote an affiliate program that has this on their site. When you send a visitor to the site and they click the banner or text ad and go to the other site the merchant gets paid while you get zippo. Not to fair is it?

Order Phone Number
Another traffic leak is the toll free (or regular) phone number they put on their site to let customers call in their orders. But when customers do call in their orders you get stiffed on the commission. It is very easy to set up phone commission tracking. You should ask the merchant if they have any plans on setting up phone sale tracking. If they don't know how you can send them to me to show them how to do it.

Basically, you do not want anything on the merchants site that will drive your referred customer away to another site that you will not get a commission from.

Chet Brzezinski has been in the affiliate marketing and affiliate management industry since 1997. He owns two affiliate marketing related sites. One that offers affiliate program management & consulting services and the other affiliate program reviews, tips and resources.

In The News:

TechCrunch
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TechCrunch
Will a few dollars in affiliate revenue motivate people enough to use Refer.ly? Don't we just share products with friends and family because we genuinely love to help other people out? Morrill said she doesn't expect Refer.ly users to make a living off ...
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... online marketing expenses, and increased hotel commission payments to third-party affiliates and distribution partners. Sales and marketing expenses increased to 43% of net revenues in the first quarter of 2012 from 35% in the same quarter of 2011.

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Eastern Idaho to Lose Fox Network Affiliate
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KXTF in Twin Falls will no longer broadcast FOXKTVB
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STOCKS NEWS THAILAND-Krungsri ups Bumrungrad Hospital target price
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Bumrungrad posted a 40 percent increase in quarterly profit to 583 million baht thanks to growth in outpatient revenue, an increase in foreign patients and profit sharing from affiliate hospital Bangkok Chain Hospital Pcl. The broker raised its 2012 ...

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KentuckyOne Health parent partners with Conifer Health Solutions to manage revenue
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KentuckyOne Health, which was formed this year by the merger of Louisville-based Jewish Hospital & St. Mary's HealthCare Inc. and Lexington-based Saint Joseph Health System, is an affiliate of Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives.

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Wall Street Journal
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Thai affiliate of AirAsia to raise RM443mil
Malaysia Star
BANGKOK: Asia Aviation Pcl, owner of the Thai affiliate of Malaysia-based budget carrier AirAsia Bhd , has set an IPO price of 3.7 baht (37 sen) a share to raise 4.5 billion baht (RM443mil) in the Thai market this month, sources close to the deal said.

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Refer.ly Lets Regular Folks Earn Affiliate Revenue For Recommending Products ...
Centralia Chronicle
Danielle Morrill's been thinking about this idea for at least three years. I know this because it was almost all she could talk for an hour straight at a dinner party several years ago. An online service is needed to view this article in its entirety.

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