robzilla - 4:22 pm on Apr 21, 2011 (gmt 0)

It would certainly not be helpful if you were to phrase it like that, since clicks alone would not help you earn more money, and an increase of clicks with no sales will lower your conversion rate. You say, however, that your visitors visit (and buy from) the merchant's website on a regular basis, so you might write something like this: "To support [your website], please use [this link] the next time you're buying from [the merchant]". In any case, you should probably confer with the affiliate manager to find out if this would be acceptable to them.