Getting a cookie to the visitors machine.

Challenge to get it there first.

[Buster42]

Hi all, (sorry this is long, but...)

I need some advice regarding cookies.

This is the scenario:

I run an website that targets a specific keyword for a affiliate program I belong to.

When a user goes to the publishers site a cookie with the affiliates id is placed on the visitors machine that identifies which affiliate referred them.

My problem is that when visitors hit my site they have to navigate to through 2 pages before they move off my site to the the publishers site and have the cookie placed in their machine.

I want to get the cookie with my affiliate id onto their machine as soon as they hit my site.

I was thinking one possible way was to get the code for cookie from the publishers site & incorporate it into my default page.

BUT

My knowledge is a bit limited in this area (cookie programming).

And I'm not sure what code to copy or even if this will work.

Any advice, direction or ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks
Buster

[larryn]

Buster,

The way cookies are designed to work, you can only place cookies that are visible to your site, and likewise, your server and pages cannot see cookies placed by other sites.

Perhaps if you tell us why you want to set these cookies, we might be able to help you achieve your goal?

Larry

[Buster42]

HI Larry,

Thanks for your reply.

My motivation is to increase the number of sales I get credit for.

looking at my stats I believe that some visitors are leaving my site before they navigate to a page where a cookie is placed. The page that places the cookie is 3 pages deep.

The obvious answer would be to get the visitor to a page that places the cookie faster. Problem being my default page content is why the site is getting good results.

How could I have my content at the top of the default page and then have the cookie page at the bottom?

Buster

I think

[vincevincevince]

If your affiliate program provides banners hosted on their servers then these frequently set the cookie as they load - make sure you check if this is the case - and if so - add the smallest banner / the banner which fits the site best. It is also possible to set their banner to 1x1 pixel :)

Another technique is to open the landing site in a hidden IFRAME or a 1x1 pixel IFRAME. Check the terms and conditions as to whether this is allowed.

[Buster42]

Hi Vince,

Thanks for your reply

I was thinking that an iframe or a frameset might fix my problem.

I did a quick iframe test using the following:
(100x100 to see what was happening)

<p><iframe align="left" height="100" width="100" src="http://www.someurl.com"></iframe></p>

Problem with this is the src site loads over my default page(redirects to the src), how do I keep the src page in the iframe?