telling your visitors to please use affiliate links if they use that.

is this OK or similar to telling ppl to click your adsense ads?

[NewSkool]

... site anyway. is this OK?

i mean i have example.com which is a forum for cars.

i use CJ.com and have been accepted by BMW and i have a link to them which gives me money for sales (NOT per CLICK!)

so is it OK for me to encourage ppl WHO WOULD USE BMWS WEB SITE ANYWAY TO click the link on my site and thus "sponsor" me by giving me a few bucks for the sale? or is this considered just as bad as making ppl click ads?

i mean they definitely get their sale, but theyll "lose" a % since the person wouldve bought an BMW car anyway but now i told them to do it via me to sponsor me a little.

i dont know. i think it sounds non ethical but good for me.

[jomaxx]

This is fine. That's what affiliate programs are all about. Anyway who knows? Maybe the person would have bought a Mercedes instead.

I hope they give you a big commission, because sending clicks to a luxury car affiliate program seems kind of like buying a lottery ticket. You might get one trackable sale every 10,000 clicks or more.

[NewSkool]

ah good...

but since they wouldve bought it anyway dont you think its wrong to make it go through my link?

[NewSkool]

helo

[jomaxx]

No, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this. It's a cheap and effective form of customer acquisition. Although I guess "If you're going to buy a BMW anyway why not do it through this link so that we can get a cut?" is not the classiest or most compelling sales pitch I have ever heard.

Just make sure there is no hint that you're encouraging your visitors to click on any AdSense ads.

There is an affiliate programs forum here at WW. Try reading a bunch of threads there to learn about common issues that come up.
[webmasterworld.com ]

[NewSkool]

i expected you all to be totally against this. i am starting to wonder if you really get what I was saying.

i mean... they would use the site anyway, for sure. but i tell them that they can support me by, before buying their normal products, click my affialite link. the affiliate company will lose a certain % and i will earn a couple of bucks. so... well..

but if you say its ok... :)

[ganderla]

This is almost what shopping.com, fatwallet.com, and mypoints.com do. But they give you something back to buy. Most advertisers who pay for a SALE, will not mind. Now go down the lead avenue and you will be in trouble.

[simey]

Hmm, I'm with CJ but could'nt find BMW or anyting similar under merchants. Are you reffering to a program under a different name?

[joeking]

Are you talking about telling people to click BMW ADSENSE links? If not why post in this forum? And if so of course it's not okay.

If it is an affiliate linkwhat's the problem? The car buyer pays the same, BMW save on advertising and you earn a little. But like the post above, I haven't seen the BMW scheme on CJ either.

As an aside, if I wanted to buy a BMW I might look at their website, but would buy through a dealer not online. You will be extremely lucky to get one sale in ten million clicks. Even the BMW website directs you to dealers.

[NewSkool]

well both CJ.com and BMW were methaphors...

and no i dont mean adsense please read :)

[joeking]

well why post in the Adsense forum then ;-) The affiliate forum would have been the place to post this. And it might have helped to use WIDGET as an example, not specifics without saying they are "metaphors".

[NewSkool]

well sorry but this is such a mess and i cant find anything on this site ;)

sorry web master no bad thoughts meant.

[jomaxx]

Just to let you know, people will very very seldom go out of their way to give you a commission.

You're thinking of affiliate links as a kind of "tip jar". This is a very limiting mindset which will prevent you from earning any more than if you had put a "Please Donate" link on your site. Begging for clicks doesn't really work any better with affiliate programs any better than it does with AdSense.

On the other hand, if you can put up compelling links for relevant products that people using your site are likely to actually need and buy right now, then you can do great with the right affiliate program.