Can an Affiliate Link Invalidate Split Test Results?
And as a couple smart and observant readers noticed in my last post, www.HackerSafeLogo.com is of course my personal affiliate URL.
I’ll be the first one to admit I’m a hard core capitalist. I believe in making money and teaching others to make MORE money. I earn a very good living online and one of my MANY income streams comes from affiliate marketing. So I make no apologies for monetizing my blog every way I can.
My audience is a pretty sophisticated group. Definitely not the typical, uninformed web surfers, so I give them a lot of credit and assume that they know what is going on. After all this is a blog about online marketing and conversion strategies.
So if I’m going to make a recommendation for a product or service based on my testing data, if they have an affiliate program, of course I’m going to use an affiliate link. If I didn’t practice what I preach I’d be a hypocrite. Like I said in a previous post, I spend 80% of my time actually DOING this stuff and only 20% (or less) of my time TEACHING it.
However, I want to make clear that I’ll never promote something I don’t believe in or have not tested, just because it pays a good commission. (In fact the Hacker Safe commission payout is nothing to jump up and down and get excited about…)
But that’s the great thing about sharing online test results… If the tests are conducted in an honest and scientifically valid manner, there can be no bias. The results are the results. Affiliate or not.
Also, another reason I chose to use my affiliate link in that post is because the page I was linking to is a special discount page that gives my blog readers a NICE discount on the Hacker Safe program.
So I’m glad that Jens and David mentioned the link, because I fully intended to point out the affiliate link and the discount as an added benefit to my readers if they decided to test Hacker Safe on their own sites. So thanks for reminding me.
As far as I know the only way to get that discount is through one of Hacker Safes top tier affiliates.
But for those who are opposed to affiliate marketing or believe don’t believe that bloggers should use affiliate links or earn commissions when they recommend a product or service, below is the direct, full priced link to the Hacker Safe program.
http://www.scanalert.com/ - Full price link.
http://www.HackerSafeLogo.com – Conversion Doctor discount, affiliate link.
The choice is yours.
Happy Testing!
Eric
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June 25th, 2007 at 9:46 am
Great post, Eric. For the record, I want you to make loads and loads of cash off your blog. As Dan said in the original thread “Personally I’m glad [Eric] is using an affiliate link. When he keeps sharing outstanding test results like this, I want him to make money from his blog. That way he will keep sharing.”
I believe Dan is right (and you can be sure I will be going for that 50% discount when signing up for Scanalert
As always, thanks for sharing!
November 25th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Eric,
Great post!
Not only do I give out my affiliate links for the 1shoppingcart system, but I, like you, only give out affiliate links for products I use myself ALL THE TIME.
I often get asked to promote a product, but I ONLY promote products that I use and believe in.
You lose your credibility if you promote products that you cannot stand behind.
Not only that, but now when I’m looking to buy a product or service, my first thought is “Who told me about that product? I’ll ask them if they have an affiliate link so that they get credit for that referral”
It’s the fair thing to do.
cheers,
Christina