How to Protect Your Affiliate Commissions So You Get Paid

There are many software products you can buy to keep scammers from stealing your commissions. You will pay anywhere from fifteen to fifty dollars for this protection. You need to research these products carefully before you buy them.  Is the program effective? Will you be able to understand how to use it? These are the things you should know before you spend your hard earned money.

Banner Servers will code your ad so that the visitor will not be able to see where it is going. Many of them also will do the text ads as well. It does this by making the URL so long that the visitor will not be able to capture it in the time it takes to redirect.

Click tracking software will hide you web link so that the visitor will not see it. It does this by redirecting your links. This is done by a special software or script that you install on your website. It is also a great way to monitor traffic on your site as it will give you detailed reports of your visitors

You need to protect yourself from the many scammers on the internet trying to get your commissions. These people are trying to make a living online by ripping you off. You can prevent it with the right knowledge and tools to do it with.

You don’t have to put up with fraud on the internet. You need to educate yourself and take aggressive steps to prevent it. It happens and it can happen to you. You don’t want to experience the disappointment of making a generous amount of money online only to have it stolen by a hacker.

47 Comments

  • Gerard LeBlond

    Reply Reply September 22, 2008

    This is a great 1st draft for what could be a great article.

    I suggest you add links to sites and services that do the things that you bring up in your article.

    For instance, give out a “Banner Server” web site or two.

    And, contact info for “software products you can buy to keep scammers from stealing your commissions.”

    Make these little changes and your readers will appreciate it.

    Respectfully,
    Gerard LeBlond

    Founder & President
    http://AboutYourWealth.com

    Gerard LeBlonds last blog post..Gerard_LeBlond: @joelcomm Internet Gurus should take a hint from Hollywood entertainment industry and create their own version of Oscar awards: Webbies?

  • Gimme A Dream

    Reply Reply September 22, 2008

    I find it interesting and would like a few links to show e the way. Also I would like to read up on URL hiding. Any ideas you’d like to share?

    Wynn

  • Tim

    Reply Reply September 22, 2008

    I agree, I would like a little more information about this. It is still a decent article for beginners. I’m sure there are plenty of new affiliate marketers out there who do not realize how easy it is to have Clickbank commissions stolen from them.

  • Craig Mullins

    Reply Reply September 22, 2008

    I agree, what are some top banner servers the guru’s use; both paid & free (open source to track all those metrics

    Craig Mullinss last blog post..Twitter Grader – Grade Your Twitter Profile

  • Larry Mitchell

    Reply Reply September 22, 2008

    Hi Reed,
    I have to go along with what Gerard LeBlond said. It would be nice to know what software companies, and their ranking for this problem.
    Anyway it still is a good heads up about this problem.

    Best Regards,
    Larry Mitchell
    lrm1939@gmail.com

  • Linda Morro

    Reply Reply September 22, 2008

    I agree. Some samples would be great!

  • J.D. Nunes

    Reply Reply September 22, 2008

    I use Mike Filsaime’s PowerLink Generator – it’s got pretty much everything you need for promoting affiliate products with style – and not have to worry about people messing with your links.

  • Laura

    Reply Reply September 22, 2008

    Do you use a specific software to do so? I use tinyurl.com to shorten my url but I don’t know if it’s enough to keep away the hackers.

  • Clare

    Reply Reply September 22, 2008

    Hi Reed,
    Same here, I agree with what Gerard LeBlond said.

  • Carl

    Reply Reply September 22, 2008

    Nice post Reed,
    Whilst there is plenty of paid software to protect your commissions,there are just as many free options too.
    Do a simple Google search for link cloakers. There are tons of them.
    For a quick cloaker you can try http://offto.net/
    Not an affiliate link.

  • francis

    Reply Reply September 22, 2008

    HI REED
    I ENJOYED ALL YOUR ARTICLE,
    DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS ON SUBJECT LINE, LIKE FOR INSTANT, IF YOU DON’T HAVE A GOOD SUBJECT LINE, YOUR AD OR EMAIL WILL NEVER BE OPEN.

    francis.

  • david duncan

    Reply Reply September 22, 2008

    Hi All, reply

    Could anybody recommend a software that would do the job against commission fraudsters

    Dave Duncan.

  • James

    Reply Reply September 22, 2008

    Hi Reed

    And I also agree with Gerard add some more in depth Information on this topic with some references to the products that are highly recommended.

    Thanks
    James

  • Gerard LeBlond

    Reply Reply September 22, 2008

    Here’s a suggestion for a future blog article:

    Explain how you use moderation to make certain comments pertain to the topic under discussion and how this moderation prevents spamming sites from posting junk for the purpose of getting their sites listed and linked.

    Also, how you use a “Thank you for posting” email to those people who leave comments on your blog.

    Your thank-you email creates a communication interplay that can lead to bonding that can result in future comments on other topics the blogger posts.

    Also, the value of your “Thank-you” email lies in showing the benefits to the commenting person of leaving feedback (i.e. live links going back to their sites… which are good for SEO + link to their twitter.com pages if they mention them in their signature files, etc.)

    Respectfully,
    Gerard LeBlond

    Founder & President
    http://AboutYourWealth.com

    Gerard LeBlonds last blog post..Gerard_LeBlond: Gardener just walked into kitchen with wet boots, butler excoriated him, carpenter missed & smashed his thumb & dented the crown molding…

  • serangin

    Reply Reply September 22, 2008

    hi reed,

    thx for the info. instead of advising, you should give where can i get those tools from

    serangins last blog post..Bersabarlah…

  • Jan

    Reply Reply September 22, 2008

    Hi!
    for more than a year I have been using a software program called “SmartDD” to protect digital products like eBooks, reports and software from theft.

    SmartDD is now in version 2 (v.3 coming soon),
    and you can download a FREE copy of SmartDD Lite here:

    http://www.a1soft.net/smartdd_lite.html

    Hope this helps!

    Cheers,

    Jan
    http://www.WebSellersClub.com

  • Carl

    Reply Reply September 22, 2008

    The article is good but I wish you had been more specific and discussed some of the software that might be used to help protect our links.

    Carls last blog post..Good Advice From Parents But Too Late!

  • William Beck

    Reply Reply September 22, 2008

    Hi Reed,
    I like this article it addresses a problem that is probably TOO
    prevalent in todays society. I believe in working hard and your
    efforts will reward you. For someone to take(steal) your hard work
    is wrong. I appreciate the article and thank Jan for a website address
    to visit and resolve the problem.
    Thanks
    Willy B
    http://blog.my-family-money.com

  • John Bandy

    Reply Reply September 22, 2008

    Hi Reed,
    A friend of mine emailed me one day and said he had been up for twenty eight hours trying to fix his websites because of hackers ripping him off. I understand what he was talking about now. I am finding out a lot from you. Thanks much and keep up the good work.
    John

  • Rivers Corbett

    Reply Reply September 22, 2008

    Reed…this is great info. I have been getting commissions notified by Aweber but nothing is showing up in the mail…Crazy stuff!

    Will check it out..based on your advice.
    Thks

    Rivers
    Founder
    MyRewardsBiz.com

  • Timothy Millar

    Reply Reply September 22, 2008

    Hey Reed, hope your new addition shows up soon
    so you can quit stressing! I have been getting robbed for the last 8 months but I simply started
    using viralurl and it has totally done the job,
    I went from nothing coming in to signing up 21
    in 3 days and all of my commission has reached clickbank safely. And its free
    http://viralurl.com/leprechaun Sorry,I had to put my referral url here, I need the business!
    keep rocking the cradle Reed, poopy diapers are on the way! Tim

  • Bill Masson

    Reply Reply September 22, 2008

    Thanks for the link Jan,
    I have downloaded your application and will check it out, I normally use offto or tinyurl, but i believe tinyurl is just a redirect, is it a 303? but it depends on your affiliate landing page whether they have a cloaking script in use.
    Its something you tend to ignore at your peril.

    This makes a good post if researched properly
    Thanks Reed

    Bill Massons last blog post..Product Launch (Checklist cont)

  • B&B Marketing

    Reply Reply September 23, 2008

    Thank you for giving me the opportunity a chance to express that as we speak I either am or have been hooked up to an Affiliate program or product sales on another scale over 6 months with some and fortunately I have only spent minimal for these programs but have never yet been paid one cent despite the fact that I have even been told that I have a check waiting “YEAH RIGHT “I believe the products are probably being sold but I AM NOT GETTING PAID cheers B&B Marketing 2008/9/23

  • Lynda Mekalick

    Reply Reply September 23, 2008

    Hi Reed – and others!
    Commision theft can be a real problem, and finding a cloaking tool which does the job completely is not easy.They are out there – tend to be expensive,and come with instructions that are way too techo for the average affiliate.
    Fortunately,some of the product owners are now catching on to this and more and more of them are using a cloaking script on their landing and or sales pages.Hopefully this practise will become more prevalent,as it hides the affiliate id name or number in the browser bar,therefore cutting down massively the incident of commision theft.
    It is, of course,beneficial to the product owners to do this as the very last thing they need is a bunch of disgruntled affiliates.What they want is a win/win situation.
    Cheers for today
    Lynda

  • Doug Allitt

    Reply Reply September 23, 2008

    Hi Reed,

    I agree with Carl and also use Offto. It’s free as well.

    It’s just such a sad thing that anyone would deny anyone else their affiliate commission/s in the first place. A pretty low place to go!

    Especially sad when you consider that we all really work in the same office. The internet office.

    Cheers,

    Doug

    Doug Allitts last blog post..Take your time – about your day.

  • Delords

    Reply Reply September 23, 2008

    Thanks Reed for the article.
    really helpful for affiliate marketers
    and newbies.

  • Fidelis Ugboma

    Reply Reply September 23, 2008

    Thank you for this beautiful article. It is an eye opener to many. It generated excellent contributions.

    I very much agree with Mr. Leblond and the other gentlemen requesting for a more indepth submission. this is definitely the barometer for measuring the degree of interest generated by the the article.

    On my part, I am now more aware and I will take some steps in that direction.

    In the lighter mood, however,I want to congratulate you in advance on the expected addition. Tell the midwife that I said the date should be fixed for October 15, and if the addition is like you or me the name should be Fidelis and if the addition turns out to be like her, the name should be Fidelia. We are faithful and lovely people, that is those going by that name.

    Congratulations also on your speaking session. I believe it all went well.

    Cheers and God bless.

    Yours faithfully,

    Fidelis Ugboma
    http://www.onlineglobalmarkets.com

  • Daniel Ellis

    Reply Reply September 23, 2008

    I knew I signed up for your newsletter for a reason and you’ve just proven that very point. I and many others were ignorant of the fact there were such actions that could be taken. I lost several thousand dollars to this problem and I appreciate the fact that something can be done about it. Keep up the good work.
    Mr. LeBlond and others like him should also be thanked for their suggestion for more research as there are many of us who didn’t even know we were being robbed in such a manner. We thought that the program and or owners were just diverting our funds back to themselves.

  • David Smyth

    Reply Reply September 23, 2008

    I don’t get it Reed; I’ve been told to ‘shorten’ my URL’s and cloak them at TinyURL.com etc and now you are talking up the ‘lengthening’ process so they cant’ be ‘seen’ in time!

    Is somebody going to ‘steal’ my Clickbank hoplink username I.D.!?

    Confused, bewildered, puzzled and down right head-spun! This whole affiliate marketing game is turning out to be one big treat! Sorry, just felt a tad overwhelmed for a minute then!

    Best of luck with the new arrival!

    Truly,
    D.

    David Smyths last blog post..? Tips For Growing A Cat Garden! ?

  • David Smyth

    Reply Reply September 23, 2008

    Now I’ve done my homework, please read on:

    There are many software programs available, for under 40 dollars (USD), that will help you to protect your affiliate marketing commissions. Some are better than others and you should always do some research before paying out money for one.

    Usually installed on your own webpage, click counting software won’t display the target URL as the links point inwards to the software.

    When someone clicks on the link, the click tracking application redirects the visitor to the URL that you have specified within the script. The click tracking software also provides a great way to monitor the effectiveness of your ads and doesn’t just rely on the stats that merchants provide.

    It’s crucial to guard you commissions as you want to get paid for what you do. Fraud is possible with affiliate marketing but you can protect your interests. Fraudsters have expert knowledge that you can actually screen yourself from.

    As a business owner, you definitely do not need to experience credit card fraud or affiliate fraud. These happen on a regular basis and usually to people who haven’t bothered to put in effective security measures in order to protect themselves.

    Be Warned!

    David Smyths last blog post..? Tips For Growing A Cat Garden! ?

  • David Smyth

    Reply Reply September 23, 2008

    I have come across some affiliate protection software that really seems like rubbish for what you actually pay for!

    Here is an idea I had, I’m thinking that you could protect your affiliate sales more easily if you sold, via ‘cloaked’ links, to you email opt-in list!

    The advantage of doing this is that you would have a ‘closed’ customer base for many products. For the other items you wish to sell online, in the open arena, you could use the latest ‘protection’ software on these ones.

    Now you may say that somebody on your opt-in list may be unscrupulous and steal your commissions anyway, but at least you have a much narrower field to examine for whoever might be doing the unethical work.

    In the short term, for anyone who doesn’t want to spend the money on expensive protection software, maybe doing business with your signed -up list could be a good place to start in order to ‘safely sell’!?

    I don’t know of any serious online marketer who doesn’t who TinyURL to disguise their links and I would heartily recommend that you do the same too!

    To quote Reed: ‘You don’t have to put up with fraud on the internet. You need to educate yourself and take aggressive steps to prevent it. It happens and it can happen to you.’

    Sound advice; I’m certainly listening!

    D.

    David Smyths last blog post..? Tips For Growing A Cat Garden! ?

  • Jimmy Bradley

    Reply Reply September 23, 2008

    Normally I find your comments useful and informative but today you were (WAY) too vague!
    Also you have missed a perfect opportunity to
    promote an/a product that you yourself use. Or are you testing us readers to see if we would catch what you were doing wrong? This was some kind of test…right? I’m not saying this was a bad article but it just seems that you did not even try today. I’m also pretty sure that I am not the only one who has noticed over the past few weeks that you are/have been missing several golden opps to promote something that you are blogging about. Anybody else agree with me?

  • Charles Evans

    Reply Reply September 23, 2008

    Like everyone else specifics or where to get them would be nice. You could post a web site the describes this fraud process in depth and how to prevent it. What tools do you recommend–include the links.

    Thanks for the heads up.
    Bud

  • David Smyth

    Reply Reply September 23, 2008

    Quoting Jimmy Bradley ‘Normally I find your (Reed’s) comments useful and informative but today you were (WAY) too vague!’

    That’s a touch harsh Jimmy! Please keep in mind that Reed and Marissa are going through a very stressful time at present with the overdue birth etc.

    I thought that the article addressed the main issues of protecting one’s affiliate commissions. Yes, it was a touch brief and perhaps Reed doesn’t need to promote a product on every post.

    This is a quality blog, in my humble opinion, and Reed does a stellar job with it! And, I might add, I am the first one to admit that I don’t always see eye to eye with Mr Floren and have had a few differences of opinion with him.

    Yet, I find enough valuable content on this site to keep on revisiting to read more!

    To quote you Jimmy: ‘Or are you testing us readers to see if we would catch what you were doing wrong? This was some kind of test…right’. What an extraordinary thing to say! Why would anyone potentially sacrifice their blogging reputation by posting inferior content, to their opt-in list!? (I get an email connection most days, and am glad for this feature!)

    Jimmy, I’m not saying that you haven’t raised a couple of valid points in your September 23rd response, but please try cutting Reed some slack for awhile, he is (or is about to be) a new Father! We can forgive a lapse or two under the circumstances right!?

    We love you Reed, keep on keeping on!

    Regards,
    D. Smyth.

    David Smyths last blog post..? We Love You Angelina! ?

  • Zane

    Reply Reply September 23, 2008

    thats a nice article I also wrote a short ebook about how to protect the affiliate link , reader of this page can download this ebook free using this link
    http://www.masteryofbranding.com/givaway/linksecurity/linksecurity.zip

  • Mark

    Reply Reply September 23, 2008

    Hey Reed,
    It is refreshing to get something useful in my inbox instead of all the trash, plus it’s nice to hear from another MN “boy”. It seems that as more and more people start to get involved with looking to make some extra cash from home there is more of a problem with affiliate links being hijacked. As others have mentioned there are a ton of both free and paid services that can protect you from this. I have used about 4 different ones myself, but found one that I really like because it not only cloaks but helps track your hits as well. If anyone is interested in checking it out take a look at http://www.marketmoneymaking.com/adt
    Good luck with the new little one and keep us posted.

  • Phil

    Reply Reply September 23, 2008

    That was a complete waste of space. A few generalisations and no useful information. I’ve just unsubscribed from your mail list – if you can’t post anything of value go back to the day job.

  • Jussi Koiranen

    Reply Reply September 24, 2008

    I’ve never understood the concept of stealing those commissions… I mean I understand someone can get various access to different accounts, but how are the links vulnerable aswell?

  • Craig Mullins

    Reply Reply September 25, 2008

    Still no recommendations?

    Craig Mullinss last blog post..Twitter Grader – Grade Your Twitter Profile

  • admin

    Reply Reply September 25, 2008

    Since a lot of the questions are the same I won’t address them individually.

    For banner serving software you can find a lot of scripts here:
    http://www.hotscripts.com/PHP/Scripts_and_Programs/Ad_Management/index.html

    For link cloaking there are a few options. I will use aweber and use their built in tracking/cloaking 99% of the time. The rest I will use a separate software program or just create a meta-redirect in HTML/PHP.

    TinyURL is ok but it doesn’t look very professional and I used to run a similar service and we have to delete a lot of the cloaked links from complaints of spam that we get.

    Someone asked about subject lines; pay attention to what emails you read, what ads you respond to and look at magazines and books they are a great inspiration

    If I missed any other specific questions please let me know and I’ll respond.

  • TeasasTips

    Reply Reply September 27, 2008

    I just signed up for a link cloaker, and I won’t publish who because it is an affiliate program…but you know what I think…if people/crooks/shysters–spent as much time doing things the right way, they wouldn’t have to steal from hard working bloggers and webmasters…thanks Reed for the heads up.

    TeasasTipss last blog post..Using The Right Keywords Are Keys To Success

  • admin

    Reply Reply September 28, 2008

    @TeasasTips I agree if they didn’t try to go for that easy buck all the time they wouldn’t have to steal.

  • Marc Marseille

    Reply Reply October 22, 2008

    Protecting your affiliate links is extremely important. I found out firsthand the importance of protecting your links when I first started in the internet industry….Great post!

    Marc Marseilles last blog post..Review Of Linkscout

  • admin

    Reply Reply October 27, 2008
  • Pat Gunning

    Reply Reply December 8, 2008

    Affiliate piracy is a scourge to be reckoned with. You work too hard to just give away your sales take Reed’s advice here and protect your business and your income.

  • Mp3Egg

    Reply Reply May 31, 2009

    Wow, thanks a bunch for the info mate! 🙂

  • Rock Ballads CD

    Reply Reply May 25, 2010

    Many thanks for taking the time to discuss this, Personally i strongly about it and love learning much more on this topic. In feasible, a person gain expertise, can you mind updating your blog with more information? It is very helpful for me.

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