affiliate problems

[curiousman]

Hi, I'm new to this forum and has little experience in web development. But I do have some programming background like C++, C, Matlab etc.

I have a question and it's related to affiliate programs. Many times, I face this problem and I believe many others share the same problem.

After reading my review of a product or service, my readers click on the affiliate link and when they come to the sign up page, they either go to the mainpage to sign up in order to avoid giving me commission or explore the site and accidentally sign up without my referral info. The result is lost revenue.

I would like to know if there's a way to perhaps disable the address bar (or make it invisible temporarily) and de-link all links on the sign up page when the user click on a link on my website which directs them to that company's sign-up page. I hate to do this but something has to be done to help my bottom line.

Is there any tool that will do this? Do you know how others approach this problem?

Any advice would be appreciated.
Please let me know if you need clarification. English is not my mother tongue. Sorry for any grammatical mistakes.

[LeeU]

Where is the sign-up page - on your server or the affiliates?

[Mr. E. Cryptic]

After reading my review of a product or service, my readers click on the affiliate link and when they come to the sign up page, they either go to the mainpage to sign up in order to avoid giving me commission or explore the site and accidentally sign up without my referral info. The result is lost revenue.

anyway half-decent affiliate programmes should have some description of cookie system in place.

[curiousman]

Where is the sign-up page - on your server or the affiliates?

The sign-up page is on the affiliate's server. Sorry for the confusion. Any suggestions?

[curiousman]

some description of cookie system in place.

Hi Mr. E. Cryptic, how does that help me as a referrer? I don't understand how cookies work :( sorry.

[Mr. E. Cryptic]

If the operator is running a cookie-based system, when a user uses your affiliate link to go to the site, a cookie is loaded to their computer that logs some details, including the referring affiliate. The life of the cookie depends on each operator, but most that I've come accross are in the 1 to 2 week range.

If the user goes on holidays, and comes back a few days later and finally decides to use / sign-up for the service, the cookie will still be on their system to identify you as the referrer - Once the cookie's still active, and the user is on the same computer as when they first clicked your affiliate link.

Of course, there is also the possibility that users will have cleared out their cookies, or not have had them turned on in their browsers in the first place. You win some, you loose some.

[curiousman]

Thanks, Mr. E. Cryptic. I just checked on my laptop and you're right. I navigated away from the sign-up page and then returned to the page and my referal ID was still there. My analysis of low comission problem is off. Sorry.