Question: Do you try to hide your affiliate links? (+pic)
 

What I really mean is, if you build a site with some free content and so on, do you prefer to try and make the surfer click your links to the sponsor accidentally, or do you make it very clear where the link goes?

For example, you have a gallery of 10 pics, 9 of which link to real pics, the other 1 links to some join page or something. VS. all 10 pics are images and there's a 'join' button (or similar) for the surfer.

Which method do you prefer? Or do you blend them both? I have seen that blind links bring terrible ratios, or am I imagining it?

Cheers. Oh, and don't forget:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/images/acti...ge/20f7248.jpg

Of course, blind links bring terrible ratios for obvious reasons. On top of that, you'll get banned pretty quick at most tgps if you submit a gallery with a blind link thumb going to a sponsor.

Galleries as well as other forms of affiliate advertisement are all about one thing: PRE SELL PRE SELL PRE SELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLl

:2 cents:

-P

Hmm, thanks for the advice. Do you think blind links make a visitor angry? I know I hate them, but if the site being linked to offers more and looks better than your site, I thought perhaps that it was fine to do it?

huh, are we talking about 1998 or is it 2005?

Well think about places where blind links are truly "accepted".

The new thumb TGP model is a great example, these guys trade traffic through blind links and it DOES work, because their sites are incredibly "sticky" and are full of free content.

So, I guess it depends what sponsor / landing page you are sending to. You might still make money sending blind because your volume will be so much higher, but overall I think you will make less than with a solid pre-sell and attractive offers.

Either way, don't blind link thumbs on TGP galleries that you plan to submit.

:2 cents:

-P

I am honest with my surfers, and this yields the best ratios. If the surfer wants to visit the sponser via a link, they will. No need to trick them.

The only benefit to blind linking them would be for PPC, and most companies do not allow this method of traffic to be sent.

what do you seriously think yourself or are you just looking for some attention?

Well, I think the overall sales are fairly similar but I suppose it depends on several factors. What can you contribute to this thread?

Some people use ref codes like /?=discounttrial or /?=specialjoin