Considering promoting Clickbank hoplinks on EzineArticles.com?  There are a few things to consider before spending a lot of time on producing content, that will likely get rejected if you don't follow the rules.  The number one rule when trying to promote affiliate links through EzineArticles.com, is that they are not allowed.  But there are ways to place links within the resource box, that will give you a commission if a visitor clicks through.

How To Add Affiliate Links To EzineArticles.com

Generally the only way the reviewers at EzineArticles.com will allow affiliate links are when the link is sent to a top level domain.  A Clickbank hoplink is not considered a top level domain, so we'll have to setup a redirect.  To do the redirect you will have to own a domain and have it hosted on a server running PHP.

Let's assume your domain is LotsAMoney.com and you want to redirect to RapidMassTraffic.com, which pays a healthy 60% commission.  Well we can't use that ugly url I used in the link on this post in our resource box on EZA, so we'll have to actually use a link to LotsAMoney.com.

To redirect to the RapidMassTraffic.com site you will need to upload an index.php file to your domains folder.  MemWG.com has a phenomenal how-to showing exactly what code needs to be included in the index.php file to properly forward to the programs landing page.

The end result is that you are linking to your own domain, but then the visitor is immediately forwarded to the program you are affiliating for, with your affiliate cookie in place!  By linking in this way we are allowed to place affiliate links in EzineArticles.com without being rejected.

Recommended EzineArticles.com Affiliate Article Format

There has been a lot of discussion on the Digital Point forums discussing the best format to use when promoting a product through article creation.  I ran across a tip in a thread following one persons exploration into article content bombing at EzineArticles.com where he submits at least 10 articles per day.  Below is the format he uses and what's recommended for the most successful conversions.

• See what is the primary feature of a product I'm promoting (what seperates it from the pack).
• Write an article talking about a problem that the product is for.
• Close the article by talking about how this particular product will help fix the particular problem they're having.
• Put a short and sweet resource box encouraging them to click and learn more about the product.

Using this format within your articles gets the readers attention and then helps them along to find out more information.  Keeping them interested for when you send them to the affiliate products landing page is important. Focus on conversions.

Create Your Own Landing Pages

This is a very tricky concept and one that I've always struggled with.  For starters I'm not good at building landing pages and second I believe the absolute shortest route a visitor needs to take to make a purchase is the best.  Me adding my own landing pages in the mix just requires extra clicks for the visitor to complete a transaction and allow me to get paid.

That being said, there are plenty of affiliates out there that have received a lot of success by building their own landing pages, which were linked in the resource box at EzineArticles.com.  Additional benefits include having a page that is spidered by search engines and will eventually provide additional traffic from search engines, instead of going through your article on EZA.

Lastly, remember that the best methods are kept secret, so test, test, test and find out what works best for the particular niche you are creating articles for.  Working every day to create content and spreading your affiliate links all over the web will lead to success down the road.

New Clickbank Logo

Not only did Clickbank roll out an all new color scheme and layout, but they also launched a new tool that will help protect your affiliate links from prying eyes.  It's a free tool which masks the promotion name and your affiliate link within a Clickbank hop.

HopLink Shield is a free tool that encrypts the affiliate and vendor nicknames in HopLinks.

Setting up an encoded hoplink is as easy as entering the Vendor Nickname and your Affiliate Nickname.  Then press a button and BAM fresh encoded hoplink.  Also, if you confused yourself in the process and have some encoded links floating around and can't remember what they are for they also have a decoder.  Which brings up another question, why encode a link if there is an open way to decode them?

Seems like a small oversight and if they were this dedicated to privacy seems like they wouldn't publish the decoder as well.  Or as a recommendation, at least only be able to decode once logged in, allowing only your own hops to be decoded.  Oh well, it's a start.

Source: Clickbank Blog