Managing affiliate links from many different affiliate platforms

[befrchmumopa]

I have a Belgian website that is mainly focused on product reviews and we derive most of our income from our affiliate programs.
Because the market for webshops is still pretty fragmented in Belgium we are currently using 5 different affiliate platforms (Awin, Tradetracker, Tradedoubler, Partnerize and Bol).
This poses an issue when we want to create tracking links for an article as we have to login on different platforms which is time-intensive.
In order to circumvent this problem I made a small tool in Excel to convert regular links to tracking links for different platforms.
Problem is that Excel is not made for this and as we start new websites and get new affiliate partners this is Excel sheet is getting out of hand and messy.
I would like to know if any of you know if an out-of-the-box-solution exists or if it's better to have a small tool made by a freelance developer.
I'm not a developer and have very little knowledge concerning Python and Javascript.

 

[Ryuzaki]

I'm imagining if you can pull this off in Excel that the links have some standardized method, like URL parameters you can tag onto them. But with Awin, for example, can you link straight to the vendor's site or does it need to route through some kind of randomized tracking domain like xozetuhoun.com?

If it's simply a matter of tagging on the right URL parameters for each platform, that wouldn't be hard for anyone with even a basic understanding of a scripting language to create for you. But I don't see it being any faster or more organized than a spreadsheet.

The benefit of the spreadsheet is you can keep the "converted" links in there and organized so you can find them again. With Javascript or Python you could generate them, copy and paste them, and then "reset" the script. Or you could have a CSV file or other spreadsheet file to write to, but you'd still be dealing with a spreadsheet you'd probably need to be going into and organizing. It might handle the tagging of the URLs better, but I don't see it saving you any more time, to be honest.

 

[infotech]

Here is what i use to create links for awin:

https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=${AwinMerchantId}&awinaffid=${AwinPublisherId}&clickref=${referrer}&p=${encodeURIComponent(href)}

in javascript.

awin also had their own js lib that can convert all their listed merchant links to affiliate links. ( i don't use it because doesn't work with ad blockers & speedtest issues due to its file size.)

similar method should exist for other networks.

 

[bernard]

Awin has a browser extension that can autogenerate links:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/myawin/mlnpcceaeigcohdpaddmkllbgnkgeoed?hl=en-GB

Partnerize:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/...ink/iigmblejfnkjhaaeiehbmjenhacjmpfg?hl=en-GB

Tradedoubler:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/...ndhljkbflojickkgojidahinebbi/related?hl=en-GB

Write a similar Chrome plugin that can take the browser url and convert it into an affiliate deep link for the others. Should be quite easy to do. You can get the live programmes from the affiliate APIs, cache them, and check against them real time.

Alternatively, you can code a wordpress plugin and manage your links from the backend. Like Pretty Links but with a choice for which affiliate network you want. You usually only need to swap the program id.

 

[Pagey]

Better develop your own plugin, it should not be too hard.

For WordPress plugins, you need a PHP dev. There are many on Upwork.

 

[befrchmumopa]

Thanks for the replies, I will contact a PHP dev on Upwork.
The reason for having a separate tool is because we have a VA in the Philippines.
And we want to avoid giving him access to the affiliate platforms.
He's currently using the Excel but I'm afraid this could lead to human/manual errors in time.

 

[nikolaykrastev]

Thanks for the replies, I will contact a PHP dev on Upwork.
The reason for having a separate tool is because we have a VA in the Philippines.
And we want to avoid giving him access to the affiliate platforms.
He's currently using the Excel but I'm afraid this could lead to human/manual errors in time.

Could you please give some feedback when you find a solution? I would be happy to hear a positive getaway.

 

[befrchmumopa]

We ultimately chose to simplify the Excel sheet.
Like Ryuzaki stated, the main advantage is that we can keep track of all the "converted" links we created.

 

[verydima]

I use yourls.org + cheap vps
Manage all aff links for all domains.