Track affiliate sales for free using a URL shortening service.
As an affiliate marketer, you may find it difficult to manage tens or hundreds of links you have floating around the Internet. Some affiliate networks offer free tracking software that makes it easy to manage multiple offers at the same time, but when you're selling products directly from individual companies, you don't have this luxury. A free and easy way to start tracking the number of click-throughs you're getting for each of your affiliate links is by utilizing any number of free URL shortening services that offer free analytics, such as Bit.ly, Su.pr and Goo.gl.
Instructions
1. Sign up for a free account at a URL shortening websites, such as Bit.ly, Su.pr or Goo.gl. Confirm your account via email. Your account is now ready to go.
2. Log in to your account, and enter one of your affiliate links into the URL shortening box. The link will then get transformed into a shorter version, but it will still point to your affiliate link's destination.
3. Edit the shortened link by adding an identifying tag to the end of it. For instance, if the shortened URL is "http://bit.ly/gPAv7Y," you can edit this link by now clicking "Customize" and changing it to something that describes the destination page, such as "http://bit.ly/PromoteHealthAndWellness."
4. Set up a simple spreadsheet, and list your new customized URL as well as a destination page for this URL. This will help you keep track of which URL points to which affiliate offer. The URL shortening service will track all the clicks for you for free, so you can get real-time stats for an unlimited number of affiliate offers you're promoting online.
Tags: your affiliate, affiliate links, destination page, offer free, shortening service, your account