Paddy Power Direct Link - Does not track views

[depaco79]

Hi Guys,

I've set up a bit.ly link via twitter and facebook and know I've had a sign up through it but it doesn't seem to be tracking correctly:

This our our FB bit.ly Our 4 Teams 8/1 returns £90.68 for a £10 Stake
Stake £10 get £20 with the above link

I get this when I'm in admin
Deep Linking - To create a link to a landing page of your choice please add '&redirectUrl=' together with the URL of the landing page you want to link to after the 'bid' value in the code below. Examples:
Direct Link - Does not track views



What I'm asking is can any of the above code be converted via bit.ly and then tracked correctly ?? If so which one ??

Or does someone have a contact for paddy affiliate ??

http://www.facebook.com/FranksTips

[Sausages]

I don't think you can shorten affiliate links. Try goo.gl and see what it comes up with.
You can connect Paddy Affiliates here: Luke.Cotton@paddypower.com

[universal4]

In my opinion the best thing to do is create a php or html redirect page on your site and put the affiliate link in that page.

Put those pages in it's own directory and restrict them in robots.tx file.

Then just link to that page any time you need that affiliate link.

Example xxhttp://www.domain.com/go/casino1.php

The pages and links are completely under your control and not dependant on any third party website.

Rick
Universal4

[TheGooner]

Universal's suggestion will work - and as he says - it will allow a centralised change if affiliate links need to be modified en mass.

USING SHORTING SERVICES
--------------------------------
However, you can shorten most links using a URL service and they will work. But there is a caveat here - you should check the service yourself to make sure that they do not cut off some of the parameters which are attached to the link - specifically your affiliate ID.

My question would be - why bother? But you can usually do it.


TRACKING VIEWS
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The reason that a direct link does not "track views" is because most affiliate sites have a very basic tracking system that works by counting the number of times that an image or graphic (like a banner) is pulled from their server with your affiliate tag. In the case of a text link - there is no image pulled - so no views are tracked.

However, the link should still contain your affiliate ID (if you have checked correctly above) and so all visitors landing should be correctly tagged as being referred by you.