Skimlinks - funding the site etc

[Aitch]

PANIC NOT!

it's a thing we (me and techno-wizardess Jem) are trialling, it's supposedly unobtrusive (although am not QUITE sure about that, will have to tweak ) and it catches affiliate stuff. so if you, er, forget to get stuff from Amazon through the BLW link, for example, but do actually click on a link here, it still gives a kickback of some description to the site. minus the commission to skimlinks, of course.

we thought we'd give it a whirl for two reasons...

1. the cost of running the site has farking doubled in the last year. which is great, lots of hits etc, absolutely fab, welcome one and all, but it does mean that my laissez-faire approach to funding it Has To Stop.

2. Pinterest* use skimlinks, so that's good, hey?

*WOULD you believe that pinterest announced they'd stopped using it like... yesterday.

anyhoo. let's give it a whirl, i'm not sure if it will work or not. a lot of the new traffic is coming from the states, and i know for a fact that the 'murricans are not using the amazon link as it hasn't accumulated a red cent, so maybe this will pay the rent a bit?

it's one of them ones, at the end of the day... i'd rather not bork the place with hundreds of google adwords ads for mad baby stuff that we don't know whether is shite or not, at least this way it's using your own recommendations.

but we will see. if it's shite and we all hate it, it'll go. <dusts hands>

[Pics]

so how does that work - surely that can only be links to sites that are signed up?

[Allium]

It was the fresh fruit veg link that surprised me and made me notice. I just checked it & it's to freezer bags on amazon to keep your fruit & veg fresh.

I don't know if there's anything out there that does this, but what I'd really like is to be able to tick a little box that says you guys get a kickback off every amazon purchase I make...I often buy things with the amazon app on my phone only to remember that I should come on here first, click the link, & buy on my phone. I make sure I do that for bigger purchases, but DH doesn't (we have a joint amazon account), and I don't bother for little purchases. And as we have a prime account we do buy lots of stuff on there, so I feel bad every time I buy anything without coming on my laptop and going through the amazon link up there ^^^.

Feel free to slap my wrist and send me to the naughty corner till I promise not to do it again *hangs head in shame*

[Jem]

so how does that work - surely that can only be links to sites that are signed up?

It will only work on links / with stuff that skimlinks has done a deal on with retailers on, yep.

[Aitch]

yes, seemingly they have signed up to 12000 affiliate schemes, so the idea is that when there's a match (i think) to one of their gerzillions of schemes, it will convert. mostly american, it looks like. as it is, this site gets a commission of 4% (sometimes more, i think, at Christmas) when you buy through that Amazon link up there <points>. but most people forget, so not a lot goes through there.

so skimlinks says 'we will act like one big affiliate umbrella and give you commission, minus our whacking fee' whenever there is a match up and someone clicks through AND buys something. quite a few hoops to jump through, it seems to me, so we'll have to see whether it actually works.

[Aitch]

lol Allie. <lightly duffs Allie up>

[Aitch]

btw the reason amazon doesn't offer a box to tick is, of course, that it WANTS you not to come through here.

[Allium]

lol Allie. <lightly duffs Allie up>

You all saw that, right?? Hitting a sick, pregnant lady. For shame!

*wanders off to check what's currently in her Amazon wishlists that she can legitimately buy today*

[Aitch]

arf.

[pimento]

Is there a way to donate directly to you?

[Jem]

Is there a way to donate directly to you?

There is a donate link in the sidebar of the home page.

[BLTMama]

a lot of the new traffic is coming from the states, and i know for a fact that the 'murricans are not using the amazon link as it hasn't accumulated a red cent, so maybe this will pay the rent a bit?

I've tried and tried to use the Amazon link, but either it doesn't work or I can't figure it out. My options (as far as I can tell) are to make a new account to buy from Amazon.co.uk (and pay $$$ to have things shipped from the UK), or click the "United States" link at the bottom.

Am I missing something? I use Amazon quite a bit and would love to help the site (actually thought I was until I read this ), but either I'm a huge dope (possible) or it doesn't work, or it's too confusing for the average American to figure out...

[pimento]

Is there a way to donate directly to you?

There is a donate link in the sidebar of the home page.

Thanks

[oriel]

Could you have some sort of IP detector on the affiliate link so it would send UK people to the UK Amazon and US people to the US one?

[Aitch]

it's supposed to do that already, oriel, there's a wp plug in set up for it. i know it's working because back in feb of last year there was TWO CENTS credited to the account, hahahaha. and not a jot since then, so it must be a traffic thing rather than a plug in thing.