I was surfing around the net looking vacation homes for rental and I came across a site called http://www.vacationhomerentals.com. Everything seems to be good, and they even have an affiliate program for you to promote. But there is 1 small problem. What is it?

This is a very good example of "choosing an affiliate program". If you have done any promoting on affiliate program, you might run into similiar situations like this one and you would not even aware of this.

Assume the affiliate program keeps their promise by paying your the commision every month and they have a good tracking system, this is still a bad affiliate program to join and promote. Why?

Anyone care to give it a shot by answering this question? This is a very good case study for you to think about in the future before you join any affiliate programs.

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I have no idea. The site seems perfectly nice and blended with the affiliate well (I can't really notice the affiliate though).

What was the problem?

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hahaha...
well, you are right..the site might look perfectly nice and blended with affiliate program but there is still a "little bit" of problem. let me explain:

the affiliate program sign up was easy and fast. there was no problem to it.
most of the time, ppl sign up to be an affiliate wouldn't even notice this until it is too late, which is why I said this is a very very good case study for all of us who wants to earn more from affiliate program...who doesn't?

I wish i could tell you the answer right now, but in order to really know how to play around with affiliate program, you need to drill down a little bit further.
I will give you a hint -> it will be very very hard to earn money from this site.
And don't worry, I have a definitely answer for this. Good try..!

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Honestly I'm a bit lost on the affiliate program here Would be appreciate it if you just show me the lights

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.. give up so easily ar...? sure, no problem...i can show you the light, maybe just a bit...hehehe

Imagine you have just sign up as an affiliate to promote their affiliate programs. You attract visitors from your website, advertising, blogs and so on to the vacation site. Sometimes you even "SPEND" a little bit of money to push traffic to the vacation site. Everything seems fine here.

Now, here's the tricky part, pay attention. For this case study, imagine yourself as the web surfer. Put yourself into their shoes. You arrive at the website, you want to look for a vacation spot, let say in california, what will you do next?

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make a reservation i guess?

hi moteto,
thanks for joining in the case study. Yup, you are right, make reservation.
Well, that is the main thing ppl would do or else they won't be in the website right?

Here's the thing, if you follow as a surfer's instinct, they would arrive at the homepage, remember this (they arrive at the website through your affiliate links attached to it)....they start to look around and they want to rent a place in, let say california....what would they do next?

if you follow this by sequence, you would probably see it already or else, i will guide you on the following post. now the question becomes very interesting, what would a surfer do next?

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My guess is, instead of make a reservation using your affiliate link, maybe the surfer would just go to the main website instead m\of my affiliate website. That's purely my guess right now, maybe i don't see the big picture

well, that is another case. if the user goes to the website by themselves, of course you will not earn. but if they arrive at the website through your affiliate links, chances are their machine will be tag by your affiliate links and when they return to the site and make a purchase, you will earn. you will not earn unless the affiliate cookies expire.

now, assume that you refer your surfer through your affiliate links, they reach the website, they wanna make a reservation in california, they click the california state on the map or through the search box....

and now the interesting part....the problem is on the next page (this applies to all the 2nd level page of the website). see if you can find the problem.

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I know!! when they want to make the payment, some of them just couldn't do it because they don't have credit card. Most of e-commerce out there have a standard payment method and it's difficult for customers who didn't own a credit card to make a reservation.

moteto...that is the surfer's problem already ler for not having a credit card.
It is actually the least problem that you have to worry about. It is actually a good try for stating that answer. The important thing u need to remember is that, it will be very hard for you to earn from this site as an affiliate, so that you won't make this kind of mistake for another site. Since there is no correct answers and it has been a very good case study, I will tell you what is the problem actually unless you want to try a final guess...

Then correct answer for the problem is at all the 2nd levels of the website.
List down all the things you see on the 2nd level page and the answer will be revealed. It's just as simple as that...

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Ok lah Globalads, i give up...i tried my best to answer the question but i still can't see the big picture...maybe i am a complete novice after all
So, can you please share with me the answer because i am about to enter into the affiliate universe in the near future.

Sure, y not...its what we are her to do right? To learn more about IM.
The explaination might be a bit long, but pls bare with me.

Let's start all over again from the beginning. You have a website, your refer your surfer's to the vacation site, they are "TAG" by your affiliate links, and when they do order, you get paid, it's just as easy as that.

But if you put yourself into your surfer's shoes, this might be the actual scenario. Imagine now that I am the surfer. I arrive at the Homepage, the website is cool, everything looks good. Hey! I want to look for a vacation spot in California. To shorten the search around, I click on the map where California is. I arrive at the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, so whatever levels of the website, and there's the problem!

Many might not agree with me on this, well, its just my opinion, no harm.
The problem is that on ALL 2nd levels of the website, they have ADSENSE, and I think you might get the picture more clearly already. If I am the surfer, I see the ADS on california appear, I would just click it and if the other site really attracts my attention, I would just book it. If I were to book from another site, how are you going to earn from affiliate commisions?

surfer -> your site -> aff link -> vacation site -> order -> affiliate commisions
surfer -> your site -> aff link -> vacation site -> adsense -> order -> no affiliate commisions

Even until the actual ads about the vacation spots have ADSENSE!
http://www.vacationhomerentals.com/v...roID-5825.html

It might not look as if it will affect you much, but imagine your are running an advertisement campaign promoting it. You are actually tosing money into the drain. It will completely dilute your profit margins. Good merchant appreciate their affiliate by providing them with good information on their products, services and support.

If you don't believe me, check out CJ or Linkshare's partner networks. Does any of their merchant networks publish ADSENSE on their own website while they are promoting their OWN products? No! If they do, I would advise you to stay away from such merchants. And that's your final answer

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i see...thanks globalads for such information...that is the main reason why i'm not seeing Adsense code in any affiliate website..