If you’re looking for click tracking software to track your affiliate links and opt-ins in traffic exchanges and safelists, then you’re at the right place. Don’t join an affiliate link tracker program until you read this...
This article is specifically aimed at tracking safelists (viral mailers) and traffic exchange traffic - although Clixtrac can be used to track any other kind of traffic as well.
Traffic from safelists and traffic exchanges need click trackers that are designed to handle this kind of traffic.
This is why it’s important to choose the right kind of tracking service so you don’t risk getting your tracking account shut down thereby making all your tracking links useless.
NOTE: This article is part of a FREE course called Underground Traffic Tactics. It’s a course on how to use safelists and traffic exchanges for traffic. To go back and see what you’ve missed, go here to part 2.
First, let’s get down to the back-story of click tracking...
What is Click Tracking
Click tracking is tracking the number of clicks you get to your ads, to your website, to banners etc…
Some trackers can tell you the time the click was made, the type of browser, the device (mobile or computer), and if a conversion was made.
Not all trackers have these features. Some affiliate link trackers can only track clicks and nothing else.
Why You Should Use Link Trackers In Your Marketing
For the most part, with few exceptions, safelists and traffic exchanges are incentivized traffic.
That means that the clicks you are receiving are not because people like your ad or website, but because they are earning credits to get their own website shown.
Also, if you’ve paid for hits/clicks, click tracking just proves that you’ve got the clicks you’ve paid for.
So, if clicks aren’t that important, then what is?
How to Boost Your Opt-ins and Sales By Doing This One Thing
As I mentioned earlier, in the safelist and traffic exchange world, clicks are not as important as this one thing…
Knowing your conversions.
That means knowing what traffic exchange or safelist program is consistently giving you the most opt-ins.
For example, If site X is consistently giving you 500 clicks and no opt-ins, but site Y is consistently giving you 250 clicks and 25 opt-ins, which site should you be spending your time on?
It’s obvious that you should spend your time on site Y.How to Track Conversions
You want to use a tracker that allows safelist and traffic exchange traffic. Not all of them do.
Clickmagick is one such tracking program that does not allow this kind of traffic because they feel that the clicks are junk and low quality.
One reason why I believe they feel this way is because just like I stated earlier, the clicks aren’t indicative of how good your ads/websites are - but are the results of people clicking just to get their own websites shown.
Using Your Own Landing Page
When using your OWN squeeze or splash page, you’ll want to create a regular tracking link preferably to each safelist and traffic exchange.
Once you create your tracking link, you’ll also be given a conversion pixel. That pixel will go on your “thank you” page - the page someone sees after they opted in (put in their name and email address).
This will track your conversions - your opt-ins.
When you begin to track everything, you will know exactly where most of your traffic is coming from and thus, you can spend your time and money on the traffic exchanges and safelists that are giving you the best results.This is how to get an INSTANT boost in traffic.
What If I’m NOT Building My List Should I Still Use a Link Tracker?
The short answer is “Yes”. If you have a really long affiliate url, it will make it shorter.
Although tracking clicks is not what you’re ultimately aiming for, at least you’ll see how active a site is based upon the number of clicks.
For example if you send out a mailing to a site that claims it has 100k members, but your click tracking link consistently only gets 5-10 clicks at each mailing, then know that most members are not actively clicking the links in the mailer and it may be time for you to move on.
Top 2 Click Tracking Programs
There are two primary trackers promoted in the traffic exchange and safelist world - HitsConnect and Clixtrac.
If you’re a user of traffic exchanges and safelists, I would suggest you stick to those two and don’t mess around with any other link tracker program. There’s been a few that have gone under and/or are faltering.
You don’t want to lose your money or worse yet, be using their links in your marketing only to find out that they’re all dead.
HitsConnect
HitsConnect is a good program and has been around a long time. But there are certain aspects of it that I don’t care for. For example, finding your trackers after you’ve created them is a chore and a pain in the rear end.
Worse yet, the search feature, which is supposed to help you find the specific tracker you’re looking for doesn’t work like it should which makes it even more frustrating.
If you’ve used HitsConnect before and you’ve created a lot of trackers, then I’m sure you’ve ran into this same issue.
When it comes down to marketing, you want to be efficient. The more efficient you are the more money you’re going to make. It’s really that simple.
Any system, tool, or service that hinders your progress in this area, is a tool that you need to consider replacing - and that is what I did.
Why I Chose Clixtrac Over HitsConnect
As of this writing this is the link tracker I’m using and recommend. Here are the reasons:
- Track Conversions - It provides conversion pixels that you can put on your “thank you” page to track opt-ins and/or sales
- Banner Hosting - Unlike HitsConnect, Clixtrac will host your banners for you. This saves you time and money because you don’t have to go to a 3rd party to get your banners hosted.
- Free Banner Tracking - Because Clixtrac hosts your banners, it makes it a simple no-brainer to have Clixtrac to track hits/conversions to your banners.
- Rotators - Allows you to test your websites to see which one is getting better results - so you can use the “winner” in your campaigns for optimal conversions.
- Domain Hosting - At the Professional membership level, you have the option of using a custom domain in your trackers instead of “clixtrac”. It hides that fact that you are using a tracking link and a custom domain just looks more professional.
- Sub-Ids - It’s like a tracker within a tracker. You can use it to track sources of traffic within a specific traffic source.
For example, you can create a tracker for XYZ safelist. If that safelist also offers banner advertising, you can add a sub id at the end of the main tracker to just track your banner advertising instead of creating a whole new tracker. This is a great feature since so many traffic programs offer banner and text advertising. - Affordability - Clixtrac is very affordable on any budget. There is a free account available, but if you’re seriously looking to use a tracker to help determine where you should be spending your time and your money, invest a little into your business and get a paid account.
It’s as little as $5 bucks a month.The BEST deal is to get the Professional at the yearly rate so you don’t have to worry about monthly subscriptions. - Good Customer Service - I have contacted Clixtrac support a couple of times to ask questions, and they have always responded back promptly and gave suggestions on how to best use their tracking features.
And it's back office is very organized which makes finding the tracking links you've created a whole lot easier!
When it comes to features that you’re going to actually use as a marketer - dollar for dollar, Clixtrac is the better one to join.
The most successful people using safelists and traffic exchanges are the ones that are tracking their results...and building their list.
It’s a no-brainer to make sure you give yourself the edge by using a link tracker in your marketing.
Clixtrac is an affordable solution for anyone regardless of budget. With the ability to host your banners on its site without any additional expense.
With its organized back office, this link tracking program is a good solution for anyone who is serious about getting better results in their business.