Building Links

[whimsywhim]

Good morning,

When you build a link and add a store's name, you get a screen that says to copy the link below and "put it in the appropriate place in the HTML for your website".  (I want to do this in Pinterest).

What's the appropriate place in the HTML?  Can I do more than one store on Pinterest?  I ask because if I do more than one "copying the link below in the appropriate place", won't it replace the previous store that I linked to?  

As one can tell, I am extremely ignorant when it concerns these things.  I'm trying, though!  

Thanks for any help!

[whimsywhim]

I think I figured it out.  I'm sorry to bother you guys!  I wish there was a delete option.  Thank you!

[waterart]

HTML is the code that builds a website including links on it. I don't know if pinterest gives you the option to link to your Zazzle store

[whimsywhim]

Thank you.  I saw a video of how to do it for Pinterest.  I followed the instructions, but when I clicked on the Zazzle store that I chose to affiliate, my affiliate number was not on there.  I went to my daughter's pinterest and tried it from there and the same thing - my affiliate number didn't show up.  I'm back to being at a loss as to what I did wrong.  Sigh.

[PacifierCity]

@whimsywhim 

https://www.zazzle.com/store/pacifier_city_cards?rf=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  The x's are your referral id number

PC

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[whimsywhim]

Thank you.  That's the problem.  My referral ID does not show up.  I saw a video of how to build links to another store and put it on my Pinterest.  I followed the instructions to the letter, but when I clicked on the link, my referral ID does not come up.  When I add another store's individual products on my Pinterest boards, that works.  My referral ID shows up.  But "build links" does not.

[PacifierCity]

@whimsywhim 

On the published pin you built, hover the mouse over the link back to z and look at the url... it should be displayed in a little grey box at the bottom left of the screen...

If you see your rfid displayed there, then the link is properly set.   You could test a link by signing out of everything, clearing your cookies and then coming back to z via the pinterest link.  buy a postcard.  Check your referral stats immediately.  They reliably increase within moments of earning a referral.  Then cancel the sale.  I'm not sure I would recommend checking your links that way all the time, as cancellation rate through your rfid may factor into Z's algorithms somehow, idk...  But it is possible to check that way...

PC

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[whimsywhim]

Thank you!  If it's not there with this method, this is also a question I will ask Zazzle and will post their response.

[whimsywhim]

I did what you said, and the referral ID is there.  When I click on the zazzle link to get to the product page, my referral ID is at the end of the URL.  However, there is no "add to cart" icon.  There is only "View Product Details".

When I click on "View Product Details", the "add to cart" icon shows up, but my referral ID disappears in the URL.  

I am at a loss as to why it is so difficult to add referral links.  

[PacifierCity]

@whimsywhim 

It would be very difficult for Z to add your rfid to each page a customer visits after the first one.  It is only the first one that counts.  Remember a cookie lasts for ... 30 ish ... days, maybe 45... I forget... and can not be over ridden by anothers cookie for its first 7 days.  A customer could come, have life happen, leave and then come back the next day and buy something... and if your cookie was set, then you would earn that referral.  I say if your cookie was set, because someone else's cookie could still be in its first 7 days...

So it sounds like you have built the link properly as you see it on the first Zazzle page the customer lands on.  As far as the customer having to click "View Product Details" to get to a place where they can add your product to a cart, that is a whole different ball of wax that several have commented on in the last few months...

PC

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[whimsywhim]

I thought I was doing something wrong because of the "View Products Details".  It's just an extra step for the buyer which could be deemed unnecessary and a hassle for them.  

So even though my referral number disappears when I click on "View Products Details", it's still embedded somewhere, and if the buyer's cookie doesn't lapse, then I still get the referral?  Am I understanding that correctly?

[PacifierCity]

@whimsywhim 

Yes and no.  Both because of the way that referrals/cookies work. 

So your link is set up correctly to "set" a cookie on the potential customers browser.  When a customer clicks your link a cookie does get set.  When the "click" reaches Zazzle, Zazzle looks at the cookies set in the customers browser.  If yours is the only Z rfid cookie that is there then yours is "set" for 30 days (I really need to check that).  No other cookie can replace yours for a period of 7 days.  For the last 23 days of that cookies life, someone elses cookie can override yours. 

Now if the Z system looks at the cookies in the users browser and sees another Z rfid cookie that was "set" with in the last 7 days, then your cookie is not set.  If the customer goes on to buy, the other cookie setter will get the referral (funny sentence...lol).  But I hope it makes sense.

I am guessing that you only get one chance to set a cookie on the initial visit to the site.  So if yours does not get set on that first visit, the customer would have to pick up your Z rfid cookie all over again, with it hopefully getting "set" the next visit.  ***While this part is speculation on my part, I don't think the system would "remember" that your cookie was rejected on day 5 of someone elses cookie being set and then, on day 7, switch over to yours.***

Your cookie can also be lost or not set if the customer blocks cookies, clears their cookies, or visits via one browser and customizes but waits till later and uses a different device to finalize and purchase... among other things.

Many folks will tell you that, at least at first, you will probably earn 1 referral for every 1000 link clicks (link overs in your Z back end).  Ideally, as you build a following, and they like or trust your product recommendations, that can change to 1 in 800 then 1 in 500 etc...  But that usually takes time...

Sorry if that is a complicated answer....

But generally, as long as every thing goes in your favor, your links are setting a cookie that will earn you a referral if the customer purchases with in the next 30 days.... even when your rfid disappears from the url after the first Zazzle page loads...  Only on the first page visit is the cookie "set" and visible in the url....

PC

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[whimsywhim]

Thank you so much.  This is great information!  Thank you!

[whimsywhim]

I got info back from Zazzle, and the referral is still active even though the referral ID doesn't show up.  Great to know!