As a digital marketer, you might not have considered the importance of regularly checking the links on your blog and updating any expired affiliate URLs. If you're generating revenue through affiliate links, many of those old links may no longer work. So, how should you handle these expired links?
Research shows that sites with a high rate of broken links (over 1%) can see a significant decline in traffic and conversion rates. Therefore, managing and updating these links is crucial for maintaining your site's performance.
Common Scenarios
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An old promotion or deal has expired, resulting in your unique affiliate link returning a 404 error.
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Changes within the affiliate program have rendered the old links inactive.
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Other reasons may cause old links to become unusable.
Strategies for Handling Expired Affiliate Links
Start using the Affiliate Cloaker plugin or tool:
There are many benefits to using an affiliate link cloaking plugin. This type of plugin allows you to manage all your affiliate links from a single location, eliminating the need to edit individual posts when changes are needed.
The main reason for using an affiliate cloaking plugin is to simplify the management of all your affiliate links. Whether you are a part of the Amazon affiliate program or any other network, it is highly recommended that you consider adding cloaked links generated by the above plugins.
Find broken Affiliate links:
To assist you with this crucial task, you can utilize a plugin called Broken Link Checker. This plugin scans all the links on your blog to identify 404 errors and any redirects. Additionally, it sends email notifications when broken links are detected, making it easy for you to keep track of your blog's links.
If any of your affiliate links start returning 404 errors, be sure to replace them with updated links or follow the necessary adjustments outlined in the final section of this article.
Automatically Remove Expired Promotion Posts
Many new affiliate marketers often neglect to delete expired promotional posts. For time-sensitive exclusive deals (like Amazon promotions), using a plugin like PublishPress Future can help automate the removal of content that is no longer relevant.
Convert Expired Affiliate Links into Email Capture Leads
For example, I once promoted a product called “Easy WP SEO,” which went under poor maintenance and eventually stopped being promoted. In this case, I quickly created a dedicated landing page using Leadpages to inform users about the product and capture their information for future promotions for similar products.
Real-Life Success Stories
Consider the example of an online fashion retailer. By regularly checking and updating their affiliate links, they reduced 404 errors by 60%. This improvement led to a 30% increase in website traffic and a 15% boost in conversion rates. This demonstrates the importance of maintaining link integrity.
Conclusion
Expired affiliate links not only affect user experience but can also damage your site’s credibility. If you haven’t started using WordPress affiliate link cloaking plugins yet, now is the time to act. Continually monitor all links and take appropriate measures to ensure digital marketing success.
Please share your experiences in handling broken affiliate links, and if you found these tips helpful, consider sharing this article with other affiliate marketers!