Using the “Create Hoplink” Feature in the The Clickbank Marketplace

A hoplink is a link that will take the customer back to the affiliate’s target URL that will in turn automatically credit the affiliate when the sale is made. Without the hoplink, you’re basically referring customers to Clickbank material free of charge, and you won’t see the great results you would get with a real, active affiliate account that uses the hoplink feature.

The hoplink should follow this format:
http://AFFILIATE.PUBLISHER.hop.clickbank.net. When integrating the hoplink, you’d need to replace the affiliate portion with your actual affiliate name. Remember, this is the nickname you chose when you originally signed up with
Clickbank. The publisher portion of the hoplink would need to be replaced with the publisher’s nickname. The hoplink will look like this in HTML: <a href=”http://AFFILIATE.PUBLISHER.hop.clickbank.net”target=_top>CLICK HERE</a> When the hoplink is entered in HTML format, you’ll also have to replace the portion that says “CLICK HERE” with anything you like. This can be promotional wording such as “Don’t miss out! Buy now!” or an image if you like.
The great thing about the hoplink is that you’re able to integrate some of your own creativity here. You can edit the images you want people to see as well as the text to better adjust it to your customers’ desires. This may take some time, but with a little bit of practice, you should be able to find your own combination of promotional words and images that will grab the attention of buyers. A tracking code is essential to ensuring that affiliates get credit, so this will also need to be added to your hoplink. A hoplink with a tracking code has to abide by the standards as set forth by
Clickbank. It can be up to 8 characters in length and must contain alpha and numeric characters only. Anything longer than 8 total characters will be automatically shortened. If a tracking code has anything other than letters and
numbers, it will be removed immediately and will not show up in your tracking reports. This is important, so be sure the tracking codes you implement are correct. Here is what a hoplink looks like with an associated tracking code:
http://AFFILIATE.PUBLISHER.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=zzzzz You will notice the characters tid shown before the code. This is the tracking code parameter and must be included, and has to be in letter case.
You can find publishers to link to and implement by checking out the Clickbank arketplace. Here, you’ll find hundreds of authors and material to choose from so that you can integrate the publisher of your choosing into your hoplink. In order to be paid via referrals, you must use the hoplink feature. This is how Clickbank tracks its thousands of referrals in the system, so keep this in mind when you’re using and integrating your hoplinks. One excellent feature of Clickbank is that you can earn credit for a referral up to 60 days after a customer visits the site, as long as they make a purchase within that time frame. Remember, over 75% of Clickbank earnings come from referrals from affiliates, so it’s important to integrate the hoplink into as many avenues as possible in order to make the most income.

Knowing how to use hoplinks is definitely key. Keep in mind that you cannot integrate hoplinks into applets, or by making them open into a frame, iframe, or image. This is an illegal hoplink and will not generate the proper referral. Check Clickbank’s policies to ensure you are using your hoplinks appropriately to ensure you will get the proper credit. If you’re caught abusing the hoplink system and continue to post them illegally, Clickbank reserves the right to remove your account without any prior notice. If you want to target your hoplink so that it opens in a new window, simply add the target at the end to “_blank.” This will target the hoplink to a new window.

Some affiliates like to use this feature because it grabs potential customers’ attention better, but you can use your own personal discretion. If your website uses rotating ads to generate revenue, you can integrate the hoplink into the ads, however it cannot take up the entire frame. In other words, when a customer clicks on the hoplink in the ad, it must be created to open a brand new window at that point. Some commonly used browsers are set to reject something called “3rd party cookies.” If you run into a situation like this, keep in mind that all hoplinks through Clickbank open at the top level of the browser window. This means that all cookies will be redirected, making them 1st party instead and therefore not being rejected.
Many other affiliate programs will not do this. Instead, they usually embed their links in an outside frame or image on the website. When this happens, the browser recognizes it as a 3rd party cookie because the domain names do not
match which raises a red flag to the browser. Cookies are a common way to track what links people have clicked on. In most cases this is a very accurate way to track your sales and referrals. However, there are some instances where cookies will not work when it comes to tracking your sales. Customers can turn their cookies off in the browser or they might be using a new form of privacy protection software that has disabled cookies. When this happens, Clickbank may not be able to register the hoplink. There is a new technology that was recently developed that helps to accurately track all sales through hoplinks in cases where cookies may not be enabled.

Clickbank developed this new technology especially for its affiliates to help make certain that they are receiving the referrals they deserve, whether the customer has allowed cookies or not.
There are many other redirect options users can utilize with their hoplinks. It’s also important to note that publishers can see where their material is being sold. They know how to tell which affiliates are referring people to their site. In some cases, a publisher might even hold contests to encourage affiliates to get more sales. It also helps the publishers to better hone in on the type of material that’s selling the most, and where those websites are located. This feature gives both publisher and affiliate an advantage: the ability to track where sales go and where they come from in order to better market their product.
Another and perhaps one of the most important items to note about hoplinks is that Google and other popular search engines have no problem recognizing hoplinks. This means that with the right marketing and keywords, affiliates have
the potential to reach thousands of customers daily! While Clickbank does its best to ensure that all affiliates get the proper credit through the use of cookies and the hoplink feature, they have issued the following disclaimer: “The affiliate (if any) we associate with any sale is determined by an automated tracking system. Any decision made by this system is final, and not subject to petition or debate. Though we believe our tracking system to be more fair and
accurate than any alternative, we make no representation regarding the ability of the system to track any specific customer, for any specific length of time.” In other words, if you happen to lose a referral or two due to customers going around the cookies or hoplink system, Clickbank cannot be held accountable.
Publishers may market or sell their material, ebooks, and digital downloads through other websites aside from Clickbank. If this is the case and you as an affiliate wish to refer someone to their website, bear in mind that you can only get credit if the person makes the purchase through your individual hoplink. If you do not, then Clickbank cannot be responsible for the sale coming from another outside source. If you find you’re having problems with your hoplinks, you may use the support forum feature at the Clickbank website. Also, be sure to make certain that everything has been spelled correctly. Sometimes small, tiny mistakes can cause you to lose the affiliate referral so be sure that your hoplinks are all coded and spelled the right way. The hoplinks feature within the Marketplace is an
absolutely wonderful resource for beginning affiliates. It’s easy, fast, and user friendly. With a little bit of practice you’ll be able to market your links the right way and watch the sales start rolling in.

Tagged with: Affiliate Marketing Tips • Clickbank Marketplace • Clickbank Tips • hoplink

Filed under: Clickbank Tips

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