Forwarding Your Domain Name to an Affiliate Link
A look into the old gray-hat practice of forwarding an un-used domain to an affiliate link: how old practices become today’s bannable offenses.
This very article was written on May 5, 2010 and spoke of an old tactic, where affiliate marketers would forward their trafficked domain names to an affiliate link. While it was a great way to get some use out of otherwise dormant domains, it is now a unanimously bannable offense in most if not all affiliate programs. Due to this fact, I had to update the article.
Today’s affiliate program software, not only from giants like Amazon or eBay, allow an affiliate program administrator to see where their traffic is coming from. It has never been easier to see forwarding domains. In order for the administrator to catch an affiliate in the act of forwarding a domain name to their program, all that would have to be done is to send a “test” commission of $0.00 to the link, regardless if it is masked or not, and see where the test commission forwards to. Then, the account that receives it can simply be banned from the affiliate program.
There is practically no way to avoid getting caught from the old “domain forwarding” trick – don’t even attempt it!
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This idea sounds intriguing. Thanks for the info. – Lois
Amazon will close your account if you forward any domain’s traffic to an a-store or other amazon affiliate link.
I had $1200 + affiliate earnings and they closed my account and would not even consider discussing the situation.
Shortly thereafter, Amazon announced that this quarter’s earnings were down.
This type of un-businesslike behavior is why Amazon is now “expired”
Jerry, thanks for bringing attention back to this old article. You’re right, and it’s interesting to see how the tactics from a year ago can change. I’ll update the article!