Why Affiliate Programs do not like frames to be used.
February 20, 2010 by Jim · Leave a Comment
Many affiliate programs do not allow frames to be used for two (2) very simple reasons.
1. Using frames can make the purchaser think he/she is on a site that he/she is not on. With cloakers using frames or iframes the person clicking your link thinks they are on your site and buying from you and not from your affiliate link.
2. Sales Tracking, the affiliate programs will have issues tracking sales and resolving issues because all the referral ID’s from their tracking software will show them coming from your site and not the affiliate sales page so I have been told by many affiliate program owners.
I agree with #1 somewhat, it is true when people that goto sites displayed in frames they have no idea that they are not seeing the site displayed in their browser URL bar unless they view the source or get a warning about their browser not supporting frames.
It is kind of deceptive and I think that is the beef affiliate program managers have about using frames to show your affiliate page in.
The person clicking on your link will think he/she is one your site and purchasing the product from you since your URL is what they see.
#2 I am not so sure about. Most tracking programs will pick up the IP of the computer that clicks on the order link, the refer will be your site but the actual order tracking will always have the IP of the person that clicked the order link on the sales page.
The only thing I see that will be wrong will be the refer URL and IP but if I just put a link on my page and someone clicks it they will see the same Refer information as a link in frames.
Be safe and always ask if using frames or iframes are allowed with any affiliate program you join. If they allow you to use frames, by all means use them, it is the only way to insure complete 100% affiliate link cloaking.
Jim Nelson