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VigLink Review

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What Is Viglink?

VigLink is a smart system that can help you monetize your website. It works by turning your outgoing links into affiliate links. The whole process is completely automated - all you have to do is put a small piece of JavaScript code on your page. VigLink won't annoy your visitors like flashy banner ads do - in fact, most of them won't notice any difference with it installed at all.

I'll explain how this system works in more detail below, as well as overview the biggest advantages and disadvantages of using VigLink compared to your own affiliate account. If you have worked with them before, please share your experience in the comments section at the bottom of this page.

How Does VigLink Work?

Simply put, VigLink acts like an intermediate between you and affiliate companies, eliminating the need to signup for multiple programs or build special affiliate links. You just link to the merchant directly, and VigLink does the rest.

Let's say you posted a digital camera review on your photography blog, and linked to a related product page on Amazon.com with a regular link. If a visitor follows the link and buys the camera, you won't earn a penny, despite Amazon making money thanks to your recommendation. This is where VigLink comes in. If you have their JavaScript code installed, every time a visitor clicks a link to Amazon.com (or the website of any other merchant out of VigLink's 12,500+ supported ones) and makes a purchase, you will earn commissions.

How does it work? It's pretty simple. When a visitor clicks a link on a VigLink-enabled website, the aforementioned JavaScript code first checks whether the link leads to a supported vendor. If it does, VigLink then attaches their affiliate code automatically. This all happens in the matter of milliseconds, so it doesn't affect user experience in any way.

Now, those of you with experience in affiliate marketing will no doubt want to ask, why not just signup for the affiliate program yourself? Amazon.com, for instance, has an excellent affiliate program that's easy to use and can be quite profitable. So why would you want to have VigLink as a middleman? Indeed, in many cases you're better off working with Amazon Associates directly. I'll explain further in my overview of VigLink pros and cons.

Official VigLink Introduction Video

This is the official video that explains what VigLink is and how it works. it is a great introduction, although it doesn't mention some of the finer details covered below.
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Advantages of Using VigLink

Comparison of VigLink vs. working with an affiliate program yourself.

  • 1It saves time: depending on the platform, building an affiliate link can take a lot of time. For example, in CJ (Commission Junction) you have to login to the members area, select the merchant you want to work with, select a suitable link from their list, and only then you get to the HTML code that you need to paste on your website.

    With VigLink you simply link to the store, product, or review directly, and that's it!
  • 2Better looking links: most people will agree that a direct link to, say, buy.com looks better than an affiliate link like click.trackdomain.com/?affid=as4das4d5d6565d3r&trackingid=145.
  • 3Everyone is accepted: I'm located outside the US, and sometimes affiliate programs reject my application automatically because of that. Furthermore, many programs have various requirements for your site, like high amounts of traffic, or making a certain number of sales every month.

    With VigLink, you don't have to worry about any of that. Your website will definitely be accepted (still, please make sure it doesn't break their Terms of Service), and you can work with merchants that previously closed their doors to you.
  • 4PayPal payouts: many other affiliate marketplaces pay you using checks. VigLink members, however, can receive their payouts conveniently to their PayPal accounts.
  • 5It's more simple: not an important thing for pro marketers, but newbies might not want to mess with long affiliate links, tracking pixels and whatnot. Nothing beats linking to the vendor directly and letting the script do the rest.
  • 6Detailed click analytics: VigLink tracks your outgoing links and provides useful statistics, such as which links are getting clicked, which pages on your website are earning the most, which merchants are the most profitable, and so on. In some cases, it can even show you which products your visitors buy (however, not all merchants provide this information).

VigLink Disadvantages

Here's why signing up as an affiliate yourself might be better.

  • 1JavaScript blocking: VigLink relies on JavaScript technology. These days some internet users prefer to browse with it disabled. You won't get any affiliate commissions from such visitors, and there's no way around it. Do note, however, that your links will still work just fine - VigLink just won't be able to "affiliatize" them.
  • 2VigLink takes 25%: this might be a deal-breaker for some marketers. VigLink takes a cut of 25% (can be smaller for some merchants) from your revenue to cover their expenses. Usually this means that you will earn less. However, in some cases, you might earn slightly more.

    Take Amazon for instance. They have a performance-based commission structure where the more products you sell, the higher commission rates they give you (from 4% up to 8.5%). If you don't make many sales yourself, use VigLink and you will earn 8.5% - 25% = 6.375% per sale, which is still higher than the base rate of 4%.
  • 3Possibly lower earnings: due to the two reasons mentioned above, your earnings with VigLink might be lower compared to those from your own affiliate account. This depends on a number of factors. Regretfully, I don't have any reliable earnings data to compare.

Real Life Examples on When to Use It

If you're unsure whether VigLink will help you monetize your website better, maybe the following examples will help. Please keep in mind that this is only my opinion.

Do you only link to one merchant from your website or blog, and the said merchant makes creating affiliate links easy (e.g. Amazon)? Stick to it, then - in your case, I see no reason to switch to VigLink.

Do you link to multiple merchants from your website or blog regularly, and find yourself having to login to multiple affiliate platforms (CJ, LinkShare, ShareASale, etc) all the time? Was your application declined by some merchant you really wanted to work with? In that case, I recommend giving VigLink a try.

Do you own a web forum where members regularly post links to electronics, games, movies, or other products? Well, what are you waiting for... You might be sitting on a goldmine!

Signup for VigLink

Visit VigLink homepage to find out more.The official website of the company can be found at (predictably) VigLink.com. If you signup through my affiliate link, I'll earn 10% of your first year's revenue (your earnings won't be affected in any way). Cheers!

Unofficial VigLink FAQ

Some more information about this automatic affiliate system.

Who's behind VigLink? Who owns it?

According to this press release, VigLink is backed by Google Ventures, First Round Capital, Emergence Capital and SoftTech VC. Notable individual investors include LinkedIn Founder Reid Hoffman and former Google executive and current LinkedIn VP of Product Deep Nishar.

As for their team, you can find the whole list at http://www.viglink.com/about/team/executives.

How is Driving Revenue related to them?

VigLink has recently acquired Driving Revenue, a company that monetizes outclicks with no changes to consumer experience. As far as I understand, they offered very similar services.

Is there a minimum payout?

There's no minimum payout, but VigLink will pay you after receiving the money from the merchants themselves. In some cases this can take up to 60 days.

Is there a list of supported merchants?

There's no list that you could browse, but VigLink does offer a tool for checking whether a link will be "affiliatized" by them or not. You will find it in your member area.

Can I trust them? Is VigLink a scam?

It's a multi-million company backed by Google Ventures. I think they have better things to do than cheat you for a few dollars, don't you?

Can I use it on Squidoo?

As I mentioned before, you need to install a piece of JavaScript code on your website for VigLink to work. Since Squidoo doesn't allow JavaScript, you can't use VigLink here.

What about Flash or AJAX applications?

VigLink offers a REST API for direct access (available on request), and you can also use various functions from their JavaScript Library.

Any alternatives?

Indeed, there's a very similar tool called SkimLinks that you can try if you don't like VigLink for some reason.

Comments

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Chadrew

I've been working with VigLink for a few months, with quite good results. I like the fact that I can simply use direct links to merchants and save a l... more »

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