Shop at Amazon! ...or what I learned when Clark accidentally committed wire fraud.

[Adina P]

Yesterday was “Cyber Monday”.  That’s when we all start shopping for Christmas gifts online, right?  Clark and I do most of our online shopping at Amazon.  Clark is even an “Amazon Prime” member.

I know you shop at Amazon too.  You do it through our DK affiliate link and doodle rescue organizations this way (I give 25% of all our proceeds to doodle rescue).   Thank you so much!

Here’s the funny/scary story about my dh Clark and his wire fraud.  Also, the lesson we learned.

Earlier this summer, Clark was changing some of the links/banners to Amazon on the DK main page.  He thought he was done and had tested everything.  But then something amazing happened.  Our commissions exploded!  I mean, we earned more commissions in one day than we usually do in one or two months!  Always the buzz kill… Clark told me that this was too good to be true and something was definitely wrong.  He was right.  (Darn it!)

He fixed it, and self reported to Amazon… who then took care of any feelings of elation I had.  :-)  So everything is alright and Clark is probably not going to jail.  (At least not for that!)

Here’s what Clark accidentally did:

He accidentally put an Amazon tracking link (what Amazon uses to know who to pay us commissions for) on not just the people that clicked on our Amazon link, but on EVERYONE that viewed our site.  So everyone that came to our site and then went to Amazon in the next 24 hours and bought something earned us a commission.  Cool!  Nope… wire fraud.  Amazon only wants people that intentionally used our link to Amazon to earn us a commission.  Not people that just happened to come to DK and then happened to later buy at Amazon.  We know that and that is fair.

Here’s what I learned:  Only about 1 out of 40 of you are actually using our Amazon affiliate link.  That is HUGE!  To put it in perspective, if everyone used our Amazon link all the time when they shopped Amazon, we would be able to donate an additional $13,000 to doodle rescue organizations every year.  Thirteen grand.  No kidding.

So I need to know what I can do to increase the number of people that use our Amazon affiliate link without spamming you with Amazon links all the time?  You are already shopping at Amazon.  So might as well support DK and doodle rescue, right?

We have the ad at the top right of the page… we have the Amazon search widget in the right column of the front page.  What more should we do?  

http://amazon.doodlekisses.com

[Bonnie and Kona]

I think you might move the information around a bit. I know that my eye gets used to seeing things in the same place all the time and I just stop "seeing" it. Maybe if you move the link info around now and then we will be re-reminded. I think that I always use the DK link if I am on my computer, but when I am on my phone I realize that I forget. Not sure how to help me with that. 

[Carol and Banjo]

I use Amazon all the time.....and I feel soooooo guilty....because even though I'm a daily user of Doodle Kisses, I don't always go to DK to click the link to Amazon....in fact....I more often forget.    MY BAD!!!!!!     I use and iPad and a laptop....and when I'm going to "shop" I generally just click on the icon at the top of my tool bar or in the case of the iPad...on the bottom of my home page.    Is there ANY way to get the DK Widget on to both computers?    I am happy to support DK AND DRC!!!

[Adina P]

Do you have other ready-to-go links on your toolbar?  I don't see why you couldn't make one for DK's link to Amazon, but I don't know anything about iPads.  Clark could probably tell you when he becomes available.  We do have the DK toolbar available for download, but I will have to seek out the old discussion.  Do you have bookmarks on your iPad?

[Carol and Banjo]

Ahhhh....I must have figured out how to do this way back....my laptop toolbar IS a DK link!   I'll check the iPad and do whatever needs to be done there.   DH has a Kindle Fire and wanted to know if he needs to be a DK member to use the link.

[Jen Fischer]

Many DK members like me don't visit the site regularly, but might be drawn there by an email "teaser" that interests them. That means they don't see the ad at the top of the page enough for it to make an impact. Today, your post in my email's inbox was definitely intriguing! I wanted to read about Clark's criminal activity. That's what drew me to the site and the important message you shared. So I guess a reminder post every so often, especially around the holidays. I don't think people will feel spammed. Keep those headlines tantalizing and bring us in the door! I will appreciate the reminder and definitely use your Amazon affiliate link going forward. Happy holidays!

Jen and Axel

[sandy b]

If I go to Amazon thru the DK link is it possible to save that link in my favorites on my ipad then use that everytime i go to Amazon?

[Jersey, Jasmine, Jypsy and Diane]

Sandy B~ This is what I did when they first came out with it thinking that every time we used Amazon then that DK would get something back. I hope it is working.

[Alla]

Find an easy way for people to add a link to their favorites toolbar. I put it there myself and click on it since it's in my face.

[sandy b]

I just bookmarked this to my favorite page on my ipad.
Adina does this include all purchases made on amazon? Including ebooks?

[jeanne & Lilly]

Sandy, would pls post the link for ipad?
Thx

[Linny]

I won't use Amazon any more:

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/dec/01/week-amazon-insid...

[Deborah Brown]

I rarely use Amazon except for research but I can tell you that I've never noticed a link for Amazon shopping.  I tend to ignore anything that looks like an advertisement.