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

[Lonnie & Libby Lu]

Thank you!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I try to always use the DK link!!

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

I've learned through fundraising that people like to see a goal ( a realistic goal) and real time results towards reaching that goal.  In testing, it does push the results. It's a reminder to shop through DK's link at Amazon and you can see that you are moving the needle for doodle rescue each time you shop there. I don't know how hard it is to put something like that on the home page and keep updating it ... You could run it through 2014. Just my thought.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

This is a fantastic idea Cheryl, and I hope Adina and Clark look into it. I do most of my Amazon shopping thru the DK link and would love to know and see, what a difference it makes.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Location Location Location

May I suggest you place the information on a central location.  Sure, the rule of thumb are the eyes follow left to right, but on the internet, it's different. For example, on DK, my eyes go to the middle, to the left, then down the center of the page to read what is happening.

My suggestion. Place in the center at the top. Place at the bottom of the comments directly above those doodles in need. Move it from these three areas often. Something new and attention getting. 

Switch the picture / ad often to be current.  Christmas, Valentines, Summer, etc.

I like this placement because it is the size of the comments.  Just my preference although the ad could be better visually.

I remember that icon that is currently there but for some reason I no longer see the ad 

Place in every discussion. We all know the other annoying ads where there. We would rather see the Recommended links in the discussion.  <---I dont know if this last one is possible. 

But, those are my suggestions. 

I DO use the link!   I remember it but I have been here five years. 

I did not spend a lot of time on this ad and I think at this time it should have a green outline. It should stick out but not be annoying. This is just an example of placement. 

[Jolene, Sassparilla &amp; Josie]

I made a purchase for my mom last night hopefully I did it right?

[Lonnie &amp; Libby Lu]

Adina, I just placed an order on Amazon and I clicked from DK's ad.   How do I know that DK got credit for my order?

[F, Calla & Luca]

I use the DK Amazon link all the time. But I think you could put out an all members email on occasion to remind people.

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Hi Adina, I agree with what Cheryl has said above. I had no idea that 25% of the commissions could add up to that much money. Heck, that makes me want to start my own amazon link - it is insane. I shop at amazon from time to time and only use the link occassionally as I often forget. I will remember from now on for sure :o)

[Gem's Jewel]

So glad I stumbled across this...while we don't do a lot of online shopping, this will always be my first stop from now on. Please consider reposting this info as so many new folks join regularly and many would want to help.