Tracking referrals...Need some help

Franktoh

Hi there,

I have a question in relation to tracking referrals from my website. We are a retailer here in Ireland with an online shop. So there are two scenarios:

(1) Our website was designed by a graphic design artist in the US. It is a really cool looking site, according to anyone who views it. We get a lot of people asking us where we got the website designed. I have passed on a lot of business to the guy in the US over the last few months and I've decided that I would like some form of rebate for putting contacts his way. We have not specified the designer on our footer yet. I have agreed with the designer that any future referrals sent his way by us then he will give us a small commission. What I am asking is if we put his details (logo and link to his site) in our footer is there any way we can track (a) those who go to his site and (b) those who make contact with him via his website? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

(2) The second scenario is that we have another feature on our website that was not done by the guy in the US. It was done here in Ireland. In the last 6 months we have had at least 20 different people looking to know where we got it done. We have passed on the companys details to those who ask. Similar to the above we've agreed with the company that any referrals would enable us to a small commission. It's different to a website in that we can't really specify who this was actually done by as that wouldn't look right. So we can't hyperlink it from our site. It is just a case of us sending the person who inquires an email with the company's website and contact person. Again, we would like to track referrals if possible. What is the best way to do this? Is there any software out there that can help us?

Eoin

For the first question - yes, you can track outbound links if someone clicks on the logo or link that you have in your footer. How you do it will depend on how you currently monitor your site traffic.

Can't see a way for you to track who uses his contact form, as that's outside of your control. I certainly wouldn't share that information with you if I was in his position, unless I had a way of knowing that the contact was made by someone who came from your website.

For the second question - what exactly is the model here? Are you being paid for any referral, or ones that lead to actual sales for the 3rd party? Actually, the same goes for the first scenario too.

Franktoh

Thanks for your reply Eoin.

Yes both scenarios are commission related based on those who lead to actual sales. So if someone goes from our site to the 3rd party site and if the 3rd party gets business from that then we will look to invoice the 3rd party for a small commission based on the value of the sale.

We realise that this may be difficult, especially in case case of point 1. We may be better to leave this logo and link from the footer and just deal with any inquiries that come through our own site. We can then direct them towards the designer and try and track it that way.

It will be easier in the case of scenario 2 because people just ask us directly as it's something we'd be able to notice on their websites in a number of weeks/months.

Eoin

Well, in the first scenario, you need the designer to be honest about which ones lead to sales.

So whether you email on contact details or have a referring link is irrelevant. With either option you'll have a good idea of how many people you sent their way, but you just have to hope that they'll be upfront about which ones lead to sales. You'd think that the link would lead to more referrals, so it might be in both your interests to use this.

Franktoh

Thanks for getting back. I know that the link would definitely lead to more referrals but we would have no idea as to who exactly is clicking on them.

At least if a person contacts us asking we have their name and email address so we can email the details to them. From that at least we would have a better idea of what business they're in.

Trojan

I wrote up a reply here but it was getting just a little bit too long so I turned it into a blog post

How to Track Clicks on Outgoing Links from Your Site

Hope it helps, any feedback on it appreciated.

Freddio

In my opinion, these people have improved your website. If you want to make money in the manner you are implying, you would be better suited to setting yourself up as an agent.

In the good tradition of karma, if you just pass on the details gratis, you will be rewarded