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How to make money while flying free in a bootstrapped startup: Provide an affiliate link to a credit card offer and write a blog post with a link bait title. N

How to make money while flying free in a bootstrapped startup: Provide an affiliate link to a credit card offer and write a blog post with a link bait title. Nice job! CC offer affiliate links have got to be in the $50 a pop range, no?

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
troygoode 16y ago
None of the links contain affiliate codes, and the disclaimer at the bottom of the article specifically mentions this: > I don’t often write about specific products but I think this is a handy tip for startups. I wasn’t asked or paid to write this, or any other post on the blog. And there are no affiliate links.
- blantonl 16y ago
  I don't mean to nitpick, but while there aren't any affiliate "codes" there are most certainly google ads which are contextually showing ads for airline cards within the blog post.
  - rbitar 16y ago
    Yes, there are. Follow the link and notice the redirect embeds params for the affiliate link.
    - blantonl 16y ago
      Yikes, I stand correct. Thank you.
kordless 16y ago
In all fairness I can tell you that isn't David's style to do something like that. He's a right proper HN coder, and he shared this with me a few weeks ago while in SF. Try not to assume the worst of people, eh?
ryanwaggoner 16y ago
First, the guy clearly didn't do this, which would have been obvious if you would have taken 5 seconds to check before accusing him. Second, even if he did, so what? I don't understand this animosity that a large part of hacker news seems to hold toward affiliate links. The tip he shared is clearly useful and might result in someone signing up for a rewards program. Is there anything wrong with him being rewarded for sharing that tip? How are affiliate programs worse than advertising, subscriptions, donation links, or any other form of monetizing content? Or is it literally making money that you object to?
- _delirium 16y ago
  The worry about affiliate-link posts, I think, is insincerity: that someone might be flogging a product because it pays them a nice kickback, not because they actually think it's good, or better than an alternative product that doesn't have an affiliate program.
  - ryanwaggoner 16y ago
    In general, who cares? If the content of the post is good, then it'll get traction on HN. If not, it won't.
    - _delirium 16y ago
      Part of what makes the content of a post good, though, is that it's someone saying something they actually think is true / is good advice / whatever. If someone's saying something because they're being paid to say it, it seems just not worth spending any time on. Same with other kinds of insincere writing; I wouldn't be very interested in someone's story about their startup if it were totally fabricated, for example.
- achille 16y ago
  > First, the guy clearly didn't do this, which would have been obvious if you would have taken 5 seconds to check before accusing him. Actually he is using affiliate links, it's transparent (see http://skimlinks.com http://skimlinks.com ) See my comment below.
petercooper 16y ago
Nice job! CC offer affiliate links have got to be in the $50 a pop range, no? In most Web browsers, you can hover over a link and see the URL in your status bar. This might be advisable in future.
- achille 16y ago
  Even though it's not linked directly -- it's still an affiliate link. He's using http://skimlinks.com/ http://skimlinks.com/ The link to the site has no affiliate code, but the on_click event is hijacked -- when I click it I am redirected to: https://scripts.affiliatefuture.com/afncsecureclick.aspx?merchantID=282&cguid=5724c1fa-361d-41ea-9c6f-98f1588b84ce&url=http://pfa.levexis.com/virginatlantic/tman.cgi/tmad%3Dc%26tmcampid%3D28%26tmplaceref%3D125272-1122%26tmloc%3Dhttp://www.virgin-atlantic.com/ https://scripts.affiliatefuture.com/afncsecureclick.aspx?mer...
  - petercooper 16y ago
    Whoa. You're right. And there are no affiliate links. So, just to nail this down, is the guy a liar or doesn't he realize what's going on?
    - achille 16y ago
      The commenter above just didn't realize it; the submitter never denied he's using affiliates.
      - petercooper 16y ago
        My quote was from the actual article. See http://skitch.com/petercooper/d89h2/noaff http://skitch.com/petercooper/d89h2/noaff in case it gets changed. The guy who wrote the post said "there are no affiliate links" yet, as you point out, we certainly get redirected through something that looks like an affiliate scheme when clicking on the links there.
dmytton 16y ago
The blog is hosted by wordpress.com. Whilst I didn't include any affiliate links in the original source of the post (as you can see from the source code), it seems wordpress.com silently embeds Skimlinks into footer of the page. This is not generating any revenue for myself. I have purchased the "no ads" upgrade which has removed the Skimlinks embed.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

troygoode 16y ago

None of the links contain affiliate codes, and the disclaimer at the bottom of the article specifically mentions this: > I don’t often write about specific products but I think this is a handy tip for startups. I wasn’t asked or paid to write this, or any other post on the blog. And there are no affiliate links.

blantonl 16y ago
I don't mean to nitpick, but while there aren't any affiliate "codes" there are most certainly google ads which are contextually showing ads for airline cards within the blog post.
- rbitar 16y ago
  Yes, there are. Follow the link and notice the redirect embeds params for the affiliate link.
  - blantonl 16y ago
    Yikes, I stand correct. Thank you.

kordless 16y ago

In all fairness I can tell you that isn't David's style to do something like that. He's a right proper HN coder, and he shared this with me a few weeks ago while in SF. Try not to assume the worst of people, eh?

ryanwaggoner 16y ago

First, the guy clearly didn't do this, which would have been obvious if you would have taken 5 seconds to check before accusing him. Second, even if he did, so what? I don't understand this animosity that a large part of hacker news seems to hold toward affiliate links. The tip he shared is clearly useful and might result in someone signing up for a rewards program. Is there anything wrong with him being rewarded for sharing that tip? How are affiliate programs worse than advertising, subscriptions, donation links, or any other form of monetizing content? Or is it literally making money that you object to?

_delirium 16y ago
The worry about affiliate-link posts, I think, is insincerity: that someone might be flogging a product because it pays them a nice kickback, not because they actually think it's good, or better than an alternative product that doesn't have an affiliate program.
- ryanwaggoner 16y ago
  In general, who cares? If the content of the post is good, then it'll get traction on HN. If not, it won't.
  - _delirium 16y ago
    Part of what makes the content of a post good, though, is that it's someone saying something they actually think is true / is good advice / whatever. If someone's saying something because they're being paid to say it, it seems just not worth spending any time on. Same with other kinds of insincere writing; I wouldn't be very interested in someone's story about their startup if it were totally fabricated, for example.
achille 16y ago
> First, the guy clearly didn't do this, which would have been obvious if you would have taken 5 seconds to check before accusing him. Actually he is using affiliate links, it's transparent (see http://skimlinks.com http://skimlinks.com ) See my comment below.

petercooper 16y ago

Nice job! CC offer affiliate links have got to be in the $50 a pop range, no? In most Web browsers, you can hover over a link and see the URL in your status bar. This might be advisable in future.

achille 16y ago
Even though it's not linked directly -- it's still an affiliate link. He's using http://skimlinks.com/ http://skimlinks.com/ The link to the site has no affiliate code, but the on_click event is hijacked -- when I click it I am redirected to: https://scripts.affiliatefuture.com/afncsecureclick.aspx?merchantID=282&cguid=5724c1fa-361d-41ea-9c6f-98f1588b84ce&url=http://pfa.levexis.com/virginatlantic/tman.cgi/tmad%3Dc%26tmcampid%3D28%26tmplaceref%3D125272-1122%26tmloc%3Dhttp://www.virgin-atlantic.com/ https://scripts.affiliatefuture.com/afncsecureclick.aspx?mer...
- petercooper 16y ago
  Whoa. You're right. And there are no affiliate links. So, just to nail this down, is the guy a liar or doesn't he realize what's going on?
  - achille 16y ago
    The commenter above just didn't realize it; the submitter never denied he's using affiliates.
    - petercooper 16y ago
      My quote was from the actual article. See http://skitch.com/petercooper/d89h2/noaff http://skitch.com/petercooper/d89h2/noaff in case it gets changed. The guy who wrote the post said "there are no affiliate links" yet, as you point out, we certainly get redirected through something that looks like an affiliate scheme when clicking on the links there.

dmytton 16y ago

The blog is hosted by wordpress.com. Whilst I didn't include any affiliate links in the original source of the post (as you can see from the source code), it seems wordpress.com silently embeds Skimlinks into footer of the page. This is not generating any revenue for myself. I have purchased the "no ads" upgrade which has removed the Skimlinks embed.