Web Hosting Referral Links Gone?
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I’ve encountered a strange problem, and I’m wondering if anyone else has run into this.
A few months ago, I wrote a tutorial series on my blog, a series which has generated thousands of views on my blog, much to my surprise. However, I was looking at my posts recently and found that two of my affiliate links to web hosting sites, DreamHost and BlueHost, were gone completely! The third affiliate link, to GoDaddy, remained.
I examined my code and my content, and everything was there. The two links, however, were nowhere to be found in the published posts.
I tried simple links (like http://www.dreamhost.com) without any affiliate workings, and it worked just fine. However, when I added the affiliate part of the url to the code, the link vanished from the post again.
This is making me wonder, is GoDaddy blocking its competitors affiliate links somehow? I don’t know how long this has been going on, but it wasn’t that way when I first published. Has this happened to anyone else?The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Read this > http://en.support.wordpress.com/affiliate-links/
Then read this > http://en.support.wordpress.com/suspended-blogs/ -
Thank you for your quick response. Based on what I’ve read from your links, it would seem that I would be notified somehow, but I have received no such warning, and my blog has not been suspended. It also seems strange to me that the GoDaddy link remained while the DreamHost link disappears, and both have a “unique identifier within the link”.
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The bot that breaks the links is automated – count your blessings that your site has not been suspended – taking the affiliate links out would be a good idea
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PS – I am not staff but glancing at your blog it is a pile of Terms of Service violations –
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Dear me, this sounds dreadful. Would you be so kind as to briefly list the problems you are seeing?
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When it comes to what gets a blog suspended, here’s the list:
http://wordpress.com/types-of-blogs/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/advertising/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/affiliate-links/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/suspended-blogs/
http://en.wordpress.com/tos/ -
No, Wp’s style is not to notify anyone, just to disable things.
Some of the possible ToS violations are: affiliate ads, affiliate links, Get Rich Click ad, ads in your content column (blogger-initiated advertising is banned here).
Basically, if you want to use your site to promote your book, you’re fine. It’s all the other stuff that’s the problem. You WILL be suspended at WP.com unless you remove all of those things.
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Looks like I’ll need to be more cautious in the future. Thank you for bringing this to my attention
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Never mind the future. Get busy now when it comes to complying with the ToS because I reported your blog earlier today.
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Oh gee, thanks :P I meant in terms of avoiding repeating the same mistakes. Of course I’m working on it now. I understand, though, doing your part to keep WP.com up to standard.
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I report everything i see that doesn’t comply with the ToS. As far as avoiding future “mistakes” I advise that you always read the terms of any contract you plan to enter, prior to entering it. I also advise becoming familiar with the support documentation at this link http://en.support.wordpress.com
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Well it’s a good thing I read the terms in the first place… otherwise I could’ve had Google AdSense, Paid Product Reviews, UserCash, ClickBank, ClickHop, CashRocks, PayingCash…
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A lot of the links you refer to get broken so you would have not made much money – and there are some cases that people have said their blog was suspended as soon as they hit “Publish” – so count your blessing and finish cleaning things up
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