How to Choose, Integrate, and Optimize SmartLinks with TDS Trackers

Welcome back, affiliate marketers! In the first article, I talked about what SmartLinks are and how they work. Now it’s time to get down to practice. Choosing the right SmartLink, integrating it into your website or ad campaign, and optimizing it with tools like TDS trackers can make a difference in your affiliate income.

I’ve been there, spent hours selecting offers, but was getting poor results from paid campaigns. Then I started using SmartLinks with a TDS tracker like AdsBridge and my income went from $800 to $3,000+ per month. In this detailed guide, I’ll walk you through how to choose the best SmartLinks, set them up, and use the trackers to distribute traffic and analyze performance. Let’s get started!

Types of SmartLinks: Match Them to Your Niche

SmartLinks come in many different types, and choosing the right type is your first step to success. Here’s an in-depth overview of the options based on my experience with multiple campaigns:

– By niche:

• Dating: High-converting offers from networks like iMonetizeIt are perfect for a global audience. I achieved a 5% conversion rate with their Dating SmartLinks
• Ecommerce: Covers Amazon, ClickBank and more. Great for product reviews on your site
• Finance: Includes cryptocurrencies, loans and credit cards – perfect for “Personal Finance” websites
• Health & Fitness: Supplements and fitness apps in steady demand in the US and Canada
• SaaS: Software subscriptions with 20% to 70% commission – a favorite for high-margin earnings

– By payment model:

• CPA (Cost Per Action): Paid for actions, such as registration. I earned $45 per conversion with a dating CPA offers
• CPS (Cost Per Sale): Commission per sale, common in e-commerce
• CPL (Cost Per Lead): Paid to attract leads, such as signing up for an email newsletter

– By platform:

• CPA networks: iMonetizeIt, HilltopAds and MaxBounty offer SmartLinks with robust tracking
• Affiliate Programs: Awin and Rakuten offer SmartLinks with deep linking to specific products

How to Choose The Best SmartLink for Your Campaigns

Choosing the right SmartLink requires careful consideration. Here’s my tried-and-true checklist, compiled after testing dozens of options:

• Niche relevance: Match the SmartLink to your content. For my other websites and paid ad campaigns, I chose SmartLink from iMonetizeIt, which is about dating offers and earning $750 a month
• Geotargeting: Make sure it supports your target regions (US, UK, Canada, Australia, Europe). iMonetizeIt’s 200+ GEO coverage has been a lifesaver for my international traffic
• Commission rates: Compare payouts. Ecommerce may offer 1-5% while SaaS may pay 20-70%. I favor high commission niches to get a higher ROI
• Analytics tools: Look for networks with trackers. iMonetizeIt provides a free AdsBridge that allows me to track clicks and conversions in real time
• Offer quality: Test offers or read reviews. I once used SmartLink with bad landing pages and my conversions dropped 15% until I switched to another offer
• Update frequency: Regular updates keep the offers fresh. iMonetizeIt updates weekly, which improved my campaign performance by 10%
• Filtering options: Some networks allow you to exclude low performing offers. I filtered out offers with EPCs below $0.40 in iMonetizeIt, which increased my earnings by 15%

How to Test SmartLinks Before Scaling Up

Before you go to scale, test your SmartLinks. Here’s my step-by-step approach:

1. Run a small campaign with 100-200 clicks, using a low-cost source like native ads
2. Use a TDS tracker (like AdsBridge) to track performance
3. Evaluate EPC and conversion rate. An EPC over $0.50 and a conversion rate over 5% indicates a win
4. I tested three SmartLinks from iMonetizeIt, and the one with an EPC of $0.60 and a conversion rate of 6% became my main one, scaling to $750 per month

Integrating SmartLinks Into Your Website

Once you’ve chosen SmartLinks, integration is key. Here’s how I installed them on my WordPress site:

Posting strategies:

• Content: Embedding in blog posts. My article “How to meet a girl on the street” on a relationship site with iMonetizeIt SmartLink got about 900 clicks and 5 conversions ($210)
• Widgets: Use sidebar banners (300×250) with rel=“nofollow”. My “Review of popular girl streamers” banner brings in $180 a month
• Pop-ups: The “Meet a Girl Near You” pop-up with SmartLink brought 20 clicks and $45 in a week
• Email Newsletters: I sent out an article with SmartLink to 600 subscribers, generating 130 clicks and $150. Emails increase 66% of affiliate earnings

Technical customization with ThirstyAffiliates:

1. Install ThirstyAffiliates (the free version works great)
2. Add your SmartLink as a new link
3. Include rel=“nofollow” for SEO protection
4. Set up 301 redirects for stable offers
5. Insert a cloaked link (e.g. /recommend/tool)

Cloaking for trust:

• Cloak links to make them look clean (e.g. /go/offer123 turns into /recommends/meet). After cloaking, my CTR jumped from 2% to 3%

Mobile optimization:

• Use responsive banners (320×100) and fast redirects (via AdsBridge). After optimization, my mobile CTR increased by 0.5%
• Test on AMP pages to reduce bounce rate

Push notifications:

• Use OneSignal for push notifications with SmartLinks
• My “Top US Models Review” push got 50 clicks and $75 in one week

Optimization with TDS trackers: Taking Control of Your Traffic

TDS trackers (Traffic Distribution Systems) like AdsBridge improve the effectiveness of SmartLinks. Here’s why and how:

What are TDS trackers? TDS trackers distribute traffic to multiple offers based on rules and provide detailed analytics. AdsBridge, offered for free with iMonetizeIt, has been my go-to.
Benefits: Optimization of traffic, ability to return traffic – trafficback (redirecting unconverted users to SmartLink) and performance analysis.

Customizing AdsBridge:

1. Create a network: In AdsBridge, go to “Create an affiliate network”, name it (e.g. “MyNetwork”) and set Click ID tokens
2. Add an offer: In the “Offers” section, create a new offer with its URL and link it to your network
3. Set up a campaign: In the “Campaigns” section, create a new campaign, select a traffic source (e.g. TikTok) and assign an offer. Add rules (e.g. US → offer 1, Europe → offer 2)
4. Configure Trafficback: Set SmartLink (e.g. iMonetizeIt) as a backup URL for unconverted traffic
5. Add postback: Copy the S2S postback URL from AdsBridge and add it to your network settings
6. Use a custom domain: Set track.mysite.com to avoid social media blocking

Example: I sent 1000 clicks on an offer and 50 didn’t convert. AdsBridge redirected them to an iMonetizeIt smart link, which yielded 6 conversions and $180.

Traffic Analysis:

• Metrics: CTR (3-5%), conversions (5-10%), EPC ($0.50/click)
• AdsBridge features: Bot filters (10 parameters), detailed reports by GEO

Example: I found that traffic from the US was converting at 8% and traffic from Europe at 4% and adjusted my rules accordingly.

Traffic Distribution:

• Rules: Filter by GEO, device or OS. US → Relationship Course, Europe → Dating SmartLink
• Trafficback: Saved 20% of traffic by redirecting it to iMonetizeIt
• A/B testing: Test offers and landing pages with AdsBridge’s split testing tool

Additional features:

• Smart rotator: Automatically optimizes traffic to the most effective offers
• Integration: Sync with Google Analytics for deeper analysis
• Bot filtering: Protects against fraud with 10+ checks

Summary Part 2

Selecting, integrating, and optimizing SmartLinks with TDS trackers like AdsBridge can dramatically boost your affiliate success. Focus on selecting niches, testing thoroughly, and utilizing trackers to understand which offers are best for your sources.

Next, we’ll look at promotional strategies to drive traffic to your SmartLinks. Subscribe to my newsletter for more tips, and let me know – what’s your favorite SmartLinks network?