I had a brief twitter discussion with @ashemischief yesterday about making a direct product link in Commission Junction when the product isn’t in the merchant’s database and thought it might be helpful to post here as well (I can address other affiliate-related issues & affiliate programs if you’re interested, but this is a specific CJ-related post).
Here’s how I make a direct product link if I can’t find it in the merchant’s “Products” links (usually that happens if the item is brand new, or if they just don’t update products very often). Note: It will only work if the merchant allows you to enter your own destination URL in the “text links” section – some merchants allow it, some do not – and sometimes you have to go through multiple links to find one you can enter a URL into (usually it will be a basic link going directly to the merchant’s home page).
After you select your merchant, click on Get Links: Text Link and choose a link – then click on “Get HTML” – and you should see the box below. On yours, the PID (publisher ID) and AID (Ad ID) will already be filled it. Then, if you have multiple websites, select the one you want to create the link for in the drop-down menu.
In the “Destination URL” box, enter the direct URL to the product you want to link to, then add an SID – this is important!!! I try to use SIDs as much as possible so I can tell exactly the link a user clicked on first on the way to making a purchase. It helps to be as specific as possible; I use “RSSnewsletter” or “twitter” (yes, sometimes I put affiliate links in twitter…although very rarely, I’m mostly just curious to see if they’re effective), and of course the product name if I’m linking to a specific product. You can also link to a specific page on a website – like the sale section, or a specific designer – and in that case, use the designer name, or “salepage” as the SID.
(just an aside here, but I feel like I should mention it – my use of direct product links has been more profitable than affiliate banner ads, although I do also believe they are very effective used together; more effective overall than banner ads alone)
Anyway, after you click “Update Link Code” you will see in the “code” box something like this:
I’ve blurred out the AID and PID parts of the link, but you can see where the SID has been inserted. When you look at your commission reports the SID will be displayed along with all the other information so you can see exactly the link a reader clicked on before making a purchase. You can also edit the HTML and change the text (where it says shopbop.com) to reflect what you actually want the text to say, although I usually just copy only the link (the stuff between the ” in a href=<"...">) and associate it with my own text or image in a blog post.
There you have it…easy, peasy. Questions? Also, let me know if there are any other affiliate issues you want me to address…I’ll try to help 
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This makes me happy to read, because I did it right yesterday! YESSSS.
Any tips for combating that “I feel like I’m being spammy” feeling by using affiliate links? I know I need/ought to use them more…. and I have a post coming up soon where I do. It wasn’t written for the use of affiliate links, though they’re in there…
i don’t know if this is a tip really, but as long as your affiliate links are relevant to your post, your blog & your audience, you shouldn’t feel “spammy” about using them, although i understand the feeling. i put this disclaimer at the bottom of all my posts that links to my editorial policy if people are curious:
if you want to “mask” your affiliate links, you can use the pretty link plugin for WP and just give your link a nice name – it also helps to track clicks, etc. – i use this a lot in conjunction with cross-linker for links i feature over and over again.