. What is a "hoplink"?
For an affiliate to earn credit for a sale, the customer must first follow a ClickBank hoplink. The link takes the customer to the publisher's Hoplink Target URL, and automatically credits the affiliate with that referral.
2. How do I make a hoplink?
Your hoplinks should be targeted to the top level of the current window, and should be in the following format:
http://AFFILIATE.PUBLISHER.hop.clickbank.net
Here it is in html:
Here's how to make it work...
Replace AFFILIATE with the affiliate nickname
Replace PUBLISHER with the publisher nickname.
Replace CLICK HERE with any promotional text or image you prefer.
3. How do I add a Tracking Id(TID) to a hoplink?
The format of the hoplink URL with a tracking code is located below.
http://AFFILIATE.PUBLISHER.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=XXXXXXXX
The tracking code (which is "XXXXXXXX" in the example above) can be 8 characters long, containing alpha and numeric characters only. Any tracking code longer than 8 characters will be truncated. Any tracking code containing characters other than alpha or numeric values will have the entire tracking code removed from the hoplink and order process and will not show in the transaction report. Tracking codes received with upper and lower case characters will be set to all uppercase.
4. I have old hoplinks in a different format. Will they still work?
Yes. Any old hoplinks you have will continue to work, however, the new format is likely to improve your conversion rates. This is because your personalized hoplink domain name is not known to spyware and other hostile programs that hijack links and divert advertisements.
5. Where can I find publishers to link to?
For an updated list of publishers visit the ClickBank Marketplace.
6. Can I get paid for referrals without using hoplinks?
No. The referral needs to pass through a hoplink in order for Clickbank to track the referral.
7. With hoplinks does the first or last affiliate get the commission?
When a purchase is made the commission is awarded to the last affiliate who referred the customer to that particular publisher.
8. For how long does Clickbank track each referral?
After you make a referral, you will earn a commission if the customer purchases any product from that site up to 60 days later.
9. What percentage of ClickBank sales are referred by affiliates?
Among our top selling products, over 75% of sales are generated by affiliates. Overall, affiliates generate over 50% of all ClickBank sales.
10. Will I get referral credit if I hide hoplinks by making them open into a frame, iframe, layer, applet, image, or other sub-window object?
No. These are illegal hoplinks. For security reasons, and to ensure proper tracking of your referrals, all hoplinks must be targeted to the top level of a new or existing window.
11. What happens if I do make illegal hoplinks?
The short answer is that if you make illegal hoplinks you will lose money.
Hoplinks targeted to frames or iframes are automatically retargeted to fill the top level of same window, with full affiliate referral credit awarded. Note that this retargeting may have the unintended effect of displacing your entire web site.
Hoplinks targeted to images or other invisible html objects give you no affilate referral credit at all. In some cases they will also prevent you from receiving affiliate referral credit for legal hoplinks on the same page.
Accounts that are found to be abusing the hoplink system may be terminated without notice.
12. How would I target a hoplink to a new window instead?
To open a hoplink in a new window set the target attribute of the hoplink to "_blank". Here's an example of the contents of your 'a' tag:
href="http://AFFILIATE.PUBLISHER.hop.clickbank.net" target="_blank"
13. My site relies on putting rotating advertisements in a separate frame. Is there a way to advertise hoplinks in a frame?
Yes, just don't fill the frame with the hoplink. Design your own ad (an html page or image) to fill the frame. When the customer clicks on the ad (or some link therein), target that link to a new window filled with the hoplink.
14. What about people whose browsers are set to reject "3rd party" cookies?
Clickbank hoplinks always open at the top level of the current browser window, and Clickbank issues all cookies during that redirect. These are called "1st party" cookies because the cookie is coming from the same domain name as the page itself.
In contrast, most affiliate systems set cookies by having users embed a reference to an outside image, script, or frame on their web page. These are called "3rd party" cookies because the domain names don't match. Such cookies are frequently blocked by privacy software.
15. Besides cookies, what other methods does Clickbank use to track hoplinks?
Tracking hoplinks and affiliate credit with cookies is 100% accurate in the vast majority of cases. For some percentage of customers, however, cookies do not work for tracking. In these rare instances, customers either have cookies turned off in their browser, have utilized new browser security and/or privacy parameters, or have other software installed on their computer that prevents ClickBank from setting a cookie at all. Clickbank has developed a new technology that will accurately track hoplinks and award correct affiliate credit for most instances where cookies are not set. This new technology works hand-in-hand with Clickbank's current cookie-tracking system to ensure proper credit is awarded to referring affiliates.
16. Can the publisher tell which affiliate sent traffic to his site?
Yes. Clickbank passes the affiliate's nickname to the publisher in a parameter called "hop".
For example:
http://bonnie.clyde.hop.clickbank.net
Would redirect to...
http://clydes-website.com/page.html?hop=bonnie
17. Can I pass other parameters through the hoplink, to arrive at the Hoplink Target URL?
Yes. Clickbank will pass up to 64 bytes of QUERY_STRING data through to the Hoplink Target URL.
For example:
http://bonnie.clyde.hop.clickbank.net/?xx=1&YY=123abC
Would redirect to...
http://clydes-website.com/script.php?hop=bonnie&xx=1&YY=123abC
18. Can Google and other search engines properly index my site if other sites link to my site via hoplinks?
Yes. Search engine robots have no trouble traversing hoplinks.
19. Does Clickbank tracking system use the "HTTP_REFERER" variable to filter traffic?
No. Clickbank ignores it. Clickbank has used it in the past (2003), but now it is determined that it is unreliable. Clickbank no longer uses that parameter for anything.
20. Am I 100% guaranteed referral credit no matter what the customer does to avoid being tracked?
Tracking affiliate referrals is crucial to the success of Clickbank business, so you can be sure that Clickbank uses its best efforts to track customers within the constraints of the law and available technology. However, for the sake of legal correctness Clickbank has to make the following disclaimer:
The affiliate (if any) Clickbank associates with any sale is determined by an automated tracking system. Any decision made by this system is final, and not subject to petition or debate. Though Clickbank believes that its tracking system to be more fair and accurate than any alternative, Clickbank makes no representation regarding the ability of the system to track any specific customer, for any specific length of time.
21. Will I get referral credit if I make hoplinks that open into pop-up or pop-under windows?
Yes. Pop-up, pop-under, and "exit" windows are not a problem.
22. What happens if a customer clicks through my hoplink but purchases the publisher's product from someone other than ClickBank?
The ClickBank affiliate program can only track affiliates and award commissions if a product is purchased at ClickBank. It is not possible for Clickbank to calculate and award affiliate commissions if the sale was made outside of ClickBank. Although a publisher may offer alternative payment methods, the affiliate will only be awarded a commission if the customer ultimately purchases through ClickBank.
23. Is there a way for me to test my hoplinks and make sure they are working?
Yes! You can verify that your links are set up correctly by following the steps outlined below:
Enter your hoplink into a new browser window, and hit ""Enter".
Click on one of the publisher's ClickBank order buttons.
Scroll to the bottom of the ClickBank payment window. You should see your account nickname listed as the affiliate. For example, [affiliate = joeshmo].
This test proves that your link is set up correctly. It also ensures that your account will be credited with any commissions earned from paying customers as a direct result of your referral.
24. My hoplink isn't working - what is wrong?
Please check the following things:
Make sure that your link is set up in the following format:
http://AFFILIATE.PUBLISHER.hop.clickbank.net
If you are using the resolved form of the link (i.e. .../?hop=nickname), ClickBank cannot track your sales.
Make sure that both your nickname and the publisher's nickname are spelled correctly.
If clicking through the hoplinks brings up a 404 error, it means that either the publisher's website is down or the publisher does not have a Hoplink Target URL listed in their account. Please inform us of this issue by submitting an inquiry to the Report Problems Form.
Use the Publisher/Affiliate Customer Service Form to submit an inquiry if you are still having problems.
