How smart are smart links? (12)
I see smart links in networks everywhere. How good are they and do they really get the profits networks promise? I suppose one cannot use landing pages from spy tools, maybe a generic landing page that caters to all the pages the smart links may direct?
Smartlinks work well with traffic that you cannot manage yourself from whatever reason, usually this happens when you buy a mix at a discounted price and there is a lot of GEOs in there... so instead of setting up a LP for every GEO or a deeper targeting level, you just leave it up to the smartlink.
Based on my experience, when you handle everything yourself and take the time to setup specific funnels for every GEO etc... the results are always better than with the smartlink. The smartlink basically just rotates offers, based on traffic characteristic and the past results of the smartlink offers. The problem here is, that just because "some" traffic from the US converted well with an offer, doesn't mean that YOUR US traffic will perform the same... you might be using banner traffic and the others are sending push, you might be using different targeting etc... it's all based on averages.
On top of that, part of the traffic always gets "lost" because the smartlinks use certain % of it to run internal tests, to asses the performance of new offers and if the offers don't convert, you won't get any leads either.
But there are pros here too... they monitor the performance, so in case of an offer going down, it will get replaced quickly. For GEOs where you have just a trickle of traffic, it doesnt make sense for you to build specific funnels for it, but the smartlink does that anyways, since they are getting traffic from several affiliates ... etc.
Basically, the best use of a smartlink is to send there traffic that you don't want to bother with... low volume GEOs, mismatched targeting, VPNs etc...
The landingpage problem you mentioned can also play a role... if they mix several types of offers, it's hard to use your own LPs. But there are also vertical specific smartlinks, I've used them in dating quite a lot... in this case it's possible to use LPs.
@matuloo Helpful indeed! 
Originally Posted by matuloo
I won't use smartlinks now! It looks like putting all sorts of products in front of one audience. Possibly it would do more harm than good even though the networks project their smartlinks as high performing and getting a lot of money!
But yeah I guess in the adult niche it would be good because everyone's there for just that ONE thing
So, a smart link would give them a lot of choice 
There was a follow along about running smartlinks on RON, but i can't find it. Maybe @matuloo will remember where it is.
Originally Posted by jeremie
But yeah I guess in the adult niche it would be good because everyone's there for just that ONE thing So, a smart link would give them a lot of choice
I had good results with smartlink during the mobile carrier billing boom... that was a goldmine in GEOs like India.
if i was to use smartlinks now, I would try to start a TON of campaigns with very low bids on all networks I could find across all imaginable GEOs and send that mix to a smartlink to see if it can work out. Each of the campaigns would only get a trickle of traffic, but if I started a LOT of them, it could still bring something in
But yeah, starting targeted campaigns, finetuning the funnels and then sending it over to a smartlink with a mix of offers, is likely not the best idea
Originally Posted by matuloo
As I said in my original reply, smartlinks have their place in this business, but a properly setup campaign that you optimize yourself, should perform better.
I had good results with smartlink during the mobile carrier billing boom... that was a goldmine in GEOs like India.
if i was to use smartlinks now, I would try to start a TON of campaigns with very low bids on all networks I could find across all imaginable GEOs and send that mix to a smartlink to see if it can work out. Each of the campaigns would only get a trickle of traffic, but if I started a LOT of them, it could still bring something in
But yeah, starting targeted campaigns, finetuning the funnels and then sending it over to a smartlink with a mix of offers, is likely not the best idea Thanks for sharing.
My approach to affiliate marketing now is different. We change with time... don't we?! And when I look at the questions now that I asked a few months back, I get amazed that I asked these "dumb questions" and could not tackle them myself.
On a personal level, I won't spend money on testing and won't worry too much about GEOs and verticals. Nor would the "big players" in a niche or GEO trouble me anymore so I try a less contested GEO, etc.
But yes, if a particular offer I am running is doing better or outperforming the others, it makes perfect sense to scale it quick and rake in some quick cash.
Now I understand your current answer and the first answer a bit better. And it boils down to one simple concept - placing the right product in front of the right people, and persuade them to take action.
I don't think the smart links will point the audience to a group of unrelated products in different verticals or is it that way? Rather smart links are there to help not hinder.
Now, obviously, the smartlink doesnt know anything about the methods you use to get the traffic. So they don't know your angles, they don't know if you're using banners or pops or push... so they cannot "optimize" based on this.
But, they know the OS of the user, their internet connection, location, language settings... the things they can grab from the IP, comp settings etc. And based on the data they have from their testing, the smartlink can identify certain segments that simple perform better with certain offers.
For example: they might have offers that require a specific carrier connection, certain OS, certain type of smartphone... that's why mobile carrier traffic was a good match for smartlinks.
Then there are traffic types that miss virtually any targeting, POPs for example... so in this case, the smartlink can also work pretty effectively.
But yes, as soon as deeper targeting comes into question... such as dedicated banners and LPs plus some audience targeting, it's nonsense to send it to a smartlink. That's when the concept of "placing the right product in front of the right people, and persuade them to take action" comes into play, as you said yourself.
Smartlinks are still a good way of monetizing the clicks you don't want to pay much attention to... any traffic source will send you some clicks that do not match your targeting (GEO, language, ISP)... do you want to setup advanced rules to handle these clicks? Many people simply decide to filter these out and send them to a smartlink in order to save time. And that's what smartlinks are good for, they can make at least something from these clicks
@matuloo helpful indeed!
Originally Posted by jeremie
Originally Posted by twinaxe
Originally Posted by jeremie
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