I've had it with Viglink, Please help with someone.

I've battled with Viglink for about as long as I've been on it. For a start, for some reason, when someone occasionally clicks on it, the click seems to vanish the next time I look at it. It's as if they are purposely being removed. I would like to know what is going on.

Next, there is no indication about Viglink that I can find on Wizzley that indicates that the only products that qualify are electronics and automotive products. It appears, if one wants to write about fashion products, then one's entire site must be about fashion and nothing else.

Next, when I do an article, I check it thoroughly. I see that Viglink is working. Then when I come back, the link has disappeared. For instance, I had in links to ipod touch and they just disappeared.

I have been in touch with brian.braunlich of Viglink and we have been corresponding. He is the one who has told me that unless my site is entirely about fashion, then the links won't work. 

He has also told me that we earn 75% of the Amazon fee whereas I was under the impression we got 80%.

I am very unhappy.

Can someone please tell me what is going on.

Many thanks.

Okay, here's my impression. Brian said something that indicated that they go to look what everybody writes about and decide individually on each site what to link and what not to. I can't remember the exact words and I'll have to go back and look for it.

Obviously, if you were paid for one thing in fashion and your other sites are not, they are picking and choosing. If that's the case, I'm not interested in Viglink as it tells me why nothing I wrote was picked up - not that there was anything wrong with what I wrote. He said they were very, very fussy. But if I don't know what they are looking for, I'm wasting my time writing for them on the off chance that I might have hit gold.

And nobody else seems to be responding.

Tess - my wife is in the hospital with a broken tail bone, that's why I haven't had the time to analyze your post and craft an answer. I'll connect with Anne later today. She is more of a VL expert than I am, and I hope she can give you the information you're looking for.

Tess,

I'm sorry you feel so unhappy with one of our prime monetization partners. In order to use this service successfully, it is important to understand how it works.

First, have you read our tutorial on how to use Viglink? It's here:
http://wizzley.com/viglink/

Next, have you followed the instructions regarding registering for a Wizzley sub-account on Viglink? http://wizzley.com/service/help/

There have also been some discussions here on the forums, especially regarding the problems with some very selective merchants in the fashion industry like net-a-porter.com, for example here:
http://wizzley.com/forum/chatter-away-friends/message-from-viglink-concerning/2

Nobody purposely removes your links. General statements like that are also not very helpful in determining any particular issues you might be having. It would be better, if you can post specifics like

- The article where you are having a problem
- What link on that page is not showing correctly? Was it an autolink (LinkWeaver, words that are automatically selected by VigLink to be turned into links) or did you craft the link yourself?
- If you're talking about autolinks, have you enabled LinkWeaver on your Viglink account and Wizzley article? 

Automatically inserted links are likely to change at random. If you want to link to a specific product page of a specific merchant, you must insert the hyperlink yourself.

If you want to play it safe we'd recommend you use our Amazon modules instead of "fighting a battle" with VigLink. This is the easiest method to insert valid product recommendations. Writing and earning on Wizzley should be an enjoyable experience, not something to cause grief and aggravation.

Lastly, to clarify the question of using VigLink on your other sites; you cannot use your VigLink-Wizzley subaccount on other sites. Likewise, you cannot use your independent VigLink account on Wizzley. If you want to use VigLink on other sites you need to sign up for an individual account directly on viglink.com.

Nightowl, Yes, I've read the viglink editorials. I also read quite a few posts. 

No, I was not making an unsubstantiated accusation. It was a member of staff at viglink who I approached about what is wrong that noted that there had been a link and that it had been removed - from their side. He's looking into it.

As a rule, I grew up in a culture where one didn't ask questions or ask for help until after one had next to killed oneself trying to sort it out.. :) I've about done that. I am now appealing to the greater Viglink community and am hoping for help, but rest assured, I have read it all. 

One thing I did get muddled up was that there are two ways of linking to merchants. One can either link oneself or allow Viglink to link for one. Well, it's not that simple. As Viglink does not link automatically for all products, it's better to link everything oneself. That never came through to me.

The other thing is that one has to first find a product, then search for the merchant's name at Viglink. That's a lot of work. Why can't Viglink or someone else just list all their merchants? That's much easier for all of us.  It means one can also go and look to see what the merchant has and then write about it.

2uesday, I did read absolutely everything on Viglink plus the tutorials on Wizzley. Plus I read some of the posts about it here.

None of that applies.

I'm only talking about Wizzley. 

Okay, I've or less worked it out with Viglink. Apparently, we have to link to most sites for most products. The only products that they will pick up are electronics and cars. If it's fashion, we've got to provide the link ourselves. He says ebay is their best source of income. 

I'm still not sure where we get the list of merchants from because they only have a search function on their web, and, obviously, if I don't know what to search for, it's not going to come up. I'm waiting for a reply to that.

One more thing, I had 21 clicks in February, 5 in March, and then between March and now, not a single link until today when I had 5. As I was more active on Wizzley at that time, I have to ask if these clicks are coming from the Wizards on Wizzley?

You've got the system mixed up, Tess.

You, the author, should know what product you want to sell through your article.

Then you find the merchant for that product.

Then you check if VigLink carries that merchant. (Possibly even recommend that merchant for inclusion at VL.)

If VL carries the merchant, you can build the link to your specific product page and VL will affiliate it for you.

That is the great advantage of using VL: you don't have to enter any affiliate contracts with multiple merchants. All you have to do is build links to your favorite products.

If VL does not carry that particular merchant, you start over with your product search, etc.

VigLink cannot be responsible for finding the proper merchants for your favorite products. It's the other way around: you do the foot work, and VL will then do the affiliate side of it.

We at Wizzley did not click on your links.

Tess - you can find lists of top merchants, in various categories, that VigLink caters for here:

http://wizzley.com/viglink-top-500-retail-store-merchants-covered/ 

Your search for products can then start with the merchant, until you find particular products that you would like to link to and sell.

I anticipated the problem you have at the outset of the Wizzley / Viglink co-operation. There are many more merchants, but these are the top affiliate programs for each category.

humagaia, thank you. I've saved your link so that I can refer to it.

Chefkeem, no, I don't have it mixed up. I just don't have any favorite products and don't know much about any sort of products. Let me put it to you this way. I discovered that LP vinyl had gone out of fashion about a decade after CDs had been introduced, and the only reason I did so was because a visitor I had very rudely said to me, "Good grief, who on earth has vinyl these days?" 

I didn't know what he was talking about and went to a local store to see what he meant.

thank you  2uesday. :)