LBorbit

Alright, so I posted this here because I am sure that it's been answered before, but the Search function is failing me.

Basically, I have sites with anywhere from 10-hundreds of affiliate links based on the niche. The problem that I am having comes down to a) broken affiliate links and b) items changing prices.

So far I have avoided the problem of products changing prices by not listing a price (in the form of a 'continue' button instead of a 'buy now' to keep from scaring them off), but I am sure that is killing some conversions. Physical products definitely need a price listed, even on affiliate sites.

So my questions is;

1 - Is there a software that will automatically detect dead links, inform me, and redirect them to a live link in the time being until it can be fixed? My sites that have hundreds of products have products get removed all the time. So, instead of just linking to the main home page of the sites I am an affiliate through, I'd rather it redirect to a similar product.

2 - Is there any software that manages product prices? Maybe something built in with the networks that I am overlooking? One of my sites for instance, is a baseball supply website. The prices on one particular catchers mitt (which happens to be the best selling item on my site) seems to change monthly, if not weekly at times. Is there any sensible way to manage this?

Thanks

I have found this - http://www.manageaffiliatelinks.com/

Seems to be able to handle dead links effectively, but is a bit pricey. Any reviews?

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tomaszjot

I work on my solution for price update, couldn't find anything sensible. I checked API's, DataFeeds etc. and decided to go for custom very simple scraper which already works fine for some links. If you think you lose money by not displaying prices (which I think you lose) you should consider paying someone for custom solution and reuse it on all your websites. It might be not as pricey as you think.

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hittjw

1. You can manage references to affiliate products using a PHP call that pulls cached data from the programs API. Most product listings available from an API include pricing details.
2. Pull the sites {Google,Bing,Yahoo!} Products feed, then splice in your affiliate details to make your own price update data. Grab the data from your local reference with an in-line PHP call.
3. Manage products in a catalog like {Zen Cart,osCommerce} to make one off updates easy. Most catalogs have tools to bulk update inventory data like pricing. Same goes for managing redirects.

I've got a guy that fixes all my broken links. Programs are changing all the time -- often without notice. Right now he's looking at my two month old drop off of Amazon revenue and fixing links and code.

Best,

Justin