Is Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) Killing Your Affiliate Sales?

By Mike Snyder

Have you noticed a drop in affiliate sales since Microsoft`s
Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) was released? I have and I
didn`t really know why until my wife, kids, and friends
started asking me why their computer wasn`t working right.

While using Internet Explorer my son said, "Dad, nothing
happens when I click on this link." I scratched my head for a
minute and thought, "he isn`t doing anything different, the
only thing I recently installed was XP SP2"; then the light
went off ... one of SP2`s features is the incorporation of a
pop-up blocker. After installing SP2, links that normally
opened in a new window now don`t open at all. The immediate
way around it is to hold down the control key (Ctrl) then
click the link or right click the link and select "Open in New
Window". To permanently turn off IE`s pop-up blocker, click
Tools > Pop-up Blocker > Turn Off Pop-up Blocker.

So how does all this relate to lost affiliate sales?

If you have your affiliate links set to open in a new browser
window, they are considered "pop-ups" by the post-SP2 Internet
Explorer and many other pop-up stopping programs. The average
Internet surfer with pop-up blocking software or SP2 installed
will simply go to another site because they think the link
does not work. If they do not see your affiliate product/page,
they will obviously not buy what you are selling. Since the
pop-up blocking feature is more-or-less automatic with SP2,
you potentially lose a customer when they upgrade their copy
of Internet Explorer.

Why would anyone set their affiliate links to open in a new
window?

I have heard both positive and negative reasons to open links
in new windows. The main reason to do it is to avoid losing
customers by sending them away from your page with no way to
get back. That is what I used to do until today.

How can I tell which links open in a new window (generate a pop-
up)?

A lesson in Html is beyond the scope of this article but, in
general, if you do not have any tags after the URL in the HREF
tag, you are not generating pop-ups. If you have a
target="_blank" after the URL, it will open in a new window
and is considered a pop-up.

What is an easy way to fix my links?

If you only have a few pages to fix, just edit them by hand.
Pages with many pop-up links can be easily edited in Notepad
or other software with a search and replace option. Simply
replace target="_blank" with target="_top" (or target="_self",
target="_parent" if you are using frames). If you have a lot
of files to change, try ReplaceEm (http://www.orbit.org/
replace/ ), a freeware program that replaces text strings in
multiple files and directories.

The bottom line:

It may just be a coincidence but this morning I changed the
majority of my links so they do not open in a new window and
saw my affiliate commissions as well as overall site traffic
jump within hours!

Written by Gian Luigi Ruggeri © 2001 - All rights reserved
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