I have event tracking labels on all of my outbound affiliate links, so in Google Analytics I can drill down to some level to understand what keywords and landing pages are driving those sales, but beyond that, on my affiliate portals, I cant tell which traffic my site gets actually converts.

So I thought, wouldn’t be great if I could see which pages on my affiliate website were the clicks that converted?

1. On affiliate portals, create a different campaign URL for each of your main landing pages
2. Cloak each URL using .htaccess
3. Replace all of your outgoing links with variables
4. In a PHP file, set a URL variable using the  $_SERVER function
5. Write conditional statements that set the outgoing link based on matching the URL function
6. BOOM!

I completed a Masters in European Business which focused largely on the institutions of the EU and the process of ratification of legislation, but the EU can still be confusing. With decision making powers shared from codecision to consultation with the EU Parliament, one can be forgiven for getting apathetic with engaging politically with the EU. One important fact to note is that this is a directive as opposed to a regulation. The fundamental difference is that it is upon the member states to implement directives, and the manner in which they do so.

There is some disparity between member states in how timely they implement directives. The EU permits a deficit of 1.5%, but even among all member states the average is 1.9%. Countries who are the slowest at implementing directives include France and Germany. It’s unfortunately bad news for those in Denmark and Spain who have the lowest deficit – meaning they implement directives the quickest.

I have contacted my local MEP to inquire as to how I can get further involved in the decision making process and exert my democratic power. I’m not a fan of the protectionist trade values of the EU, but I’m a fan of political and cultural integration. However on this one directive, I think the EU have got things firmly wrong.

Peter Singer

If advertising as a vehicle promotes consumerism and contributes to the traits of capitalism that has adverse affects on society then it’s a sure bet that digital marketing, a career I’m starting conflicts with my aspirations to live a lifestyle consistent with preference utilitarianism.

In this article I make no defense  of the industry, but provide arguments that my own particular career path at present is one that minimises these adverse effects.

Firstly I would make the case that working in search marketing, a field of marketing that is a little more distant from traditional advertising. It is the case that with search marketing, the consumer knows what they want and my job is merely to help them find it. Whether or not that product or service that they are looking to buy is a necessary purchase or represents value is a different matter, but at least I am not creating false wants – only fulfilling them.

The second facet to my argument is that the nature of the main website I work on daily functions to save the consumer money. While I’m not satisfied that this saved money is necessarily used for a good purpose, it’s probably better in the pocket of the consumer than being distributed to shareholders.

Ultimately one can earn a salary in many ways, and providing that person donates a proportion of their disposable income to worthy causes. At this stage in my career my salary is that of a junior level and have little left over at the end of each month. I am however planning to launch a website this side of Christmas that will be non-profit and feature Oxfam advertising.

I’ve got a long way to go until I am satisfied with my lifestyle ethically, and factors such as pension plans provide further dilemmas, but for the time being there is plenty for me to think about. Welcoming comments.