Ralph Wilson just published a great article about merchants and direct linking. Many merchants want to “use” their affiliates for link pop even though they are only paying them for sales. I don’t really believe that motivation is fair. However, there are several pros and cons to this linking method. One of the pros to direct linking IMHO is protection from adware that targets network links as well as anti-spyware/adblocking software that blocks network links or deletes cookies.

Dr. Wilson interviews Steven Messer, CEO and founder of LinkShare about his views. There are numerous points brought up in the article, especially regarding the adblocking of network links issue. Steve makes some really great points, however they all strongly re-inforce the benefits of network links - fancy that! ;-) Read it all at WilsonWeb.