Typepad Hidden Revenue

I love SixApart and everything they do so I’m not sure if I’m bitching about this, or disapointed, or just noticing but when reading Blork’s (excellent by the way) post this morning I clicked on the link to Amazon that he had included and realized something. There’s an associate number in the link and it’s for SixApart!

Amazon has an associate program where you can register you site and get a little kickback every time someone clicks on links from your site (if you’ve built the links for that) and buys the book/cd/dvd. I’ve been doing that for a while in the hopes of paying for a bit of the hosting cost but considering my somewhat limited traffic and the fact I rarely review books, mostly just link them on the right, I’ve had… microscopic returns.

I’m wondering, does Typepad use the SixApart ID by default when you don’t fill in your own or do they ask? I’m sure it’s the former but I thought I’d check. The reason I mention it though is that Typepad is a paying service, isn’t it a bit weird that they are adding revenue based on your traffic without asking? They could have simply put a standard link in there. Anyway, to those linking a lot of books in Typepad, you might want to take the time to get your own ID. Although… you could always leave it as is, to pay for my free use of Movable Type, another SixApart offering ;).

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