Why Would You Use a Proxy Server?

This post is about web proxy servers put into an affiliate marketing context. Ok, I know this is rather basic stuff but, I’m here to share knowledge no matter how basic or trivial it is.

First, a definition:

“In computer networks, a proxy server is a server […] that services the requests of its clients by forwarding requests to other servers. A client connects to the proxy server, requesting some service, such as a file, connection, web page, or other resource, available from a different server. The proxy server provides the resource by connecting to the specified server and requesting the service on behalf of the client.” (Wikipedia)

Still sounds like gibberish? Read on…

Proxies in the service of an affiliate marketer

Instance 1:

There are affiliate offers that would only accept traffic from a certain region or country.

When you’re not from the country of the target traffic of the offer you sometimes would not be able to visit that offer’s page to check it out. The webpage would simply redirect you to another offer. That’s when a proxy from that country comes in handy.

When you use a proxy located in the UK, for example, you will be able to see those offers that restrict traffic to UK traffic only.

Instance 2:

When you’re doing market research on that offer that is limited to UK traffic, you’ll want to check out what the competition is doing.

Simply going to Google and searching for suitable keywords will come up with no competition. Great, you’d think, I will run this offer on Adwords and be the only one on the results with no competition in sight.

But, what is happening is that the the campaigns were set to show only to searchers coming from the UK. That’s why you get nothing showing up.

What do you do? Simple, run Google through a UK proxy. That way you’ll have all the campaigns showing up since you’re now a UK searcher.

So, what do we have in stock to tackle this?

1st alternative:

There’s the browser settings that would make it possible to set up browsing through a proxy. But this option is very limited and you don’t want to use it. You have to go to the tools menu every time you want to disable or enable the proxy, or change to another proxy in a different country.

2nd alternative:

There’s what I use most because of the simplicity and the user friendliness. WorldProxy202 will offer you what you want when you want it without installing anything or messing with IP’s and port addresses.

It has the 4 major countries often seen on affiliate offers restriction lists and you don’t have to know anything else but browsing the web. Seriously, no tech knowledge is required. Go to the url, enter the offer address and there you go. You see the page as if you were browsing from that country.

3rd alternative:

For the more advanced and tech savvy affiliates, there’s a cool free FireFox addon called Foxy Proxy. (btw, I don’t want to sound like a jerk, but if you’re among those 20% and not using FireFox yet, you should go to your local supply shop, buy a sledge hammer, come back home and take a few swings at your work station).
Anyway, this addon has many options and allows you to change different proxy servers with a click of a mouse button.

Feel free to ask questions… That’s what I’m here for.

- Alex