Important follow-up to my last email about Pub Exchange... [Become A Better Blogger]

Published: Tue, 06/23/15

Courtney from The Mod Mommy asked an important question about the email I just sent and I thought I should share my answer with you too...

Courtney said she'd heard that she had to keep the pubx link in her tweets and not shorten with buffer so that the link will count by Pub Exchange. She was using the buffer link for awhile only to find out it didn't truly reciprocate.

She's right that most methods of tweeting these links through Buffer will change the link so that Pub Exchange can't track it.

But the way I do this keeps the link trackable by Pub Exchange.

The trick is you have to do an extra step and create the tweet directly in buffer, not in the extension... and be careful.

To explain what I mean, I made a really quick Snagit Screen Capture video and uploaded it as an unlisted video to my personal YouTube channel.

Take a look...

How To Tell If It Works

As I show in the video, you can see if your link will still be tracked by PubExchange by looking at the parameters passed in the url

If your link says "utm_campaign=pubexchange_twitter" and looks something like this...

http://www.livinglocurto.com/2013/07/7-simple-tips-vacation-photos/?utm_source=5minutesformom.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pubexchange_twitter

That should work.

But if it says "utm_campaign=buffer" and looks something like this...

http://www.livinglocurto.com/2013/07/7-simple-tips-vacation-photos/?utm_content=bufferb4b4c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

That would not be tracked by PubExchange.

I can see in PubExchange that these direct links are being tracked and reciprocated by looking at the daily reports.

I'm Not Trying To Be Sneaky

I'm not going through these extra steps to hide the fact that the link is through Pub Exchange.

I want the tweets in Buffer because I want them in my queue and I want to add images. And I like that the link ends up looking like all the other links I send through Twitter but still tracks for Pub Exchange.

Another solution is what Courtney does... she turned off the url shortening in Buffer so that it didn't change the link.

I hope my quick video helps make the steps I follow more clear.

Thanks Courtney

Courtney is on Pub Exchange and you can find her by searching for "Mod Mommy".

Talk soon,

Susan (and Janice)
5 Minutes For Mom

ps. To tell your friends about this "Become a Better Blogger" email series, you can send them here.