Tracking links

Your tracking link is the engine of the program — it's how MoonFactory knows a new client came from you. This guide covers how it works and how to get the most out of it.

Your default tracking link

Every approved affiliate gets a default tracking link tied to their account slug. It looks like this:

https://r.moonfactory.dev/yourname

yourname is your unique affiliate slug, which you can see (and copy with one click) on your dashboard.

The link is short, memorable, and lives on its own subdomain so it's easy to share by voice ("just go to r-dot-moonfactory-dot-dev slash yourname"), in print, on a slide, or anywhere else where a long URL would be awkward.

When someone visits this link, they're whisked through to the MoonFactory site and you're recorded as the affiliate who sent them.

Creating additional tracking codes

You're not limited to one link. You can create additional tracking codes from your dashboard to segment your campaigns. Each additional code generates a link like:

https://r.moonfactory.dev/yourname/blackfriday2026
https://r.moonfactory.dev/yourname/podcast-ep42
https://r.moonfactory.dev/yourname/linkedin

Why bother? Because when you check your referrals page, each code is reported separately. You'll be able to tell at a glance which channel sent the most clicks and which converted best — useful when you want to double down on what's working.

A few practical tips:

Pick descriptive labels. Each code can have a friendly name like "Black Friday 2026" or "LinkedIn campaign" so you don't have to remember what bf26 meant six months later.
One default code stays special. Your default tracking code is the one used in your short link and in marketing-kit substitutions. You can change which code is default at any time, but only one is default at a time.
You can deactivate codes. When a campaign ends, you can mark the code inactive — old links keep working for visitors who saved them, but the code stops appearing in your active list.

Anywhere you'd genuinely recommend MoonFactory. The best-performing places are usually:

Your blog or website

If you write about web design, branding, agency operations, or related topics, a contextual mention with your tracking link in a post that genuinely benefits the reader will outperform any banner ad. Always include FTC disclosure at the top of the post — see the FTC compliance guide.

Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Threads — wherever your audience already follows you. Mention the affiliate relationship in the post itself (not just in your bio).

Newsletters and email

If you run a newsletter, a personal recommendation in the body of an email converts well. A "tools I use" or "this month's recommendation" segment is a natural fit. Disclose the affiliate relationship near the link.

Podcasts and videos

Verbal disclosure at the start of the segment plus your link in the description. "Today's episode is supported by MoonFactory — and full disclosure, I earn a commission if you sign up at r-dot-moonfactory-dot-dev slash my-name."

Direct conversations

If you're a consultant or in a service business and someone asks you "who builds your stuff?" — that's a moment where a personal recommendation lands harder than any ad. Send your tracking link.

UTM parameters

Tracking links accept and preserve UTM parameters. If you already use UTMs in your other marketing, you can add them to your MoonFactory tracking links the same way:

https://r.moonfactory.dev/yourname?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=spring2026

The UTM values are recorded against the referral so you can slice your dashboard by source, medium, and campaign. This stacks on top of the per-code segmentation — UTMs are great for one-off campaigns where creating a new code feels like overkill.

Standard UTM parameters are supported: utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_content, utm_term.

How tracking works (in plain terms)

The basics, without the engineering jargon:

A visitor clicks your link. They're sent through MoonFactory's tracking infrastructure on the way to the website.
We record who referred them. Their browser remembers (with their consent) that you're the credited referrer.
They browse and possibly leave. That's normal. Most visitors don't sign up on the first visit.
Within 30 days, if they sign up, the signup is attributed to you.
When they pay an invoice, you earn a commission.

The 30-day window is the attribution period. It's chosen to balance giving credit fairly (most signups happen within days of the first touch) against keeping the credit window reasonable (we don't want to credit you for a signup nine months later that probably had nothing to do with your link).

First-touch wins

If a visitor clicks your link, then later clicks a different affiliate's link, you keep the credit for those 30 days. That's deliberate — the affiliate who introduces a new client is the one who gets paid.

After 30 days, if your link's record has expired and they click someone else's link, that becomes the new attribution.

This is the part most affiliate programs paper over but we're upfront about: we only track referrals from visitors who've consented to marketing cookies.

When someone visits MoonFactory for the first time, they see a cookie consent banner. If they accept marketing cookies, your tracking works as described above. If they decline, the click is still logged in your analytics (so you can see traffic), but the consent record is also stored — and conversions from that visitor won't attribute to you.

This is a deliberate choice required by privacy regulations (GDPR in Europe, ePrivacy directive, similar laws elsewhere). We don't override visitor consent decisions to make attribution work, even when it would help your earnings.

Practically speaking, the impact is usually small (most visitors accept cookies), but you may occasionally see a click that didn't convert into an attributed signup even though you know the person signed up. If that happens, the consent decline is the most common explanation.

Managing your codes

The dashboard's tracking section lets you:

See per-code performance — clicks, conversions, and earnings broken out by tracking code
Create new codes — for new campaigns, channels, or experiments
Deactivate old codes — when a campaign ends, mark its code inactive to keep your active list focused
Set the default code — choose which code your default short link uses

Existing links to deactivated codes still resolve (we don't break URLs you've published), but the code disappears from new defaults and from your active code list.

Troubleshooting

A referral didn't track.

If you're sure someone signed up via your link but you don't see them in your referrals:

Confirm you shared the right link. Typos in slugs are the single most common cause.
Check the timing. If their first click was more than 30 days before they signed up, the attribution window expired.
They may have cleared cookies or used a different device. Tracking lives in the browser they originally clicked from.
They may have declined marketing consent. See the consent section above.

If you've ruled all of those out, email hello@moonfactory.dev with the date you shared the link, the link itself, and any context — we can usually trace what happened.

My click numbers are different from my own analytics.

Almost always one of the consent banner, bot filtering, or different counting windows. Your own analytics tool counts everyone the moment they land on your page; we count visitors who clicked through to MoonFactory and got a valid attribution after consent.

Need help? Email us at hello@moonfactory.dev or open a support request from your dashboard.