What is the best way to cloak/hide the Clickbank hop link?

[troy23]

I am starting out with Clickbank and have heard there are ways to hide your hoplink to prevent theft.

Are there any simple free ways to do this?

[JoelMatthews]

Viralurl I have found is the norm to cloak links
just go to viralurl.com if you don't want an affiliate link, or PM me for one.

[Andy Crofford]

Here is what I do. I create a directory on my server related to the offer, say fatloss4idiots, and put an index.php file in there with this code:

<?
header("Location: http://hoplinkhere.com/");
?>

Then point the link to www.yoursite.com/fatlossforidiots

Which then redirects to the affiliate site. Not sure if this is what you are looking for but thought I would give it a shot.

[troy23]

Thanks.

If they did view source on your index page, would they still be able to see the hop link though?

[rmholla]

Free may not be the way to go, especially if you are going to do major link building -- because if that affiliate program goes away then all your work is down the drain. If you buy a domain and simply mask and redirect it all that work is yours to keep. You never know what is down the road but with your own domain you have the most control.

.info domains are about a buck right now at GoDaddy - I think most people can afford that. If you go out and get 1,000 keyword anchors for that domain and then the affiliate program you are promoting dies you will still have a valuable domain to sell if you don't want to keep it yourself.

[joewiley]

Go to this link themagicbulletseminar [dot] com/insiders
This is from amish shah (Millionaire CPA Affiliate). He show a sneak tricks direct linking your affiliate link to your domain at the same time protect your affiliate link and still have good quality score from Big G. Free tricks and video..

[johnjimat]

i usually use cloaking software to cloak my hop link. for example:

this is my hoplink - xxxx.money.hop.clickbank.net

i use the software, i put the link and create a page then i name it money.htm . After that i upload it in the server. So the link is:

mywebsite.com/money.htm - this is the cloaking link

Just my way to cloak a link. you can try it too

[jscanlan84]

Originally Posted by joewiley

Go to this link themagicbulletseminar [dot] com/insiders
This is from amish shah (Millionaire CPA Affiliate). He show a sneak tricks direct linking your affiliate link to your domain at the same time protect your affiliate link and still have good quality score from Big G. Free tricks and video..

Is this method working for you? I tried to get it to work but my affiliate link keeps showing and my content is still coming from the affiliate link. Any trick to it?

[joewiley]

Originally Posted by jscanlan84

Is this method working for you? I tried to get it to work but my affiliate link keeps showing and my content is still coming from the affiliate link. Any trick to it?

It is working for me....do you follow the video guide? It will hide your affiliate link and google won't know about it.

[bluegold14]

If you have your own domain you can use this online affiliate link cloaker:

Affiliate Link Cloaker - by Partnershoppe

It comes with a one-line ad but you can remove it when you copy it to notepad.

[Mangozoom]

I use a simple page redirect and am able to cloak that way... I can also track the clicks on these links which is powerful data.

What I would say is this ... dont overworry about it.

John

[goingup]

If you cloak and mask, does this prevent the affiliate network you are selling for from knowing the source of your traffic(CPA)?

[dollarware]

Here is a free solution

It is a script to install on your webserver.

If you have CPanel hosting it is easy. If you dont have CPanel, maybe you should get it.

It uses .htaccess. Once installed you have a password protected admin area. You create all the links you want. It also uses a database to keep up with all the information for you.

The pdf manual gives you all the instructions with screen shots. There is an automated installer, so even if you have never installed a script, I'll bet you can do this.

Shorten urls, Cloaks urls and keeps up with the number of hits to each link.

http://ultimatelinktracker

john

[dollarware]

sorry,
I left of the .com

Shortens URL's, Cloaks, & Counts Hits, All Within Your Domain

john

[CMartin]

And here's another free solution from... ClickBank! Yes, ClickBank

See "2. Cloak a HopLink" in this page:
http://www.clickbank.com/affiliate_t...iliate_Tools_2

Use the ClickBank "HopLink Shield":
http://www.clickbank.com/hoplink_encoding.htm
(you can use this "encoded" HopLink and use it instead of the regular HopLink)

Originally Posted by troy23

...have heard there are ways to hide your hoplink to prevent theft.

Whatever you do/use to protect your HopLink, people that knows how ClickBank works are [currently] able to steal your commissions.

Carlos

[genietoast]

If you've got a small budget, these are your two easiest options:

(1) Buy a .info domain at Go Daddy for less than $2. You'll be able to forward and mask the domain.

It's the best option if you're planning to do article marketing with EzineArticles because they're nit picky about you linking to a top-level domain (www.yoursite.com, not www.yoursite.com/recommends, etc.)

(2) Sign up to a site called Leads Leap. Free to join. It's a sophisticated text/traffic exchange that doesn't spam you with solo ads.

On the left side bar towards the bottom, there's a section called Advanced Link Cloaker. This thing is cool. You can add you affiliate link, but make the destination URL be the address of the sales page.

In other words...

Suppose the vendor's site is bestgolftips.com - best golf tips Resources and Information. This website is for sale!.

Your affiliate link is http://jake1.bestgolftips.hop.clickbank.net

You stick you affiliate link into Leads Leap Advanced Cloaker.

You have it redirect to bestgolftips.com - best golf tips Resources and Information. This website is for sale!.

You get a new cloaked link called http://www.leadsleap.com/12568

You put http://www.leadsleap.com/12568 in the browser to test it.

You end up seeing bestgolftips.com - best golf tips Resources and Information. This website is for sale!.

The only draw back to the cloaker is that if the vendor's server is slow, the cloaking device will take forever to redirect.

So keep that in mind.

The Go Daddy URL is actually the best option. Very flexible.

[AndyBeard]

I haven't looked at the Leadsleap site but I assume what they are doing is image cookie stuffing.

Technically that can get you in hot water with a lot of affiliate networks though I know a lot of people who do it, and like many things the same code could be used for other purposes that don't break terms of service with anyone.

[Breezeim]

If you use Wordpress, just add a plug in like PrettyLink or Redirection. This gives tracking too. If not WP why not use bit.ly or similar

[AndyBeard]

I am using Prettylinks on a project, but mainly because I needed to be also to show members all the tracking stats live.

For anything affiliate related you really need to be using something like Tracking202 or Prosper202 for the conversion tracking.

With affiliate program owner permission, cookie stuffing is very useful - for instance it is possible to do deep linking to a blog post even though the vendor's affiliate program doesn't support it.

[Cathy Shelver]

I actually buy a domian name from go daddy and then do domain forwarding in go daddy pointing to my hoplink.... what do some of you think about this its all i have learned and i dont know if its the best way

[RS3RS]

Do people still use TinyURL?

[Noor Hayanah]

Originally Posted by troy23

I am starting out with Clickbank and have heard there are ways to hide your hoplink to prevent theft.

Are there any simple free ways to do this?

The simple and free way to do this is:

(1) Go to: Beam(dot)To (please change "(dot)" with ".")

(2) Click "Add New URL" link

(3) In the box under "Redirect-URL:" put in your Clickbank Product Name

(4) In the box under "Target URL:" put in your Clickbank Hoplink

(5) In the box under "Your Email:" put in your email address

(6) Click "Accept Terms And Register" link

(7) Check your email to activate your beam.to link.

(8) Once activated, you'll get your Clickbank hoplink cloaked.

I hope it helps.

[jojosocialmarketing]

Hi,

Can I ask does this still work okay and using your cloaking software is there anyway to seo the content to ensure your page ranks highly in the SE's.

Thanks,
John.

[thebitbotdotcom]

Originally Posted by Mangozoom

I use a simple page redirect and am able to cloak that way... I can also track the clicks on these links which is powerful data.

What I would say is this ... dont overworry about it.

John

I do the exact same thing. I actually add the GA tracker to the same redirect page so that I can compare GA's data with Clickbank's...works like a charm...

[tj6]

Why not just use bitly.com? Free, and tidy!

[markthompson]

If you are looking for a Wordpress plugin solution, I use Ninja Affiliate from MaxBlogPress. I love this plugin and it also does a great job of tracking the number of clicks for each affiliate link you create. You also have the option of cloaking the link or just creating the link link sitename.com/affiliate-link.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by tj6

Why not just use bitly.com? Free, and tidy!

Because it makes absolutely no sense at all to let your business be dependent on an unncessary third-party service to cloak your links.

The best "cloaking device" to conceal hoplinks and to track click-throughs is any one that you own and control yourself.

To put it mildly, it's not wise at all to rely on the continued availability, goodwill, reliability and changeable terms of service of any third-party URL-shortening service.

There were a few hundred Warriors here last year who would have told you the same (and in fact did) when all their Tinyurl links suddenly disappeared overnight.

And if anyone tells you that "bit.ly's not going anywhere", and "has good customer service", just invite them to read this recent post on Ben Metcalfe's blog: The .ly domain space to be considered unsafe | :Ben Metcalfe Blog.

For $5 you can go to Fiverr and have someone install your own cloaker/tracker on your own hosting, even if you don't know how to do it yourself. Be in control of your own business and not dependent on unnecessary third-party services you can't control.

[paulie888]

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Because it makes absolutely no sense at all to let your business be dependent on an unncessary third-party service to cloak your links.

The best "cloaking device" to conceal hoplinks and to track click-throughs is any one that you own and control yourself.

To put it mildly, it's not wise at all to rely on the continued availability, goodwill, reliability and changeable terms of service of any third-party URL-shortening service.

There were a few hundred Warriors here last year who would have told you the same (and in fact did) when all their Tinyurl links suddenly disappeared overnight.

And if anyone tells you that "bit.ly's not going anywhere", and "has good customer service", just invite them to read this recent post on Ben Metcalfe's blog: The .ly domain space to be considered unsafe | :Ben Metcalfe Blog.

For $5 you can go to Fiverr and have someone install your own cloaker/tracker on your own hosting, even if you don't know how to do it yourself. Be in control of your own business and not dependent on unnecessary third-party services you can't control.

I totally agree with Alexa here. Either use cloaking on multiple sub-URLs for different products, or if a top-level domain is required then your job would be even easier - buy the domain and just redirect it to your affiliate link, making sure you are employing domain masking.

Paul

[JGK]

I use wordpress almost exclusively and there are a variety of plugins that cloak your link...
and you can customise the "url" so the link looks like this as an example... www.myblog.com/moreaboutbarmaids
Not sure what its actually doing but it works.

Whats the goal..hide it from buyers? This will do that....altho' on a related note you cant hide it completely ....I am sure you are aware of the FCC regs that require you to spell out somewhere you may make $ from their purchases.
If its to hide it from Google I am not tech savvy enough to know if this achieves that goal...nor am i sure if bit.ly or tinyurl work. Any thoughts?

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by JGK

I am sure you are aware of the FCC regs that require you to spell out somewhere you may make $ from their purchases.

(i) You can (and many would say "should") do that and still conceal your hoplink

(ii) Those regulations apply only in one country in the world

Originally Posted by JGK

nor am i sure if bit.ly or tinyurl work. Any thoughts?

Yes, there are many on exactly that subject, just above your post.

[scottsheen]

Register your own domain and use it only with short URL's. I have both ao14 and ae19 TLD's. I have also considered getting a .us for my redirects. Using a php redirect you can still name the file using a descriptive name.

Scott

[halmo]

Would someone please explain some basic things to me? Are cloaking and masking the same?

I currently want to cloak/mask a URL (not an affiliate link), and just saw this thread.

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

For $5 you can go to Fiverr and have someone install your own cloaker/tracker on your own hosting, even if you don't know how to do it yourself. Be in control of your own business and not dependent on unnecessary third-party services you can't control.

Alexa, do you mean that someone on Fiverr would provide and install a cloaker script that you could use many times for cloaking different URLs (with subdirectories on your own domain), or do you mean that you would have to buy a script first, and have someone on Fiverr install it for you?

Thank you for all help.

[aldira]

affiliatelinkbomberman.com is easy add affiliate link - cheapest affiliate link cloaker makes you become super affiliate wealthy is still the best for me, an easy affilaite link cloaker with only usd 27 you can make your link more short and pretty, also it was easy intalation, easy to use then convert you more sales .. cheers

[paulie888]

Originally Posted by Cathy Shelver

I actually buy a domian name from go daddy and then do domain forwarding in go daddy pointing to my hoplink.... what do some of you think about this its all i have learned and i dont know if its the best way

Cathy, this approach works well, and is both convenient and quick. Just be sure to enable masking for your redirect so that the actual hoplink doesn't show in the address bar of your browser.

Paul

[paulie888]

Originally Posted by goingup

If you cloak and mask, does this prevent the affiliate network you are selling for from knowing the source of your traffic(CPA)?

Yes to both, though the cloaking needs to utilize double meta-refresh in order to conceal the source of your traffic.

Paul

[imakealotofsales]

This is a helpful thread as I've had these questions...here's one for ANYONE who wants to chime in as I see allot of smart people here. OK...Say I buy a .info domain at Godaddy then forward and mask it to my Clickbank hoplink....Do I need to be terribly concerned with what I name my new domain? For instance, say I'm promoting an affiliate program for a malware program... and it's called bigbadmalwarenuker (I totally made that up ) is there any benefit to buying my domain that mimics this? Example- bigbadmalwarenuker247.info I'm not focusing on using this domain for SEO, it's only going to be in a PDF, maybe in videos etc etc..Thanks smart warriors...you guys rock

[iAmNameLess]

So would I be able to just create a sub domain and redirect the sub domain of my current site?

[iAmNameLess]

Originally Posted by iAmNameLess

So would I be able to just create a sub domain and redirect the sub domain of my current site?

Better yet, could I just have my subdomain POINT instead of redirecting at all?

[imakealotofsales]

Originally Posted by halmo

Would someone please explain some basic things to me? Are cloaking and masking the same?

I currently want to cloak/mask a URL (not an affiliate link), and just saw this thread.



Alexa, do you mean that someone on Fiverr would provide and install a cloaker script that you could use many times for cloaking different URLs (with subdirectories on your own domain), or do you mean that you would have to buy a script first, and have someone on Fiverr install it for you?

Thank you for all help.

Halmo...Here's how I would explain cloaking and masking. Say you have your Clickbank hoplink which is http://XXXXXXX.1234345666.hop.clickbank.[net] yada yada yada... Once you bought a .info domain for ex, you go into your domain manager then click on forwarding. Here's where you paste in your hoplink . Then while you're in there you click on "advanced options" if I recall (double check this) then simply tick the box for "masking"...now when people visit your new .info domain, IT will show in their browser bar, not the Clickbank hop URL. As I see it, only people that understand affiliate programs will know what that url really means, to the OFFLINE crowd that's coming online to buy pink underwear through an aff link will never be the wiser Still, I think it's good measure to be stealthy

I hope I helped... Sometimes getting the jist of the question right can be difficult as it's just text and not hearing a person ask it. I never like to insult anyone's intelligence...

[halmo]

Originally Posted by imakealotofsales

Halmo...Here's how I would explain cloaking and masking. Say you have your Clickbank hoplink which is http://XXXXXXX.1234345666.hop.clickbank.[net] yada yada yada... Once you bought a .info domain for ex, you go into your domain manager then click on forwarding. Here's where you paste in your hoplink . Then while you're in there you click on "advanced options" if I recall (double check this) then simply tick the box for "masking"...now when people visit your new .info domain, IT will show in their browser bar, not the Clickbank hop URL. As I see it, only people that understand affiliate programs will know what that url really means, to the OFFLINE crowd that's coming online to buy pink underwear through an aff link will never be the wiser Still, I think it's good measure to be stealthy

I hope I helped... Sometimes getting the jist of the question right can be difficult as it's just text and not hearing a person ask it. I never like to insult anyone's intelligence...

Thanks for your explanation. No, you didn't insult my intelligence. I didn't know about this method, but might use it later.

I didn't explain exactly in my post what I wanted to do, so here it is. What I wanted was to mask / cloak a specific page on my site (not a hoplink). Say, example.com/page2

Occasionally, I give the URL of this specific page on my site to select people. What I want is that they NOT be able to bookmark it, or if they bookmark the cloaked URL, the bookmark would not load the real URL later, I don't know if this is possible or not. Another thing that I want is that if they would send a link of the cloaked URL to someone else the receiver not be able to open it. I don't know if this makes sense.

I have thought about password protecting the page, but that's not a solution for the purpose I want. If you have any suggestions on this, I would love to know. And thanks for your original response. I will probably use it in the future.

[myob]

@halmo

I understand what you're trying to do. I just make my own salespage about the product with a link directly to the payment page, bypassing the vendor's salespage. There is no need to even have a cloaked link. If someone bookmarks it, that is your website being bookmarked. Some vendors will give you the direct payment page link.

[onlytim]

call me silly... is stealing links a real thing ? sure, possible, but it is it something I should add to my worry list ?

[imakealotofsales]

onlytim, I'm not a self described "affiliate expert" in ALL areas, but I know a heck of allot. By "stealing links" if you mean does affiliate commission theft occur, yes it does. This is why cloaking links and masking adds a layer of protection.Plus having a top level .com .net or .info domain just looks better than those long ugly aff urls..and they are easier to remember! Imagine people watching your Youtube video, they have enough distractions. You show your URL in the video and it looks like http://www.best_moneymaker123./?id=a444332sd Nobody will remember that...but they will www . best247 [.] kom

Plus as others have said, the reliability of 3rd party sites that give the little URL's (redirection services) might go down or disappear. Godaddy aint going nowhere lol...

Anytime you have a link out there with a vulnerable Username or ID like.....com/?id-4433 etc.etc you run risks of losing commissions
Having a forwarded and masked aff URL is a much better option

[imakealotofsales]

Halmo, perhaps myob's response can help you, I'd have to think about that one. What's good about this forum, is there's always somebody who'll know the answer!

[halmo]

Originally Posted by myob

@halmo

I understand what you're trying to do. I just make my own salespage about the product with a link directly to the payment page, bypassing the vendor's salespage. There is no need to even have a cloaked link. If someone bookmarks it, that is your website being bookmarked. Some vendors will give you the direct payment page link.

Originally Posted by imakealotofsales

Halmo, perhaps myob's response can help you, I'd have to think about that one. What's good about this forum, is there's always somebody who'll know the answer!

Thanks to both of you!

[IJCGlobal]

Originally Posted by Noor Hayanah

The simple and free way to do this is:

(1) Go to: Beam(dot)To (please change "(dot)" with ".")

(2) Click "Add New URL" link

(3) In the box under "Redirect-URL:" put in your Clickbank Product Name

(4) In the box under "Target URL:" put in your Clickbank Hoplink

(5) In the box under "Your Email:" put in your email address

(6) Click "Accept Terms And Register" link

(7) Check your email to activate your beam.to link.

(8) Once activated, you'll get your Clickbank hoplink cloaked.

I hope it helps.

Thank You for this information! It has really been useful for me, as I couldn't find many alternatives that I felt happy with.

All the Best and Thanks Again!!

[Tony2010]

I use a brillant free tool called click counter for most of my links. You can quickly alter and change the links via the admin panel as well.

*make sure you change your password if you do use it*

I can't post links at the moment, so just google "click counter" it can be found in the phpjunkyard website, it should be at the top of the results.

[empinars]

If you are using WordPress then the plugin "Redirection" will cloak your links.

[Torreylee]

Originally Posted by Andy Crofford

Here is what I do. I create a directory on my server related to the offer, say fatloss4idiots, and put an index.php file in there with this code:

<?
header("Location: http://hoplinkhere.com/");
?>

Then point the link to www.yoursite.com/fatlossforidiots

Which then redirects to the affiliate site. Not sure if this is what you are looking for but thought I would give it a shot.

Yup, this is what many folks do, if you are using wordpress you can also use the "pretty links" plugin. It works like a charm. I use it on my site at ¢ Backlink Checker SEO - Backlinks & Search Engine Optimization 101 ¢ and it's always save me a headache.

[Sony Baby]

So if i'm understanding all of this correctly.... making an additional page cloaks the hoplink/affiliate page and goes directly to the item's sales page.

So this additional page is a landing page? and must convince people to go to the purchase page of the item?

I'm wondering what you guys put on this additional page where you cloak the hoplink/aff?

Do you make it really simple or spice it up?

Is it possible to just go straight from clicking on the Ad on your site to the vendor's sale page without spending time on your "additional page"?

Thanks in advance, I have no knowledge in redirections