Cloaked Affiliate link in EzineArticles

14 years ago

It's right in their TOS. You are allowed to redirect from a top level domain of YOURS. Cloaked links directed to affiliate pages are verboten, even bi.tly or tinyurl. I believe they even have a tutorial on how to do it using html, .htaccess and .php

Thanks

Signature

Healthy Cookies

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1972293].message }}

Jay Jennings

14 years ago

What Ryan said, you have to go to the top level of one of your domains first, then you can redirect.

I use cloaked links in almost all my article resource boxes even when they're going to one of my domains as the final destination. And the cloaked links are tagged per directory, so that allows me a real-time look at exactly which directory is bringing in the traffic.

Cloaked links are the good.

Jay Jennings

Thanks
1 reply

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1972349].message }}

Alan Mc Donald 14 years ago

jay would you mind explaining how you do that please?

i know how to do the php redirect (creating a "go folder" www.mysite.com/go)

is this what you do? it would be nice to know where the traffic is coming from

thanks
- Thanks
Signature
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1972463].message }}

Mrs S

14 years ago

I'm using a top level redirect at the moment by just redirecting from my GoDaddy dashboard.

Jay - I'd be interested in learning more about how you set yours up so that they are 'tagged by directory'. Can you expand on that a bit more please?

Thanks
1 reply

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1972481].message }}

Niche

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Mrs S

I'm using a top level redirect at the moment by just redirecting from my GoDaddy dashboard.

Jay - I'd be interested in learning more about how you set yours up so that they are 'tagged by directory'. Can you expand on that a bit more please?

I am interested in finding out also. It's news to me that you can have affiliate links in EZ articles. Thanks for the info

Thanks

Signature

Free Affiliate Marketing Downloads
Stop Snoring Tips
Marketing Tips I've picked up

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1972605].message }}

Jay Jennings

14 years ago

I have an explanation of what I do on my site. You can see it here:

Secrets of Tracking the Wild Click

In a nutshell, I stick a "tracking token" on the end of each of my cloaked links and my cloaking software grabs all those as it redirects the user. The tracking tokens get put into the database and pulled out into pretty charts.

http://jayjennings.com/images/sneak-chart-peek.png

Note -- the software I use was written by me, and it's for sale, so some might call me biased. I just call myself blessed for writing such cool software. =

As articles from the directories get used on other sites I no longer know *exactly* where the new traffic is coming from, but I can tell which directory was the catalyst for it. And that's good data to have, anyway.

Jay Jennings

[ 1 ] Thanks
2 replies

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1972623].message }}

Alan Mc Donald 14 years ago

is it similar to prosper202 jay?

also do you have a wso on this software and how much is it?

thanks
- Thanks
- 1 reply
Signature
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1972641].message }}
- Jay Jennings 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Pattaya-Addict
  
  is it similar to prosper202 jay?
  also do you have a wso on this software and how much is it?
  
  I've never used Prosper202 so I can't tell you how they compare. But since that software is free you should download it and see if it will work for you. If not, send me a PM and I'll give you a coupon code for Sonic Sneak -- kind of a "mini-WSO." =
  
  Jay Jennings
  
  Thanks
  
  {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1972669].message }}

Mrs S

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Jay Jennings

I have an explanation of what I do on my site. You can see it here:

Secrets of Tracking the Wild Click

In a nutshell, I stick a "tracking token" on the end of each of my cloaked links and my cloaking software grabs all those as it redirects the user. The tracking tokens get put into the database and pulled out into pretty charts.

http://jayjennings.com/images/sneak-chart-peek.png

Note -- the software I use was written by me, and it's for sale, so some might call me biased. I just call myself blessed for writing such cool software. =

As articles from the directories get used on other sites I no longer know *exactly* where the new traffic is coming from, but I can tell which directory was the catalyst for it. And that's good data to have, anyway.

Jay Jennings

I see - looks like the pretty link plugin that I use to cloak links in my wordpress installs.

I thought we couldn't use these links with EZA though?

I thought it had to be www.domain.com which forwarded on to the affiliate link rather than www.domain/go/keyword? Or am I missing something?

Thanks

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1972855].message }}

Fraggler

14 years ago

This is how I get around the redirect without using a TLD. Lets you cloak your affiliate id too.

1. Create a page on one of my wordpress blogs which is just a copy of the submitted article.
2. View the page and save it as a index.php file (with all images).
3. Upload it (with images) to a directory on the desired domain/subdirectory
4. Submit article to EZA. Point resource box to this directory.
5. Wait until EZA approves the article.
6. Change the index.php in subdiectory to a redirect to my offer.
7. EZA now points to the 3rd-party landing page.

Thanks
1 reply

Signature

- Stop Wasting Time & Money on Traffic!
- You Can't Improve What You Don't Measure
- Why You Should Create Separate Desktop and Mobile Google Adwords Campaigns

Connect with me on LinkedIn

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1972749].message }}

Jay Jennings

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Fraggler

This is how I get around the redirect without using a TLD. Lets you cloak your affiliate id too.
...
6. Change the index.php in subdiectory to a redirect to my offer.
7. EZA now points to the 3rd-party landing page.

I would imagine EZA might not be happy with that if/when they discovered it. If you care about keeping your EZA account long-term I might rethink that strategy.

Jay Jennings

Thanks

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1972755].message }}

Fraggler

14 years ago

I'm not too concerned. It isn't exactly a new technique and I don't actively use it. I think they would be more concerned about the content of some of the WSO's about artificially inflating views and publishes rather than a redirect that saves the hassle of a 0.99$ domain and a day or two for the propagation.

Thanks

Signature

- Stop Wasting Time & Money on Traffic!
- You Can't Improve What You Don't Measure
- Why You Should Create Separate Desktop and Mobile Google Adwords Campaigns

Connect with me on LinkedIn

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1972820].message }}

Sheila Atwood

14 years ago

I buy a domain name (GoDaddy) then forward that domain name with masking. This keeps the domain name in Godaddy...but allows me to use it in Ezines, blog posts etc.

I like the fact that my domain stays the same all through the process.

I generally choose a pretty generic domain name that can be used for a different affiliate just in case I need to change affiliates.

Thanks

Signature

WordPress Freak

WordPress For Business and Personal Use

"You have brains in your head, you have feet in your shoes, you can steer yourself in any direction you choose." -Dr. Suess

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1972894].message }}

FivestarHB

14 years ago

Great discussion warriors, some good ideas. Seems George has been a bit too simplistic in his cloaking recommendation - the inexperienced IMer should proceed with caution and use some smarter options.

Thanks

Signature

I have Found the Ultimate IM Retirement Plan
Done for you Marketing System
17 Year old Company Recurring Income
It is the Perfect Home Business!

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1981526].message }}

Cloaked Affiliate link in EzineArticles

Trending Topics

Been a while! Any of you Old Timers here?

How much does the rebranding affect CR ?

Are billboards still effective in driving customers?

Boat and Jet Ski Rentals...... Door Hangers Effective?

A Very Strange Internet Problem