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Do you have to cloak your ClickBank links?

by Bulldozer
21 replies
I know that people like to cloak their ClickBank links but something about this whole cloaking deal puzzles me.
I was looking at the hop links that ClickBank generates for product affiliates and they looked pretty cloaked to me.

The original ClickBank links look something like: some-random-numbers-here-some-random-letters-as-well-rubbish-rubbish-garbage-blah-blah.hop.clickbank.net

Isn't this "cloaked" enough?
Or maybe this already indistinguishable URL needs to be cloaked even more by the affiliate who is going to use it?

Am I missing something here? What is cloaking all about?
#clickbank #cloak #links
  • Profile picture of the author KeepFaith
    Personally, I just feel much more secure if I cloak my affiliate links via acloaker.com and upload the file to my website!

    You can also go to TinyUrl and cloak it there if you like....

    Hope that helped you!
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    • Profile picture of the author Bulldozer
      Originally Posted by KeepFaith View Post

      Personally, I just feel much more secure if I cloak my affiliate links via acloaker.com and upload the file to my website!

      You can also go to TinyUrl and cloak it there if you like....

      Hope that helped you!
      Alright, but why do you have to do that? The affiliate URLs that ClickBank generates for you are already cloaked and pretty indistinguishable.
      Why do you have to cloak them even more?
      Is this because there is some chance that somebody can decipher them?
      I just don't get it. :confused:
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  • Profile picture of the author bretski
    You need to remove that affiliate link, first of all...

    Second, would you click on a link that looked like that when you moused over it? With so much spyware and malware out there, many people are hesitant to click on anything that looks even the tiniest bit suspicious.

    I cloak my links by using 301 redirect so the link just looks like a directory off of my main domain. When someone clicks on it they are redirected to my affiliate link, cookied by CB and they land on the vendors sales page.
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  • Profile picture of the author Anthony W
    If you have wordpress, use a plugin called pretty link.

    You can set your link as www.yoursite.com/whateveryouwant and it will redirect to your affiliate link
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    • Profile picture of the author Bulldozer
      So, the purpose of cloaking is to hide the real hop link form the VISITOR of your web site and make him believe that he is clicking on a legit link???

      Hmmmm....
      I thought cloaking was about hiding your CliCkbank ID from hijackers.
      And I was trying to figure it out how the heck will hijackers swap your affiliate ID with their affiliate ID when your ID is already well cloaked by ClickBank and not even visible in the hop link!
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  • Profile picture of the author Andrei
    if you use the word press platform on you site you can use gocodes plugin
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  • Profile picture of the author Bulldozer
    Hmmm, interesting...
    So cloaking is no longer a way to protect your affiliate link from hijackers but is only a way to trick the visitor into clicking on your hop link?
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    • Profile picture of the author Mark Crawford
      Originally Posted by Bulldozer View Post

      Hmmm, interesting...
      So cloaking is no longer a way to protect your affiliate link from hijackers but is only a way to trick the visitor into clicking on your hop link?
      Exactly, clickbank encrypts the affiliate id now into the link. So if you want to, like I do. I make a simple php file in its own directory and put the affiliate code in there.

      so it now looks like yourdomain.com/cloakedlink

      very easy and also if you ever want to change your product and test to see if one converts better you only need to change it in one place and it changes it all across your site.
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      • Profile picture of the author Bulldozer
        Originally Posted by theorbital View Post

        I make a simple php file in its own directory and put the affiliate code in there.

        so it now looks like yourdomain.com/cloakedlink

        very easy and also if you ever want to change your product and test to see if one converts better you only need to change it in one place and it changes it all across your site.
        I didn't get it. What php file? Some file that turns all the links on my site into affiliate links? :confused:
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    • Profile picture of the author UMS
      Originally Posted by Bulldozer View Post

      Hmmm, interesting...
      So cloaking is no longer a way to protect your affiliate link from hijackers but is only a way to trick the visitor into clicking on your hop link?
      Has nothing to do with "tricking" a visitor. It's all about giving a visitor confidence when they click on a link it looks normal, ie: non-spammy

      As a visitor, would you feel comfortable clicking on a link like


      dhd43894754849383.blah.hdhdhd.clickbank.com

      or

      mysite.com/product
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      • Profile picture of the author Adso1
        Originally Posted by UMS View Post

        Has nothing to do with "tricking" a visitor. It's all about giving a visitor confidence when they click on a link it looks normal, ie: non-spammy

        As a visitor, would you feel comfortable clicking on a link like


        dhd43894754849383.blah.hdhdhd.clickbank.com

        or

        mysite.com/product

        I certainly agree with UMS and that's why I use Pretty Links as well.
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        • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
          Banned
          Originally Posted by Bulldozer View Post

          The original ClickBank links look something like: some-random-numbers-here-some-random-letters-as-well-rubbish-rubbish-garbage-blah-blah.hop.clickbank.net

          Isn't this "cloaked" enough?
          Not for me, it isn't; no. (Good description of an original hoplink, though! ).

          Originally Posted by bretski View Post

          With so much spyware and malware out there, many people are hesitant to click on anything that looks even the tiniest bit suspicious.
          Exactly. The rubbish-rubbish-randomnumbers bit is enough to stop many people from clicking it, these days, I think.

          Originally Posted by Bulldozer View Post

          So, the purpose of cloaking is to hide the real hop link form the VISITOR of your web site and make him believe that he is clicking on a legit link???
          What do you mean by "make him believe he's clicking on a legit link"? A ClickBank hoplink IS a "legit link". I'm making my living from them ...

          Originally Posted by baokhau View Post

          This is a must if you dont want your commission be theft.
          It has absolutely nothing to do with that at all, Baokhau.

          Thanks to the way that ClickBank's customer distribution requirement serves its purpose of protecting affiliates, your commission can only effectively be stolen by someone who is already himself a ClickBank affiliate, and whether you mask it or not, you're not going to paid on a sale to him anyway, because he'll buy through his own hoplink rather than yours, won't he? :rolleyes:

          Even if the sales page doesn't say "ClickBank" on it somewhere (which many do), the order page always does, because that's who they're buying the product from. You can hardly "conceal" it by masking your hoplink, can you?! :p

          Originally Posted by baokhau View Post

          It looks professional if you buy domain and redirect it to the affiliate link.
          Yes, I agree with you there. I always do this. (Prettylinks are also fine). As long as you don't use unnecessary third-party url-shorteners like bit.ly, tinyurl, budurl, for all the reasons discussed in this thread.

          It's not about hiding the fact that you're an affiliate. You'll have the FTC knocking on your door (or having your site taken down), if you try to do that. Affiliate disclosure is required, by law (in the US, and by custom and terms of service elsewhere, for the most part).

          No offense to anyone, but there are some very strange attitudes and beliefs in this thread ...
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  • Profile picture of the author RonnyRaygun
    Cloaking in its original form is to prevent other marketers from knowing that you get paid.

    I tend to make more money where I am not trying to sell to people who know something about internet marketing. So it's my guess that the purpose of cloaking is to prevent competitors from stealing your commission.

    As for random visitors, I feel safer clicking a pretty looking link that I understand than a series of random letters and numbers. I'm not interested in the fact that the person who owns the site I'm on is making money off of my purchase as long as I genuinely benefit from the product
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  • Profile picture of the author baokhau
    This is a must if you dont want your commission be theft.
    It looks professional if you buy domain and redirect it to the affiliate link.
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    • Profile picture of the author bretski
      It doesn't have a whole lot to do with someone stealing your commissions. If another affiliate is looking to buy the product that you are promoting they're going to click on their own affiliate link and overwrite your cookie anyhow... and make sure that it's THEIR affiliate link...

      Here's how to do a 301 redirect using both a .htaccess file and also php.

      How to Redirect a Web Page Using a 301 Redirect
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  • Profile picture of the author xhpdx
    I "cloak" all my affiliate links using Yourls. It has nice statistics about link clicks/what country are the visitors and a great wordpress plugin. Heck even if you know a thing or two about php, you can create your own plugins.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kecia
    I cloak my links using Pretty Links, a free WordPress plugin. In my opinion, it looks more professional. Would you rather click a link that shows a bunch of gibberish at the bottom of the screen or one that says yoursite.com/product? Also, it would be easy to remember or tweet if you wanted to share the link elsewhere.

    No sure how well it helps to protect your commissions. If someone knows they have landed on a clickbank site, they could easily clear cookies and visit with their own affiliate link.
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  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    clicking on a link that looks like a legitimate link
    I saw this mentioned at least twice in this thread... "looking legitimate". WTF? Aren't those legitimate business links? You guys, behave is if you were doing something illegal...
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