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Cloaking affiliate links for a pdf ebook

by Ben_Doyle
5 replies
Hey everyone!

OK so i've written a 20 page ebook/report and that I am going to give out for free.

In it will contain some affiliate links. But how do i cloak them. I have had a look on youtube I can only find out how to do it for links on a website rather than in a PDF.

Can anyone help?

Thanks

Ben:confused:
#affiliate #cloaking #ebook #links #pdf
  • Profile picture of the author Jeff Lenney
    Easy, just use tinyurl.com or a link to your own website with the gocode plug in to re-direct.

    ie: tinyurl.com/link123
    or
    yourwebsite.com/go/product-name

    Here's a link to the plug in!
    WordPress › GoCodes « WordPress Plugins
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    Too lazy to write something clever here, so check out my marketing blog and learn from a REAL Super Affiliate at JeffLenney.com

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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Cole
    Just like the previous poster has said ...

    Another option is to setup redirects on your domain, then use same redirect URLs. This way it won't look as bad, the readers will see yourdomain.com/go/yourproduct

    This is how I do it
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    • Profile picture of the author Newman8r
      Yeah, good advice in this thread... however I'm not sure how important cloaking the links actually is. In fact, I tend to over-disclose the fact that it's an affiliate link and explain quickly what that means. Some people are actually more suspicious of cloaked URLs (I personally am, I like to know where I'm going before I click) so it's a tough decision.
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      • Profile picture of the author ExRat
        Hi Ben,

        I have had a look on youtube I can only find out how to do it for links on a website rather than in a PDF.
        As Chris said -

        Another option is to setup redirects on your domain, then use same redirect URLs. This way it won't look as bad, the readers will see yourdomain.com/go/yourproduct
        The advice you got on youtube is (probably) right.

        If you do a html redirect on your domain, then an added bonus is that you can (to an extent) track/analyse your clicks on your links via your web stats.

        Hi Newman8er,

        however I'm not sure how important cloaking the links actually is.
        It's absolutely vital in this context - free ebooks.

        Once the ebooks are out there, you can't change the redirect url. Sometimes, months after release, someone else will get hold of the ebook and give it away to others, spreading the distribution of the ebook unexpectedly at a later stage.

        If you control the domain that houses the redirect, even though you can't change the url, you can change where it redirects to. If it's a direct affiliate link in the ebook (uncloaked) and the affiliate program changes their urls, your links are dead. What if the affiliate program stops paying you and you want to add a different link?

        Hi eljeffe77,

        just use tinyurl.com
        Same problem with these 3rd party redirects - if they close down or something else changes, your links are dead.

        Golden rule - control your links.

        I use a redirect script that tracks and reports stats on my links, hosted on my own domain. I can change the redirect destination in a minute or two.
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        Roger Davis
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  • Profile picture of the author MatthewNeer
    I made this quick tutorial video on exactly how to do that a while back. Hope it helps.

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