Cloaking affiliate links and hoplinks

[Mike Murphy]

I'm looking to learn the proper way/ways to cloak my affiliate links and hoplinks. I see that Clickbank now encodes the links for us which is fine, but it make it look longer and nastier than ever.

So what's the recommended way to cloak?

I did find this link How to Cloak Your ClickBank Affiliate Links but have a couple tech questions about that method as well.

Also, is the use of TinyURL or another URL shrinker an acceptable method? This will be used in a broadcast or AR series.

Thanks Warriors!

Mike

[E-Newbies]

Hi

Simplest way to have good looking redirects is to use your own site

in notepad paste

<?php
header( 'Location: http://www.yourafilliatelink.com' ) ;
?>

save the file as nameofpage.php & ftp to your site

send visitors to http://yoursite.com/nameofpage.php

they will be redirected to yourafilliatelink.com

[Mike Murphy]

Sorry to be daft....just so I fully understand....

Let's say the aff link was http://a294cds3qem24a8jd8o4jy6v80.ho...net/?tid=dopey

and my site was www.MikeIsSlow.com

I'd open Notepad, paste in the following:

<?php
header( 'Location: http://a294cds3qem24a8jd8o4jy6v80.ho...net/?tid=dopey' ) ;
?>

Save the Notepad file as:

dopey.php and ftp it to the public HTML folder of www.MikeIsSlow.com

and then send visitors to http://www.MikeIsSlow.com/dopey.php

Is that right? We call this a "php re-direct" right?

Thanks
Mike

[Lindsay Brynn]

Yes it is a PHP redirect. I think you have to put quotes around your file name when saving in notepad.
Also if you want the affiliate link to just be a directory just name the directory and put an index.php file in there with the php redirect. I tend to think that is the most clean look.

[grover69]

If you are using Wordpress, the easiest way is a plugin called Pretty Links that I can't say enough good things about. Very glad I found it.

[E-Newbies]

Originally Posted by Mike Murphy

Sorry to be daft....just so I fully understand....

Let's say the aff link was http://a294cds3qem24a8jd8o4jy6v80.ho...net/?tid=dopey

and my site was www.MikeIsSlow.com

I'd open Notepad, paste in the following:

<?php
header( 'Location: http://a294cds3qem24a8jd8o4jy6v80.ho...net/?tid=dopey' ) ;
?>

Save the Notepad file as:

dopey.php and ftp it to the public HTML folder of www.MikeIsSlow.com

and then send visitors to http://www.MikeIsSlow.com/dopey.php

Is that right? We call this a "php re-direct" right?

Thanks
Mike

Should work exactly as you have done it - linm's idea is probably better still

instead of dopey.php it would be www.MikeIsSlow.com/dopey

Cleaner still - yes this is a php redirect

[Jay Jennings]

There's a free video showing different ways to cloak/redirect your links:

Link Cloaking Explained

Jay Jennings

[jjpmarketing]

Mike,

You should check out Cligs at Short URLs with analytics, social media monitoring, and geotargeting - Cligs as they both cloak your link and track clickthroughs. In addition you can also change the link to whatever you want it to be like cli.gs/affpromo or something relevant to whatever the link is for. I believe they also provide some info on where your click throughs are coming from geographically.

Dennis Grubbs

[AdiPurush]

Thanks E-Newbies, i was also looking for it.

[Mike Murphy]

Awesome replies everyone...thanks very much for sharing. I'll go try them out and see which one I prefer.

Mike

[angel man]

Jay the video is very choppy please check.

another question: if i am using software like prosper202, I don't need these, right?

Thanks.

[Mike Murphy]

Originally Posted by linm

Yes it is a PHP redirect. I think you have to put quotes around your file name when saving in notepad.
Also if you want the affiliate link to just be a directory just name the directory and put an index.php file in there with the php redirect. I tend to think that is the most clean look.

So it seems to work fine if I use www.MikeIsSlow.com/dopey.php but if I leave the .php off it just leads to internal server error.

I assume this is because I haven't got the quotes, but I'm not sure where they go.

Here what I've done.

- in the public_html of MikeIsSlow.com, I placed the file dopey.php
- Inside dopey.php, I have the following

<?php
header( 'Location: http://a294cds3qem24a8jd8o4jy6v80.ho...net/?tid=dopey' ) ;
?>

So where do the quotes go?

Thanks
Mike

[pjCheviot]

Hi Mike

If it is working ok as dopey.php then . . .

Create a folder within public_html called "dopey" -
Move the file called "dopey.php" into that folder -
ReName it to "index.php"

Now when you go to www.MikeIsSlow.com/dopey

this will redirect you as before (but without the need for dopey.php)

HTH

[jjpmarketing]

Mike,

If you want an easy way to create links like: mikemurphy.com/recommends/aweber then use Mike Filsaime's software, Power Link Generator. It provides the tracking much like Cligs does but it isn't free. But the benefit is you can creat links like that or something like mikemurphy.com/aweber. You can use "likes", "loves" , etc. or any other word for that matter or just have the mikemurphy.com/aweber. I am just using aweber as an example.

I'm also pretty certain that you can install the script on multiple domains under the license agreement. Its an easy script to install, but if you need help with that I can help you out.

It has a nice admin interface to allow you to track your various campaigns' performance. You could have /aweber and /aweber2, /aweber3, etc. to track different campaings all under one interface without having to worry about setting up redirects on your server.

It stores the information in a MySQL database so you don't have multiple files and folders cluttering up your hosting account.

Dennis Grubbs

[gvncerri]

for 10 dollars you can buy 100 co.cc domains and redirect them to your hoplinks

[jjpmarketing]

.com domains provide web visitors with a sense of security. All those .info and similar domains make them wonder if the site is a scam or loaded with malware. It only costs $8 to $10 for a .com. It isn't worth buying a bunch of domains in TLD's like .info when you can save yourself the trouble by investing a few dollars in a good script or using one of the free options like Cligs.

Dennis Grubbs

[AlbertF]

Thanks for the suggestion grover, I will try out Pretty Links.

[Mike Murphy]

Ok, Pretty Link is straight up awesome! I'm kind of daft at Wordpress (which is embarrassing as it's supposed to be easy isn't it?)

Anyway, I had it installed, configured and generated my first link in under 5 minutes!

>> http://www.immikemurphy.com/time << <---Not messy

>> http://a01b59vgpgd2epedlinbohgydy.ho...t/?tid=ACTMACH << <---YUCKY link

Dennis, I'll likely use Filsaimes app for non Wordpress sites.

Thanks for the ideas everyone.

Mike

[jjpmarketing]

You are raving about it sooo much I think I'll have to check out Pretty Link myself. I have a lot of WordPress driven sites. I'm even testing out WP 2.8 beta to see what cool features its going to have.

Dennis

[cortiana]

The plug in Pretty link metioned here is free or $10 fee(my search comes out for $10)?

Thanks

[cortiana]

This message is for elert,

I check your website, very impressive, is this an one time fee to own this script or service under monthly payment?

Thanks

[edman]

If you've got cpanel hosting then you could do it with cpanel easily

here's a few seconds tutorial on how you can do it

Add Redirect

[petevamp]

Originally Posted by Mike Murphy

I'm looking to learn the proper way/ways to cloak my affiliate links and hoplinks. I see that Clickbank now encodes the links for us which is fine, but it make it look longer and nastier than ever.

So what's the recommended way to cloak?

I did find this link How to Cloak Your ClickBank Affiliate Links but have a couple tech questions about that method as well.

Also, is the use of TinyURL or another URL shrinker an acceptable method? This will be used in a broadcast or AR series.

Thanks Warriors!

Mike

I have an easier way for all the site owners or anyone with access to any server. You can build a simple redirect page which has your affiliate link already installed in it. This is they way that I cloak all of my links if need be.

[askmichaelknowles]

I have been using PLG for a few years to cloak my links. For those who don't know it makes the link www.yourdomain.com/likes/blahblah or /recommends/ ect.

I love it because you can change the site you are linking to easily and it tracks the clicks you get.

Plus I got it free as a bonus even better.

Michael

[pjjcc63]

PHP Redirect. Now this is simply the best darn tip I've ever gotten from twf! Thanks, E-Newbies, it seems to be all that works in the new Firefox

[mobetman]

can't find pretty links plugin. is it still up and running?

[pjCheviot]

Originally Posted by mobetman

can't find pretty links plugin. is it still up and running?

WordPress › Pretty Link WordPress Plugins

[mobetman]

nevermind, I found it. great plugin with lots more options than just the URL redirect.

[craigc1980]

Originally Posted by Mike Murphy

I'm looking to learn the proper way/ways to cloak my affiliate links and hoplinks. I see that Clickbank now encodes the links for us which is fine, but it make it look longer and nastier than ever.

So what's the recommended way to cloak?

I did find this link How to Cloak Your ClickBank Affiliate Links but have a couple tech questions about that method as well.

Also, is the use of TinyURL or another URL shrinker an acceptable method? This will be used in a broadcast or AR series.

Thanks Warriors!

Mike

Now that were on the subject of cloaking links i have something to add.

See i have always been told too use purchased software because it actually hides the link without the affiliate link showing up internally or externally in the browser.

See i have always used these methods that you guys are talking about in this post using a redirect or even using pretty links or even using the php script mentioned.

See i have used these methods in the past.

Ill be honest. I quit using those methods.

See theirs still ways to get your affiliate link from those methods.

Some people use software to steal your affiliate link and for others its much easier.

Your affiliate link still shows up in the bottom of the browser when being redirected so all anyone has to do is pause the browser and copy and paste that link and do whatever it is they do with it.

So this is why i use paid software.

Software depending on what you buy will actually hide your affiliate link within the html script so theres no way shape or form it can appear inside or outside the browser functions.

Just figured i would share from some bad experiences and tell you that when you hear people saying your leaving money on the table.

Well your literally leaving money on your browser.

Hope this helps
Craig

[Dviau17]

I don't know why this doesn't work for me, it seems that everyone seems to do these things with ease and no confusion and I can't figure out why it doesnt do it for me. I did exactlywhat was above and uploaded it to FTP under public_html/domain and i get internal 404 error when i type it in the URL adress.

[Bobru]

Originally Posted by craigc1980

........

See i have always been told too use purchased software because it actually hides the link without the affiliate link showing up internally or externally in the browser.
................

Your affiliate link still shows up in the bottom of the browser when being redirected so all anyone has to do is pause the browser and copy and paste that link and do whatever it is they do with it.

So this is why i use paid software.

Software depending on what you buy will actually hide your affiliate link within the html script so theres no way shape or form it can appear inside or outside the browser functions.
.......................

So, what paid software do you use now?

[RogueLover]

Don't mean to necro an older thread, but I can't send PM's yet and was wondering the same. What paid software do you use currently Craig?

[Flipfilter]

IMO the best way is to cloak using your .htaccess file (just a text file that gives server specific instructions on most (linux) servers, although it initially requires a little bit of technical noose to set up.

Most shared hosts will allow you to edit the file directly and you can set up a list of redirects via this file (so yoursite dot co dot uk/xyx goes to xyx dot com) without having to create individual php pages with redirects in each one.

Which sparks a different question, can a spider pick up a page on your server as having a redirect in it if the spider cant directly spider the php code? If so, would this have a negative impact on your overall ranking?

[hariklia]

Originally Posted by grover69

If you are using Wordpress, the easiest way is a plugin called Pretty Links that I can't say enough good things about. Very glad I found it.

I've been looking for answer to this question for ages and finally stumbled across it almost by accident,lol.
Great info.
Tnx

[Shaun Lee]

Pretty Links plugin for WordPress, hands-down.

WordPress › Pretty Link WordPress Plugins

-Shaun