How do you "HIDE" your affiliate link ?

[tanady]

Hi Warriors,

I'm wondering which ways is the most people used
when promoting an affiliate..

I've read all these ways that can be found from google:
How To Hide Affiliate Links | John Chow dot Com
How To Hide All Your Affiliate Links With Only One File DerekBeau.com
Ugly Affiliate Link: I Don’t Click Them

Also, I understand some of these ways:
html meta refresh
php header
using frameset
'power link generator'
... more

Question:
Which one do you used ? and why ?

Thanks

PS. Preferable in our own domain -- not in other's domain, ie. tinyurl, or similar.

[charlesburke]

I use a simple little php file that goes like this:

[?php
$url =
"http://www.somedomain.com";
header("Location: $url");
exit();
?]
(naturally you change the 2 [square brackets] to <angle brackets>

Learned it from Adrian Ling maybe three or four years ago, and it's been all I've ever needed.

Cheers from warm and smiling Thailand,
Charles

[Mgwolf]

What is the reasoning behind "hiding" your affiliate link?

[tanady]

Originally Posted by Mgwolf

What is the reasoning behind "hiding" your affiliate link?

Hi Mgwolf,

It is so that it looks natural and shorter..
Instead of
http://www.affiliatedomain.com/affil...tfhaslkdqwr124

Easily can create like this:
www.yourdomain.com/affiliateproduct
or any other

There might have other benefits as well..

Hope it helps.

Regards,
Cornel Tanady

[zeurois]

Originally Posted by Mgwolf

What is the reasoning behind "hiding" your affiliate link?

It's because some people will simply cut your affiliate ID at the end of the url (ie domain.com/signup.php?aff=john in this case cutting "john" from there means john won't get paid).

So many mean people out there

[zeurois]

Originally Posted by tanady

Hi Warriors,

...

Also, I understand some of these ways:
html meta refresh
php header
using frameset
'power link generator'
... more

Question:
Which one do you used ? and why ?

1. html meta refresh is easy to hijack so I don't recommend it
2. php header is the best. As long as you send people to yourdomain.com/affiliateprogram (having the index being a redirect) nothing could go wrong
2b. same goes for htaccess redirection. It's your own server, you can mess with it
3. frameset - although it seems more and more people are using it, it's like cutting your legs and then wonder why you can't walk. Any affiliate program will have to drop a cookie on your browser but that cannot happen because of security reasons (iframe cookie-ing in 3rd party domains are not allowed .. of course, there are a few exceptions, but you need to go deeper in programming) - not recommended
4. power link generator - what's that?

My conclusion: I'd go for server-side redirection if it's my domain. If I only want to send traffic to a specific site and get paid, then I don't even need a domain and I can use tinyurl or any other that does the same.

Hope this helps

[tanady]

Originally Posted by zeurois

1. html meta refresh is easy to hijack so I don't recommend it
2. php header is the best. As long as you send people to yourdomain.com/affiliateprogram (having the index being a redirect) nothing could go wrong
2b. same goes for htaccess redirection. It's your own server, you can mess with it
3. frameset - although it seems more and more people are using it, it's like cutting your legs and then wonder why you can't walk. Any affiliate program will have to drop a cookie on your browser but that cannot happen because of security reasons (iframe cookie-ing in 3rd party domains are not allowed .. of course, there are a few exceptions, but you need to go deeper in programming) - not recommended
4. power link generator - what's that?

My conclusion: I'd go for server-side redirection if it's my domain. If I only want to send traffic to a specific site and get paid, then I don't even need a domain and I can use tinyurl or any other that does the same.

Hope this helps

Thanks for the quick reply.. appreciate that.

Power link generator is a "redirect" script
by Mike Filsaime (quite some time already though).
But still lots of people using it (i supposed).

Cheers,
Cornel Tanady

[Kesh247]

Create a php redirect using your hosting company and your primary domain name, on your C-Panel. That way it's hidden completely.

[FredJones]

I simply use what others said too - use a header location statement in PHP. So if my link in pageA.php shows href to pageB.php, then all my pageB.php will have is the header locatino code, and that will take to the affiliateproduct I am selling with my vendor link embedded.

Hope that clarifies.

[tanady]

Originally Posted by FredJones

I simply use what others said too - use a header location statement in PHP. So if my link in pageA.php shows href to pageB.php, then all my pageB.php will have is the header locatino code, and that will take to the affiliateproduct I am selling with my vendor link embedded.

Hope that clarifies.

Hi all,

So far php header is the winner.

Thanks everyone!
Cheers,
Cornel Tanady

[crazyfish22]

Has anyone tried G-Lock Affiliate Link Cloaker? Is it any good?

fastblogfinder.com/affiliate-link-cloaker

[Akky]

All you need is to open up NotePad .

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

Paste the above code and then save the notepad as .php extension . Link the text or image with this php file which you upload to your server.

Hope I helped you

G'day,
Akky

[IM Biz System]

Yes, I use php redirect as well. It works well especially using the longer version as shared by Charles above. This way your affiliate ID will not be displayed as the destination url.

Step 1: Save below code in notepad as ProductA.php
<?php
$url =
"YourFullAffiliateURL";
header("Location: $url");
exit();
?>

Step 2: FTP ProductA.php to domain.com public_html folder

Step 3: Confirm it works by going to domain.com/ProductA.php You should see the display URL in your browser without your affiliate ID.

[iantrader]

Quick comment.

If you're using php, many courses suggest something like:

www.mydomain.com/go/product.php
or
www.mydomain.com/recommends/product.php

which is fine.

However, you can make the link even shorter and maybe a bit more appealing by simply using the file structure:

www.mydomain.com/product/

and rename the product.php file to index.php

When you access www.mydomain.com/product/ the server auomatically looks for an index file.

You might need to add a line to the .htaccess file to get it to pick up on index.php.

Ian

[powerspike]

i prefer the htaccess way

RewriteRule $recomends/thisproduct.php^ http(colon)//rediret.url/?aff=blah [R=301]

it's one of those set and forget type of settings, also it means that your software can't play with the files or content, or override them, because the htaccess files takes effect before the request even gets to the software.
replace (colon) with a : (vb things i'm trying to post a link lol)

[zeurois]

So it seems

Originally Posted by tanady

Hi all,

So far php header is the winner.

Thanks everyone!
Cheers,
Cornel Tanady

[ragnartm]

<head>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="2;url=http://somesite.com">
</head>
for html and htm documents.
Set up a folder named "likes" or "recommends" or "loves" or something else that you think fits better with your niche. Then you can either set up new folders with index.html files in them like this:
"somesite.com/likes/someproduct/" and it will redirect, or you can set up files named after the product name -> someproduct.html -> somesite.com/likes/someproduct.html

[igorhelpsyousucceed]

Hey Tanady,

What I do, is just create a subdomain
and forward it my affiliate link.

so instead of getting www.mysite.com/myaffproduct
I do http://myaffproduct.mysite.com

I believe it to be way more proffesionaly looking
and efficient.

Igor

[zeurois]

Just that you may have problems with DNSs. Yesterday I think launch tree was launched. I got a few emails (just like everybody was getting at that time) but I couldn't open course.launchtree.com. I was able to hit launchtree.com (not sure if the domain name is correct).

So.. is it more efficient?

Originally Posted by igorhelpsyousucceed

Hey Tanady,

What I do, is just create a subdomain
and forward it my affiliate link.

so instead of getting www.mysite.com/myaffproduct
I do http://myaffproduct.mysite.com

I believe it to be way more proffesionaly looking
and efficient.

Igor

[highhopes]

I was told this about hiding affiliate links;
"If you do this Google will not see any of your content, only the frame html which is minimal.

I would not recommend this as it would hurt your SEO measures".

[Akky]

Originally Posted by highhopes

I was told this about hiding affiliate links;
"If you do this Google will not see any of your content, only the frame html which is minimal.

I would not recommend this as it would hurt your SEO measures".

Then How about using the "nofollow" and "noindex" attribute between the meta tags ? That would help..So Google will never see that particular page..

G'day,
Akky

[homejobcreator]

Thanks, I also needed and will try the above suggestions!

[melanied]

I generate encrypted code with this page -

CBTool - Help

and then I cut and paste it into an html file.

[InternetMarketingIQ]

Here is something to think about.

Most people online have no idea what an affiliate link is... and those that know what they are ... well they will figure out a way to not use your link, so what is the point? Yes I understand your link can be lifted by malware/toolbars/etc. So maybe there is some logic in trying to protect from that.

But even browsers like IE will kill your redirected links and strip out the Affiliate Cookie if you do it wrong.

Here is a typical Amazon Link (Not an Affiliate Link) to their digital camera category:

"http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=digial+camera&x=0&y=0]"

Thats a long link... but it gets longer as you dig. And Amazon still manages to sell a lot of product.

Do you think the average websurfer is going to notice your affiliate code buried in those long links?

I'm more concerned with having links like this tinyrurl.com/525987 because to me that doesn't look legitimate compared to "http://www.amazon.com/whateverhowlongitis"..........

It's pretty much 6's... should you choose to mask, cloak, hide, redirect, or however make sure you know it isn't actually killing your affiliate cookies!

[tshipp]

php header for those sneaky commission thiefs.

[Slippy]

Originally Posted by charlesburke

I use a simple little php file that goes like this:

[?php
=
"http://www.somedomain.com";
header("Location: ");
exit();
?]
(naturally you change the 2 [square brackets] to <angle brackets>

Learned it from Adrian Ling maybe three or four years ago, and it's been all I've ever needed.

Cheers from warm and smiling Thailand,
Charles

I use this as well...

[WareTime]

Why don't people simply use a redirect in their .htacess file?

So for instance. I'm gonna say I want my affiliate link to look like
mydomain.com/recommendedThing.html

All I need to do is put a redirect for that url in my .htaccess file. Any time someone clicks on it they end up at the product site via my affiliate link.

redirect 302 /recommendedThing.html http://yourAffLink.con/stuff.html

Am I missing something, but why would people pay for a script to do this?

[BurgerBoy]

Originally Posted by highhopes

I was told this about hiding affiliate links;
"If you do this Google will not see any of your content, only the frame html which is minimal.

I would not recommend this as it would hurt your SEO measures".

A php redirect is not a - frame. It does not affect you with Google.

Also - all of the php redirect examples on this thread are for one redirect.

You can put all of your redirects on one page using the - if - statement in the code.

I would give you an example of the code but I can't make a post with it until I have 15 post.

Using meta refresh is also mentioned. Don't do it. Google does not like a meta refresh.

Merchants don't like it either. It doesn't send the site page it's from to the merchant so they cannot see where the click came from.

A php redirect does send the page so the merchant does know what site the click came from.

[IM Biz System]

With this topic on affiliate links, I realize now there are links generated with aweber or getresponse codes being used in email marketing to their lists. Does anyone has any takes on this form of links and how can these links be generated?

[FlashDriveDT]

I don't quite get this. I always thought that it's more engaging for visitors to know where they're actually being sent to when they see a link. In other words when a product link says "rover.ebay.com/long-tail" or "amazon.blabla" potential customers are more inclined to click than if it was some type of cloaked url. Even if it was the own domain. Because once the visitor clicked on that and finds out he or she actually gets send to a entirely different site then they must think the author is kind of deceptive, right? Granted, if the affiliate merchant is barely known vs ebay or amazon cloaking your links might increase conversions. But if it's a well recognized name I wouldn't do it. Mind you, I'm new at this all...I just like the fact that not cloaking is more ethical/transparent and I figure that's always more rewarding in the end. Now you can laugh at me...?

[BurgerBoy]

The thought is that cloaked links will help to stop parasite software that's been installed on people's computers from overwriting your affiliate cookie with their affiliate cookie and getting paid for the sale instead of you.

[Robert24]

I'd go with a php header redirect if you're not worried about concealing your traffic sources. Simple, easy, and works 100% of the time.

[One]

Don't forget there are people that are new to internet marketing afraid to click on the long and 'strange'-looking affiliate link too. In most cases, these people will consider it as virus-contained link. It happened to me more than once, when my customers contacted me and asked me if my affiliate link contains virus Since that, I always cloaking my affiliate links.

So, hiding or cloaking or at least make your affiliate link shorter is quite important for your sales

Oh, I'd go with php header too... thanks.

[dndoseller]

html meta refresh - because its free and easiest to use.
I also use the wordpress redirect plug-in for the same reasons.

[BurgerBoy]

Originally Posted by dndoseller

html meta refresh - because its free and easiest to use.
I also use the wordpress redirect plug-in for the same reasons.

Google does not like meta refresh and will penalize your site.

Do some reading at Google webmaster.

Merchants don't like it either. They want to know which site a sales came from. Meta refresh does NOT send a referral page to the merchant.

Use a php redirect. It does send a referral page header to the merchant.

Some merchants will not pay you if they don't know where the click came from.

Use this:

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

If you just want to block what vistors see on a link on a mouse over - you can use a javascript link:

<a onclick="x=window.open('http://www.YourAffiliateLink.com')" href="#">What You Want For The Link Name</a>

The link will open a new window and on a mouse over will show the page the link is on instead of the affiliate link.

[FlashDriveDT]

Originally Posted by BurgerBoy

The thought is that cloaked links will help to stop parasite software that's been installed on people's computers from overwriting your affiliate cookie with their affiliate cookie and getting paid for the sale instead of you.

That's paranoid IMO and I have a hard time believing that's that the only reason why affiliates use cloaked links. But I'm eager to learn - did anyone here ever had a hijacking happen to them?

[BurgerBoy]

Why do you think some affiliates (fatwallet, ebates, onecause, and many more - for example) have toolbars for you to install on your computer???

Their toolbars are spyware that monitor the links you click on in your computer.

When you click on an affiliate link the toolbar intercepts the click - removes the original affiliates ID from the link - adds their affiliate ID to the link and THEN opens the Merchant's site which sets THEIR cookie instead of yours and they get paid for the sale instead of you.

You really do need to do some searches on Google about spyware and toolbars. toolbars overwriting affiliate cookies - Google Search

[Drew Castle]

With Wordpress, you might find it easier to integrate a plug-in and use that to cloak your affiliate links (think MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate or GoTo Links)

Otherwise, you might use a PHP header for a static site

=)

~D.C.

[Brad Gosse]

I just wrote a tutorial on this very subject

How to make your affiliate links pretty | Brad Gosse

[webgeek154]

yeah, php redirect is what i use. easy and effective

[khtm]

I use the php redirect method, but a different flavor than what others have described above.

Here's the steps:
1. Create a file called "redirect.php" and edit it with Notepad (or whatever text editor you use)

2. Enter this in the file and save it:
<?php

$urls = array (
'AffiliateLink1' => 'hxxp://youraffiliate1.com/id=xxxxx',
'AffiliateLink2' => 'hxxp://youraffiliate2.com/id=xxxxx'
);

header('Location: ' . $urls[$_GET['go']]);

?>

3. FTP the "redirect.php" file to your web server

4. Any time you want to use an affiliate link in your website content, use this:

<a href=redirect.php?go=AffiliateLink1>Affiliate Anchor Text</a>

This of course can be used for image links, text links, banners, etc.

5. Modify your "robots.txt" file and add this line underneath user-agent:

Disallow: /redirect.php

The reason we do this is so that search engine crawlers can't find your list of affiliates and have a reason to distrust you.

6. The maintenance involved is modifying the "redirect.php" file every time you have a new link to add.

7. I like this method because it nicely ties into geo redirects (ie. automatically detecting if your visitor is from Canada and sending them to Amazon.ca rather than Amazon.com)

There's two primary reasons, in my opinion, to cloak/hide your affiliate link:

• So search engines don't think you have a site with the sole purpose of generating affiliate revenue
• So users don't get angry when they see your affiliate ID and either (a) not click the link or (b) manually remove the affiliate ID so you don't get a commision

Hope that helps!

[profitgenie]

as the question of how to cloak link has been clearly answered, can i ask how many people have had affiliate commisions stolen and what difference it made after cloaking a link.

[launch3]

I use Cloak and Tracker by Jay Jennings. I must have 500+ cloaked affiliate links for 10 domains/subdomains. So easy to manage & I even get stats.

[mmacken]

A simple meta refresh tag does the job, just as easy to use the php redirect, whichever takes your fancy I suppose.

[Warrior Markets]

Hi, does anyone know how to cloak a link that is a redirect, eg, from Namecheap, but without any hosting?

In other words, if you have just a domain name (with option of redirecting to affiliate page), but don't have any hosting, what's the best way to redirect to a cloaked affiliate page?

-WM

[kettlewell]

Also be aware that many affiliate programs TOS specifically forbids the use of framing technologies, and could forfeit your profits...

Best bet is to use redirects from your server, or install software on your server that manages it for you.

[MyOnlineSuccess]

Best way is to "hard code" it on your landing page. What happens is that when someone lands on your landing page, regardless of the link that send them there, they get cookied by just landing on your site.

The problem with cloaking links is that Google Adwords doesn't really like cloacked links and also when the link "lands" your affiliate details wil be displayed in the url.

Some of the new affiliate platforms have a super amazing feature of hiding affiliate URL's completely. I just started promoting a product wher you install a small script on your domain and then you just send visitors there without any affiliate URL's - great and I am sure this will be the future for affiliates.

It's the safest way as way too many people are now reverse engineering campaigns and I think it's time to put an end to it. Even ClickBank now codes hop links to strip your ClickBank nickname out of the url.

[PrettyJenny]

Originally Posted by MyOnlineSuccess

Best way is to "hard code" it on your landing page. What happens is that when someone lands on your landing page, regardless of the link that send them there, they get cookied by just landing on your site.

But is it allowed? I mean this sounds really nice but is it cookie stuffing?

[FlashDriveDT]

Originally Posted by profitgenie

as the question of how to cloak link has been clearly answered, can i ask how many people have had affiliate commisions stolen and what difference it made after cloaking a link.

Ditto. I had already asked if anyone here ever had this type of thing happening to them and since no one repsonds to it it seems clear to me that's its rather a form of paranoia. That the hijacking technology exists is not being questioned, I never doubted that. The question is how much of a threat it really is. Oh well, I guess that's always in the eye of the beholder.

[bigbearmarketer]

I use an affiliate link cloaker Viral Url it is free and also helps build your down line. This tool allows you to cloak your links and throws a viral twist on things increasing traffic to what ever site or product you may have.