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Cloaking Affiliate Links

by Gwuido65
11 replies
Hi,

I just have some questions regarding cloaking affiliate links, particularly with Clickbank.

What I don't understand is, that if I cloak my affiliate links, then when the person clicks on the link, they end up on a clickbank product page, which shows my link anyway.

So my question is what is the benefit of cloaking the links? I am assuming that one the person has clicked my link, that clickbank must store the cookies, so that even if that person changed the name I would still get the sale.

Is that correct?

Is there anyway of even getting round of the clickbank ID coming up on the sales page or is this just unnecessary?

Just looking for some feedback really.
#affiliate #cloaking #links
  • Profile picture of the author Harry Spencer
    I don't think you should worry about people stealing your commissions, it does happen but it is not very common. Outside the IM niche most people don't know what an affiliate link is and wouldn't notice your name on the sales page or in the URL. I don't think all CB sales pages show your ID? I think it's down to the seller whether to include it on the sales page.

    I recently developed a small script to cloak links so you can create links like yourdomain.com/goto/affiliateproduct the script also helps you track the clicks to the link. I wanted to develop the software further and run a WSO but the programmer messed me around little and has finished the product.

    It does do the job but without all the features I wanted, if you want to give it a try and use it to cloak your links I'm happy to let you try it out.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevin-VirtualProfitCenter
    What Harry said is dead on.

    There was a great deal of emphasis on affiliate theft in the IM niche a few years ago mainly because a couple people came out with products to "fix" that problem.

    I like to use redirects from my site rather than a "naked" link, but affiliate theft isn't a big problem.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jared Alberghini
      Originally Posted by Kevin-VirtualProfitCenter View Post

      but affiliate theft isn't a big problem.
      lol... just ONE recent example, there was a very popular IM forum (not the WF) who's owner was cookie stuffing all it's users/redirecting their un-cloaked aff links with their own (50,000+ users) and stealing everyone's commisions...

      That does not sound like a small problem to me...
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      • Profile picture of the author Kevin-VirtualProfitCenter
        Originally Posted by Jared Alberghini View Post

        lol... just ONE recent example, there was a very popular IM forum (not the WF) who's owner was cookie stuffing all it's users/redirecting their un-cloaked aff links with their own (50,000+ users) and stealing everyone's commisions...

        That does not sound like a small problem to me...
        Agreed, that is a big problem.

        When I think of "affiliate theft" with the solution of cloaking links I don't think about people who cookie stuff. That is a different kind of problem--and one that has nothing to do with whether you cloak your links or not.

        When people discuss cloaking links the argument is that people who see your affiliate link will either go sign up as an affiliate themselves to buy the product "wholesale" or simply remove the affiliate ID as some sort of "punishment" to the promoter for daring to try to earn a commission.

        When looking at affiliate theft in those two areas it is not as rampant as it has been pictured.
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    • Profile picture of the author johnjimat
      Originally Posted by Kevin-VirtualProfitCenter View Post

      but affiliate theft isn't a big problem.
      for me even is there are just 1 person stealing my commission, it would be a big problem because it should be our commission...
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeff Usher
    One thing I learned is not to use your name or a nickname when opening a clickbank account. Far better to use a word or number for your account name and then noone is any the wiser. For example, which looks better to an untrained eye:-

    jeffusher.vendor.hop.clickbank.net

    or

    881662.vendor.hop.clickbank.net
    validated.vendor.hop.clickbank.net
    confirmed.vendor.hop.clickbank.net
    etc etc

    People won't then associate the transaction with a person . Hope that makes sense.

    Jeff
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    • Profile picture of the author ex9to5guy
      Originally Posted by Jeff Usher View Post

      One thing I learned is not to use your name or a nickname when opening a clickbank account. Far better to use a word or number for your account name and then noone is any the wiser. For example, which looks better to an untrained eye:-

      jeffusher.vendor.hop.clickbank.net

      or

      881662.vendor.hop.clickbank.net
      validated.vendor.hop.clickbank.net
      confirmed.vendor.hop.clickbank.net
      etc etc

      People won't then associate the transaction with a person . Hope that makes sense.

      Jeff

      so is this how you cloak?
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  • Profile picture of the author mikeyman120
    Originally Posted by Gwuido65 View Post

    I am assuming that one the person has clicked my link, that clickbank must store the cookies, so that even if that person changed the name I would still get the sale.

    Is that correct?
    No. If they change the id and go through their link they will get the commission. If they just change the hop id in the address bar and hit enter then you will get it.

    Also you can get a domain name and have it forward to your affiliate link and you can mask it so they don't see the affiiate id.

    Mike
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeGriffith
    Mikeman has the best solution. Go to godaddy.com and buy a relevant domain name, forward it to your affiliate link, then mask it. Btw, theft by affiliate link is more prominent than you might think. It happened to me....but only once.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jared Alberghini
      Originally Posted by MikeGriffith View Post

      theft by affiliate link is more prominent than you might think.
      You got that right, nobody has mentioned all the spyware/adware that infects millions of computers, without the user even knowing...

      Tons of these nasty spyware/adware programs' sole purpose is to search for common networks' affiliate ID's/links in ANY website the infected computer browses and replace them with their own.

      Just sayin... it's getting worse, so it just seems smarter to me to cloak all your links.

      Unless you don't mind sharing your efforts/profits with theives...:rolleyes:

      Jared
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  • Profile picture of the author PanamaRex
    Many tracking programs, like Prosper202, will cloak your link in both directions. That way the visitor will only see your local tracking link, and the affiliate manager will not see where the visitor came from. It doesn't happen often, but some affiliate managers can sometimes let others know about your campaign if its having good success.
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