Affiliate Link Cloaking & Redirecting

Thursday, January 21st, 2010 at 3:26 pm

One of the link tactics used by affiliates is cloaking and redirecting affiliate links.

Affiliates use this tactic for a number of reasons. I do it because it makes my links easier to remember, access and use in posts, newsletters, emails and even emailing people I see on forums or comment sections who may be asking about a product or service I happen to have a link to. And it’s true, some people just don’t like clicking affiliate links. I’m not sure why, they just don’t.

While there are varied ways to cloak and redirect – I prefer to simplify by using one of two methods.

The first method is Ninja Affiliate. This program has come highly recommended by some major players in the affiliate world. The setup is super easy and allows you to control every aspect of your affiliate link. You can provide a list of words you wish to auto-link to your affiliate link – designate font, text color and more. Truly an amazing program if you are looking to maximize time management when it comes to your affiliate marketing efforts.

Personally, I use a simple php method for the majority of my links. You can snag my personal “affiliate cloak master” file here. In this bit of code, you’ll simply insert your affiliate link in the http:// section. Once your affiliate link has been inserted, you’ll want to do a File – Save As – and name the file something easy to remember – just make sure to put the php extension on it.

I created a file that’s in the html section of my control panel host specifically for affiliate links. Each time I sign up for a new affiliate, I create my new link – FTP it to my affiliate file and I’m good to go.

You’ll want to test all the links you create as some just won’t work in the php format.

In those cases, I generate an .htaccess redirect file using the following format:

Redirect /go/myaffiliate http://www.affiliatewebsite.com

So my Ninja Affiliate that would look like this:

http://www.maxblogpress.com/go.php?offer=gaylabaer&pid=31

now looks like this:

http://www.gaylabaer.com/go/affiliate-ninja

Now, it would probably be much easier to find one method and stick with it – but since I’ve been at this for a while, I’ve already got a massive file going. At some point, I will take the hours upon hours it will take to convert all my affiliate links to one method and when that happens, Ninja Affiliate will be the way I go. I prefer all the options I have of enhancing my affiliate links and controlling the words they link to.

What method do you use for linking to your affiliates?

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