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Link Cloakers and Affiliate Commission
Theft
Link Cloaking - Different Approaches to Link
Cloaking
Link Cloaking is basically when you
'cloak' or disguise your affiliate link to resemble a unique one.
For example, an affiliate link like
www.pqrbusiness.com/?affiliate=lenard could be cloaked to show
www.pqrbusiness.com/productname or just www.pqrbusiness.com.
Link
Masking is sometimes used as a link cloaker,
though it works differently from actual link cloaking, and does not
hide the link in the address
bar.
While using an actual link cloaker software prevents
your affiliate link from being displayed in the address bar where it
actually counts, link masking only blocks the affiliate link being
exposed in the browser's status bar.
Link
masking is achieved through java script. Here's an example of
a link masking script.
'Replace
youraffiliatelink' with your actual affiliate link Replace merchant's site' with the
merchant for whom you are marketing
On mouse over you will see a direct
link to merchant's site.com instead of your affiliate
link.
Link
cloakers and URL Redirection. These two are absolutely
different. Redirects use a jumpscript to 'redirect' a URL. You can
buy software that will do this for you or, you can create redirects
yourself if you're familiar with php. Here's a php redirect
script:
First create a TXT file that contains
the code given below and save it as 'yourproductname.php' [without
the quotes.] Here
is the code. It's called a '301 redirect'.
Note: Follow all spaces and punctuation
exactly. Replace 'yourproductname' with the product name you are
targeting. Then upload the file 'yourproductname.php to your
site.
Now when marketing your product, use
http://www.your site.com/productname.php as your affiliate link, and
it will be redirected. Note this is not a link cloaker. It gives you
control over your link but does not cloak
it.
Affiliate Link Cloaking
using HTML Link cloaking with standard html
redirects.
To use redirect scripts you need a domain
name and hosting service. HTML redirects are necessary when the
hosting service supports HTML, but not PHP scripts.
However,
if used for link masking, redirects won't work if users disable
"meta refresh" in their browsers, so instead of being redirected
automatically they have to click manually. They will then be able to
see your affiliate id when they mouse over the link on your main
page.
Still, if you want to use this method as your link
cloaker, here's how. Prepare a coded html document (see below) and
name it 'Redirect' (or whatever you prefer) in your websites' root
folder. Then just specify a link to this HTML document as your
affiliate link whenever you're promoting the product ascribed to
this link.
For example:
*
www.yourdomain.com/redirect.html, or *
www.yourdomain.com/foldername/redirect.html
[where
'foldername' is the folder where you placed the document, if you did
not use the root folder.]
Here's the
script:
<html> <head> <title>YOUR PAGE
TITLE</title>
<meta http-equiv="refresh"
content="0;url=http://YOUR AFFILIATE
URL"> </head> <body> <p> Redirecting,
please wait. If you're not redirected within a couple of
seconds, click here:<br /> <a href="http://YOUR
AFFILIATE LINK URL">PRODUCT
REFERENCE</a>
</p> </body> </html>
"Your Page
Title" is however you want to describe it "Product Reference" is
your affiliate product "Your Affiliate Link URL" is the URL to
redirect to.
While the above may suit your objective to
some extent, they presuppose a familiarity with scripts and html. If
you don't have such knowledge or want an literal link cloaker,
you need to download and install the right software. There are
many software programs available on the internet for link
cloaking, but not all link cloakers are created equal so
review the features carefully before you buy.
Affiliate Link Hijacking and Affiliate commission
theft.
This involves affiliate link hijackers who
'steal' your affiliate commission, either by substituting your ID,
deleting it, or using parasite software.
. which brings us to the
subject of Link Cloaking.
Affiliate Commission theft| Link
Cloakers
How do Link Cloakers Protect Your
Commissions?
Affiliate commission theft
happens when a prospective buyer bypasses your affiliate link, or
malware installed on you computer whips away the money you should
have earned. Affiliate links [without a link cloaker] are so obvious
even a nitwit can spot it. There's even software that simplifies the
stealing process, known as parasite software. (For a list of
parasite malwareclick
here)
Lets say you are marketing a
ClickBank product. Your affiliate link will look like this when you
mouse over it:
YourAffiliateID.ProductID.hop.clickbank.net
If the person is also a member of ClickBank
he can simply copy your link instead of clicking it, then paste it
to the address bar and replace your Affiliate ID with his. He or she
then gets your commission and you get zippo.
How does this
Parasite Software pose a threat to Affiliate Marketers?
Parasite software tend run in
the background on your computer, and when the web surfer visits your
web page and the Parasite Software is affiliated with product being
promoted, it'll serve up Pop-ups ads or directly send the surfer to
the Merchant's sales page through it's own Affiliate URL that will
then set Affiliate Cookies for it's owner.
Without using a link cloaker,
affiliate commission theft occurs when the Parasite
Software overwrites your affiliate cookies with it's own,
making you lose your affiliate commission should a sale be made,
even though you sent the visitor to the Merchant's sales page
first.
Using a link
cloaker:
The advantages of using a link
cloaker are three-fold:
1. Since your affiliate ID is not
visible, it cannot be bypassed or replaced
2. The cloaked
link is clean and direct. Visitors do not realize it is an affiliate
link.
3. You choose your own name when creating the cloaked
link, and can tie it to your own website if you have
one.
Never use the following as a link cloaker or link
cloakers:
1. Redirect scripts, while free, merely
provide a neater link, but do not cloak your ID.
2.Some
free scripts use frames, which do not work properly in some
browsers.
3. Some may hide your link but fail to tie it in
to the product so you do not get credited with the
sale.
Using free web-based redirects
as a link cloaker is one of the worst ways to 'cloak' your link, as
not only is your link not hidden, but the server which hosts your
redirect could simply delete it after a while, or shut down - and
your hundreds or thousands of links you may have sent out in your
marketing campaign now point nowhere, or to an error page. Remember,
you have no way to recall and correct this disaster.
If you're familiar
with inserting scripts into your page's html, there are free
scripts you can download and try to see how well they work. [See
above].
If you're a serious affiliate marketer and want to protect
your commissions as well as make your links look professional, you
need to use a Link Cloaker.
There are
many choices available, depending on your needs. When I last
checked, Google returned more than 57,000 redults, so do shop around
first. There are free scripts and offers that you may find adequate
for your application.
For more sophisticated cloaking and protection
against malware, or if you're into serious affiliate marketing
and want even more sophistication, take at look at Amazing Link
Cloaker. This software is, however,
more expensive than most, but offers some really neat features with
ease of use.
Another software that can flip the switch, and is
cheaper than Link Cloaker is Easy Link
Manager. Check it out too and see if it's more
than adequate for you.
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