sanfora
Level 1
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Hi,
Which cloaker do you use to protect your cpa links from being stolen? All old people in cpa industry know that cpa companies or advertisers or hackers steal your commissions then they are not counted because it stolen. What do you do to protect your commissions?
Moreover, there are also other techniques that you can use to prevent commission larceny-
- Use free online software for converting your small URLs from affiliate links. One example is http://shorturl.com. However, it is an obstacle in branding.
- Use a ad tracking service or purchase a script that installs on your own website server that tracks ads. It will cloak your affiliate url as well as track which advertising methods are working best for you.
- Use the simple option of 301 redirect web pages. This requires unix server. Do not use it for important details.
- Purchase a domain name and forward it to the affiliate link that leads to the affiliate program of your choice. In this case, there would be no need to buy web hosting for it.
- Inside your web page, create coded redirect page. It is helpful for branding purposes.
These techniques are some of the best ways to prevent commission theft. use them to keep the money from the hard work that you have done.
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idealmike
So how do they uncloak the link and steal your affiliate commission? Sometimes you can hover over a link and blatantly see that it's an affiliate link right? Some people see this and prefer not to visit the as is URL but rather just copy and paste it and go to the parent domain only instead. The reasons for this is because some people think that they'll have to pay more as you're getting a cut from it too or they think that the site owner should get all of it. But this is not true because they get their money for a sale affiliate commission or not.
It's like this a lot for ClickBank ID's when you're promoting CB products to other CB users and marketers who know they can put their ID instead of the affiliates and get a cool 50% discount or more on that product they purchase that way simply because they're going to get that much in affiliate commission for the sale without thinking or caring about you not getting what should be rightfully yours.
But there are some additional benefits to cloaking your really long affiliate links because they can spook some people not to click on them. Some people aren't quite as IT ready as you might be and are wary of clicking long complicated URLs in case they're a trojan or something! However most people are fairly clued up about these things and don't care that you'll be getting a commission and just want to buy that product regardless when they land on it. Where as some know it and will be happy to use it for the good recommendation you gave them for it.
Best Way to Cloak Your Affiliate Links?
There's tons of link cloaking apps and software out there that can do it for you or if you're using WordPress you can install one of the free link cloaking plugins but if you own your own website already then you can set up your own private link cloaking system which is pretty effective. I use this method myself for most affiliate links.
Hidden Directory Link Cloaking Method
Create a subdirectory on your domain to something like /recommends or /recommended or something. You can go with something generic but if you're promoting something like dogs create a subdomain like /dogs or something. Just use your imagination. Anyway, in that directory you can place a very simple PHP redirect file you can create in notepad. Save it as index.php if you just want to give your domain such as yourdomain.com/recommended or save it as whateveryouwant.php and give out the URL of yourdomain.com/recommended/whateveryouwant.php you get the idea. You could also create a new subdirectory in that one for any of your campaigns too. Then when someone clicks on and visits this link the simple PHP redirect script will redirect them through your affiliate URL.
For the noobs. Open Notepad and past this into it;
Now save it as index.php and upload to your newly created subdirectory. Make sure to replace the values (affiliate link) with yours. Now visit that link in your browser to make sure it's working correctly.
And that's all there is to it easy right? This is a much better method than shortening your link as well as you can have a much more professional look if they are using your own domain in them instead of some URL shortner service. The only thing is it can get a bit ficklesome if you have to cloak a lot of links. For that you'll just need to copy (duplicate) the file then edit it in Windows Notepad or Notepad++. This is fine but there are some free scripts out there that can automate the process for you quite easily.
The good thing about using a link cloaking script is that you can do easier tracking as they'll tell you how many times each link was clicked. But using the PHP redirect method is not always easy to track your links performances and see which were clicked the most and the only real way to check is by looking at your traffic stats for your site whichever you use or your affiliate stats panel too. However the link is much harder to uncloak for the user and can look much more professional too. The end result is more clicks and less commission theft.
One other plus side for using the simple PHP redirect method is that it's not like a hard cloak which is also known as masking. Masking is when you redirect someone to the other affiliate site the same but hide the final destination URL so it looks like they're on your site still. That is a sneaky tactic and most affiliate networks such as CB, eBay, Amazon, Commission Junction etc ban the use of it and anyone using it.
So stick to the simple PHP redirect method and you can't go wrong!
Hope this helps!
Mike. Well, firstly, link cloaking isn't full proof. Any tech-savvy individual can find out the link behind it. But fair play for asking because link cloaking is a hugely important part of affiliate marketing and this question comes up all the time. However since most commission thieves are lazy which is why they're thieves, they're too lazy to go the extra step and uncloak a link to steal the commission. Most thieves wont go as far as that so your cloaked links can prevent some commission loss but not for the really determined ones. So how do they uncloak the link and steal your affiliate commission? Sometimes you can hover over a link and blatantly see that it's an affiliate link right? Some people see this and prefer not to visit the as is URL but rather just copy and paste it and go to the parent domain only instead. The reasons for this is because some people think that they'll have to pay more as you're getting a cut from it too or they think that the site owner should get all of it. But this is not true because they get their money for a sale affiliate commission or not. It's like this a lot for ClickBank ID's when you're promoting CB products to other CB users and marketers who know they can put their ID instead of the affiliates and get a cool 50% discount or more on that product they purchase that way simply because they're going to get that much in affiliate commission for the sale without thinking or caring about you not getting what should be rightfully yours. But there are some additional benefits to cloaking your really long affiliate links because they can spook some people not to click on them. Some people aren't quite as IT ready as you might be and are wary of clicking long complicated URLs in case they're a trojan or something! However most people are fairly clued up about these things and don't care that you'll be getting a commission and just want to buy that product regardless when they land on it. Where as some know it and will be happy to use it for the good recommendation you gave them for it. [size=140]Best Way to Cloak Your Affiliate Links?[/size] There's tons of link cloaking apps and software out there that can do it for you or if you're using WordPress you can install one of the free link cloaking plugins but if you own your own website already then you can set up your own private link cloaking system which is pretty effective. I use this method myself for most affiliate links. [size=120]Hidden Directory Link Cloaking Method[/size] Create a subdirectory on your domain to something like /recommends or /recommended or something. You can go with something generic but if you're promoting something like dogs create a subdomain like /dogs or something. Just use your imagination. Anyway, in that directory you can place a very simple PHP redirect file you can create in notepad. Save it as index.php if you just want to give your domain such as yourdomain.com/recommended or save it as whateveryouwant.php and give out the URL of yourdomain.com/recommended/whateveryouwant.php you get the idea. You could also create a new subdirectory in that one for any of your campaigns too. Then when someone clicks on and visits this link the simple PHP redirect script will redirect them through your affiliate URL. For the noobs. Open Notepad and past this into it; [quote][color=#0000FF]< ?php header("location:http://affiliatesite.com/subdirectory/index.php"); ?>[/color][/quote] Now save it as index.php and upload to your newly created subdirectory. Make sure to replace the values (affiliate link) with yours. Now visit that link in your browser to make sure it's working correctly. And that's all there is to it easy right? This is a much better method than shortening your link as well as you can have a much more professional look if they are using your own domain in them instead of some URL shortner service. The only thing is it can get a bit ficklesome if you have to cloak a lot of links. For that you'll just need to copy (duplicate) the file then edit it in Windows Notepad or Notepad++. This is fine but there are some free scripts out there that can automate the process for you quite easily. The good thing about using a link cloaking script is that you can do easier tracking as they'll tell you how many times each link was clicked. But using the PHP redirect method is not always easy to track your links performances and see which were clicked the most and the only real way to check is by looking at your traffic stats for your site whichever you use or your affiliate stats panel too. However the link is much harder to uncloak for the user and can look much more professional too. The end result is more clicks and less commission theft. One other plus side for using the simple PHP redirect method is that it's not like a hard cloak which is also known as masking. Masking is when you redirect someone to the other affiliate site the same but hide the final destination URL so it looks like they're on your site still. That is a sneaky tactic and most affiliate networks such as CB, eBay, Amazon, Commission Junction etc ban the use of it and anyone using it. So stick to the simple PHP redirect method and you can't go wrong! Hope this helps! :) Mike.
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