Affiliate Link Cloaking
If you promote affiliate programs, especially through ClickBank, you need to read this report…
It’s easy for people to hijack your commissions by simply changing your affiliate links. And ClickBank affiliate links are the easiest to change.
Here’s why…
When it comes to cookie tracking, there are two types of affiliate programs: “first in” and “last in.”
“First in” means the person who first refers a prospect will get credit for the sale. In other words, if Jack clicks on an affiliate link that Jill is promoting and then later clicks on an affiliate link for the same products that Fred is promoting, Jill will still get credit for the sale.
Likewise, if Jack changes the affiliate link by replacing Jill’s affiliate ID with his own, Jill will still get credit for the sale (unless Jack was smart enough to clear his cookies first).
“Last in” is just the opposite. In the above scenario, it would be easy for Jack to cut Jill and/or Fred out of the picture and get commission on his own sale by simply changing the affiliate link.
ClickBank’s affiliate cookie tracking system is “Last in”, so it’s easy for anyone to hijack your commissions when you’re promoting ClickBank affiliate programs.
Affiliate link cloaking masks your affiliate link and helps prevent affiliate link hijacking. It can also increase your affiliate sales by giving people a link that doesn’t make it obvious that you’re making money off their purchase.
Now that you know why affiliate link cloaking is important, let’s take a look at some of the methods you can use to cloak your affiliate links.
Method #1: The first method is simple and uses a feature called “click tracking” that is standard with most popular autoresponders. Click tracking converts any link in your email to a tracking link - thus masking your affiliate links and tracking your clicks on each link.
This affiliate link: http://vandyke.affmonth.hop.clickbank.net
Is converted to: http://clicks.aweber.com/z/ct/?3XH0FJN3_159aLrR7qIr5A
The downside is, this method will only work in the emails you send through your autoreponder service.
Method #2: The second method is also simple to impliment and will work in emails and on web pages, blogs, or online ads. You can use a service like TinyURL.com to cloak your affiliate links and get a shorter URL.
This affiliate link: http://vandyke.affmonth.hop.clickbank.net
Is converted to: http://tinyurl.com/385kxg
Method #3: The third method is a little more complicated, but only requires a text editor and FTP software. To start, open a text editor like NotePad and paste the following code at the top of the page.
<?
header(”Location: http://vandyke.affmonth.hop.clickbank.net”);
exit;
?>
Note: this method requires that PHP is installed on your server. Most modern hosting companies have PHP installed. But if you don’t, you can use the next method.
For the final step, you have two choices:
Choice #1: save the page as “affmonth.php” or whatever you want to call it and upload it to the home directory on your server. You link would look like this: http://yourdomain.com/affmonth.php
Choice #2: save the page as “index.php” and upload it to a new directory on your server. For example, if you created a directory (same as folder) called “recommends,” you could then create a subdirectory within the “recommends” directory called “affmonth” and then upload the index.php file to the “affmonth” directory.
In this case, your link would be: http://yourdomain.com/recommends/affmonth
Method #4: This fourth method is similar to method #3 excpet it does not require PHP. The downside is, it doesn’t work with all browsers and it’s possible to view the source of the page which would reveal your affiliate link. PHP does not reveal the source code of a page.
Open a text editor like NotePad and paste the following code at the top of the page.
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv=”refresh” content=”0;url=http://vandyke.affmonth.hop.clickbank.net”>
</head>
</html>
Save and upload this file using choice #1 or #2 above.
By Derrick VanDyke AffiliateCashSecrets.com
