How To Cloak Your Affiliate Links: 3 Ways To Prevent Commission Hijacking

Posted by Karl Foxley on Jul 21, 2009 in Affiliate Marketing, Blog, Coaching, Link Masking, Scripts, Tools | 0 comments

Quick Note: This post is about link masking. I use the term ‘cloaking‘ throughout this post because this term is more often used when people are, in actuality, discussing link masking. Link masking is hiding your affiliate link from the viewer to prevent your commissions from being stolen or to increase your click-through rates, whereas, link cloaking is a way of trying to manipulate the search engines. You can read what Google say about link cloaking by visiting here.

In today’s post I want to show you 3 ways to protect your affiliate commissions. Keep reading to learn how to cloak your affiliate URL by using a URL shortening service, by forwarding a domain name and by using dedicated software.

If you are not sure what an affiliate URL looks like then head on over to Clickbank, PayDotCom and E-Junkie register for your own affiliate account (it’s free) and you will be able to take a look at the different URLs they provide.

Having your affiliate commission hijacked can be seriously frustrating, especially when you think of all the time that can go into finding a product to promote, joining the affiliate program, confirming your registration, selecting affiliate links and / or banners to promote, and then writing a lengthy blog post or email about the product.

Some people just don’t seem to like the idea of the referrer (the affiliate) making a percentage of the sale. This seems ludicrous to me, especially if the blog post or email was informative and I would not have come across the product myself. As a purchaser, the product will be the same price whether you go through an affiliate link or not so why not show your appreciation to the affiliate for letting you know about the product.

Luckily there are a few ways you can protect your affiliate URL.

1. Use a URL shortening service.

This is by far the quickest way and literally takes a minute to do. All you need to do is visit a free URL shortening service such as TinyURL.

Now copy your affiliate link by selecting the text (holding the left mouse button and dragging it over the text you wish to copy).

Example of highlighting a link!

Now click the right mouse button and select copy.

Ctrl + C to copy or right click (mouse) and select copy

Click inside the URL shortening box at TinyURL and now right click again and select paste.

Right click (mouse) and select paste or press Ctrl + V

All you need to do now is click the Make TinyURL! button.

Click the 'Make TinyURL' button

Now you will have a new TinyURL that, when clicked, will go to your affiliate site.

You now have your new TinyURL and cloaked affiliate link

Select your new URL and use this in your promotions.

This method is not the prettiest method out there but it is very affective. Additionally, sites such as Twitter will shorten most URLs into TinyURLs for you, saving you the trouble of going through the steps above.

Other services that allow to shorten your URL are:

SnipURL

and

BudURL

BudURL is one of the best URL shortening services on the web as it also gives you tracking stats (clickthroughs).

2. Domain name forwarding

I like this method as it gives you a very nice looking URL to promote. Firstly you’ll need to register a domain name that you will use to cloak your affiliate URL.

For example, I went to GoDaddy and purchased a domain I will use to cloak my affiliate link. I purchased www.Daves-Online-Videos.com and I will forward this through my affiliate URL to point directly to www.DavesOnlineVideos.com, thus cloaking my affiliate link.

When purchasing a domain be sure to purchase one that closely resembles the product your are promoting (be sure to read the affiliate programme terms and conditions).

You can find a wealth of instructions in the main area that will show you how to forward a domain and it really only takes five minutes to set up.

I think you’ll agree that this is much better than having a shortened URL.

3. Specialised software

Lastly, if you have your very own hosting account you can purchase specialized software that will allow you to have your very own professional looking cloaked URLs. How nice is the URL below!

www.KarlMFoxley.com/recommends/DavesOnlineVideos

If you don’t have you very own hosting I highly recommend HostMonster.

The two sites I have found are PHPLinkCloaker and PowerlinkGenerator. Now I cannot vouch for the first one but it is ludicrously cheap at $9.95. You can find out more by visiting the site.

PHP Link Cloaker - Affiliate Link Cloaking Software

PHPLinkCloaker

The second one is called PowerlinkGenerator and is by Mike Filsaime. I use this software myself and it is an invaluable tool in my marketing. PowerLinkGenerator allows you to track your URL clickthrough rates and keep track of all your affiliate information.

Powerlink Generator - Affiliate Link URL Cloaking

PowerlinkGenerator

It can become a nightmare to remember every affiliate program you’ve joined and the method of payment that they use, PowerLinkGenerator allows you to store all this info. This one costs $97 but being a Mike Filsaime product you know that it is very powerful and of very high quality. Visit the site and compare the two and see which one will benefit your needs the most.

Both sites offer extensive tutorial information to help you set up the software so you can get started immediately.

I hope this post has been informative.

To your success,

Karl Foxley