Comments on: Cloaking Affiliate Links http://blog.affiliatetip.com/archives/cloaking-affiliate-links-2/ Affiliate marketing news and opinion from Shawn Collins, an affiliate marketer since 1997, and co-founder of Affiliate Summit. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:44:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Antone Roundy http://blog.affiliatetip.com/archives/cloaking-affiliate-links-2/comment-page-1/#comment-75912 Antone Roundy Sat, 21 Jun 2008 18:02:23 +0000 http://blog.affiliatetip.com/?p=2299#comment-75912 I've created a PHP link cloaker that I give away for free, and which doesn't require you to create a new PHP file for each product -- instead, your put the product ID in the link, like this:<br><br>http: //example.com/go/a/1838ajd8<br><br>To (somewhat) deal with the "random assortment of nonsensical letters and numbers" issue that HecticDMC mentioned, you can add whatever you want to the end of the link, for example:<br><br>http: //example.com/go/a/1838ajd8/the+product+name<br><br>You can get it at <a href="http://WhiteHatCrew.com/affilicloak/">http://WhiteHatCrew.com/affilicloak/</a> I've created a PHP link cloaker that I give away for free, and which doesn't require you to create a new PHP file for each product — instead, your put the product ID in the link, like this:

http: //example.com/go/a/1838ajd8

To (somewhat) deal with the “random assortment of nonsensical letters and numbers” issue that HecticDMC mentioned, you can add whatever you want to the end of the link, for example:

http: //example.com/go/a/1838ajd8/the+product+name

You can get it at http://WhiteHatCrew.com/affilicloak/

]]> By: Antone Roundy http://blog.affiliatetip.com/archives/cloaking-affiliate-links-2/comment-page-1/#comment-74626 Antone Roundy Sat, 21 Jun 2008 16:02:23 +0000 http://blog.affiliatetip.com/?p=2299#comment-74626 I've created a PHP link cloaker that I give away for free, and which doesn't require you to create a new PHP file for each product -- instead, your put the product ID in the link, like this:<br><br>http: //example.com/go/a/1838ajd8<br><br>To (somewhat) deal with the "random assortment of nonsensical letters and numbers" issue that HecticDMC mentioned, you can add whatever you want to the end of the link, for example:<br><br>http: //example.com/go/a/1838ajd8/the+product+name<br><br>You can get it at <a href="http://WhiteHatCrew.com/affilicloak/">http://WhiteHatCrew.com/affilicloak/</a> I've created a PHP link cloaker that I give away for free, and which doesn't require you to create a new PHP file for each product — instead, your put the product ID in the link, like this:

http: //example.com/go/a/1838ajd8

To (somewhat) deal with the “random assortment of nonsensical letters and numbers” issue that HecticDMC mentioned, you can add whatever you want to the end of the link, for example:

http: //example.com/go/a/1838ajd8/the+product+name

You can get it at http://WhiteHatCrew.com/affilicloak/

]]> By: HecticDMC http://blog.affiliatetip.com/archives/cloaking-affiliate-links-2/comment-page-1/#comment-74625 HecticDMC Sat, 21 Jun 2008 12:56:11 +0000 http://blog.affiliatetip.com/?p=2299#comment-74625 I use a piece of software to manage PHP redirects - it's the same method that Linus uses, but the software just automates the process. I do this instead of using .htaccess because I work mainly with products that are unique and can't be swapped out for another merchant. I suppose I could use the .htaccess method, but lacking a tool to make it easy, I decided to go the PHP route.<br><br>I cloak my links because these days, people who are concerned about security will look at a CJ link (for example) and may decide not to click. When the url looks like a random assortment of nonsensical letters and numbers, that doesn't instill confidence.<br><br>The Affiliate Link Cloaker software is strange to me. Why it tries to put the links in hex in the source code is bizarre. Anyone with access to Google can "decrypt" it. Copy/paste a line of hex into a Google search box and Google will spit back plain text. Just weird. I use a piece of software to manage PHP redirects – it's the same method that Linus uses, but the software just automates the process. I do this instead of using .htaccess because I work mainly with products that are unique and can't be swapped out for another merchant. I suppose I could use the .htaccess method, but lacking a tool to make it easy, I decided to go the PHP route.

I cloak my links because these days, people who are concerned about security will look at a CJ link (for example) and may decide not to click. When the url looks like a random assortment of nonsensical letters and numbers, that doesn't instill confidence.

The Affiliate Link Cloaker software is strange to me. Why it tries to put the links in hex in the source code is bizarre. Anyone with access to Google can “decrypt” it. Copy/paste a line of hex into a Google search box and Google will spit back plain text. Just weird.

]]> By: Linus Rylander http://blog.affiliatetip.com/archives/cloaking-affiliate-links-2/comment-page-1/#comment-74624 Linus Rylander Sat, 21 Jun 2008 12:29:22 +0000 http://blog.affiliatetip.com/?p=2299#comment-74624 Interesting... I've never used either of them. I use PHP redirects, I just make a new directory on my server (inside a "recommends" or "likes" folder) for each product or whatever and put a .php file in there named index.php, so the actual link ends up like <a href="http://website.com/recommends/product/">http://website.com/recommends/product/</a>.<br><br>Thanks,<br>Linus Interesting… I've never used either of them. I use PHP redirects, I just make a new directory on my server (inside a “recommends” or “likes” folder) for each product or whatever and put a .php file in there named index.php, so the actual link ends up like http://website.com/recommends/product/.

Thanks,
Linus

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