After doing an intensive search, I managed to seek out seven other ways to cloak affiliate hyperlinks. By hyperlink cloaking ( AKA hyperlink masking ), I'm referring to disguising one's affiliate hyperlink with a unique hyperlink that doesn't seem like an affiliate hyperlink.
I examined every hyperlink cloaking methodology utilizing the newest model of the 2 main browsers, Web Explorer 9 and Firefox 5. All strategies confirmed the cloaked hyperlink within the calling web site's standing bar. However 5 of the strategies examined gave the sport away by displaying the bald affiliate hyperlink within the handle bar of the vacation spot web site. This, after all, permits unscrupulous individuals to cease there, and alter your affiliate information to their very own, thus successfully stealing your fee.
How every of those strategies works shouldn't be the subject of this text. One factor that I do want to say, nevertheless, is that every one however three of the methods require you to create a brand new file - name it 'myfile.htm', to make use of as a hyperlink to which to ship individuals, as an alternative of on to the affiliate website.
1. Meta Refresh, 2. Javascript Redirect, and three. PHP Redirect.
These three link-cloaking strategies are fairly simple to make use of, and want a separate cloaking file. However all of them present your affiliate hyperlink ultimately.
4. .htaccess Redirect. That is the best methodology. All you must do is add a single line of code to your already-existing.htaccess file. Once more, nevertheless, your affiliate hyperlink exhibits up later.
5. Body or Iframe. That is maybe the worst method ever devised. It is not likely a separate methodology. A body or iframe is used to surround one of many redirects talked about above. When this methodology was first invented, there was an actual benefit - the affiliate webpage is definitely by yourself web site, so your affiliate hyperlink isn't proven.
I nonetheless see different web sites touting this methodology - they evidently do not understand that utilizing a body causes you to lose most of your affiliate commissions, and never even concentrate on it! The reason being that the cookie set by your affiliate website is refused by your person's pc - solely "third-party cookies" will be set from inside a body, and most customers have these disabled by default.
6. URL Shorteners. There are two sturdy causes to keep away from this methodology of cloaking hyperlinks.
* All of the link-shortening websites - similar to TinyURL and Bit.ly - that I investigated provide you with a hyperlink that may be very quick, and does not require you to have a 'myfile.htm' cloaking file in your pc. In actual fact, you do not even must have a pc - such hyperlinks will work in an e-mail, or on social bookmarking websites. Nevertheless, they're so ugly that some individuals will draw back from their use once they see the URL of their activity bar, considering that they are being led to a website which will give them a virus.
* If that is not motive sufficient so that you can shun URL shorteners, spammers have abused them a lot that on Bit.ly, for instance, clicking one among their hyperlinks takes you to a "Warning" web page that advises you to not use their hyperlink - and offers you the unique affiliate hyperlink to make use of as an alternative!
7. Base64 Coding. Fortuitously, there's a methodology of cloaking affiliate hyperlinks that does not have any of the disadvantages talked about above. In actual fact, it has the outstanding means to permit you to redirect the person to any web page on the affiliate web site, and units your affiliate cookie earlier than going there! For extra data on this outstanding free hyperlink cloaker, simply go to both of my web sites talked about beneath.
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