Link
Cloaking
Basically there are three reasons why you should always cloak
(hide) your affiliate link.
One reason is that people
by nature don’t like to be sold and will trust you less (in the same way people
don’t trust sales persons) and are less likely to buy when they suspect that
you earn a commission for recommending a product. Tests have clearly shown that
using an uncloaked affiliate link, significantly decreases conversion rates and
that means less sales and less money for your efforts.
The second reason why
cloaking should be your first priority is the issue of link theft. Savvy affiliate
marketers can easily spot an affiliate link and once they are recommended a
product and land on the sales page can easily clear their cookies and or type in
their affiliate URL in their browser and refresh the page. This will
immediately credit them with the sale. They get the commission and you don’t.
The third reason is that
most affiliate links are ugly and have little to no sales value. That simply
means people are less likely to click through affiliate link than they would on
more appealing clocked versions.
Let’s make a little
experiment. Tell me which of these two links you would be more likely to click
on:
http://david254.daryxret.click2sell.au
http://www.wintegospy.com
Obviously, you would
click on the second link. Why? It’s simply more appealing and probably more
relevant to your search. Fortunately, there is a solution to the three problems
above and it’s called link cloaking. Here are 4 of the most popular method to hide
your affiliate hoplink:
Method 1: Use HTML to
display different destination link.
Simply use the following
HTML code
Example HTML code:
<a href="http://USERID.daryxret.click2sell.au">www.wintegospy.com</a>
|
<a href="http://USERID.daryxret.click2sell.au">www.wintegospy.com</a>
|
This HTML code will
display www.wintegospy.com but send people through your affiliate link (be sure to replace the USERID with your Click2sell affiliate ID.)
Method 2: Use “link
shrinkers”
There are many 3rd party
services you can use to hide your affiliate link and shrink it at the same
time. This service is free, fast and easy. What more can you wish for?
Here are the few examples.
http://tinyurl.com/
http://www.shorturl.com
http://www.shrinkmylink.com
http://url123.com
Note: while link
shrinkers work fine, they do convert less on average than more appealing
versions (e.g. using a domain name and domain forwarding - see the next
method). Additionally, link shrinking services come and go, so as a warning, if
you’re using these services be sure to check them often.
Method 3: Purchase a
domain name from go daddy or name cheap.
Here’s a reliable option
that will give you more control over your links and increase your conversions.
All you have to do is register a domain name with a company that offers free
forwarding service with URL masking. I use http://www.godaddy.com/
for many of my domains. Godaddy offers
free forwarding and masking services and it’s only about 9 bucks per domain to
register.
Tip: always choose a
domain name that contains keywords that are relevant to the product you’re
promoting. For example: if you’re promoting Wintego tracking SOFTWARE, a good choice
would be: www.monitoringsoft101.com or mobilemonitor101.com.
After you registered a
domain name log into your account and click on “domain forwarding.” Next, type
in your affiliate link as the domain to forward to. Then click on “mask domain”
and enter the display URL to match your new chosen domain name.
Method 4: Buy a link
cloaking software.
Here are some of the most
popular link cloaking software that are currently being used by Catch a
Wintego affiliates:
http://www.novasoft-inc.com
If you have any
questions, please don't hesitate to contact me personally.
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