From
Affiliate Link Cloaker - Link Cloaking GuideStop Affiliate Link Hijacking By Cloaking Or Locking Your Links And Avoid Commission Theft!Affiliate marketers are facing this problem every single day, where low live people are looking for ways to make money online at expense of other real entrepreneurs hard work.
For non-marketers is not a big deal, right? Well, it is... just imagine you go to your favorite charity website and you want to support them by doing your regular online shopping through their affiliate link, but this time you have a spyware, adware or malware in your computer that will replace the charity's affiliate ID with theirs and when you make the purchase thinking you did a good deed, an unscrupulous lowlife person gets the commission instead...
So, what you think about that pictures?
There are a lot of this kind of easy money seekers that will do anything to make a buck online, and for that reason affiliate program marketers need to use different ways to block hijackers by using affiliate link cloaker softwares and HTML codes or scripts that can help you stop commission theft codes.
So, what are the best affiliate link cloaking techniques to protect the link from an affiliate program you are trying to marketing?Here is a list from Mr. Shawn Collins from
Affiliate Summit Seminars. Here Shawn talks about the DIY or Do-It-Yourself method and using a tool or software method...
"- Personally, I do it myself. In some cases, I use a little mouseover script, but that's just to trick the casual observer - it won't beat the schemers and spiders. - In the past, I've also used frames to cloak affiliate links. This has its limitations, but it's quick and easy.
- Another method is to purchase a domain and use the domain registrars forwarding service (free with most domain registrars) to have the domain redirect to your affiliate link.
- The technique I use most often is the .htaccess redirect. An .htaccess file is a plain ASCII text file you place in the root directory of a Unix Servers.
The .htaccess technique is much easier than using other redirects, because there's no HTML required. All of your redirects are in one text file.
One thing to bear in mind when cloaking your links is that you should add the afsrc parameter, so legitimate adware affiliates will recognize that you are an affiliate and not overwrite your cookie.
If you want to get a program that will help you set up the cloaked links, check out the list on the side bar, search for cloaker or cloaking, and you will see lots of programs to consider."
What about those softwares or programs that will put affiliate tracking cookies on visitors even if they don't click the affiliate program link?
Me and any ethical affiliate marketing professional will recommend you to stay far away from that one!
That method of unethical marketing is called cookie stuffing, and it's a problem for ethical marketers because still on debates to see if this practice needs to be taken care by some legal actions. Plus, if you do that sort of thing, you're no better than the thieves you're trying to stop in the first place.
All the best,
Luis Galarza,
Affiliate Marketing Consultant
.
