Affiliate Link Cloaking
Script
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What is it? What does it do?
It is a PHP script which cloaks your affiliate links. For example, when your prospect moves his mouse pointer over your "Click Here To Buy" link, he will see "http://www.mydomain.com/buy/order.php"
instead of the gobbledygook which Linkshare usually supplies as
an affiliate link. When he clicks on the order link, the script will
then redirect him to the actual Linkshare vendor's sales page.
Who should use it?
All affiliate marketers should use an affiliate link cloaking script to cloak their affiliate links.
Why do I need to cloak my affiliate links?
The 3 most important reasons are:
- Prevent affiliate commission theft. There are hi-tech crooks out
there who have written trojan programs which install themselves on your
prospect's computer. These programs monitor your prospect's surfing
behaviour. When he/she buys something from a known affiliate network,
e.g. Amazon, the trojan program will substitute the crook's affiliate
ID into the sale, thus earning YOUR commission.
- Some customers don't like to pay affiliate commissions. Or any
kind of commission for that matter. If they see your affiliate link,
they will substitute their own affiliate ID instead, trying to get a
discount.
- Present a more professional look to your prospect. Some networks
have very unwieldy affiliate links. Amazon and Linkshare come to mind.
Don't you think that having a short link to your own domain looks so
much better?