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Link cloaking is a very important part of affiliate marketing. In a nutshell, link cloaking is a way to protect your affiliate commissions from being stolen. It's not totally foolproof. Smart individuals who are well-educated about the matter can still figure out how to keep you from getting your commission.
Most people won't go that far, so cloaking your links will prevent most commission loss. How do people steal affiliate commissions? Have you ever hovered over a link and noticed that the link was an obvious affiliate link?
Some people type in the parent domain instead of clicking the link as a way of making sure the owner of the site gets paid 100% for the sale. Some people falsely believe that if they buy from an affiliate link, they'll have to pay more for a commission mark-up.
Some people actually do it for a different reason. If you're promoting a ClickBank product, especially to other marketers, many of them know they can insert their own ClickBank ID and get what's usually a 50% or more discount on the product.
This is a different type of affiliate commission theft, because the person doing it gets the affiliate commission themselves, rather than just making sure you don't get it. Most people don't do that, of course.
Most people are pretty honest, and don't mind giving you a little affiliate commission in exchange for recommending a good product to them. But it's enough of a concern that you should take steps to prevent it.
You can easily set up your own link cloaking system. What you would do is set up a directory on one of your domains. Most marketers use the domain of their own name, as in bobsmith.com. They typically have a subdirectory called /recommends/.
Then in that directory, they create a new subdirectory for each product. It would look something like this: http://www.bobsmith.com/recommends/awesomeproductname. In that directory, they place a very simple PHP redirect called index.php.
Whenever they send someone to the above link, the script will redirect to your affiliate link. All you have to do is create a file in Notepad or your favorite HTML editor and name is index.php. Then paste the following information into the file and upload it to your directory:
< ?php
header("location:http://affiliates.programhere.com/5555");
?>
There are a number of link cloaking scripts available. Most of them are relatively easy to install and use. There's a big benefit to using a script rather than doing it yourself. Using your simple redirect, there isn't an easy way to check how much traffic you've sent to your link.
Most link cloaking scripts allow you to add new links very easily within an administrative area, and then each link is tracked so that you can see how much traffic is going through the link. If you use your own file, the only way to tell how much traffic you've sent is through your affiliate stats, which may be inaccurate, or through your web server's stats, which may be clunky to use or hard to understand.
Another way you can do it is to use a link cloaking tool, such as Go Try This. This lets you enter the raw affiliate link and name your link whatever you want as an extension of your domain. Then you can log in and check stats to see how the top 10 links are performing using a diagram and bar graph.
Filed under Affiliate Marketing by 
Making affiliate links is very easy. First, you want to go to the site and register for a free affiliate (or associate) ID. On ClickBank, they call it a nickname. On Amazon, it's an associate ID, and on PayDotCom, it's your affiliate member username.
On ClickBank.com, you'll go to the marketplace, which is the link at the top of the page. Enter your keyword(s) and find the product you wish to promote. You can view pitch page to review the sales letter, but click Create Hoplink when you're ready to get your link.
Enter your ClickBank nickname and click, "Create." You'll see two options, as shown below:
http://Nickname.Publisher.hop.clickbank.net/
and
The first one is your direct link, and instead of nickname and publisher, you'll see your personal nickname and the publisher's ID. The second one is ready for insertion into a web page. This makes the words, Click Here hyperlinked to the site via your own personal affiliate link.
On PayDotCom, you'll log into your affiliate account and click on Promote Products at the top of the screen. Next you'll click on the option that says, "Create a new campaign…from marketplace."
Search the marketplace to find a product you wish to promote. When you find a product you'd like to promote as an affiliate, click the Promote link. Here, you'll see your raw affiliate link that you can use – as well as any other tools the product owner provides, such as banner ads, email announcements, etc.
In Amazon, you'll log into your associate membership and then on the left sidebar, click Build Links. You can choose which types of links you wish to build, such as a text link.
Here, you'll enter the full URL of the product or search results page you want to promote and enter the words you want to be hyperlinked. You'll be able to quickly cut and paste the HTML code into your website or blog.
Each affiliate program has a similar system in place to help you create viable links. Basically, for each one, you'll log in, enter your username, and generate a link to copy and use online. It's easy, but if you get stuck somewhere, email the product owner and ask for assistance.
Filed under Affiliate Marketing by
Affiliate marketing is when you sign up to promote other people's products (or services) for a share of the sale in the form of commissions. As an affiliate marketer, you usually don't need any special training or start-up funding.
Your tasks as an affiliate marketer will be to drum up traffic to the product owner's pitch page, allowing them to convert the prospect into a buyer. The more targeted you are with your traffic promotions, the higher your conversion rate will be.
There are many things you can promote as an affiliate. On Amazon, for instance, you can promote anything tangible (and a few digital download to boot). If you want to be in the paintball niche, you can include links using your Amazon associate (affiliate) ID to sell specific paintball guns, paintballs, and attire.
You can go to sites like ClickBank or PayDotCom and get a unique affiliate ID to promote an endless supply of information products. They house everything from acne to organic gardening.
You can even become an affiliate promoting actions. There are many Internet marketers who focus their business on getting a steady stream of traffic to take an action, such as filling out a survey online.
With affiliate marketing, you don't have to worry about developing ideas and creating products. You don't have to deal with customer service follow-ups or continually process more products for the marketplace.
Your job is often made easier by product owners who care so much about their own success, that they provide a toolbox to help you with yours! The toolbox usually includes readymade emails, web reviews, and banner ads you can use with your own link embedded in them for instant plug-n-play success.
Most Internet marketers will eventually blur the lines of product owner and affiliate marketer. Product owners continually use their list of buyers to promote affiliate items, and affiliates often build such a good reputation in a niche that they're urged to come out with a product of their own.
How much can an affiliate marketer earn? There are no limits. You can market multiple niches and work as much or as little as you want to generate targeted traffic through your links. Super affiliates earn six figures or more, but even a beginner affiliate can earn enough to pay the bills each month – with some change to spare!
Filed under Affiliate Marketing by
