Getting the click

StephenR. · #1 (**permalink**) 12-09-2004, 02:10 PM

As an affiliate marketer I'm sure you're aware that people get a little leery clicking on an affiliate URL that looks like http://www.search-engine-optimizatio.../referID=12345. Bells and whistels go off in their head because they see that link an automatically know someones trying to sell them something.

So what's an affiliate to do? Here's a quick and easy approach most seasoned affiliate marketers implement.

Open up Notepad or your favorite HTML editor and copy and paste the following HTML code into the page. For this example I've used http://www.search-engine-optimizatio.../referID=12345 as the affiliate URL. Replace that URL with your merchant generated affiliate link for whatever program your creating this page for.

Code:

<html><head> 
<meta http-equiv='refresh' content='0; 
url=http://www.search-engine-optimization-tools/track/referID=12345'> 
</head>

Now that you've added the code to your Web page you need to name the .html appropriately. For this ongoing example we would name the new Web page search-engine-optimization-tool.html. Now upload this new page to your root Web page directory. On many web hosts this is /html or yourdomain.com/html.

Now when you promote this SEO tool you would use the link http://www.yoursite.com/search-engin...tion-tool.html. Adding a link such as this for your site will also help with anchor text optimization.

If you operated a search engine optimization site you would use the new link in your Web site like so for anchor text optimization:

Code:

Welcome to my web site!  I review the best search engine optimization tools on the market.

In the above example search engine optimization tools is your anchor text.

I hope this little tidbit helped some of you affiliate marketers out. If your unfamiliar with "anchor text optimization" here are some great links that offer an abundance of information which cannot be discussed here for brevity’s sake:

http://www.seorank.com/anchor-text-optimization.php
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ooar123...chor-text.html
http://www.seo-guy.com/seo-tutorial/...chor-text.html

**brian.mark** · #2 (**permalink**) 12-10-2004, 01:17 AM

Better yet, you can use a JavaScript mouse over to make the status bar display a URL that doesn't look like an affiliate link. The JavaScript redirect can make search engines think twice about your site, as it is a very old cloaking device that some spammers still use.

sbeco · #3 (**permalink**) 12-16-2004, 05:40 PM

Or, for the HTML challenged, try NameStick as a way to hide your affiliate links. It costs $39 per year. (They also have an affiliate program.)

http://www.namestick.com

I chose the domain "www.microebusiness.com" as my namestick and I can create an unlimited number of subdomains for all of my affiliate links. Like this - http://pipe.microebusiness.com - which links to an affiliate site I joined that gave me a url that is longer than a freight train.

And for HTML experts, try this freebie code that will hide your affiliate links with short urls. The script will also track each link's clickthrough rate. It's called Linkin'Lite.

http://www.dtp-aus.com/cgiscript/lnkinlte.shtml

The person who told me about Linkin' Lite sent me this helpful note:

"If you're looking for a simple way to track clickthroughs, then LnkinLite may be your answer. This free script will enable you to easily keep track of the number of clicks a specific link receives. Instead of using your standard link within your advertising, you can use a link created by this script. It will track the number of clickthroughs and instantly redirect your visitors to your URL. This is the exact script I use to hide my affiliate addresses."

MandyHaga · #4 (**permalink**) 12-27-2004, 12:04 PM

I like the first post. Very nice idea and it maintains your original tracking url on your side.

I would suggest any less experienced affiliate ensure the redirect/masking script maintains the original tracking url so they do not screw themselves out of commission.