Tags: affiliate link cloaker, affiliate links, Affiliate Marketing, link cloaker, url cloaker
Posted on Monday, June 1st, 2009 in Affiliate Marketing, Link Cloaking |

Most affiliate marketers know that URL cloaking is important. The problem is most solutions are too technical, too complex, and too hard to use. When our company tried to find a good link cloaker tool, we looked and looked… but we never found a good one. The options were very unimpressive. Most looked like they had been built in a garage. Others clearly never used their products or they would have built them better. We wanted a link cloaking tool that actually worked.

So we built our own… and we did it right.

This post discusses 2 main questions:

“Why did we need a URL cloaking solution?” and
“What are the best link cloaking options?”

Post Summary: Affiliate Link Vault is the most effective solution for managing affiliate links and URL cloaking when compared with rival technologies. You can even test-drive it for free.

URL cloaking, or link cloaking, is used by many affiliate marketers to hide the destination of their links. But why?

Why did we need a link cloaker?

There are 4 main reasons:

1. Ugly URL’s
2. Trustworthy links are short and expected. People are hesitant to click on links that contain jumbled letters and numbers. Since affiliate marketers make money when people click their links, those links need to look trustworthy. So if you can “cloak” an ugly link with a pretty one, the click-through rate (CTR) generally goes up. For example, which link would you click
   
   Cloaked Link: http://www.mysite.com/go?coolbook
   
   Uncloaked Link: http://www.someothersite.com/affiliateid=1776856987?scid=366
3. Income Bypassing
   Income bypassing is when a user hovers over a link, sees where the link is pointed, and then types the website into the browser. This is frustrating for affiliate marketers, because they did all the work of getting that customer to go to the affiliate’s website, but they don’t get credit for sending the customer. So if you can cloak an affiliate URL, you keep income bypassing from taking place.
4. Income Hijacking
   Unlike income bypassing, income hijacking is when a customer decides to replace an affiliate marketer’s affiliate code with their own. This is basically stealing the commission away from the affiliate marketer and giving it to someone else. If you can effectively cloak an affiliate URL, you protect your affiliate links from income hijacking.
5. Spyware Rewriting
   Even more troublesome and prevalent than income hijacking is the reality of spyware rewriting. Some spyware programs that people accidentally download onto their computers will track the links that people are clicking. When the spyware recognizes an affiliate code embedded in a link, it will automatically rewrite that affiliate code so that the author of the spyware program gets the commission, not the referring marketer. The severity of this problem has been increasing in recent years, and a lot of affiliate marketers are looking for a link cloaking solution to beat spyware rewrites.

While some people have tried to estimate how widespread these four threats are, there is no reliable way of tracking them. Some estimate that between 10% and 40% of affiliate income is lost due to any combination of these four threats.

At Affiliate Link Vault, we think the numbers are toward the lower end of that range. But 10%-20% can really add up.

So what solutions are available for link cloaking?

There are 5 main ones:

1. JavaScript Scrambled URL’s
   A JavaScript scrambler takes your original links and scrambles them, making it impossible for a user to understand where the link is pointed.The benefits of JavaScript Scrambled URL’s are:
   • No income bypassing, since the user can’t tell where the link is pointed.
   • Makes income hijacking difficult, since the affiliate code is hidden.

   However, this method has several drawbacks:

   • Links are still vulnerable to spyware rewriting and income hijacking from tech-savvy users
   • JavaScript Scrambling software is complicated and needs to be upgraded ($$$)
   • Usually the software is licensed to only one computer
   • Usually not Mac or Linux compatible
   • No tracking or statistics of clicks
   • If you ever need to change a link or offer, it requires manual editing of each page
2. Frame URL Cloaking
   With frame URL cloaking, an affiliate marketer will show the affiliate offer in a frame on their own site. To the end user, it looks like they never left the marketer’s site, but in fact they have landed on another site.The benefits of frame URL cloaking are:
   • The end user thinks they are still on the same website even though they have left.
   • Can be combined with JavaScript scrambling for greater effectiveness.
   • Usable with Mac & Linux

   However, this method has several drawbacks as well:

   • Frame cloaking is in violation of most affiliate Terms of Service. For example, Amazon.com has banned affiliate marketers for using frame URL cloaking.
   • Sometimes frames keep cookies from setting correctly, which means loss of commission
   • Many sites have “frame busters” which removes all benefit of this method
   • Links are still vulnerable to spyware rewriting and income hijacking from tech-savvy users
   • Software is complicated and needs to be upgraded ($$$)
   • No tracking or statistics of clicks
   • If you ever need to change a link or offer, it requires manual editing of every page
3. Server-Side URL Cloaking
   Server-Side URL Cloaking is an effective way of cloaking URLs. However it is complicated to do well. The cloaking is performed on the server-side rather than on the client side, which means there are fewer errors. However, to set up server-side cloaking you need to understand advanced programming and server configuration. At Affiliate Link Vault, we have taken the core idea behind server-side cloaking and make it even better. But I’m getting ahead of myself.Benefits of Server-Side URL cloaking include:
   • Very effective at cloaking against spyware and all users
   • Fully compliant with cookies
   • Server based – which means fewer errors
   • Does not violate Affiliate Terms of Service
   • Creates short, pretty URLs

   However, this method has several drawbacks as well:

   • Requires knowledge of programming and advanced server configuration
   • Third-party software solutions require extensive maintenance
   • Requires security patches and updates across all domains
   • If improperly configured, can lead to loss of Search Engine Rankings (SERP Positioning)
4. Third-Party Hosted Cloaking
   Some companies will offer to cloak your URL, usually shortening it, by running your links through their service. This is called third-party hosted cloaking. It is a very ineffective solution to the four threats we discussed above.Benefits of called third-party hosted cloaking include:
   • Cryptic links
   • Prevents spyware
   • Possible link rotation
   • No software to maintain
   • A simple, basic cloaking for links

   However, this method has many drawbacks as well:

   • URLs are pointed to a third-party site, which lowers click through rates and site credibility
   • Links are usually ugly
   • Some third-parties show users competing offers
   • A very ineffective option, as it still leave your links open to link hijacking, spyware rewriting, and income bypassing

   Up until recently, the best option affiliate marketers had was server-side cloaking. But most marketers find the development and maintenance of this solution to be a burden.

   That’s why we developed Affiliate Link Vault: the simple and powerful link management solution.

5. Affiliate Link Vault
   With Affiliate Link Vault, you take control of your affiliate links. Affiliate Link Vault has the most advanced link cloaking software available. Basically, we offer a turn-key software solution that allows you to collect, protect, and direct all your affiliate links (even on multiple domains) in one crisp, professional, web-based interface.
   Benefits include:

   • Take full control of your links – change any link at any time without modifying a file on your server
   • The most advanced URL cloaking tool available – say goodbye to income bypassing, income hijacking, and spyware rewrites
   • Create custom URLs – you make them short and pretty
   • Built-in offer rotation to optimize and diversify your revenue
   • A crisp and professional product
   • Enhanced Security on all account data (128-bit SSL)
   • Detailed Reporting and Click Statistics
   • Designed with industry best-practices
   • The software is always up-to-date: no software or security updates to install
   • Free 30 day trial
   • It just works

Get access to Affiliate Link Vault today!
Free for 30 days. Get access in under 30 seconds.

Take control of your affiliate links today!

Tags: affiliate link cloaker, affiliate links, Affiliate Marketing, link cloaker, url cloaker

This entry was posted on Monday, June 1st, 2009 at 8:00 pm and is filed under Affiliate Marketing, Link Cloaking.
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