AFF - Affiliate Marketing - Are You Losing Money Because of Ugly Links?

Affiliate marketers know that their hop link is the vital link to their commissions. Because of this reason it becomes very important to ensure that the hop link looks as inviting to click on as possible. Let's face it - most hop links, to put it plainly, look like spammy garbage. For a long time I use to think I didn't have a choice since I was unwilling to pay for link cloaking software until my business picked up. However I eventually discovered a couple of ways you can make you affiliate link appear more inviting.

1) Use a URL Shortening Service
This is the easiest way to make your links look shorter and more appealing. You may have seen links on the internet that look something like this:

http: //tinyurl.com/1234

(I just chose the number at the end at random)

The website TinyURL.com creates these shortened URL that lead to the website you specify. It also has the ability to have a 'custom alias' so instead of the '1234' in our example, it might look something like this:

http: //tinyurl.com/my_affiliate_product

There are a couple of problems with this type of link cloaking. The first is that the URL has no indication of where it might be taking you. Another downside is that it fails to reinforce your website name, and so you lose out on brand promotion. Also, keep in mind that TinyURL might not keep your URL around forever. If you send your customers to a broken link, you risk losing their trust and business.

2) Use a Domain Redirect
This method is definitely a pretty good link cloaking technique. The process involves purchasing a domain name in your niche. Using your domain service provider such as GoDaddy.com you can set up a redirect to your affiliate hop link URL. A domain redirect is not very expensive since you can get a.INFO domain name for around $0.79/year. A downside to this technique is that you have to register several domain names if you have multiple products. Also a particular domain may be unavailable, so you will have to resort to a more convoluted and lengthy URL which may defeat the purpose of the redirect in the first place.

3) Use a PHP Redirect
This method is by far the most robust method of link cloaking, but it also takes a little bit more time. In order for this to work, you'll need to have a domain name and a hosting account. If you already have a website, then this method is perfect for you.

Using your domain registrar's interface, create a folder with the name of your promotional product. Now open up your favorite text editor such as Notepad, and type the following PHP code:

< ?php header( 'Your_Affiliate_Hop_Link' );? >

Of course make sure you substitute the Your_Affiliate_Hop_Link with your actual hop link. One more thing, make sure you leave the single quotations in place when you paste you link. Save the file as "index.php" Now upload "index.php" into the new folder you created. Now when you want to direct someone using your affiliate link your link will look something like this:

http: //www.your_website.com/cool_product

Assuming that the folder you created was called "cool_product."

The disadvantage to this method is that it is time consuming, especially if you have many products you are promoting. However, if you have an existing website, this method is very effective.

Getting people to click on your hop link is extremely vital if you intend to do well in affiliate marketing.  After you get some sales you can purchase link cloaking software that will save you a lot of time in creating PHP redirects. However, until then you can rely on one of these three methods to make your hop links look more attractive.