How cloaking your links can save you both time and money

Written by Hannes Johnson


How cloaking your links can save you both time and money (c) 2005 Hannes Johnson

You've most likely seen them in ezines, websites, etc. and quite possibly clicked on a few of them. If you've been in affiliate marketing you might have even used them yourself... or at least you should have. Because it can save you both time and money.

What I'm talking about are cloaked affiliate links. That is, small HTML files that hide your referral ID, username, member #, etc... and/or shortenrepparttar full URL.

How Do They Work? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Usuallyrepparttar 102363 HTML file you use to cloak your affiliate URL forwardsrepparttar 102364 user torepparttar 102365 actual affiliated website just moments after clicking your cloaked link (or entering it intorepparttar 102366 web browser). The HTML file can also be frame-based, meaning that it will putrepparttar 102367 affiliate URL in an invisible frame sorepparttar 102368 user will only seerepparttar 102369 URL to your cloaked link and notrepparttar 102370 URL ofrepparttar 102371 website you are directingrepparttar 102372 user to.

What Is The Purpose? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Many dishonest people will do anything they can to prevent affiliate marketers from getting their commission for their hard work. When people see a link that they recognize as an affiliate link they might cut your username off and buy directly fromrepparttar 102373 website or even worse, they might replace your username with theirs and take your commission.

Also, some people might be uncomfortable clicking on a link they recognize as an affiliate link.

What link would you rather click on: http://www.madisondynamics.com/index.php?13523.artcl or http://www.workathomemadeeasy.net/recommended/madison.html

Tests have shown that up to 30% of all affiliate commissions are STOLEN by people who replace with their own link to "buy at a discount" and it's a serious problem.

How Can You Prevent That? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ifrepparttar 102374 service you are affiliated with uses cookies or other tracking devices using a cloaked link that refreshes torepparttar 102375 affiliate URL should make sure that you getrepparttar 102376 commission/ referral you deserve. Because oncerepparttar 102377 user clicks your cloaked link and is redirected to your affiliate URL a cookie with your referral ID is saved onrepparttar 102378 user's computer andrepparttar 102379 user should be less likely to succeed in stealing your commission.

Here is a sample ofrepparttar 102380 HTML code you can use to create a HTML file that refreshes to your affiliate URL:

<#html> <#head> <#title>Loading... please wait<#/title> <#meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;URL=http://www.YourAffiliateURL.com"> <#/head>

<#body> <#p><#b><#font size="+1">Loading... please wait<#/font><#/b><#/p> <#p>If you are not redirected in 10 seconds <#a href="http://www.YourAffiliateURL.com" rel="nofollow">click here<#/a>.<#/p> <#/body> <#/html>

Just replace "http://www.YourAffiliateURL.com" withrepparttar 102381 referral URL your affiliate program gave you.

However, if your affiliate service/program doesn't use cookies or if you're not sure, it would be safer for you to use framed cloaked links because thenrepparttar 102382 user won't see your full affiliate URL and won't be able to cut off your referral ID.

Here is a sample ofrepparttar 102383 HTML code you can use to create a HTML file that puts your affiliate URL into an invisible frame:

<#html> <#head> <#title>Name of your affiliate program<#/title> <#/head>

<#frameset rows="100%,*" frameborder="NO" border="0" framespacing="0"> <#frame src="http://www.YourAffiliateURL.com" name="mainFrame" border=0> <#frame border=0 scrolling="NO" noresize> <#/frameset> <#noframes><#body> <#/body><#/noframes> <#/html>

(Note from author: In order forrepparttar 102384 HTML code to be seen correctly I've added "#" signs. If you intend on using this code just removerepparttar 102385 "#" signs.)

Just replace "http://www.YourAffiliateURL.com" withrepparttar 102386 referral URL your affiliate program gave you. You should also changerepparttar 102387 title torepparttar 102388 actual name of your affiliate program or something else you think is appropriate.

You should know though that people will always be trying to get passedrepparttar 102389 cloaked links so there is never a 100% way of ensuring your rightful commissions. But using cloaked links will definitely decreaserepparttar 102390 chance of you losing out on a commission.

But How Can It Save You Time? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now that we have seen how cloaking your links can save you money how can it save you time?

Well, I realized this recently when I decided to drop out of a certain affiliate program. I had been promoting this program on several places onrepparttar 102391 internet andrepparttar 102392 URL I was promoting was a cloaked link I had created on my domain.

You can understand that I no longer wanted to promote a program I was not affiliated with any more. So I was looking forward to at least a half hour of searchingrepparttar 102393 internet for places where I had put a link to this program and either change it or delete it.

But that's when I realized I didn't have to hurry and delete all these links so I wouldn't be wasting money and credits on this program. All I had to do was log in to my website and editrepparttar 102394 HTML file I had created to cloakrepparttar 102395 program's URL and makerepparttar 102396 file direct people to another URL I was comfortable promoting.

What is a Tier in Affiliate Marketing?

Written by Clay Mabbitt


The word "tier" shows up a lot inrepparttar affiliate marketing industry. In a general sense a tier is a step or level, but what does this mean inrepparttar 102362 context of affiliate marketing. The answer is: it depends.

Downline Levels The most common meaning of tier is a carry-over fromrepparttar 102363 compensation plans of network marketing companies that were in place beforerepparttar 102364 Internet boom. When you introduce a new entrepreneur torepparttar 102365 program, he is placed on your second tier. If that new entrepreneur then introduced his sister torepparttar 102366 program, she would be placed on your third tier.

Ifrepparttar 102367 sister brought in a paying customer, she would receive a first tier commission. Her brother would receive a second tier commission, while you received a third tier commission (ifrepparttar 102368 compensation plan included a third tier). In practice, an affiliate program can offer commissions on any number of tiers, althoughrepparttar 102369 vast majority of online affiliate programs only pay commissions on one or two tiers of activity.

Sales Volume You would get a different picture ofrepparttar 102370 word tier from Amazon's compensation plan, where it refers to your sales volume. (The following numbers don't reflect Amazon's actual compensation plan, but they serve as an example.) Onrepparttar 102371 first $500 worth of merchandise you sell, you receive a 10% commission. Up to $500 isrepparttar 102372 first tier. The second tier is for sales up to $1500. If you manage to sell between $500 and $1500, you will earn 11% commission. Each tier is an additional range of monthly sales in which you earn a higher commission (or receive other forms of compensation).

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