How to Protect and Cloak Your Affiliate Links

You’ve probably heard about affiliate links getting stolen reportedly losing up to 40% of the affiliate commission. However, there are ways in which protect your links, namely, by using cloaked affiliated links or by redirecting pages. Furthermore, if you use such procedures you will also make sure that people are not hesitant in front of an affiliate link like they usually are. You can replace your links with short server-side redirects or with cloaked links, so that people won’t be turned off by long links and you can protect your income.

Here are some things you can do

1. Subdomain redirect
Most web hosting services allow you to have subdomains. To prevent people from stealing your affiliate links deliberately, you can log on to the Control Panel, create a subdomain and, then, set up the redirection.

2. Directory redirect
You can connect to your web server and then create a directory named according to your choice, then set up an index.html and place a redirect code in it.

3. Redirect script
There are many redirect scripts available online which you can install on your webpage to protect and redirect your affiliate links. Usually they will ask you to put the code in the section, between the and tags.

4. .htaccess
This method is mostly for advanced users as you’ll need to modify the .htaccess on your server in order to protect link hijacking. Here’s what you’ll need to do: create a new directory named according to your choice; using a text editor create a file called .htaccess; this file must include the redirect command, the full URL of the location where you want the request to be sent, as well as the location of the directory you need redirected.

All these codes are free and you can find tutorials on them through the search engines. Do your research and choose the one to implement depending on your skill level. However you also have the option of cloaking your affiliate links using software programs or services. Similarly, software services can turn obvious affiliate links into short, clean links either cloaked or not, allowing you to set up unlimited subdomains and domain forwarding.

These cloaking and redirecting methods are easy to use and they allow you to take action immediately. You will be surprised to see the difference to your online business once you make your affiliate links more clickable. If your affiliate links aren’t protected, you should start right now.

The full affiliate marketing course:

1. What Is Affiliate Marketing and Why Should You Become an Affiliate Marketer
2. 5 Things Every Newbie Should Know Before Becoming an Affiliate Marketer
3. 5 Different Types of Affiliate Marketing Revenue Sources
4. Using Affiliate Programs to Make Long-term Residual Income
5. 4 Ways to Succeed in Affiliate Marketing Without a Website
6. 4 Ways to Succeed in Affiliate Marketing With a Website
7. How You Can Find the Best Affiliate Programs
8. How to Find the Right Affiliate Program to Join
9. How to Protect and Cloak Your Affiliate Links
10. 5 Reasons Why People Fail in Affiliate Marketing