Keep up the great information and thanks bunches.

Because people will feel elpassoblog.com/recs/newoffer is always going to look more credible than 123amazingaffiliatejunk.com/cgi.x?agentid=345TREW321wwkih6HHgvv56789andrefid=tyr654IKH76gTr59876pwqb

I mean come on! But for me the primary reasons are
1. it makes me feel good!
Does that sound silly? I feel organised, on top of the game and ready to go. I feel I have checked out a product that has much to offer my prospects. I feel I am proud to be associated with this affiliate product. And therefore I feel I want to go all-out to promote it!
2. if this affiliate product is so hot I think it will benefit a lot of people online then I actually go as far as to register a domain and redirect with URL forwarding. Because I feel A1 about this domain now: it really has something to offer!
3. my new domain pointing at the affiliate offer must be catchy and memorable - so now instead of an affiliate link, or even a cloaked URL, I have the ultimate: a specific domain which I can reel off the tongue easy as you like!

Here are three examples of domains I use - none uses my own hosting, yet with these redirected URLs I feel proud as a webmaster!
http://www.zowoco.com
http://www.zowocomarketing.com
http://www.passion8adsense.com

Now I really feel ready to promote actively, it’s like I have given my promotions a platform for success. What do you think? Perhaps this idea will help your affiliate promoting!

Always good to keep your commissions. nice post, keep up the good work.

Sally

It’s nice that I don’t have to agree with you 100% of the time…..

I know from seeing my CB stats that there are a good few people who do change the links BEFORE they click on them.

If it shows as http://elpasso.rsmithuk2.net (or whatever the link might be…)
Then people will copy the link and change the elpasso to their own id.

That said … Paula at her blog has shown how to set up a redirect link… http://paula-brett.com/blog/how-to-create-a-redirect-page/
and I have some software that does it all for people on my http://www.MonthlyBargains.co.uk site - which is a free download in exchange for an email addy naturally …lol

Personally - I would always recommend cloaking a link and changing it into a http://www.mysite.com/Recommends/product - not only does it reduce any chance of links being changed … But it also looks more professional.

I just wouldn’t go spending $97 on software when you can find it free - or great instructions like Paulas free …

So there you go
A different view to some marketers comments here whom I also have a great deal of respect for (as well as my fellow Yorky Dan) ;)…. but I wouldn’t be true to myself if I agreed for the sake of it!

Warm Regards as ever
Randy
http://www.MonthlyBargains.co.uk

Great post, and one that needed to be stated!

Perhaps there are those out there with somewhat good intentions wanting to warn of the possiblity of commission theft, but on the other hand, could it be that some are just trying to get others to be worked up and worried over something that does not warrant our time to be wasted?

I think there are plenty of newcomers who “hear” about these horror stories, and they are overwhelmed already, that to have just one more thing to make them work more, keeps them forever spinning wheels rather than working quickly to build their business.

I do agree with you that the true reason behind the “cloaking” should be to make it look nicer, or to shorten some of the lengthy ones out there!

Enjoy!
Paul

Thanks for such a great post! I was just looking for such a link cloaking software and I was about to pay for one. I’ve just saved some money and I really appreciate it!

Have a great day!
Celine

I am glad you brought this subject up because I have always been suspicious as to the validity of the claims that people are stealing your commission.

I do cloak via my website ie……cothivale/recommends….only because I think it looks better. BUT…I also follow the link to say Clickbank and make sure that the right affiliate name is at the bottom of their order page.

As far as I am concerned 99.9% of newbies would probably have no idea how to play around with any links so I think it safe to rule that out as a problem.

Nobody can alter the links actually on your webpage so that used to puzzle me as to how anybody could steal your prospects.

That only leaves the visitor to your site that sees something he wants but does not intend you to claim your commission. So he changes the hoplink to his own. Surely this is against Clickbank rules anyway that you cannot buy through your own link and if you get caught they will cut you off.

The only other route is for someone to see your offer and then google the information for a direct link but if you have been to Clickbank page already then the cookie is in place and so all the clever tactics are in vain.

I am certainly no expert on this subject but as I said at the start I cannot see how this could ever really be a big problem. No doubt there is some obscure way around the system, there always is but the majority of people in my experience are honest and have no objection to the commission being rightfully paid.
Thanks again for raising the subject.

Regards

Chris

@ Denise, that’s true, but if you cloak your link then they will never actually get to see the raw affiliate link so there will be nothing there for them to change.

@ Al, thank’s for the comment, it was actually your email earlier in the week that gave me the idea for the post!

This information is priceless not only for the seasoned marketers, but especially for the newbies trying to get started on a shoestring..

No more will the fear tactics work for the uninformed, who are lead to believe they need the “newest, best, innovated, clocking device!

Thank You Sir Dan,

Al Nelson

Denise