Why Link Cloaking Is Very Important For Affiliate Marketing
The very words, “link cloaking, ” have a cloak and dagger sound to them. Maybe it’s because of that that many people associate the cloaking of links with unscrupulous black hat marketing techniques. That is too bad, because in fact it is something that all legitimate online businesses should do.
After you are approved for an affiliate relationship, you are given the opportunity to embed widgets of code in your site. These are clickable links that direct customers to the site that sells the product you have affiliated with. In this way, the link is tracked back to you and you can be assured that if a sale is made, you will get your commission. It doesn’t always work out that way, though.
For one thing, many people have the mistaken idea that they will be overcharged for the product or service if they purchase it via your website. Thinking they are being clever, they remove your affiliate ID from the link before clicking through.When they do this, you lose the commission that is rightfully yours.
That is one problem. The next problem is even worse. There are very clever hackers who can use that ID as part of their hacking process. The good ones can actually redirect all or some of your commissions to themselves using that ID. Internet stores, even small ones, fall victim to this every day.
Link cloaking substitutes a unique URL in place of the one you have been given and then redirects back to your affiliate link without revealing it to the user. By cloaking the link, you have accomplished a number of things.
The first thing that happens is that there is no longer an affiliate ID for your unscrupulous customer to remove. In fact, that rarely happens, but why risk it? Besides, a lot of potential customers get suspicious when they see those strange looking links. They can make you look bad in their eyes. Your cloaked link gives you authority and legitimacy in their eyes. You deserve your good reputation, so why not do everything in your power to preserve it?
Most importantly, your link is now invulnerable to hackers. They have been denied a vital part of your personal information if your link is cloaked.
Far from being an underhanded way to trick people into believing you’re something you’re not, cloaking your links is a way to prove to them that you are a legitimate business and not just an amateur trying to make a quick buck. There is absolutely nothing black hat about it.
Many reputable internet marketers go even further and create iframe pages to establish their credibility. These are pages that are identical to the pages of the company that they share an affiliation with. To the viewer, this creates an indelible bond between them and the company.
If you are in doubt about cloaking links, contact the company you are affiliated with and ask them first. If it is against their policy, they will tell you and be grateful for your honesty. Usually, however, they will encourage it.
It’s simple to learn more about ways you can multiply visits to your Internet site and click-through traffic using link cloaking. When you use a conversion tracking system, you will be able to improve your marketing and advertising efforts and multiply your thriving business.
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