If you have been blogging or marketing online you have no doubt heard the term link cloaking. Link cloaking is one of the least talked about, yet most important aspects of running an online business.
The easiest way to understand link cloaking is to think of it as a security system. A security system functions as protection from intruders, whether it’s your home or car or place of business, a security system keeps you protected. A link cloaker functions in the same way – only it protects your links from intruders.
Why do you need to cloak your links?
Imagine this for a moment – you work long and hard on some incredible advertising campaign for a product or service. You write some great blog posts, maybe even do some paid advertisements. Send your links out on Twitter and Facebook. All in all, you market it well and all your hard work is paying off, you are earning commissions!
Well, some other unscrupulous marketer sees your success and decided to copy it, but not just copy as in duplicate, copy as in steal. You see, the one thing you didn’t do in this campaign is the one thing that will ultimately destroy it – you didn’t cloak your links. So this unscrupulous marketer takes your affiliate link that you’ve been using and erases your id and puts their id in. Boom – all of your hard work on sales copy, marketing, traffic, etc. is down the drain.
So how do you cloak your links?
To prevent this from happening, you have to disguise your links from view. There are several ways to do this. But I like to do things the easy way…
The easiest way to cloak your links is to install a plug-in or software that will do this for you. Two that I have used and recommend are Affiliate Camo and Pretty Link. (both affl. links)
Affiliate Camo has a free and a paid version, as does Pretty Link.
With Pretty Link, to get the actual link cloaking, you need the paid version. The free version just disguises your link.
Affiliate Camo offers a paid version which embeds your affiliate link on other blog posts as well. It’s basically advertising without having to do all the work that comes with finding the targets.
Both are great options for link cloaking.
Why can’t I just use a link tracker?
Link trackers like bit.ly, linktrack.info, linktracker.com, clickmeter.com only track the links. Yes, the link appears to be disguised, but it is not. In fact, here is a link using linktrack.info –
It appears to be cloaked. But, what happens when you mouse over it? You see the link revealed.
The point of link cloaking is to make it so that others cannot see your actual link. And both Affiliate Camo and Pretty Link Pro will of course, track the links for you as well.
Feeling confident about link cloaking?
Cloaking your links is not just for marketers, it is a must for any online business owner. And with these two options, it is made even easier.
The process is very simple:
- Decide if Affiliate Camo or Pretty Link is the one you want to use
- Download it
- Upload it to your desired domain in the plug-ins folder
- Activate
- Create links!
Just remember, use a cloaked link anytime and every time you give out a link.
Hi Christine
Great advice, there is nothing worse than having all your hard work and time wasted if you have someone take your link and use it as their own.
I like Affiliate Camo have not heard of Pretty Link so will take a look at it. Which one do you prefer?
Thanks for sharing, hope you have a great day!
Pauline
Pauline recently posted..Affiliate Marketing: Staying Away From Scams
Hi Pauline,
I actually use both Pretty Link and Affiliate Camo – the Pro version of Pretty Link has the cloaking features but Affiliate Camo offers the advertising option. I will say that I had Pretty Link first – unfortunately, I did not organize it well
That’s why I also use Affiliate Camo now – organized it much better!
~Christine
Hey Christine
Thank you for this informative article. When I first came online I myself lost out to these thieves, because I did not know about cloaking your affiliate links. So its great to see someone like yourself letting people know!
I personally use a short .php script to cloak all my links now and it works a treat.
Regards
Paul
Paul Conway recently posted..A Welcome Internet Marketing Break…
Hi Paul,
Glad you enjoyed it! It’s a really unfortunate thing when that happens – talk about a lesson learned the hard way!
~Christine
Hi Christine,
Cloaking is very important, something I need to do some more reading on. At the moment I just use a simple WP plugin and it seems to work fine but I’m going to check out Affiliate Camo which you mention above.
Some great info there so cheers;)
Noel.
Noel Cunningham recently posted..How a Hot Girl at the Gym Saved My Online Business
Hi Noel,
Glad you liked it!
There’s some pretty neat features of both of these cloakers – important thing is that we do it with every link, no matter which one we use!
~Christine
I’m an avid user of Pretty link and it is very easy to use which is a massive bonus. The problem with third party services such as bit.ly is they are never in your control so if they choose to go haywire or change the landing page, you are at their mercy (there are many reports of your links going through advertising pages which is not great for you).
I often use the tag: ‘dee kumar recommends’ on my Pretty link urls as this really does make my affiliate links look pretty.
Since Pretty link is free, there is no reason not to try it. It might just help save you some commission!
Dee Kumar recently posted..DYS Launch Weekend: Can you really produce a quality Online Marketing Product within a day?
Hi Dee,
Great point about third party services!
Pretty Link is a great tool. However, the cloaker is not free – the Pro version offers the cloaker. Basic Pretty Link just gets you a “pretty link” – your links are still exposed. Just a word of warning
~Christine
Hi Christine,
To be honest, this is the first time I’ve heard of link cloaking. I didn’t even know that there’s a way to steal affiliate links. Perhaps it’s not surprising since I’m not into marketing but you’re also right that it’s not talked about often.
I think it’s a very valuable information that every marketer, newbie and those who may decide to go into marketing in the future, should be aware of.
Thanks for the info!
Theresa Torres recently posted..Summer Opportunities for Students
Hi Theresa,
Glad you enjoyed it!
Yes, unfortunately anything you put online, including links can be stolen. So cloaking your links is crucial to protect you from losing credit and even commissions!
The good thing is that it’s relatively easy to do – install a plugin and you are set!
~Christine