A link cloaker, or an affiliate link cloaker as it is also known, is a way to hide your affiliate links so that they look like they are going to a different destination than they actually are. This may sound a bit crafty, or even perhaps dishonest, but in truth, links are cloaked for very positive reasons.
At this point, let me just clarify that this is nothing to do with Search Engine Optimization or tricking the search engines. This is something that is used almost exclusively for affiliate marketing.
In simple language, what a link cloaker does is that someone ends up going to a different place than the link first indicates to them.
But that does sound a bit negative, so let me clarify by giving you Five Explosive Reasons to use a Link Cloaker:
1. People don't like to click on long links, so by using a link cloaker you can shorten it
2. Some popular urls may be marked as spam, so cloaking your link will mean that you email is not blocked
3. Many people do not like to make someone else money by clicking on an affiliate link. By using a redirect, they will not realize it is an affiliate link
4. By cloaking a link, you are able to brand your own domain rather than someone else's.
5. By cloaking a link, you are much more likely to be able to track how many hits you receive.
So as you can, using a link cloaker is strongly advised whenever you are doing any affiliate marketing. Although it is possible to do it manually, it is strongly advised that you use a script that you can reside on your server in order to do it. In this way, it will mean that you have fully control so that if at any time you do need to change something then you will be able to do so. If you are really unsure where to start, then you are advised to take a look at redirectmagic.com where you can download a powerful free version of a link cloaker.
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