18/04: Link Cloaking and Tracking Questions Answered

Some of the information and links contained in this article are now deprecated and I ask you to refer to my later posts for up to the minute link cloaking advice and tips so....

PLEASE READ MY LATEST POSTS ON LINK CLOAKING FOR UP TO DATE INFORMATION

1) Affiliate Links and Internet Explorer

2) Link Cloaking Updates & Covert Links

3) Cloaking Links With Samurai Stealth Cloaker 

 

UPDATE: The Cloaker Script Of Choice - Samurai Stealth Cloaker

Not long ago I wrote a post about cloaking affiliate links, but it's still a subject that I am asked about more frequently than almost any other. This surprises me because there is a lot of information out there if you go looking.

When someone asked me the other day what system I use myself, I didn't really have a simple answer because I test and use various methods depending on what I'm doing. In the spirit of helping others out, here are just a few more tips and tools you might find useful. (all of which I use or have used myself).

1) Doing it yourself with PHP (described in the earlier post, if you want to check it out) for those with a web hosting account.

2) Free Third party services offering cloaking and tracking. There are a lot of these about and I can't claim to have used them all, but I have tried ClickAudit and still use it from time to time, and Viral Link Tracker which I also think is worth a look.

NOTE: Clickaudit has been closed and is no longer available.

Another possible option would be Jon Leger's service called OffTo.net which, like Leadsleap, combines link cloaking with viral advertising on a credits based system.  

Third party services like this are the easiest option for those who don't have a hosting account of their own. Both are simple to set up and fine for anyone wanting basic click count. Personally I don't think any of them come close to a proper cloaking solution on your own domain, but if you're stuck on not having a hosting account they are all you have left. Viral Link Tracker has several additional features, the usefulness of which will depend a lot on what you are up to, but it does have a viral element.

There are several others but some I would not recommend because they have been overused by too many people pushing too much rubbish and as a result, to my mind, look rather "spammy" and obvious. That's just my opinion though and I'm not naming names.

The new kid on the block, which I only read about today, is a new service from the excellent LeadsLeap program. If you don't know about LeadsLeap, it's an interesting take on viral promotion and advertising. You can read all about it in my previous post on The LeadsLeap Traffic and Listbuilding program. Don't be too put off by the landing page, it is actually a very effective viral tool.

Anyway, the program owner continues to refine it and introduce new features, (a viral blog and a private messaging facility to name a couple) the latest being a link cloaker. Just so you can see how it works, I have taken one of my raw affiliate URL's -

http://wwkiosk.com/members/mosnell/

and applied the LeadsLeap effect like this:

http://www.leadsleap.com/go/10229

If you click on the cloaked link you will notice the "countdown" advertisement at the top of the page. (It can also be placed at the bottom) This can be turned on or off with each cloaked link you create - it has the potential to be annoying and distracting, so I would think carefully about how and when you use it. I just included it for the purposes of this demo. The address bar in the browser will not show your affiliate link, only the Leadsleap shortened URL.

3) Cloaking your links using software that is capable of encrypting the redirect and preventing even the most dedicated snoopers from viewing your page source. This is for those with a hosting account only.

Once upon a time you paid for these things, but they are now freely available. I've been using a couple of them in recent months - one is Cloaker Buzz. Download it, install it, run it, type in your URL, press a button and it turns out the HTML required. Save it, upload it to your server inside your chosen directory and name it "index.html" and you will have a fully cloaked link, like this one, where snoopers that view the source of your page will come up empty handed and where the URL in the browser address bar appears as you dictate.

http://www.thecaymanhost.com/passive_profit_robot/

If you like this idea, you can get a free copy of the software through this link - Cloaker Buzz Link Cloaker

Another free option can be found at this membership site, and will do the same thing. All you have to do is sign up for a free account and the cloaker is just one of the tools you get to enjoy.

PLR Wholesaler Sign Up Page

OK, that about covers cloaking, but what about tracking if you don't want to use a third party service? Well, I only usually bother with tracking clicks in my email campaigns, and here's how I do it.

I cloak the link using a software application as described in 3 above. I then convert that link to one that I can track from within my autoresponder service. Let's take the example I used for Leadsleap - my cloaked link www.thecaymanhost.com/kiosk/ then becomes this

http://kioskcities.ws/cgi-bin/t.cgi?k=caynews2:2

I use an autoresponder service provided by my host, but if you use one of the third party sevices they will usually offer full tracking of your links as well as more detailed stats on delivery rates, and mails opened etc. which, as users will tell you, is a great benefit for tracking and testing their campaigns.

The final option is to install a tracking and cloaking script on your server. There are several available but this one is free, simple to set up, very effective and works on both Linux and Windows servers. You will require an available MySQL database.

The Ultimate Link Cloaker Download Page

OK, that about covers it, I hope you will find that one or some of these solutions fit the bill for you.

Remember, there are plenty of paid options too, ranging in price from a few bucks up to nearly $100, and there are even people selling the information contained in this post. Save your money, because there really is no need to buy link cloaking software, and you now have all the information you need.

tags: link cloakers, free link cloaking, cloaking affiliate links, tracking links, link trackers, cloaking and,  tracking links