URL Masking - 3 Ways To Hide Your Affiliate Links

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by: DonKay
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Word Count: 609
Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2011 Time: 3:04 AM
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URL Masking refers to the process of hiding the actual domain of a website from the address bar of a users
web browser. This is commonly done by affiliate marketers to prevent site visitors from removing affiliate
tracking codes from a URL to ensure the affiliate earns their commissions. Another reason affiliates do
this is to keep other affiliates from replacing the tracking codes from the URL and "stealing" or "hijacking"
the commission.

There are multiple ways you implement URL masking for your links. Some methods are very technical and
require basic programming experience while other methods use software tools called link cloakers. For
most affiliates, link cloaking tools are the preferred method because they are simple to use and
offer more features then just masking a URL.

In this article I'll cover three of the most common types of URL Masking:

1. Using iFrames
2. Using FRAMESETS
3. Using a Link Cloaker

Using iFrames - This technique is fairly easy and can be accomplished by most website owners.
Here's how you do it: Make a web page and add the necessary iframe html coding. You will need to
change the URL of the src attribute to the URL of the domain of the web page to be displayed
in the browser. Then, upload this file to your web server and you're done. There are many downsides of this method including you won't get click tracking, sales tracking and you'll have no way to meaure how well the link is converting. In addition, you must own the website because you'll need to upload this page to your
web server for it to work. Next, just copy the link that goes to this page and then you can distribute it on
blogs, social marketing sites, emails and any other location you typically place your links.

Using FRAMESETS - this technique is also easy, but like iFrames, it lacks any added features like
sales or click tracking, reporting and requires you to own the web page which hides the link.
Here's how you do it: Make a web page and add the required frameset html tags and change the src
attribute URL in the the URL of the web page to be displayed in the browser. Then, upload this file to your
web server. Like iFrames, you'll need to have access to the web server to post this file. Next, just copy the link that goes to this page and then you can distribute it on blogs, social marketing sites, emails
and any other location you typically place your links.

Using Link Cloaker Software - this is by far the easiest way to hide your URL because you usually won't need
to edit code directly. When choosing a link cloaker, you'll want to find one that includes critical features
including Intelligent cloaking, click tracking, sales tracking, a link command center to edit your links and has
multiple cloaking methods to address all your masking needs. There are several popular tools you can get
including SafeLinkCloaker.com which is very popular among super affiliates.

Now that you've learned about three of the most popular URL Masking methods, you'll need to determine
which method or combination of methods work best for you. If you're struggling to choose which method
may be best for you, I encourage you to consider a link cloaker tool. These are by far the easiest and
fastest ways to mask your URLs.

About the Author

Learn more about url masking and how to choose a link cloaker
by visiting the SafeLinkCloaker website.