At some point, you will want to generate some money from your blog by promoting affilliate products.
When this happens, you’ll be given an affilliate link like this;
https://paydotcom.com/r/88429/JohnTanner/25533774/
Affiliate links can be used as part of an email campaign, be part of a forum signature, or be direcly mentioned within a blog post.
So you don’t want to put people off by displaying links that scream “I’m trying to sell something”.
First impressions count.
So take that an extra few minutes and create a more appealing url address that will hide the affilliate link.
To do this, think of a meaningful address that you’d like to display.
In this instance I want the url to follow the following naming format;
http://www.myblog.com/recommends/productXYZ
Start off by creating an empty folder on your P.C. called ‘recommends’ and within that folder, create another empty folder called ‘productXYZ’.
Open up Notepad and copy the following code into the editor.
<?php $URL=”https://paydotcom.com/r/88429/JohnTanner/25533774/“;
header (“Location: $URL”);
exit();
?>
Change the value of $URL to be the affilliate link address you want to cloak.
Save as “index.php”
(Note; If you save the file without quotes you will end up with index.php.txt)
Now you need to open up your FTP Editor and copy the Folder ‘recommends’ from your P.C. across to sit within the folder Public.html of your website.
The end result will be that you can use
http://www.myblog.com/recommends/productXYZ (or what ever you decide),
as part of an email campaign, forum signature, or blog post, rather than the ugly affilliate link.
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thanks for that.
But you may find it interesting to see that famous bloggers like JohnChow (http://johnchow.com), Yaro (http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com), you can check their affiliate products that they are selling on their sites, they dont even bother to cloak.
I guess, they are “different”
thanks /shirley
shirley´s last blog ..Newbie to Newbie – Internet Marketing Program Review – part 4
Hi Shirley,
I think these guys have the kudos to get away with direct selling. As a newbie, I need to build my own credibility first.
Thanks
John
Hi John,
You can also use a plugin called gocodes to hide affiliate links. It’s simple to install and you can configure your links from your blog dashboard.
John
John Blake´s last blog ..The Alex Jeffreys / Rich Schefren Webinar Double Act!
Hi John
Thanks for telling me about the plugin gocodes.
There’s always more than one way to skin a cat.
John
I’m not in to affiliate links at the moment. But I will remember your tips when I apply for one.
John
Great post and advice on link cloaking, especially all the more pertinent with the recent talk of another ‘Google slap’ around blatent affiliate linking.
I’ve actually gone down the route of using a plugin for simplicity but your advice is great for my other sited which aren’t built on a WordPress platform, so thank you.
All the best
Tom
Tom Harvey´s last blog ..Newbies Nightmare
Hi Tom,
Thanks for the update on the widget that does this.
I guess, I just stuck with what I knew.
Thanks
John
Hi John
I have been looking for ages to find a way to cloak affiliate links, so thanks for that. Also useful comments by John Blake.
You learn something new every day!
Take Care – Barbara
Barbara Harvey´s last blog ..Article Writing Template
Try out GoCodes WordPress pluging. It is easy and with tracking statistic.

Jacob Yap´s last blog ..A Review of the Godlike Thesis WordPress Theme