Last week I posted how to forward and mask a domain/url. In the comments of that post it was brought to my attention that the masking route is a somewhat questionable technique. Personally I do not see anything wrong with the method, at least my use of it is not intended in a negative way. Through comments and emails I have been informed of a couple other methods of forwarding a domain/URL, redirect and .htaccess. Today I am only going to talk about re-direct. I will follow up within the next couple of days with a how to on .htaccess.
What is Redirect?
- A page that redirects to another page
- Simple to setup
- Does not mask your affiliate link
Here you go, a new video on how to forward using redirect. You may need to turn up the volume.
The example used in the video is ChefPatrick.com/hosting which routes to my HostGator affiliate code.
Now that your done with the video you will want to download an FTP Solution software. FileZilla is the one that I use and it is free, FileZilla-project.org.
Secondly you will need the code for your forwarding. Remember to save it as .html when your done.
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv=”refresh” content=”0;
URL=http://YOUR LINK HERE” rel=”nofollow”>
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>
Any questions on the re-direct method please feel free to submit a comment.
Nice video and instructions. Seems easier now that I look at it.
Chef – along with you I don’t see what was wrong with the method in your last article…Personally, I find this way more confusing and complicated. Would anyone care to explain why this is a better alternative solutions?
There are many ways to mask affiliate links. Full frame redirect was yesterday’s method. The biggest downside is that a lot of affiliate programs specifically ban it. The reason why is that there is no pre-selling prior to sending the traffic to the affiliate. I assume because the conversion rates are lower but I have never tested it.
Header redirect is the method above and its main advantage is that you do not need access to the server to do the redirect.
There are other methods like .htaccess redirection, CNAME redirection, Javascript and so on.
There are pros and cons to each such as susceptibility to hijack where the attackers affiliate code is entered instead of yours, duplicate content issues and so on
hope that helps