MatosLedet911
Affiliate Marketing Tip - Always Redirect Your Affiliate Links
Here is a lesson I learned the hard way... always redirect your affiliate links. There's a handful of good reasons to do this. You're not as likely to have your affiliate commissions stolen is one, but more importantly, redirected links look neater and result in higher conversions. Having your links redirected also enables you to measure that conversion since you can tell how frequently your links are clicked on. Last but not least, this will make it easy to change links if a merchant decides to change affiliate programs or when a product is no more available.
Here's a quick tip. Use something generic for your redirect link rather than a product name. This way it is simple to change it out to another product when the original one no longer converts well or you're not happy recommending it any more. But how would you redirect your links? There are a few different easy options. I'll share the 4 most typical ones with you here:
cPpanel Redirects
If you have cPanel hosting, there's an easy way to set up and manage your redirects. Log into your cPanel to check out the redirects option under preferences. Always select a permanent redirect. Next you want to pick the domain you need to redirect from. You'll find a list of domains you have hosted during this cPanel account. Pick the one you want, and then create the file name for your redirect (i.e. greenwidget). Last but not least, add some link you would like the redirect to suggest to... in this case your affiliate link. Save your changes, test your link and you are done.
301 Redirects
Of course you can also hard code your 301 redirects in your.htaccess file. It's a simple type of code that you simply add particular file. I suggest utilizing an ftp program like FileZilla to modify your files. Log into your hosting account via ftp and look for the.htaccess file in your root directory. This is important: Always start by looking into making a backup copy of the current file. Then edit the file to include a line of code using the redirection information. It'll seem like this:
Save your file and upload it back to your server. Test out your redirect.
HTML Meta Refresh Redirects
An alternative choice is something called an html meta refresh redirect. I made use of these a great deal back when most of my sites where built with Microsoft FrontPage. If you look for "html meta refresh redirect" inside your favorite search engine, you will find a few examples and code you can copy. You simply produce a new html document with the name you would like your redirect connect to have (i.e. bestbluewidget.html), paste the code inside and replace the sample affiliate link to your personal. Upload the html file for your server and test the redirect.
Redirection Wordpress tool
If you are using WordPress to handle your site or blog (which I recommend you do), there's a level easier option. It is a plugin called "Redirection". It enables you to create custom 301 redirects from inside your WordPress admin panel. Just enter the name of the redirect link (i.e. /dailyaffiliatetasks ) and the full http version of your affiliate link. Not only will this plugin create the redirect for you, it also monitors how often that link is visited which makes it easy for you to help keep track of conversions and discover what's working and what isn't. This really is by far my personal favorite method to create redirects since i have can do it right inside the WordPress admin area. No need to open additional programs or log in to the cPanel. Try it out.
