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Affiliate Marketing Tip - Always Redirect Your Affiliate Links

Here's a lesson I learned 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 end in higher conversions. Getting your links redirected also enables you to measure that conversion because you can tell how frequently your links are clicked on. Finally, this will make it simple to change links if a merchant decides to alter 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. By doing this it is simple to change it out to another product if the original one no longer converts well or you aren't happy recommending it any more. But exactly how do you redirect your links? There are a few different easy options. I'll share the four most typical ones with you here:

cPpanel Redirects

For those who have cPanel hosting, there's an easy way to set up and manage your redirects. Log to your cPanel to check out the redirects option under preferences. Always select a permanent redirect. Next you want to pick the domain you want to redirect from. You'll find a summary of domains you have hosted in this particular cPanel account. Pick the one you want, after which produce the file name for your redirect (i.e. greenwidget). Last but not least, add some link you want the redirect to suggest to... in this case your affiliate link. Save your changes, test your link and you're done.

affiliate links

301 Redirects

Of course you can also hard code your 301 redirects in your.htaccess file. It is a simple type of code that you add to this particular file. I suggest using an ftp program like FileZilla to modify your files. Log to your hosting account via ftp and look for the.htaccess file in your root directory. This is important: Begin by making a backup copy of the current file. Then edit the file to incorporate a type 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

Another option is something called an html meta refresh redirect. I used these a great deal when most of my sites where built with Frontpage from microsoft. If you search for "html meta refresh redirect" inside your favorite search engine, you will find a few examples and code you can copy. You just create a new html document using the name you'd 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 try out the redirect.

Redirection Wordpress tool

If you are using WordPress to handle your website or blog (that we recommend you need to do), there's a level easier option. It's a plugin called "Redirection". It allows you to create custom 301 redirects from inside your WordPress admin panel. Just go into the name of your redirect link (i.e. /dailyaffiliatetasks ) and the full http form of your affiliate link. Not only will this plugin produce the redirect for you, it also keeps track of how frequently that link is visited making it simple for you to help keep tabs on conversions and find out what's working and what isn't. This is undoubtedly my personal favorite way to create redirects since i have can perform it right within the WordPress admin area. You don't need to open additional programs or log in to the cPanel. Try it out.