Short URL Tutorials

URL Masking refers to the process of hiding the particular domain of a website from the address bar of a users web browser. This is commonly completed by affiliate marketers to stop site visitors from removing affiliate tracking codes from a URL to make sure the affiliate earns their commissions. Another reason affiliates do this really is to keep other affiliates from replacing the tracking codes from the URL and "stealing" or "hijacking" the commission.

You will find multiple ways you implement URL masking for your links. Some methods are extremely technical and require basic programming experience while other methods use software tools called link cloakers. For some affiliates, link cloaking tools will be the preferred method since they are simple to use and offer more features then just masking a URL.

Using iFrames - This technique is fairly easy and can be accomplished by most website owners. Here's the way you do it: Make a page and add the required iframe html coding. You will need to change the URL of the src attribute to the URL of the domain of the net page to be displayed within 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 web page because you definitely will need to upload this page to your web server for it to work. Next, just copy the link that goes to this page and after that you can distribute it on blogs, social marketing sites, emails and every other location you typically place your links.

Using FRAMESETS - this technique is additionally 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 within the the URL of the web page to be displayed in the browser. Then, upload this file to your web server. Like iFrames, you certainly will need to have access to the web server to post this file. Next, just copy the link that goes to this page and after that you can distribute it on blogs, social marketing sites, emails and every other location you typically place your Short Links (Click On this page).

Using Link Cloaker Software - this really is by far the easiest way to hide your URL because you usually will not need to edit code directly. When choosing a link cloaker, you are going to want to find one which includes critical features including Intelligent cloaking, click tracking, sales tracking, a link command center to edit your links and it has multiple cloaking methods to deal with all your masking needs. You'll find several popular tools you may get including SafeLinkCloaker.com which is quite popular among super affiliates.

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