Affiliate Marketing Tip - Always Redirect Your Affiliate Links

Here's a speedy tip. Use something generic for your redirect link in lieu of a product name. This way you can basically modify it to a different product if the original no longer converts well or you are not happy recommending it any longer. But how do you redirect your links? There's a few different simple options. I'll share the most common ones with you here:

Here's a lesson I learned the hard way... always redirect your affiliate links. There's a couple of nice reasons to do this. You are less likely to have your affiliate commissions stolen is of them, but more importantly, redirected links look neater & finish in higher conversions. Having your links redirected also lets you measure that conversion because you can tell how often your links are clicked on. Last but not least, this makes it simple to modify links if a merchant decides to modify affiliate programs or when a product is no longer available.




cPpanel Redirects


In the event you have cPanel hosting, there is an simple way to set up & manage your redirects. Log in to your cPanel & look for the redirects option under preferences. Always select a permanent redirect. Next you need to select the domain you need to redirect from. You'll discover a list of domains you have hosted in this particular cPanel account. Select the you need, & then generate the file name for your redirect (i.e. greenwidget). Last but not least, add the link you need the redirect to point to... in this case your affiliate link. Save your changes, check your link & you are done.



301 Redirects

Of work you can also hard code your 301 redirects in your.htaccess file. It is a simple line of code that you add to this particular file. I recommend using an ftp program like FileZilla to alter your files. Log in to your hosting account by ftp & look for the.htaccess file in your root listing. This is important: Always start by making a backup copy of your current file. Then edit the file to include a line of code with the redirection information. It will look like this:

Redirect 301 / [redirect name].html http:// [your affiliate link]

Save your file & upload it back to your server. Check your redirect.

Another option is something called an html meta refresh redirect. I used these a bit back when most of my sites where built with Microsoft FrontPage. In case you search for "html meta refresh redirect" in your favourite search engine, you'll find some examples & code you can copy & paste. You generate a new html document with the name you'd like your redirect link to have (i.e. bestbluewidget.html), paste the code in there & replace the sample affiliate link together with your own. Upload the html file to your server & check the redirect.

HTML Meta Refresh Redirects

Redirection WordPress Plugin

In case you are using WordPress to manage your web-site or weblog (which I highly recommend you do), there is an even simpler option. It is a plugin called "Redirection". It lets you generate custom 301 redirects from within your WordPress admin panel. enter the name of your redirect link (i.e. /dailyaffiliatetasks ) & the full http version of your affiliate link. Not only will this plugin generate the redirect for you, it also keeps track of how often that link is clicked on making it simple for you to keep track of conversions & find out what is working & what is not. This is by far my favourite way to generate redirects since I can do it right within the WordPress admin area. No need to open additional programs or log in to the cPanel. Give it a try.