Find out now how camouflage your affiliate links for dissemination!
Whether you are a novice or experienced affiliate, the first thing you need to know is that the link that will be advertised needs to be different from the producer's sales page.
Sites like Hotmart, Monetizze, Eduzz, Braip and others provide a link that has the company's url/domain.
It usually comes with some unique code, numbers and letters, in the url provided by the platform/affiliate program.
The affiliate links provided are generally “ugly” and to the lay public it may be considered a strange link or even “catch a virus” if you click on it.
And I don't take away the reason many people don't click on them, as they have characters and numbers that turns out to be very different from a url like kevinbk.com, for example.
tracking sales
Before camouflaging your affiliate link, it would be good to set the necessary parameters for you to know where the sale came from and better measure your results.
The main platforms already offer this option to add the SRC and UTM parameter, which is simple to implement, see the examples below:
Hotmart
In hotLinks (as hotmart calls affiliate links) you only need to add a word to identify where the sale came from:
https://go.hotmart.com/K12708901B?src=kbk
O kbk I used it as an example. Choose any word you like with up to 30 characters
In the case of Alternative HotLinks they already have the "?" so we can't use the question mark again but the symbol "&”.
https://go.hotmart.com/K12708901B?ap=6856&src=kbk
Monetizze
At Monetizze they usually provide 3 links, one standard, one shortened and one exclusive to social media.
http://kevinbk.com//linkdomestika
shortened link
http://kevinbk.com//linkdomestika
Link to Social Networks
http://kevinbk.com//linkdomestika
As it happens on hotmart or any platform, when the link contains "?" replace with “&”.
We have an option in Monetizze for you to generate your affiliate link. on the menu at Tools >> Urls you will see fields to fill in url, src and UTM.
Eduzz
Eduzz, unlike the previous ones, only provides a link and we can only add the UTM parameter.
In order not to complicate things, I advise you to generate your link in Links is on Product choose one, then click URL Creator:
A pop up will open to configure UTM:
Braip
In Braip, the procedure is the same, but you can also generate the ready-made url in Tools >> URL Generator.
You may have already noticed that these tools provided by the platforms offer, in addition to the SRC, the UTM parameter. If you have any questions, there is a article explaining how they work.
Link Shorteners
We already know that affiliate links may not be presentable and still be long. A simple way to camouflage it is using a url shortener.
One of the most famous is undoubtedly bitly, because in a few steps we can shorten and even customize the link:
The process is simple, you create an account and then just shorten any link you want by clicking on the CREATE button.
There are hundreds of shorteners, choose one that allows you to analyze clicks, origin and others.
Alternative indication for you to analyze rebrandly.
Hotmart also has a tool to shorten the link. Inside your account, go to Products >> I'm an Affiliate and choose a product and in the Hotlink or Alternative Hotlink tab we have the option to copy, shorten and access as in the image below:
By clicking on Shorten you are redirected to another screen where you can choose the hotlink.:
On the next screen you customize the shortened link and place the parameters you deem necessary and then click on “Next”.
In the next step, just check if everything is correct and click on “Finish”.
WordPress Plugin
For those who use the WordPress CMS you can install several free or paid plugins (Premium) to manage your links. I believe it is one of the simplest and most effective ways to manage, as we can change it if the product goes down.
I'll give as an example the plugin I've been using for many years for simplicity and ease.
Affiliate Links Lite
The installation of Affiliate Links plugin it's simple like any other plugin in the WordPress directory.
Although it has a premium version, the free one is more than enough to manage your affiliate links. Its main functions are:
- Statistics with numbers of clicks on your link
- Redirection 301, 302 and 307
- Nofollow and Noindex in redirects
- Creating categories
- Generate the html and shortcode when creating the links
After installing and activating the plugin in the plugin settings in Affiliate Links >> Settings we have the option to configure:
Affiliate Link Base. Here you choose the directory that will be included in the url, for example, if you put "go" your link will be kevinbk.com/go/affiliate-link, that is, every time you see a similar link you'll already know where to change.
Default URL for Redirect. Here you configure a default redirect in case any link is not correct if the link that was indicated, excluded, for example.
Nofollow Affiliate Links. Leave all links created in the plugin nofollow and noindex. I advise you to leave it activated.
Show Category ub Link URL. Choose whether or not to show the category it was created for in the url.
count hits. Keep track of statistics on how many clicks you've received.
Redirect Type. Which redirect want to leave in your links created with the plugin.
Now every time you create a link just go to Affiliate Links >> Add New Link :
Despite having made the settings above, you can change them later on each link created.
In the first option (similar to where you put the title when creating a post) choose a name for your link.
A Permalink will be generated after publishing, but it can be changed at any time.
Link Settings
Your Link. Where you can copy the link by clicking Copy.
Link target URL. Here is an important option and is where you will place your affiliate link generated by platforms as indicated at the beginning of this article.
Link Description. Write a description about the link.
Nofollow Link. Choose to enable or disable noindex and nofollow.
Redirect Type. Choose which redirect you want to use. You can leave the default 301.
Total Hits. Display the number of clicks your link received. Can be reset by clicking on Reset count.
Categories. Create a category to organize your links.
Link Embedding. After publishing, the HTML code and the link's shortcode will be generated.
These are the settings you will need to start using the plugin.
Wordpress plugin alternative indication Easy Affiliate Links.
Did you like the tips? Don't forget to send this article to your friend who are starting out in affiliate marketing.