Most affiliate marketers have run into cloaked or masked URLs, which allow for hiding actual URLs, let me give you an example:

http://www.theshop.com/?affil=imod

This would load up theshop.com with my affiliate code. Now, this makes the user well aware that they’re clicking an affiliate link and it often puts them off, so we use masking or cloaking, like so:

http://www.imod.co.za/theshop/

This would load a index.php file inside the ‘theshop’ folder, which would redirect the user to http://www.theshop.com/?affil=imod, but it’s a little less obvious.

Because this method has been used over and over in various formats, Internet users are becoming even more aware of this, so I’ve started using another method, which involves domains. You can buy domains these days or find them, if they’re available.

This time, what we’ll do is point the user to a URL, which them redirects them, so it’s much the same as the cloacked method, but you’re using a domain.

For example, if I wanted to tell people about property and hope that they click the link and purchase something in order to get commission, I would purchase a domain, which is shopping related and then redirect from there, like so:

http://www.shoppingplace.co.za, which would then redirect the user to http://www.theshop.com/?affil=imod

It’s much the same as cloacking or masking, but just one step further :)