How to cloak your affiliate links to increase your click conversion

As an affiliate marketer, I have to promote merchants and their services. One of the most effective and common form of promotion is through a simple text link (nowadays people will argue that video ads are better though) which will bring the readers to their respective sites.

The far majority of people will not like to click on a link that looks like this – http://xxx.com/snfnfERRER%^^&&$#@1@#$.

It looks way too ugly (some say shitty!) and seems like it is going to stretch all the way to the moon! You absolutely do not want a link to be looking like that. What we want is a nice functional link that will get the click.

Before I go on, let me address one issue first, which is that on ethics.

There are some who feel that cloaking is unethical, on the lack of transparency ground. To be very honest, I feel otherwise.

Marketing is all about optimizing your settings to achieve the maximum possible conversion. There is no obvious malicious intent to cheat or lie here when we cloak. The person that clicks the link will always be sent to the same destination, be it cloaked or not.

Great (and sobering) read for budding Internet Marketers out there

The other day I came across an interesting post by a member in the Warrior forum who attached a link to an article to his blog.

I was curious enough to click on the link, and boy was the article a great, and may I add, sobering read!

It details views which I thought was very true and echoes some of the thoughts and opinions I hold which I talked about in the post about hard-hitting lessons I’ve learnt.

The article, titled “Internet Marketing: The Harsh Reality“, by Martin Avis, really hits the nail on the head!

I’m in total agreement with many of his points.

If you ever want to dabble in business, do it for the right reasons, and not just for the sake of instant cash and fame. You must sincerely believe you can make a difference to your customers and partners.

Many are just in it for the quick fix, and to stroke their ego. They really do not know how much effort is being involved. Martin pointed out that if you want to go into business, you have to be in it for the long haul!

Hard-hitting lessons I’ve learnt thus far

Ever since I took the plunge into the Internet Marketing world, when I took my maiden step to register this domain name back in late December last year, my online journey so far has been an educational and eye opening one.

It is definitely also a very hectic, busy and tiring experience.

I have to say without a shadow of a doubt that the lessons I’ve gleaned with regards to business and marketing are really much more than what I could ever learn in school. Well actually I never did learn business and marketing in school anyway, since I was science student!

Anyway those  were some hard hitting lessons that really got me thinking and questioning my planning process - real HARD!

What lessons am I referring to anyway?

#1 Assumptions are the mother of all screw-ups!

Okay before I go on, I know statisticians will disagree with me here since assumptions are everything for them.

Anyway, I’ve been guilty of assuming to my detriment.

For example, there were certain niches that I thought were downright boring, and I assumed that there were no way in hell that anyone could ever be interested in them.

Important points an Affiliate Marketer should take note of

What does it take to become a successful Affiliate Marketer? Is it as as lucrative as many people have made it out to be?

All these questions play around in the minds of affiliate marketers who want to make it big in this business.

Are you following up with your leads?

When you talk about business, you often hear people going on about “location, location, location” being a very crucial factor!

Right, I’ve no doubt in my mind that location is extremely important.

Now I will like to give you another similar catch phrase - “follow up, follow up, follow up”! 

Following up?

“Is it necessary?”, you may ask.

Two words – you bet!

Here is why.

1. People don’t usually buy on the first time they are being introduced to a product or service. They want to consider many factors such as cost and benefits first before making a decision.

Sometimes, along the way, they may just forget about the whole thing, and there you have it - a lost sale if you do not take any follow up action on it!

It’s been proven that a sale is normally made on the third and fourth follow up on the lead. You refresh their memories, clear their doubts and remind them just how good your product is. When they start to enquire more, this will be a hint that they are getting interested, and you can then aim to go in for the kill.

Some comedic reliefs to beat away the blues

So far, I’ve been blogging on rather serious topics like business and finance. This post will be something different.

Hope it’s will bring some cheer and laughter to your hectic and stressful life.

I came across this video sometime back in an entrepreneurship forum when the moderator posted this up. Absolutely hilarious if you ask me.

Sit back and enjoy!

Hope you find it as funny as I did.