Quick Start - Affiliate Link Cloaker

For people who are proficient at using Windows programs and using ftp to upload web pages, this quick start guide should be enough to get you off and running in about 10 minutes or less.

Once you have installed the program, if it does not start automatically, go to the "Start" button and then go to "Programs" and open "Affiliate Link Cloaker".

This will start the program.

Step 1- Enter the affiliate link you want to cloak. For best results, just copy and paste the link you want to cloak from the email you got when you signed up for that particular affiliate program. Make sure to include the http:// at the start of the link.

Step 2 - Enter the name of the html page you want to create. I always make mine short and sweet with one word names and NO SPACES.

NOTE: The default page type is html, but you can change this to htm, shtml, asp, whatever if you have a specific reason for doing so. Otherwise don't make any changes to the file type.

Note that the dot "." is inserted for you so DO NOT put a "." in the page name or in the file type.

Step 3 - Where it says "Enter Page Title (50 Characters):" You should enter the Name of the Site you are cloaking, or some reasonable facsimile, since the Title tag is what people will see in the top left of their web browser's window when they look at your page. 

NOTE: It is NOT necessary to use the other three blanks in Step 3 unless you are planning to submit your page to the search engines. Most people will not use these blanks.

For more information on using the Keywords, Description and Body Text blanks, refer to the detailed instructions on Step 3 by Clicking Here. 

Click the "Next >>" button in the lower right of the program window to go to the last 2 steps.

Step 4 - You will now create your cloaked page. 

Choose between Normal and Secure for the page type. I always use Secure unless I am submitting the finished cloaked page to a search engine.

Then click the "Create page" button - this will cause a "save file" box to open. 

When you originally installed the program it created a folder on your hard drive called "Cloaked pages". This is the default directory to save your pages. The page name it fills in is the one you entered in Step 2. DO NOT try to change the page name here! 

Simply click the Save button or, if you want to change the page name, go back to Step 2.

You can, if you wish, change the directory where you save the pages. This is especially useful if you want to cloak all the affiliate links in an ebook and save them in the same file folder. Just remember that the most recent file folder you save a page to will become the default file folder until you change it again.

Step 5 - You will now upload your cloaked page to your website. 

If this is your first time using the Affiliate Link Cloaker you will need to set up the details of your website so you can upload the page that cloaks your link. Unlike subscription services, there is no limit to the number of sites you can use with this software!

The necessary information for this part of the process is found in the information you received from your web hosting company. Go find the email they sent you when you first signed up for your hosting account - that email has the information you need.

Fill in the Site Name - this is the name you'll see displayed in the left of the box on step 5 (see the picture above this one on the left of the big white box).

Fill in your FTP Host - this is usually your domain name without the www

Port - leave the port alone! Unless you know it is a different port don't change it.

Username and Password - fill in each of these.

Directory - this one can be a little tricky. The Directory you want is the one where you upload your html pages to display on the web. This Directory is usually something like "http" or "docs" or "www" or "httpdocs" or something similar.

Contact your web hosting company if you have any questions about the name of the directory. 

Also, you can log into your website through your regular FTP program to see which directory you put html files into.

As a last resort, if you can't figure out the correct directory, you can just upload your cloaked pages to your website using your regular FTP program. The pages cloaking your links are located in the "Cloaked Pages" file folder (or a different folder if you chose to save them elsewhere) that was created on your hard drive during installation.

Click "OK" when you are done configuring your ftp information. Your website should now appear in the list of FTP sites.

Click the site in the list of FTP sites to highlight it. 

Now click the "Upload" button to upload your cloaked page to your website.

You will get the following message when your page has been uploaded successfully:

Click OK

Step 6 - Now test your new cloaked page by going to your web browser and typing in your website plus the name of the page (Step 2) you created in and uploaded. 

For example http://www.yoursite.com/cloakedpage.html

By the way - this is the LINK you will put in your website and email messages to cloak the real link which is your affiliate link.

You you will see the link your cloaked (http://www.yoursite.com/cloakedpage.html) in the browser's address bar.

<- "TECH" NOTE On CLICKBANK -> It's estimated there are over 100,000 active affiliate programs out on the net. 

Some affiliate programs, like ClickBank, will occasionally change the mechanics of their systems. 

Right now ClickBank will throw off the cloaked link once the surfer get to the affiliate's website, but by then your cookie and other tracking mechanisms are already set... so you're protected!

You're all set to go! 

You now have a cloaked page with an affiliate link that is virtually hack-proof! There's no way anyone is going to hijack this link by looking at your html code!

Use the cloaked link http://www.yourwebsite.com/cloakedpage.html in place of http://www.affiliatelink.com/yourID when sending out links to people in your emails, website or wherever you let people know about a link so you can get paid!

Use this link to make money now!

You are now ready to send this cloaked link out to the public in a way that will defeat all but the most determined of affiliate link thieves. 

For More Detailed Instructions on setting up and using the Affiliate Link Cloaker - Click Here

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