Cloaking Methodology Reloaded
In today's world of affiliate marketing business, protection from commission theft such as hijackers, link bypasses, and parasite software, is still one major concern many affiliate online businesses face today.
There is no easy way out.
There are no 100% full proof protections.
There is no such thing as complete protection solution.
The best way is to understand what common techniques and tactics fraudsters employ.
From there, you can deploy some form of cloaking techniques to better protect your affiliate business.
Most affiliate Marketers do not seem to know, for example, that parasite software hits after your visitor has landed at the merchant's site.
So even if your visitor has successfully used your affiliate link through the redirect, there is a high chance that you would not receive your commission because the parasite software recognizes the merchant's page as one it is affiliated with, and cookies can get overwritten easily.
And you lose your affiliate sales just like that.
Since cloaking is so crucial, I will take this opportunity to share some brief protection methods employed by various link cloakers.
Cloaking Method 1 By converting your Affiliate link on your web page to HTML Unicode.
It uses Unicode link URL and Status Bar text changes for cloaking.
Cloaking Method 2 By using Embedded Affiliate Link along with HTTP Meta Refresh Redirect.
It redirects to the Merchant's Site via clean URL address.
Cloaking Method 3 Advanced Framing Technology that displays the Merchant's sales page on your web site in a Frame.
Cloaking Method 4 By using Framed pages with encrypted Frame Source URL.
Cloaking Method 5 By using Framed web pages with encrypted HTML Source Code.
Cloaking Method 6 By using hidden Inline Frames.
These are some of the main methods that cloakers employ.
There are pros and cons of each method.
Be realistic, nothing's perfect.
But without employing any protection, the risk of lost sales is much higher.
I personally encourage affiliate marketers to remember a golden rule - "lost sales equal no sales".
So lower the risk and do not compromise.
Copyright 2008
There is no easy way out.
There are no 100% full proof protections.
There is no such thing as complete protection solution.
The best way is to understand what common techniques and tactics fraudsters employ.
From there, you can deploy some form of cloaking techniques to better protect your affiliate business.
Most affiliate Marketers do not seem to know, for example, that parasite software hits after your visitor has landed at the merchant's site.
So even if your visitor has successfully used your affiliate link through the redirect, there is a high chance that you would not receive your commission because the parasite software recognizes the merchant's page as one it is affiliated with, and cookies can get overwritten easily.
And you lose your affiliate sales just like that.
Since cloaking is so crucial, I will take this opportunity to share some brief protection methods employed by various link cloakers.
Cloaking Method 1 By converting your Affiliate link on your web page to HTML Unicode.
It uses Unicode link URL and Status Bar text changes for cloaking.
Cloaking Method 2 By using Embedded Affiliate Link along with HTTP Meta Refresh Redirect.
It redirects to the Merchant's Site via clean URL address.
Cloaking Method 3 Advanced Framing Technology that displays the Merchant's sales page on your web site in a Frame.
Cloaking Method 4 By using Framed pages with encrypted Frame Source URL.
Cloaking Method 5 By using Framed web pages with encrypted HTML Source Code.
Cloaking Method 6 By using hidden Inline Frames.
These are some of the main methods that cloakers employ.
There are pros and cons of each method.
Be realistic, nothing's perfect.
But without employing any protection, the risk of lost sales is much higher.
I personally encourage affiliate marketers to remember a golden rule - "lost sales equal no sales".
So lower the risk and do not compromise.
Copyright 2008
