Considering the fact that there are so many various kinds of affiliate url cloakers in existence, it should come as no surprise to you that they come in a number of shapes, sizes, and (of course) prices. Varying from totally and absolutely cost-free to over $100, affiliate url cloakers undoubtedly appear to inhabit a different price range and while the free versions could be the most tempting for newbies, the question that you’re certain to be asking yourself is: What are the differences between them?
Truthfully speaking, it depends much on the specific affiliate url cloakers that you will be looking at, but there are many general trends that you should know of.
First of all among these is the fact that many free affiliate link cloakers are not actually ‘link cloakers’ in the true sense of the phrase. Instead they’re really just link shorteners that are being used to mask affiliate links to a certain degree. An example of this sort of link shortener is the ever-so-popular tinyurl.com service. Although these shorteners do hide links somewhat, after those links are clicked the full affiliate URL will probably appear in your prospective customer’s browser anyway – which explains why this type of free link cloaker is really very limited in terms of usage.
However, there are genuine full fledged link cloakers that are available for free and will even hide your affiliate link after it is often clicked. Normally, these are slightly better but for the basic purpose of covering the affilite link from view – they could suffice. However, many of them contain the ‘real’ URL somewhere in the source code, and that’s why they are not really all that safe.
Generally, the hallmark of paid affiliate link cloakers is always that they mask affiliate links the best. By going above and beyond what other link cloakers have to offer, you can rest assured that your link is as hidden as possible, and shouldn’t even appear in the source code.
Nevertheless – the true advantages of paid affiliate link cloakers are the many other capabilities that they include. Some allow for double redirecting or other methods of redirecting to a URL which you decide on while still getting the affiliate product ‘cookie’ to be able to get commissions from every sale that is made. Others include pop up or pop under advertisement opportunities.
All said and done, there are a lot of other features that paid affiliate link cloakers provide, and this is often what separates them from their ‘free’ counterparts.
Now you know the differences, you may make a more informed choice.
