A redirect link is a piece of code which takes an original URL, and transforms it into another. This new URL is then used by you - and anyone clicking it is directed to the original URL. Does that make sense?

An example. Let's say I wanted to promote an affiliate offering at http://www.someaffiliatesite.com/aff/affiliates.php?referrer=burt - well that's an OK url, but is hardly memorable.

Using an external redirect service

So, I can use one of many online services to shorten the URL. A good example is www.tinyurl.com. If I used the Tiny URL service, I might end up with www.tinyurl.com/2u6uwp - which is much shorter than the original and a bit more memorable. Now I can use <a xhref="http://www.tinyurl.com/2u6uwp">blah</a> in my webpages and this will automatically direct to my original URL as in the example above.

The downside of using an external service

Well, it's pretty obvious. What happens if their server is temporarily down, or if they go out of business. Or if they forget to renew their domain. And so on. Or even something as simple as if they start to charge for redirects…

Also, and probably more importantly, what happens if the Affiliate site changes it's URL structure to something new - in other words your original Aff URL has to change - which is due to happen in a few days with "Text Link Ads". Well, most external services do not allow you to update the destination URL - hence you are up sh1t creek without a paddle. You need to use your own hosted service…
The best of both worlds

Sarah has an interesting piece of code for easy affiliate redirects and some example usage. Though her use is quite like mine, I prefer to do things more automatically. Some months back I came up with an idea for a desktop tool to automate the adding of affiliate links to a redirect script. I called it "PX Cloaker".

Introducing PX Cloaker

It's a simplistic tool which allows the user to add any number of redirect links to 1 central file. This file is then accessed and the link is redirected. You can download it for free by emailing pxcloaker@aweber.com - simply follow the instructions in the resulting email and you'll have PX Cloaker within a few short minutes.

Should you like the tool and want to offer it to your customers or even sell it, you can - simply purchase a resell license at a cost of $40. In other words;

1. It's free for personal use.
2. You buy a resellers license if you wish to distribute it. This license gives you almost unlimited rights; giveaway, resell, even MASTER resell. I'll give you the original .doc document for the readme so that you can rebrand it! For the first 5 buyers, I will also throw in a free Software Cover branded in your name/url.

My suggestion is to download it - assuming you like it and see it's value for your customers - buy a resellers license, rebrand the User Manual and start selling it. Easy as 123. You have an instant business, ready to go.

Here's how to get the Personal Use, Free Of Charge Version

Simply visit pxcloaker.info and fill out the form. Please make sure to use a real email address so that you can get the download URL delivered to you!

Please note that I registered the domain, set up hosting and made the website this afternoon so if it does not resolve or the site produces an error, please let me know! Thanks

Lastly. Enjoy!