Affiliate Link Cloaking Tools and Services

There are a number of different affiliate link cloaking options available; including self-hosted scripts and plugins for WordPress.

On most of my sites, I use a php redirection script to cloak my affiliate links. I also use Pretty Link PRO on my personal blog.
Although there are dozens of options available, I’ve listed only 6 here. These are the most popular link cloakers used by professional affiliates. Check out the list below to see which solution suits you best.

Affiliate Link Cloakers

1. Pretty Link Pro
   Shorten links using your own domain name. Pretty Link tracks each hit on your URL and provides a full, detailed report of where the hit came from, the browser, o/s and host. You can also track clicks from emails. The professional version is a significant upgrade to Pretty Link Lite that adds many tools and redirection types that will allow you to create pretty links automatically, cloak links, auto-tweet links, replace keywords though-out your blog and much more.
2. ThirstyAffiliates
   Thirsty Affiliates (free version) lets you administer your affiliate links, assists you with inserting them into your posts, pages and comments and gives you a central location in WordPress to manage all of your affiliate links. They offer a number of add-ons for click tracing, geolocation, importing affiliate links from Amazon and more.
3. Easy Redirect Script
   Create redirect URLs using your own website domain. One standout feature is the Stealth Page, which forces the redirect URL to display in the browser’s address bar. The program comes complete with stats tracking, SEO options, categories & descriptions, along with tool tips and excellent documentation.
4. MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate
   Automatically turn keywords in your blog to affiliate links. You can set a limit too, so your posts don’t look like a spam blog!  Create groups of links for easier management. Ninja Affiliate also allows you to display any text you want in your web browser’s status bar and it uses “No-Follow” links.  14-Day trial for $1.
5. Easy Redirect Script
   Create redirect URLs using your own website domain. One standout feature is the Stealth Page, which forces the redirect URL to display in the browser’s address bar. The program comes complete with stats tracking, SEO options, categories & descriptions, along with tool tips and excellent documentation.
Create redirect URLs using your own website domain. One standout feature is the Stealth Page, which forces the redirect URL to display in the browser’s address bar. The program comes complete with stats tracking, SEO options, categories & descriptions, along with tool tips and excellent documentation.

6. LinkTrackr
   LinkTrackr is web-based, easy to use, and helps you track your ad campaigns & affiliate links in real-time.
7. Improvely
   Powerful conversion tracking identifies the source of every signup or sale on your website, whether it’s from a paid marketing campaign or other channels. Improvely shows you what’s working and what’s not. Monitoring systems inspect every click for signs of suspicious activity. Get alerted to potential click fraud instantly.

I hope this list of reasons to cloak your affiliate links has convinced you that doing so is absolutely necessary if you want to avoid commission theft and make more money.
Comments, questions or suggestions? Please leave a comment below.