Reprinted from Theebs.com, my old site.¹

Are you tired of people stealing your affiliate earnings from you? Would you like to control links remotely? What about stopping SPAM Bots in their tracks? What about nicer looking links?

We’re going to take care of that problem. The method I’m going to show you is pretty simple and it helps keep prying eyes from your links (Bonus: It also stumps SpamBots and controls links remotely! Read on to find out how!). First I’m going to go over a little information about this method:

DISadvantages of the .HTACCESS method of redirection:

• Requires some work.


• Requires a web site that runs a unix based system (like Apache). (But not total privileges. The .HTACCESS file can be edited on almost all sites, and for almost all folders. I do not know if it works on Windows NT sites or not. Never had the privilege to try.)
• Does not keep the linked site in a frame. (Unless the linked site is a frame redirect page)

ADVANTAGES of the .HTACCESS method of redirection:

• Completely protects the link. .HTACCESS files are not accessible to the public, and therefore the link is never seen.
• Very nice looking links: http://www.yoursite.com/link
• Does not require extra web space for .html files.
• Multiple links can be easily managed through one file. (And if you use an editor like Crimson Editor, which is FREE, you can even edit the file RIGHT ON YOUR SERVER, so there’s no downloading and then uploading.)
• If you use a web server that has CPANEL installed, you can manage the redirects right through there without even knowing a .HTACCESS file exists.

Comparison:

• The FRAME/ENCRYPTION method has a decent chance to not work.
• The JAVASCRIPT methods may not work because the user has turned off JAVASCRIPT.
• The REDIRECT HTML method may not work because some browsers do NOT support META TAG REFRESH commands.
• The 3RD PARTY method (such as tinyurl.com) usually works, but what if the 3RD PARTY site goes down? Or disappears comepletely?
• The .HTACCESS method ALWAYS works as long as the site at the other end is up, but the downside is not everyone can use it. It does not depend on the browser for the redirection like all of the other methods (except 3RD PARTY) do and it is safely stored on your own server. But the people who can, should not pass it up.

Instructions:

You need a file called .HTACCESS in the main folder of your website. If it is not there you can create one by using your favorite text editor. (Do not use Microsoft Word or the like because they destroy the code.)

Your main folder is the location on your server where your front page is located.

Example:

/home/your_site/public_html/

or

/home/your_site/www/

So, in other words, the exact location of this file would be, according to our example:

/home/your_site/public_html/.htaccess

Now for the actual link protection. You’re going to need a line in the .HTACCESS file that looks like this:

Redirect permanent /DIRECTORY http://YOUR_LINK_GOES_HERE

DIRECTORY would be a non-existent directory on your server that represents your product. The key word here is ‘non-existent’.
The directory cannot really exist on your web server.

Example:

For Neil Shearing’s Internet Success Blueprint, I use the following directory:

/l/isb

YOUR_LINK_GOES_HERE would be the link you are trying to hide.

Example:

Also for Neil’s product, my link is the following:

http://www.scamfreezone.com/t.cgi?a=206884&e=/bizop/

So if you put the last two examples together you get:

Redirect permanent /l/isb http://www.scamfreezone.com/t.cgi?a=206884&e=/bizop/

Now I can link directly to his product by sending people to:

http://www.saphrym.com/l/isb

After you finish adding as many lines as you’d like for the links you use, you then upload the .HTACCESS file to your server in the previously mentioned main directory and test your links. (Make sure to upload the file in ASCII mode. Check your FTP program’s manual on how to do this.)

If you use tracking software like AXS, this helps even more, because those link tracking links can be HUGE.

Following is an example of a link redirect portion of an .HTACCESS file:

Redirect permanent /isb http://www.scamfreezone.com/t.cgi?a=206884&e=/bizop/

Redirect permanent /h9 http://secure.hostnine.com/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=saphrym

Redirect permanent /ispm http://www.scamfreezone.com/t.cgi?a=206884&e=/privatesite

Redirect permanent /ispcs http://scamfreezone.com/t.cgi?a=206884&e=/cashflow/

Redirect permanent /yuwie http://www.yuwie.com/yuwie.asp?r=78173

Redirect permanent /ppp http://tinyurl.com/yp76j4

Redirect permanent /arc http://www.saphrym.com/newsletter/archive

That should give you an idea of what you can do with this method of link protection and how easy it is to keep up with your
links since they are all in one file.

NOTICE: I did leave out one line though. It was a mailto: link.

Redirect permanent /email mailto:something@something.ooga

So this method can even be used for SPAM PREVENTION! Take THAT you SpamBots! (Of course the code above does not reflect a real e-mail address. Doing so on this page would have defeated the purpose of the redirect I have in my .htaccess file.) Make sure to use target= for this link so it doesn’t open a blank page where your site used to be. Like this:

<A HREF=”http://www.saphrym.com/email” target=”_blank”>Mail Me</A>

NOTICE: Look at the list again. Look at the final item carefully. It links to a page on my own site, and nowhere else. Why would I do that?

Quite simple. Imagine placing the actual link in your newsletter, on forums, in your eBooks, etc. Now, imagine that link changes. What do you do?

You plan. You put a redirect to any page you think may change in the future (for example, I probably would change my newsletter software when my subscriber list becomes much larger, which will in turn change my archive location). Then, when the page actually does change, you change it only in this file, and it automatically changes everywhere else. REMOTE CONTROL LINKING! Lovely, isn’t it?

I hope this helps someone out there.

1. An article I wrote when I ran the Theebs.com website back in 2000. To find out more about theebs.com, click here. [«]

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