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PHP'd Out
May 01, 2006
For the longest time now, I've always made it a rule to never tweak code in the evening. Tweaking code in the evening is practically begging for a 4:00 a.m. night, nervously trying to get your website back to a semblance of the way it was before you go to sleep.
It is, very definitely, not very good for the nerves (not to mention your overtired body).
Now I'm discovering that tweaking code can also take whole days away. And it's funny how something can just grab a hold of you and simply won't let go until you've found a solution - even though the solution isn't imperative to whatever project(s) you happen to have on the go at the moment.
So. (Can you tell this is coming?) I just lost two days searching for a decent redirect script that I can use on the new affiliate sites I'm planning for my personal 50 Affiliate Sites Challenge.
Since these sites are going to lean heavily towards the affiliate side of things (I'm not planning to run Adsense on most of them), I thought it would be good to broaden my base in include more CJ and Linkshare links. (Normally, I try to go with Shareasale whenever I can, because I find them more affiliate-friendly.) (Aff links)
One problem with CJ and Linkshare affiliate links is that various anti-adware programs, like Norton, will block their links and banners as a default. So unless a person using the anti-spyware program actually manually changes this default, when they land on your page, where you have that nice handy affiliate link (specifically for the product that they happened to be looking for, of course - which was the whole reason why they landed on your page to begin with) - all they will see is ... nothing.
This is most definitely not a good thing for a publisher.
Anyway, you can get around this problem by using either a PHP or CGI script to redirect your links. And I found a few scripts that sounded great, but I couldn't get them to work. The ones that I could get to work weren't exactly optimal.
And to top it all off, it's not like I urgently need this right now, anyway. Two days later, and I am totally PHP'd out. Really.
The thing that I can't get over, though, is that I stumbled over a commercial script that's going for only $19.95, which I could have bought at any given moment. And did I? Well, of course not. For some reason, a part of me just wanted to hang onto this problem and figure it out for myself.
Needless to say, after two days, I am pretty sure I'll be pulling out that credit card and taking the easy way out. Tomorrow.
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Posted by BJ at 11:55 PM in Website Design | Permalink
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Comments
Which commercial product are you looking at?
Posted by: Dennis Pallett | May 2, 2006 3:24:19 AM
I hesitated about posting the name of the product, since I haven't tried it yet, but I think I will be buying it soon. It's EZCloak, and you can find it here: http://www.mj99.com/scripts/ezcloak.php?name=
PHP%20Cloaking%20Script
(Sorry that's not a clickable link. I had to turn off html in my comments because I was getting way too much comment spam.)
Posted by: BJ | May 2, 2006 11:19:32 AM
... well I've learned something new today. I had no idea that Norton did that! I'm definitely going to check out the script - and thanks for posting the link :)
Posted by: Empress | May 2, 2006 11:47:01 AM
Hey Belle,
I have a redirect script I may be able to scrap together for you.
I use a redirect script on my own site (see http://www.buniek.com/writing/adwords-black-book.html for an example).
However, it's not ready for prime time and it's not a link cloaker - just a redirect script. I still need to create an installation script and admin interface.
Once it is ready, I will release it (most likely for free). In the meantime, I'll be happy to set it up on your website for you if you'd like.
~ Teli
Posted by: Teli | May 2, 2006 12:56:59 PM
Teli, I just checked your page out, and that is exactly what I need. I don't care about cloaking the links - apparently the php redirect is sufficient to deter the ad blockers, and that's really all I want. Link tracking is also nice so I'm definitely looking forward to the final release. But in the meantime, yes, please do send over the script! Thank you!!
Posted by: BJ | May 2, 2006 1:08:03 PM
I had no idea Norton blocked CJ ads either! Have you ever tried AzoogleAds.com? I like their program better than CJ and ShareASale.
-Brandon Hopkins
Posted by: Business Cards | May 16, 2006 3:01:07 PM
