2. If you're at all familiar with Article Marketing, then you
know that the main thrust behind your articles is the bio
box or resource box. This is where you put a link to a
significant website that you're trying to promote.
3. But that can be a real problem when you're attempting to
promote a product that isn't your own.
4. Affiliate links can be long and rather ugly, not to mention
obvious. So it becomes pretty difficult to get your readers
to see you as an expert when your links have all those "=",
"?" and long arrays of numbers and codes in it.
5. To add to the problem, most of the article directories now
strip out html coding in both the article body and the bio
box and hyperlink your URL instead.
6. So hiding your long affiliate link behind some coded text is
pretty much out of the question too. Which leaves you to
post your articles with your affiliate link hyerlinked in your
bio box. And as you probably know, it's awfully hard to
hide something that's neon blue against a background of
black and white.
7. There are, however,a few things you can do to hide the
fact that you're promoting an affiliate product. Some of
them have some potential drawbacks, but when you're
desperate, anything is better than nothing.
9. Pros: These are usually free to use and can quickly change
any link to a much smaller, cloaked link. You just have to
paste your long affiliate link in the box and click one
button to get a mini link that will take visitors to the same
site.
10. Cons: Your new URL will have the link shrinker's domain
name. If they are a popular service you might find your
links timing out when their servers get over worked.
13. Pros: Allows you to create alternate links directly on your
own domain. Good for Article Marketing because they
usually have you place the script in a folder named
"recommends" or something similar. So your link looks
like . . .
15. Cons: You have to manually tweak php files and upload
them to your server. Then you have to have a system
where you can keep track of all your real affiliate links,
what you've renamed them and where they are on your
server.
17. Pros: You fill in a few lines on a form, click a couple
buttons and your new links are created and uploaded to
your server for you. Your real affiliate links are stored in
the system along with the name and location of your
rerouted links. Plus you're able to easily modify the whole
process.
18. You can create hundreds of links for one product, which is
a big plus for article marketing because if you use an
article submission program you can load all your different
links into different bio boxes, which solves the html code
stripping problem in the directories.
19. Cons: They don't come free. There's a price to pay for
ease, speed and efficiency. Prices vary, but expect to pay
at the lowest around $40.
20. In any event, there are ways to successfully turn an
Affiliate Marketer into a high powered Article Marketer.
Affiliate links don't have to look like affiliate links
anymore, which opens things up for Affiliate Marketers to
use this highly effective marketing venue.
