My name is Matthew Bredel and as of March, 2007, I am a full-time, work-at-home internet marketer.
For close to 10 years, I worked for a defense company which was an OK job, but I was so uninspired in life and frankly, I needed some more money. That is when I first discovered internet marketing! Now I admit that I didn't start making thousands in my first couple of months (in fact, I lost my shirt!), but I finally saw the "internet light"...
(Sonya) I came to this site by clicking on a “learn more” link that redirects to this page - what I want to know, although be it very basic, is how do I get a link to look like that? For example this web page url is http://www.matthewbredel.com/just-ask-matt, however I just clicked on something that said “learn more”. I want to know how I can title my links whatever I want with hidden url links in the exact same way you have!
Hey Sonya,
This is kind of an important topic and one I have discussed before. This “shortening” and “personalizing” of the URL is a standard practice and one that can be done in several ways.
For most of my redirects, I edit my htaccess file: Using Your HTAccess File to Redirect Users. I actually wrote a post on this and did a video, too (see previous link). This may be a little bit advanced for some, but if you have the proper access on your server to do it, this redirect is perhaps the most effective.
Also note that the Wordpress Permalink is similar to the htaccess redirect (it does use the htaccess file, but a little differently). This is how the “http://www.matthewbredel.com/just-ask-matt” works. Wordpress does it for you. The “just-ask-matt” is just the slug-name for the page I created and my Permalinks are turned on.
The other thing great about the htaccess redirect is that you can create a simple list of redirects. If that link ever changes, all you need to do is change it in your htaccess file (this works really well with affiliate links!). Plus, this “clones” the link you are redirecting to.
Now there are other, simpler redirects you can do.
Server Side (fairly advanced still):
Use a php header(”Location:http://www.yoursite.com”) command. Here, you would create a file or a script specifically to redirect.
Javascript (simpler):
This can be written directly in the HTML as a window.location function. I don’t recommend this, though, since it can be suppressed by pop-up blockers and won’t work in browsers where the javascript has been disabled.
HTTP Header (very simple):
By simply using the Refresh meta-tag in the header of your HTML, you can effectively redirect the user. This is kind of old-school, though, and you lose any referrer information. Not the best way.
<head> <meta http-equiv="Refresh" content="0; url=http://www.example.com/"> </head>
Use a SubDomain (Simple):
Now this is not like the others, but can be really simple. Instead of redirecting using a filename or folder, you can use a subdomain. This is in place of the “www”. For example, I could create a similar redirect using the domain name http://just-ask-matt.matthewbredel.com, where the subdomain is just-ask-matt. Instead of doing the stuff above, you would go to your domain company (mine is GoDaddy) and create a new SubDomain and set up a redirection on it. Usually, the domain company gives you about 100 subdomains for free.
Anyway, as you can see, there are several ways of doing this. Some are complicated and more effective. Others are simple, but have their limitations. Play around with them and see how it goes.
There is also a great wiki that discusses these more in detail at URL redirection.
Hope this helps!
cheers…matt
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Hey Matt. Great tutorial. Truly good stuff. I’m working on integrating something similar involving xml (long story)
But, I think the answer to the question above was a little more simple.
[Quote]
For example this web page url is http://www.matthewbredel.com/just-ask-matt, however I just clicked on something that said “learn more”. I want to know how I can title my links whatever I want with hidden url links in the exact same way you have!
{/Quote]
I believe the answer she was looking for was : Using html. Any website that allows you to use html (like many but not all blog comment fields, craigslist ads, blogs, and (some)facebook pages) will let you make links the look like This
<a href=”http://the-link-you-want-to-point-to.com/” rel=”nofollow”>The text you want displayed</a>
April 26th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
oops. Just found out that the XMP tag is deprecated…
Let’s try again.
<a href=”http://the-link-you-want-to-point-to.com/” rel=”nofollow”>The text you want displayed</a>
April 26th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Thanks for discussing the .htaccess redirects. I am really working to learn more about them.
June 1st, 2010 at 10:00 pm