htaccess, Redirect, and Protecting Your Links

If you are currently running a website, and more particular, if you are an affiliate marketer, it is time for you to learn how to use your .htaccess file. Many of you just went “huh?” Don’t worry! This stuff (at least this post) is going to be pretty straight forward.

Let me first explain what the htaccess file is all about…

This is a configuration file that exists in your local website directory on your server. This file works mainly on Apache servers, which is what is typically installed on most server networks (check with you own server provider for more details). This file is also preceded with a ‘.’ (period) so the full filename is ‘.htaccess’. This preceding period signifies a “hidden file”. This does not mean it is hidden from you, just the public. Sometimes this file already exists in your directory by default or you may need to create it using a simple text editor (I use Notepad). This local configuration file can give you a lot of power with manipulating the URL’s of your website and the syntax, in some cases, is rather simple.

Today, I want to create our first .htaccess file using one of the simpliest, but most effective commands, the redirect command. This redirect command simply redirects a made-up filename or directory URL and redirects it to wherever you like. The .htaccess file requires no structure or header either. You just need to write down the commands. The structure of the command is:

redirect [made-up file/directory] [Target URL]

On TheWebReviewer, I use a redirect to link to this page as follows:

redirect /blog http://www.matthewbredel.com

The editor looks no more than this:

Now I just save the .htaccess file and upload it to my home directory on my server. We are done! Now, when someone clicks on the link: http://www.thewebreviewer.com/blog, they will be redirected to http://www.matthewbredel.com. Try it!

Of course, this is a cool trick, but how does it help us? Creating these redirects, especially as affiliate marketers, has three effects:

1) This is a clean and simple way of “cloaking” our nasty looking affiliate links. On your website, instead of having an link that looks like this:

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-1751-2978-0/1?aid=5900367&pid=2145758

it can look like this:

http://www.thewebreviewer.com/ebay

It is much cleaner looking now and it looks like the link is integrated into your website.

2) This is a great way of managing your links! If my affiliate link for eBay ever changes, instead of having to go into my website and change every single link manually, I can simply go into the htaccess file and make the simple change there. Keep in mind that you can have as many redirect statements in your htaccess file as you like (they are separated on different lines).

3) This is a great way of protecting yourself from your affiliate merchants. Remember that merchants can only trace your link one level back. This has the advantage of protecting your leads. Now I know that this can be used in malicious ways (and I do not advocate that AT ALL!). But let’s say that you chose to buy advertising on a website using an affiliate link and this link brings you tons of traffic and money! If the merchant knew about where this traffic was coming from, they may step in and claim this position. They have the right to do that. If you use the redirect, they will only know the referring URL to be your local website. In most cases, there is no need to protect yourself from you merchants (remember, they are your partners). Still, this can be an added bonus.

There is plenty of other cool things we can do with the htaccess file. Using redirects is the first and easiest function that it supports. Not only protect yourself and your links with the redirect, but make managing your links a whole lot easier.