Link Cloaking Plugin Update
Some time ago I created a WordPress plugin that can cloak affiliate links automatically. Today I’m releasing a new version, with all-new feature(s)!
The main improvement I’ve implemented is “static link cloaking”. The previous version of the plugin could only cloak links that you’ve actually used in a post, which is inconvenient if you want to use the cloaked link anywhere else, like forums or e-mails, because the cloaked URL might change or stop working if you edited the post. This is still true for automatically cloaked links, but now there’s a new feature available – static links.
Static Links Are Different
- Independent from the rest of your blog’s content – add any links and use them anywhere!
- No numbers tacked on the end.
- The number of hits is tracked!
Here’s an actual example of how a (static) cloaked link’s URL looks -
http://w-shadow.com/goto/GTrends/ (goes to my keyword research tool).
Using Static Links
You can add, remove or view the links in the Manage -> Cloaked Links tab. This page contains a form for adding new links and a list of existing cloaked links, if any. The list also shows the number of hits for each link. Note that the plugin counts all hits, including those generated by search engines and the like. This means that the number will probably be a bit higher than the actual amount of clicks the link received.
A link is defined by a name and a destination URL. The name is what you’ll see in the cloaked URL – in the example above it’s “GTrends”. The name shouldn’t contain any special symbols, like spaces, question marks, non-latin characters and so on. For best compatibility, use only latin letters, numbers and underscores in the name field. The name is case-insensitive and must be unique for each link.
The destination URL indicates the address to which the visitor will be redirected when he clicks the link. No surprises here – just make sure the URL is correct.
Adding static cloaked links is easy – just enter the name and URL in the corresponding boxes and click “Add”. The resulting cloaked URL will look similar to this – http://your_blog_address.com/more/MyLink/. “more” is a prefix that you can set in Options -> Link Cloaking and “MyLink” is the link’s name. You can also view the cloaked URL by clicking the “show cloaked url” thingy near each links destination URL.
To delete a cloaked link, click the “Delete” link in the corresponding row.
Download : WordPress Link Cloaking Plugin, ver. 1.1 (9 KB)
Installation Notes
After you’ve uploaded and activated the plugin, you must go to Options -> Permalinks and click Update Permalinks. This is necessary even if you have the previous version installed. The cloaked links won’t work if you don’t do this! Complete installation instructions and more information about this plugin are available in the original post.
Hi White Shadow,
Your plugin is great, but after trying it on a WP 2.2.3 site, it doesn’t work. When I move my cursor over it, the URL still shows the affiliate ID and such.
So far, it has only worked for WP 2.2.1 and maybe 2.2.2.
I’ve not tried it on WP 2.3 but it probably won’t work too?
S.G
This site runs on WP 2.3.1 and, as you can see, it works here. I also worked fine when I had 2.2.2. I’d guess it’s conflicting with one of your other plugins, maybe.
Hello!
Great plugin. I had an idea I thought I would share with you, without actually knowing if there is a hook available for it. But here is the idea anyways:
The ability to cloak links that are included in the template (or more specifically within the loop)
This would allow the capability to automatically create the link by setting some post-meta data and have the link show up outside the post-entry and instead within the template. Just an idea!
Thanks again for the great plugin. =)
Hey na3s, I’m glad you like the plugin.
Unfortunately I’m pretty sure there isn’t a hook for that.
Is there any chance to make it work with custom fields?
Thanks,
Milos
Not in the foreseeable future, no.
Hi, Thanks for your great plugin.. Unfortunately I’m unable to manage it work on my blog. I’m using wordpress version 2.3.3
When I click on the link its only redirected to my home page. Kindly pls help. Thanks in advance.
[...] most recent version of the link cloaking plugin, though, adds what the author calls static cloaked links. These are what you want to use for [...]
does this work with wordpress 2.5
have not gotten it to work
It should work in WP 2.5, at least it does for me. If you upgraded from 2.x to 2.5 you need to update permalinks (again) for the plugin to work. Also, make sure the “link cloaker” code is at the top of .htaccess (the cloaker-related part of the file is marked as such).
It should work in WP 2.5, at least it does for me. Just remember to update permalinks, and make sure the cloaker-related code is at the top of .htaccess.
ok thanks
does the code in the .htaccess file need to be in the wordpress area
‘# BEGIN WordPress” or before that
Typically it should be at the very top of the file, though it may vary depending on your configuration. It might also work if you put it right after the “# BEGIN WordPress” bit.
I installed version 1.2.2 on WP 2.3.1 but I couldn’t find the Manage -> Cloaked Links tab you mentioned. Did I miss anything? Thanks.
That’s very unusual. Is the other menu – Options -> Link Cloaking – also missing, or just this one? Are you sure the plugin is active?
The plugin is active and I can see “Options -> Link Cloaking.” I tested the cloaked links in my posts. They are fine. But I can’t see “Manage -> Cloaked Links” and the hits.
I downloaded from http://w-shadow.com/files/link-cloaking-plugin.zip. Is the file correct?
The download link is correct. Just to be sure, I’ll reupload the file, and you can try downloading it again.
Maybe you can access the page directly by going to :
yoursite.com/wp-admin/edit.php?page=link-cloaking-plugin/wplc_link_cloaking_plugin.php
There’s probably some conflict with another plugin…
Reinstalled but the problem is still there.
If it’s a plugin conflict, you could try deactivating all other plugins and checking if it works then. If yes, reactivate them one by one and note which one causes the problem.
Does the direct URL work?
Hi White Shadow,
Is your plugin the same as performing a 301 redirect?
Yes, it uses “301 Moved Permanently” redirects.
Hi. Great idea for a plugin.
I loaded the latest version and followed the instructions, but I’m getting… well.. unpredictable results. Although the redirects seem to wok fine for the posts, links on pages all redirect back to the “home page”. And, not all of the links in pages get cloaked. Not seeing a pattern, so I’m not quite sure what to tell you.
It there any way to “fine tune” the plugin a bit more? For instance, can I tell the plugin I only want Clickbank and/or Amazon links to get cloaked, and let everything else just sail through like normal?
The plugin uses the same exact algorithm for pages and posts, so there shouldn’t be any difference – unless there’s a conflict with another plugin.
There’s the “Exclusions” feature to define which links you don’t want cloaked. There’s no “Inclusions” list, though you could use selective cloaking – adding the <– cloak –> tags – to achieve a similar result. I might add that feature in a later version, but … don’t count on it
Ah cool tool bro
recommended
I am having some difficulty getting this plugin to work…I have it installed but several of the directions are in conflict with what I am seeing. For instance you say “go to Options -> Permalinks and click Update Permalinks.” I do not have any “Options” tab…is this the same as “Settings” (I am using wordpress(.org) 2.5. If I go to Settings->Permalinks there is no “Update Permalinks” setting; only a “Save Changes” at the bottom…please help…I have no idea what I am missing.
The instructions were written for WP 2.3, so in WP 2.5 it’s slightly different. In WP 2.5, “Settings” replaced “Options”, and you only need to “Save Changes” for the permalinks to be updated.
The plugin works with WP 2.5, but you may need to manually move the cloaking-related redirection code to the top of your .htaccess file.
I did figure out that the site didn’t have an htaccess file so I added one. I also chanced the permissions to 766. Unfortunately whatever I am doing is not updating the htaccess file with whatever code it needs to be able to utilize this plugin…hopefully I am getting closer…any help would be greatly appreciated.
Here is what my current htaccess file looks like:
Options All
# BEGIN WordPress
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
# END WordPress
Try changing the permalink structure, saving the canges, and then changing back to the initial structure. This should update the file.
Are you sure you looked in the right place for the .htaccess? In most cases, .htaccess would already be present on a WP blog.
Ok…I tried to do what you said to do and that didn’t work. When I go to Manage -> Cloaked Links and fill in the 2 fields and select “add” a messed up version of my site shows up where I am assuming the new link should be showing. I tried to deavtivate the plugin and reactivate it but no luck.
I am not sure about the htaccess file. I had always thought it would be in the “public_html” folder. When I looked for it there using Filezilla I didn’t see it. I found a post claiming that some WP versions omitted it and gave directions on how to include one (which I did in the “public_html” folder). Root directory (using Filezilla) looks like this:
-Site (folder)
-logs (folder)
-public_html (folder)
-home (folder)
-wordpress (folder)
-.htaccess (file)
-index.php (file)
Hope any of this helps…thx for everything thus far!