SALM Review

I have been looking at numerous methods for affiliate link cloaking lately.  Mostly to automate the process so you don’t have to upload a file for every link.

My requirements for a perfect link cloaker would be as follows:

• Easy to use
• Password protected
• Easy to edit links
• Easy to install

After some searching I found one that met all these:

Super Affiliate Link Manager

Like most link managers you need to be able to set up a MySQL database on your hosting account.  The manual does a good job stepping you through this process.  Once that is complete you need to edit the config file to setup your database information and an optional password.  Password protecting your links is a good idea.  The application would be set up the same on any site so, theoretically, someone could get into your links and edit them to their advantage.  It may not be a likely scenario, but it is better to be safe.

After running a quick install.php to link up your database and set up the password the app is ready to go.

When you run the program, you are greeted with a simple login screen.  After you input your data you are in the main application.  The first thing you need to do is adjust your settings.

Most of the details here can be left as is.  You should input your website name of course.  The color controls are purely for your own benefit, adjust as you want.  Once again, the manual does a good job explaining things.

The main screen shows your links and the names you have set up for your cloaked links.  It also goes one step further and shows you the amount of hits you’ve recieved for each link.  You can sort by any of the fields to arrange your data as you see fit.

Overall the application is simple and easy to use.  You can test your links from the main screen to make sure you typed them in correctly and you can edit and even add comments.

Super Affiliate Link Manager has only one minor flaw that you should be aware of:  It does not work with Wordpress directly.  The instructions tell you to put the SALM subdirectory in your root directory.  Because Wordpress is trying to use the same type of redirects as SALM, there is a conflict between the two.  The solution is to put the SALM directory into a subdirectory such as ‘links’ or ‘recommends’.  Your cloaked links will look like the following:

http://yourdomain.com/links/affiliatesite

http://yourdomain.com/recommends/affiliatesite

This is the same as they would look if your were writing your own redirect files.  With the SALM directory in the root directory your links look like this:

http://yourdomain.com/affiliatesite

I kind of like the first option.  But, for your site, the choice is yours.

One other feature I should mention is in your link manager window there is a radio button to select  ’cloaked’.   If this is checked, when a link is followed, the URL remains your link.  So this is a true link cloaker.  There is nothing more you can do to protect your affiliate links.

Dustin Davis has developed the exact link manager I would have written myself.