Need a new web host or having a problem with a script? Tips and advice on the best way to design, build and maintain your most valuable asset - your website!

Using a domain redirect to promote an affiliate program
mandywa
Posts: 11
Joined: 18 Jun 09
Trust:
24 Feb 10 3:00 pm

Using a domain redirect to promote an affiliate program

Hi there

I have some domains that I'd like to use to as a redirect to promote affiliate programs.

I'm trying to find info on this within Affilorama, could someone please point me in the right direction?

a. How to go about doing this?
b. How to ensure I'm using the domain as a redirect without breaking any rules.

Kind regards
Mandy
  • 1
faradina
Posts: 1895
Joined: 01 Jun 09
Trust:
24 Feb 10 3:16 pm

 You can use PHP redirects. It's much the same way that you would redirect affiliate links, except that you put the index.php redirect file into the root folder of the domain.
About rules, it depends what rules you are referring to.
  • 1
mandywa
Posts: 11
Joined: 18 Jun 09
Trust:
24 Feb 10 3:44 pm

 Sorry, I should've been more specific. I meant in regards to - is it ok to use re-directs on domains etc. For example: if Google picked up the domain url somewhere on a site or in a blog post, could I be penalised for using a direct on a domain so that it goes straight to the site I'm promoting?

Kind regards
Mandy
  • 1
mandywa
Posts: 11
Joined: 18 Jun 09
Trust:
24 Feb 10 4:09 pm

 Also, I use a VPS (Virtual Private Server). Should I be hosting that redirect domain on another ip. Or is it ok to host it on my current ip?

Is using the PHP redirect better than a 301redirect?
  • 1
Site Admin
aletta
Posts: 3392
Joined: 09 Jul 06
Trust:
25 Feb 10 1:04 am

 For redirect purposes, there's no problem at all. Mark does it a bit himself: He buys a domain kinda similar to the product name, and sends people there so it can redirect to the merchant through his affiliate link.

You don't need to host it anywhere else. You're not doing anything wrong! It's just a more expensive version of what people do every day with redirects on their own sites.

It doesn't really matter which kind of redirect you use. A 301 is good when you want to keep any link juice that has been given to that page by backlinks etc because it passes the juice onto the page you're linking to, whereas a PHP redirect doesn't. But since you'll just be redirecting to your affiliate link, and since you probably won't be actively building backlinks and trying to get the redirect to rank... it doesn't matter.
  • 1
Are your changes not showing up on your website? Try doing a hard refresh! http://www.refreshyourcache.com/en/cache/
 
mandywa
Posts: 11
Joined: 18 Jun 09
Trust:
25 Feb 10 1:45 am

 Hi Aletta

Thanks so much for this info! This is super helpful!

Without sounding like a total dummy... How do I put a redirect on a domain that's not hosted somewhere?

For example: the domains are with godaddy.com
I took a look through godaddy and couldn't find any information on this.

Thanks again, if there's instructions already on affilorama to this let me know, as I may have missed it.

Kind regards
Mandy
  • 1
Last edited by mandywa on 25 Feb 10 5:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
 
carlmasure
Posts: 55
Joined: 24 Nov 09
Trust:
25 Feb 10 2:36 am

 Hey there,

You want to let google know that your website address is being redirected. You can do this through the change of address in google webmaster tools. I had to redirect a website to another domain name. I've kept virtually all of my serp and it's been a very short time. Don't forget to use 301 redirects to preserve your off page traffic.

Carl
  • 1
faradina
Posts: 1895
Joined: 01 Jun 09
Trust:
25 Feb 10 12:59 pm

 What Aletta meant is that you can host the domain you want to redirect on the VPS that you are using now.
  • 1
ritagh
Posts: 2
Joined: 19 Feb 12
Trust:
10 Jul 12 7:50 am

 Is it still ok to use a domain redirect to promote an affiliate program after panda and penguin?
  • 1
cecille.l
Posts: 6369
Joined: 25 Feb 11
Trust:
26 Jul 12 10:59 am
Is it still ok to use a domain redirect to promote an affiliate program after panda and penguin?


You should still be able to but since we now have the Panda and the Penguin algorithms, this strategy is only short-term. It's still best to have your own site and promote products there if you want something more lasting.

Hope that helps. Have a good day!
  • 0
Cecille

Building affiliate marketing websites is a breeze: https://www.affilorama.com/affilojetpack
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/affilorama
 

This topic was started on Feb 24, 2010 and has been closed due to inactivity. If you want to discuss this topic further, please create a new forum topic.

Topic locked