A Clever Use Of "Sub-Domains"

In one of my earlier "tricks" (Using "www2") I explained how you can use sub-domains to set up website addresses something like: http://www2.mysite.com. Notice the "www2" bit!

As I explained in that "trick":

"A "sub-domain" is a subsidiary name for an existing fully-fledged and registered domain.

Many web hosting companies allow you to set up sub-domains without cost. You don't need to register a sub-domain but you may still have to wait a few hours for the sub-domain to "propagate" to all the domain servers in the world."

I recently got an email which promoted an affiliate product. It was a strange looking web address that the affiliate used:

http://productname.com-review.us

When I used that link, I arrived at:

http://www.productname.com?hop=AffiliateClickBankID

Yes, it was an affiliate link to a ClickBank product. I've deliberately not used the real website address - I won't be promoting that product!

So just what has that affiliate marketer done? It's quite simple, really:

1. He registered the domain name: com-review.us.
      
2. Whenever he wants to promote a product, he sets up a sub-domain which looks just like the website name of the product he's promoting. If the website name is "productname", he sets up the sub-domain "productname". If it's "product-name", his sub-domain is called "product-name".
      
3. Since you can associate a sub-domain with a particular folder on your web server, he sets up that folder with an "index.html" file, and uses that file to redirect to the merchant's website through his affiliate link.

There are many ways to cloak and redirect an affiliate link, and I deal with a few of them in this webmaster "trick".

Notice, that to work in this way:

1. The domain name you register must start with "com-", so that when you set up your sub-domain to promote a product, it looks like a .com address.
      
2. The merchant's sales site must also be a .com domain.. which nearly all of them are.

Of course, once you've got a "com-something" domain name, you can use it to promote as many products as you like. To summarise, here's the process you carry out to set up an affiliate link with this system:

1. Create a new folder on your web server.
      
2. Inside that folder put an "index.html" or "index.php" file with a re-direct to the merchant's sales page through your affiliate link.
      
3. Set up a sub-domain in your hosting control panel, and point it at the folder you've just created

Want to see me "walk the talk? OK, here's one of my affiliate links cloaked in the same way, using my domain name "com-view.me.uk":

http://productdashboard.com-view.me.uk
(opens in a new window)

And this is a product I like!

One final point - when you use a sub-domain, you must not use the "www" part in the web address. It must be in the format: http://subdomain.domain.com

I hope you've found this useful.

Regards

Ian Traynor
Professional Webmaster

P.S. If you want to thank me for this "trick", here's a PayPal donations button. Click on it to pay me anything you like, using either your PayPal account or your credit card: