In recent years, those who participate in affiliate marketing for their Internet home based business have come across a new problem known as affiliate link hijacking. This is a process where others on the internet who possess few morals, will try and steal an affiliates commission by hijacking their link, This is done when someone visits your affiliate marketing site with spyware installed on their computer, which in turn, rewrites the affiliate's link with their own.


An estimated 30% of all affiliate commissions are current being lost due to affiliate marketing links being hijacked. Fortunately, there are some solutions to help prevent your affiliate program links being hijacked, but it is necessary to use caution when deciding on which solution to use. Some of them work well, while others don't, and some may even cause your affiliate marketing program site to be blocked by the affiliate programs you've signed up with.

• Link Redirecting: One way in which you can battle the hijacking of your affiliate program links is through creating a redirection page on your server, but this method does require some care, as many affiliate programs do have problems with redirecting links. The best method of redirecting your affiliate program links is by using htaccess and 404 files.
• Framing: Though you may have success in masking your affiliate network links with this method, it is probably not the bes
  t way to go. Many sites do not support frames, which means that your affiliate program link will fail, and you lose commission.
• Using a Short URL: Using a short URL to protect your affiliate network links is an easy, and efficient means of preventing the hijacking of your affiliate links. This involves using a third party short URL service to redirect the website visitor to the correct affiliate site when they click on a link. The cookies sent to their computer will ensure that you get credit for any purchases they make. To take advantage of short URL services, simply do a search on the Internet for free short URLs, and you will find several sites that offer this service for your affiliate program links.
• The Software Method: There are several software programs that claim to protect your affiliate program links, but their effectiveness varies, and these programs can be costly.
• The Professional Solution: There are also many web-based products in which you can sign up with for a fee. These web-based solutions tend to work fairly well, and are not too difficult to implement, though you may end up paying either a flat fee, or a monthly fee to use the service.

It is unfortunate that there are unscrupulous people out there willing to steal your hard earned commissions, but it is a reality of the Internet, and affiliate marketing. As you are creating your home based business plan for affiliate marketing, don't forget to include your preferred solution to prevent the hijacking of your affiliate program links.

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