Just a short post today about using links in ebooks. If you’re jut starting out with writing ebooks or you a pro 
. A bit of advice for you.
When you’re either linking via an affiliate link or to an external website. Link to your own web page first and then redirect.
Why? Ok let me explain……..
I started making this common and silly mistake of linking directly to other websites from my ebook and guess what, they’d either change their url, discontinue their url, change affiliate program, cancel affilaite program etc etc and the list goes on.
So now what I do is link to one of my own websites first and then redirect to the affiliate page or external webpage.
Here’s an example:
http://multimediacavern.com/gaborolahmembership.html
Now, the link above goes to gabor’s free membership site. If Gabor changed his site for any reason, or simply changed the destination url. I can easily change the details on this webpage in a matter of seconds. Thus, if I had a link from my ebook going to this page, everything would be up to date. Cool eh!
Not only does this give you complete control of your link. If the page you’re linking to changes or alters in some way, you can change the redirection to any destination you want. By doing this, your ebook will always be up to date even if external factors change.
For example:
Ebook => Link to your own webpage => Redirect or place hyperlink on that page =>
How did I learn this?
I made the silly mistake in creating a couple of ebooks on ebay and as you know, they change their policies and affilaite schemes like the wind.
By using this linking tactic. I don’t need to make changes to all of my ebooks and if anything changes outside of my control, I can either:
1. Change the link on my page to redirect to another affiliate scheme or alternative.
2. Redirect to a separate page that is not an affiliate scheme but related to the topic.
3. If there’s no alternative I can change the link on my page to redirect to either one of my own product webpages or even blog.
So if anything changes, my previous clients who purchased from me will always have an up to date ebook with up to date links.
What do you reckon?
As always feel free to leave a comment.
DesDrec.
That is a great point that I hadn’t thought of before. One other related tip is to purchase a separate domain name for the product you are promoting.
Obviously it doesn’t make sense to purchase one for every product you promote, however, if you find some products that you plan on promoting on a regular basis (and they generate commissions for you), then I think investing in a separate domain name would be a very smart choice.
For example, instead of using a link like http://www.WebsiteName/recommends/hosting that redirects to your affiliate link, you could buy a domain like http://www.GreatWebHostingPlan.com. Since it doesn’t look like an affiliate link, you will probably generate more clicks and sales from it.
Jit
http://www.MustHaveInternetMarketingTips.com
Hey DesDrec,
I just wanted to say thanks for the great tip.
I am just putting together my first ebook and now I will use your suggestion for any affiliate links I add.
I like Jit’s suggestion as well with the domains, but that could get costly if the affiliate product owner should happen to disappear.
Couldn’t it be done as a sub-domain such as:
http://afilliateproduct.mysite.com ?
Then you could always delete if something happened without the extra domain name cost.
Just curious?
Here’s to your Wealth!
Cheers, Smiles and Success,
Crazy J
any updates coming ?