I recently switched to the Thesis blog theme for all of my blogs. It’s a paid theme, but it’s easy to use, there’s lots of support and help for it, and I like the nice, clean look.
Even though I have the Developer version and am allowed to remove the attribution footer, I choose to leave it there, but edit it slightly. That’s because DIY Themes (the company behind Thesis) has an affiliate program. I changed the link so that if somebody clicks on it and purchases a Thesis license, I get a referral commission. I can also leave that link in many forum posts, write articles with that links, etc.
I received an email today from DIY Themes. They are going to outsource their affiliate program, and as a result, I now have a new affiliate link for Thesis.
Yuck. Or, to be honest, because I do some things differently, “not quite yuck”.
Had I simply used a direct link to the Thesis Theme sales page every time, I would have had to go back to every place where I left the link and replaced it with the new link. Yes, I can do that on blogs and on forums where I can edit my posts, but what about on articles, social networking sites, or any of 1,001 other places where I may have left a link?
What a mess… Thankfully I decided a long time ago to use a script that shortens and uses redirects for links like that. So in this case, I merely log in to the control panel for my redirect script, change the destination link, and I’m done. Two minutes to solve a problem instead of countless hours.
Now had I used a link shortening / redirect service that I don’t own (perhaps TinyURL.com or something along those lines), chances are pretty good that I would still not be able to change the destination link. It’s always better to have such things under your own control.
The script I use for this is Wilson Mattos’ Easy Redirect Script. He released Version 2 a few months back, and I really like the script (as well as Wil; he’s is extremely helpful, knowledgeable, and unlike some techies, truly does love both his work AND his customers).
With Version 2, Wil has added a lot of capabilities to the script. You can get into a lot of detail about the type of redirect to use (301 vs. 302, etc.) and can even place the links you create into categories. But if you want to keep things simple, simply click on the “Simple Mode” tab and enter your link (you even get to choose what to name it).
One tip I have: If you get Wil’s script, get yourself a four character domain name and then install the script either into the root of the domain (without the “www”) or put it into a one-letter subdomain (as I did, with “r”. I installed my copy of the script on a subdomain because I use the tdbx.com domain for some other stuff as well as for the redirect script). You don’t even have to make it a .com name if you don’t want to; you won’t have to worry about this domain getting ranked in the search engines, after all… If you look at my link for this product, it’s only 17 characters long — not too bad (http://r.tdbx.com/ers/).
You can create short, “cryptic” links (like I did with “ers” in the above link), or make them as descriptive as you want (i.e. as I did with my Thesis link: http://r.tdbx.com/Thesis/).
Wil has a special deal going where you can try the software for free for 14 days before he processes your payment. If you don’t like it, you can simply delete the software and cancel your pending payment. But considering these benefits (especially the ability to change the destination of a previously established link) with all of the other benefits Wil lists in the sales copy and Wil’s great service, I’m pretty sure that you’ll be like me and keep the script.
Again, here’s that link: Wil Mattos’ Easy Redirect Script.
And in case you’re interested in the Thesis theme for your WordPress blog: Thesis By DIY Themes.
NOTE: This posts contains one or more affiliate links. If you click on the link(s) and purchase something, I will receive a referral commission. It will not have any effect on the purchase price of the product. As a general rule, I do not accept free products for review and my decision to promote these products is based on my own satisfaction with the products after purchasing them and my desire to tell you about high quality products while generating revenue for my business. Any exceptions will be clearly noted. Also keep in mind that I am a college graduate, have considerable work, leadership, and management experience, and have been studying and practicing online marketing since 2004. These factors have a positive impact on my results that you will not be able to replicate. Thanks!
