Hide affiliate links

Hello,

I would like to add some affiliate links to my site.
Most affiliate links tend to have a long URL which doesn’t look that good.

I’m looking for a way to "shorten" the URL displayed in link.html

Example:
http://affiliatesite.com/sites.php?id=re_ps_dave5_A_2_A&site=dsd&tmpl=11

To:
http://affiliatesite.com/sites.php?…

I think the best way is to setup a limit to the number of characters displayed. Like 20 characters after the "http://" . All characters after will be replaced by ”…”

Any others ideas would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Dave

Hi,

The easiest way, would be to "split" it at the ?, so anything after that doesn't get shown. Here's how you could do it:

trim_url_down


Then just call with <%trim_url_down($URL)%>

Hope that helps.

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.com

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year!

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Hi Kool:

I actually would recommend you don't use the url at all, but instead jump.cgi. There is no value in showing the url, and if you are actually aiming at trying to earn some income from affiliate sales etc, research has shown that many people will either not click on the link OR they will modify it.

Regards,


Clint
--------------------------
http://AffiliatesDirectory.com
The Affiliate Programs Directory

Hi,

I think he's trying to just show a URL, rather that the full link :)

i.e:

Title
Description
http://www.domain.com

..or similar :)

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.com

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Thank you very much for the help guys!



I’m aware that some people will not click on URL/affiliate link.

Removing the URL completely is an option, but I’m not sure if showing a partial domain would be better.



Andy, if I want to show only the domain, what would be the code (including the .com. .net etc)? replace"?" with "/"



Split at the "?" will not work for all affiliate links. Some don’t have it.

where do I place the code <%trim_url_down($URL)%>

Thanks,

dave

Hi,

You would just do:


Also, that will split the http:// bit up (thus why I changed it to $tmp[2], instead of $tmp[0]). If you want to use the http:// bit in the front, you would just need to change:


..to:


Hope that helps.

BTW, please try not to use bold in your whole post, it makes them a bit sore on the eyes :(

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.com

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Thank you Andy! I'll try it.

Do you need to display the link URLs at all?

Alba, do you suggest not showing the URL?

My intention is to trim the URL after the .com

Just a thought, I removed the code from my templates.