Affiliate Links for Non-Product Pages

Our affiliates can link to any page of any of our web sites and have their affiliate cookie set.

I'll tell you how it's done. Maybe you'll find a use for something similar.

For affiliates, it's just link and go.

Implementing the mechanism wasn't so straightforward. It had to take into account:

Cookies can be set only by the domain that will read them. Domain flowto.info can not set a cookie for domain bontragercgi.com
Cookies need to be set for affiliate programs on two separate domains.
Web pages on many domains may be linked to.

The solution we chose is implemented as a redirect page. The redirect page causes cookies to be set and then redirects the browser to the correct destination.

I'll tell you how it works from the site user point of view, the affiliate point of view, and the function implementation point of view.

Site User Point of View

The site user clicks on a link.

The browser is taken to a page that sets some cookies. Then the browser is redirected to the destination intended for the link.

Affiliate Point of View

Here is the format of the link URL to set your affiliate cookies and redirect your site user's browser to the correct destination:

Replace _A_ with your affiliate ID and replace _URL_ with the destination URL. Example (assuming "XXXX" for the affiliate ID):

The above example would send the visitor's browser to page.php, which sets two affiliate cookies for affiliate ID XXXX, one for the bontragercgi.com affiliate program and one for the willmaster.com affiliate program. Then, the browser would be redirected to http://flowto.info/

Click here for a demonstration.

As another example, you could let your site visitors email me, the Master Series programmer, directly and set your affiliate cookie at the same time. Simply use my harvest-proof email link as the destination URL.

Here is copy n' paste code (replace XXXX with your own affiliate ID):

Click here for a demonstration of the above.

It's not as fast as some redirects — it first retrieves an image from each domain. The image mechanism checks for valid affiliate ID before setting the cookie.

Any direct software purchases then or later using a browser with that cookie results in a commission.

The redirect affiliate link can be cloaked. A generator to generate the onmouseover/onmouseout attributes for cloaking is at the "Link Cloak Code Generator" blog post.

Function Implementation Point of View

Below is the source code of the redirecting page.php web page. You may wish to copy it from the text box and paste it into a word processor so it's readily available for reference.

<?php
$affcode = '';
$dest = '';
if(isset($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'])) {
   $equal = strpos($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'],'=');
   if($equal > 0) {
      $affcode = substr($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'],0,$equal);
      $dest = substr($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'],$equal + 1);
      }
   if(strlen($dest) > 0) {
      $AllowedDomains = array(
         'friendsofpineridgereservation.org' => '1',
         'bontragerconnection.com' => '1',
         'affinity-numerology.com' => '1',
         'affinitynumerology.com' => '1',
         'tellthepresident.us' => '1',
         'affinity-series.com' => '1',
         'affinityseries.com' => '1',
         'stocktickerbox.com' => '1',
         'bontragercgi.com' => '1',
         'weatherwimp.com' => '1',
         'lightfocus.com' => '1',
         'willmaster.com' => '1',
         'grannysez.info' => '1',
         'fulltimer.org' => '1',
         'webform.flowto.info' => '1',
         'ticker.flowto.info' => '1',
         'rate.flowto.info' => '1',
         'flowto.info' => '1',
         'flow-to.com' => '1',
         'flowto.us' => '1'
      );
      $domain = strtolower($dest);
      $domain = preg_replace('/^https?:\/\/(www\.)?/','',$domain);
      $domain = preg_replace('/[\:\/\?].*/','',$domain);
      if(! isset($AllowedDomains[$domain])) {
         $dest = '';
         $affcode = '';
         }
      }
   }
if(strlen($affcode) < 1 or strlen($dest) < 1) { 
   header("Location: /master/");
   exit;
   }
?>
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=<?=$dest?>">
<style type="text/css">
body { font-family:verdana,sans-serif; margin-top:100px; margin-left:200px; }
p { font-size: 16px; }
</style>
</head>
<body bgcolor="white">

<p>
Browser redirection to the correct web page should occur in a moment.
</p>

<!-- The next 2 <img...> lines tell our affiliate software to set the appropriate cookies. -->
<!-- Your affiliate software my require something different. -->
<img src="/wmaf/maReferImage.cgi?<?=$affcode?>" height="5" width="5" border="0">
<img src="http://www.bontragercgi.com/affiliates/maReferImage.cgi?<?=$affcode?>" height="5" width="5" border="0">

<script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript"><!--
function ShowContent() { document.getElementById("later").style.display = "block"; }
document.write('<p id="later" style="display:none;">If it doesn\'t, <a href="<?=$dest?>">click here.</a></p>');
setTimeout("ShowContent()",3000);
//--></script>

<noscript>
<p>If it doesn't, <a href="<?=$dest?>">click here.</a></p>
</noscript>

</body>
</html>

What the PHP Section Does —

The PHP code must be at the top of the file. No spaces or blank lines may precede it.

First, the PHP sets the values representing the affiliate code and destination URL to blank. Then, it proceeds to extract any affiliate code/destination URL information from the URL in the browser's address bar.

You'll notice a list of domain names for the $AllowedDomains array.

Domain friendsofpineridgereservation.org in that list is not our domain, but the domain of a special charity. Thus, we let affiliates set an affiliate cookie if they link to that domain through this system.

Replace our domain names with the domain names you want to allow redirects to. Note that the line of all but the last domain name ends with a comma.

The domains on the list must be all lower-case.

Do not use www. in front of the domain names. You can, however, specify other sub-domains.

Below the list of domains is where the PHP validates that the domain name of the destination URL is on the list. If it is not, the values representing the affiliate code and destination URL are set back to blank.

If either of the affiliate code/destination URL values are blank, the browser is redirected to the location specified in the header() function call. Replace the /master/ URL in the header() function call with your own default URL.

What the Web Page Source Code Section Does —

Below the PHP code section is where the web page source code starts.

Within the source code, PHP can insert values. The code <?=$dest?> inserts the destination URL and the code <?=$affcode?> inserts the affiliate ID.

In the HEAD area is a META tag to refresh the page with a different URL as soon as the page has finished loading. The URL is inserted with PHP.

In the BODY area, you'll find two image tags. One of the image tags gets an image from a script at willmaster.com and the other from a script at bontragercgi.com. The URLs of the images include the affiliate ID as inserted with the <?=$dest?> PHP code.

Both scripts linked to from the image tags check to verify the affiliate ID is in the database and, if yes, set a cookie. Whether or not a cookie is set, the scripts return an image for the browser. (In this case, the images are clear GIFs.)

Below the image tags is JavaScript to present a delayed "click here" link and a similar link for non-JavaScript browsers.

When the web page has fully loaded (including both images), the meta tag redirects the browser to the destination URL as found in the browser's address bar.

Other Uses

The above might be modified for pretty much any need to set a cookie on browsers clicking on certain links.

If not for an affiliate program, it might be a function of an outbound link click tracking system, for example, to spot when visitors return. Or it might serve to set the cookie that records the pages site visitors view, in the order they view them.

Undoubtedly, you'll recognize it when you need functionality this code can help with.

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Please note: Articles on this website are presented "as is". However -

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