Phantom Link Cloaker 2.0

If you are an affiliate marketer, I am sure you have heard of the all-new Phantom Link Cloaker 2.0 by now. It was recently launched by the dynamic trio of Cindy Battye, John Merrick and Soren Jordansen of "The Clickbank Pirates" fame. Is the Phantom Link Cloaker any different from the many affiliate link cloaking scripts out there? Well, I put this affiliate link cloaker software through its paces, and here are the pros and cons. Firstly, its good points are:

You can set up any combination of folder names

You are not restricted to just "recommends", but can really go crazy and creative in making up folder names that will grab your customers' attention. For example, "absolutely/adores/superhot/product". Maybe that's too much, but you get my point.

You will never be caught with a broken affiliate link

If it so happens that the affiliate link ends up on a 404 error page for any reason, it will immediately redirect your customer to a page of your choice. You can either display a message or promote an alternative product here on this page.

You can build your own opt-in list while promoting an affiliate product

You can use the optional lightbox feature to pop up a message on the destination site. Once your customer reaches the merchant sales page, the background goes dim and a lightbox will pop up right on top. You can customize this box to say anything, or simply put your list sign-up form here.

Now, for the disadvantages:

You need to install a new copy of this script on every new site

There is no easy way to export an existing installation with its existing affiliate links from one site to a new site. You need to install the script again and add in the links. However, the automated installer makes it quite easy to install the script without any problems, even for the complete non-technical newbie user.

You need to customize the htaccess file on your host server

After you have installed the script, you need to manually configure the htaccess file in your host server with certain given settings. If you are using a WordPress blog, you need to repeat this step every time you change your theme. However, the instructions are very clear on how to do this and you will not run into any problems if you follow the steps precisely.