Archive for July, 2007

I was looking for a way to create pdf files through my website, and really only deal with free solutions.  I found a couple things, but they required installation on the server which I don’t have access to.

After a couple hours of searching, I found a module-free pdf creator for php.  I’m still testing it out now, and will share more info with you later.

For those of you who are trying out the script, does it seem to be working for you?  Are you experiencing any problems with it?  Please let me know if there are any changes that you feel would benefit yourself and others.

I had a problem getting the javascript creating code to work on the blog here, so I created a separate page for you to get the code from. This code is completely in Javascript, so it will easily work in any environment.

One other issue that I had with the script creator is that it doesn’t work in Firefox.  It works great in Internet Explorer, so please keep that in mind.  If enough people post a comment asking to modify it for Firefox, then I will go ahead and work on that.

Get your Script Code here:
http://www.cgmtechnologies.com/linkredirectcreator.htm

If you like this script, then please let me know as well as sign up in the upper right of this page.

I almost have this script ready for you to access and will put it up tomorrow, on the 4th of July.  Now, with all the cloaking web sites out there, why do you have any use for this?  It’s simple, in fact.  This script will allow you to house all of the redirect parts on your own site.  This keeps you from having to rely on anything but your own host.

Not only that, but this script will allow you to have much cleaner link cloaking on your site.  Your users won’t see links like tinyurl.com/xyz or anything that looks like other gibberish.  You can set your links up to point to amazon, then have it redirect the user to ebay when they click on it.  That wouldn’t make any sense, though, but how many more people do you think would click on  a link to SitStayFetch.com, instead of member123.SitStaFetch.hop.clickbank.com?tag=31?  This can easily be done using my new script that I’m offering.  All you have to do is enter the old link url, the new redirecting link url, and whether or not you want it to open up in a new window.

Another great advantage of this script is that it is entirely created in javascript.  It doesn’t matter whether your site is hosted on a windows or linux server, or if you use Apache or PHP.  You can even use it on a site that has CGI or Perl scripts.  There are two ways that you can install it on your pages.  The easiest way is to just add the code into your HTML file between the <head> and </head> tags.  A slightly more complex way will be to save the code into a javascript file.  Just enter in the information and copy the code that spits out.  Paste it into a text file, and save it as redirect.js or something to help you remember what it does.  Then, you can just past one line of code into your HTML page to connect your file to the page and you’re in business.  This will allow you to very easily use the same code in multiple pages.  I will provide a little more thorough explanation of the steps soon after the code is available.

Look for it tomorrow, as we celebrate the 4th of July!


I had an earlier post called “The Ultimate Redirect Script”, but all it did was show you a little bit that was possible. I have since made something that will let you create your own Redirect/Cloaking script to insert into your own web pages. You can enter up to 16 links to redirect, and even specify which ones open into a new window. It also doesn’t allow Google Adsense links to be redirected, because that is against their TOS.

What is the point in another Redirect or Cloaking script? This is completely different than all of the link cloaking services that are out there. With them, you go to their web page, enter in your link to click and they give you some random gibberish link to put on your web site. You’re counting on their service to be up anytime your page is, and you have to deal with links that don’t have anything to do with your own page. Would you rather have a link on your page that shows tnyurl.com/basw, or have a link show as www.thebestresource.com that actually goes to mysite.myresource.com. You can also easily have those links open in a new window without having to use any special tags in your html on your page.

It’s also widely known that many affiliate services, and I’ve heard even Clickbank, don’t allow link cloaking anymore. Imagine if you could have a link that doesn’t look like an affiliate, but in reality points the user to an affiliate page. How much would that benefit your site and your business? It would especially be useful if the destination site sets a cookie upon their arrival, so if they realize it’s an affiliate link then it won’t matter. I will work on getting an example site up so you can see how it works a little better, and will also make a post that allows you to create your own script. I think I can have it up by 7/2 or 7/3 at the latest.  If you sign up in the top right, then you can be the first to know as soon as it’s online.

What other kinds of services could be useful in this script?