"Peter" <petermcphee@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Hi guys, I really appreciate your responses... this is a good
> discussion.
>
> Let me explain a little more. I am an affiliate of a few merchants. I
> want to keep a track of clicks that my visitors make to my merchants
> site. This way I can compare visitor Click Through Rates to the actual
> Conversion Rates.
>
> I can set up server side redirects, but this is tiresome to manage with
> my webhost as I have to log into my Control Panel every time and use
> their GUI to do this...i.e. they won't allow me to modify the html
> config file manually. Also, I want the page that is linked to to open
> in a new browser, which a server side redirect won't do.

Set the target attribute of the a element to open a (IMO annoying) new
window.

301 redirects can be added to .htaccess which you can upload to your
sever, no need for CPanel magic. If you do it right, one rule should be
enough :-D

--
John Experienced Perl programmer: http://castleamber.com/

Google Bar: http://johnbokma.com/firefox/google-...stomizing.html

"Peter" <petermcphee@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1155795235.731547.111890@p79g2000cwp.googlegr oups.com...
> Hi guys, I really appreciate your responses... this is a good
> discussion.
>
> Let me explain a little more. I am an affiliate of a few merchants. I
> want to keep a track of clicks that my visitors make to my merchants
> site. This way I can compare visitor Click Through Rates to the actual
> Conversion Rates.
>
> I can set up server side redirects, but this is tiresome to manage with
> my webhost as I have to log into my Control Panel every time and use
> their GUI to do this...i.e. they won't allow me to modify the html
> config file manually. Also, I want the page that is linked to to open
> in a new browser, which a server side redirect won't do.
>
> So, I use the http meta refresh like this:
>
> <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;URL=http://www.url.com" />
>
> Then in my webstats it shows how many times these pages have been
> viewed.
>
> I changed some of these to php and use the header (location: URL)
> command, but the files do not show up in my webstats, so I would prefer
> to use html redirects but not if I am going to be penalised.
>
> I will definitely do a search through Matt Cutts site for this and see
> what he says about this. But do you guys think that meta refresh are
> ok?
>
> Pete.
>

I do the same as you but use a separate domain for doing it on.
I just set the links to the separate site and then meta refresh from there.

--
T.J.
http://www.uksmallbusinessdirectory.co.uk

Hi John, unfortunately I can't access the .htaccess file and my webhost
says the only way is to do it via CP.

TJ... do you think that this method is ok to redirect i.e. Google
friendly?

Pete.

"Peter" <petermcphee@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1155797658.444191.280450@i42g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
> Hi John, unfortunately I can't access the .htaccess file and my webhost
> says the only way is to do it via CP.
>
> TJ... do you think that this method is ok to redirect i.e. Google
> friendly?
>
> Pete.
>

I use the separate site just in case.
It's also useful if you want to tell people where to go
over the phone, (especially if you have a long domain)
or if you want to email them a link.
I just use a snappy 4 letter domain and set the meta refreshes
up from there.
You can even nofollow any links to it from your main site if
you want to do it that way.

--
T.J.
http://www.uksmallbusinessdirectory.co.uk

Peter wrote:

> I am using the Meta Refresh attribute so I can keep a track of a few
> links that I am affiliated with. However, I read that Google can places
> penalities on a site that does this as it is considered a "doorway"
> page. Is this correct?


I mentioned this recently in another group.

Look at #1 (of ~80m) on google for 'cv search' (with or without quotes), the
url displayed is /search which is just a 0 second meta refresh to the real
page. I am dis-inclined to change it while it is number 1, as it certainly
isn't being penalised and brings in paying customers.



--
Brian Wakem
Email: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/b.wakem/myemail.png

On 16 Aug 2006 23:13:55 -0700, "Peter" <petermcphee@hotmail.com>
wrote:

>Hi guys, I really appreciate your responses... this is a good
>discussion.
>
>Let me explain a little more. I am an affiliate of a few merchants. I
>want to keep a track of clicks that my visitors make to my merchants
>site. This way I can compare visitor Click Through Rates to the actual
>Conversion Rates.
>
>I can set up server side redirects, but this is tiresome to manage with
>my webhost as I have to log into my Control Panel every time and use
>their GUI to do this...i.e. they won't allow me to modify the html
>config file manually. Also, I want the page that is linked to to open
>in a new browser, which a server side redirect won't do.
>
>So, I use the http meta refresh like this:
>
><meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;URL=http://www.url.com" />
>
>Then in my webstats it shows how many times these pages have been
>viewed.
>
>I changed some of these to php and use the header (location: URL)
>command, but the files do not show up in my webstats, so I would prefer
>to use html redirects but not if I am going to be penalised.
>
>I will definitely do a search through Matt Cutts site for this and see
>what he says about this. But do you guys think that meta refresh are
>ok?
>
>Pete.

From what you say it might be the only way of doing what you want. But
I still wouldn't do it, too risky. I'd reassess my whole situation,
ask on affiliate forums for people who've had the same problems and
solved them.

BB
--

http://www.kruse.co.uk/affordable-we...n-services.htm
http://www.kruse.co.uk/google-mountain.htm
http://www.kruse.co.uk/seo-home-page.htm

On 17 Aug 2006 06:25:28 GMT, John Bokma <john@castleamber.com> wrote:

>"Peter" <petermcphee@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi guys, I really appreciate your responses... this is a good
>> discussion.
>>
>> Let me explain a little more. I am an affiliate of a few merchants. I
>> want to keep a track of clicks that my visitors make to my merchants
>> site. This way I can compare visitor Click Through Rates to the actual
>> Conversion Rates.
>>
>> I can set up server side redirects, but this is tiresome to manage with
>> my webhost as I have to log into my Control Panel every time and use
>> their GUI to do this...i.e. they won't allow me to modify the html
>> config file manually. Also, I want the page that is linked to to open
>> in a new browser, which a server side redirect won't do.
>
>Set the target attribute of the a element to open a (IMO annoying) new
>window.
>
>301 redirects can be added to .htaccess which you can upload to your
>sever, no need for CPanel magic. If you do it right, one rule should be
>enough :-D

From what he was saying, he can't modify the .htaccess file. That's
odd.

BB
--

http://www.kruse.co.uk/affordable-we...n-services.htm
http://www.kruse.co.uk/google-mountain.htm
http://www.kruse.co.uk/seo-home-page.htm

Big Bill <kruse@cityscape.co.uk> wrote:

> From what he was saying, he can't modify the .htaccess file. That's
> odd.

If that's the same as "they won't allow me to modify the html config file
manually", yup. I had no idea if that was http.conf or .htaccess, so I
ignored it :-D.

--
John Experienced Perl programmer: http://castleamber.com/

Fart Free Firefox: http://johnbokma.com/firefox/find-in-page-sound.html