If you are not changing your affiliate links, you are losing sales. The reason is twofold: When people see an affiliate link they are less likely to purchase, and some people for some reason will go so far as to make sure they access the site without using the affiliate link even if they do purchase. Why affiliate links are such a turnoff is a mystery, but even I have to admit that I am reluctant to follow an affiliate link (that I might otherwise follow).

The easiest way to disguise your link is with anchor text. If you are using Squidoo, Hubpages, or a blogging platform that allows this, then this is the way to go. Just use the linking feature to insert your affiliate link to any text, or even an image. Even click here will do fine.

For article directories you will need another solution. Even if the article directory allows anchor text you should still publish a copy and paste link for any publishers that use the article without making the anchor text live (such as in an email newsletter). Also, if you are distributing PDF documents with affiliate links in them (always a good idea) you cannot use anchor text.

One easy solution is to just go to www.tinyurl.com and get yourself a free Tinyurl link that redirects to your affiliate link. If you would like a more relative-sounding link, spend a couple bucks for a cheap .info domain and forward it to your affiliate link (I recommend www.namecheap.com for this).

If you have a hosting account, there is a great free PHP script you can use at www.freelinkcloaker.com/. All your links will appear as extensions of your own domain name using a relative keyword and "Recommends" in the URL extension.

Finally, there are free Javascript codes available that will disguise an affiliate link when a mouse hovers over the link. Obviously you need an environment that provides use of an html editor to use this type of code. Just Google javascript link cloak and you’ll find them.