dumb question but... url redirect

[Shane]

Tweet

right i never had to do this but ...

I am sick of changing links for independants so I assume rather than slap their tracking code on a the image/banner I want to just put the url of a page on my site that redirects to the URL they specify, then I only have to change the one URL when they change the tracking codes..

so how do I do that and does google see anything bad in that.. i using dreamweaver mx if there something built in that...

I know it's a dumb question but I never had to do it till now but I find I have around 50 pages to change again now and it gettin a bit boring when I can just specify 1 url of my own instead and then change that redirect URL

fanks if you can show how dumb i am

wow.. there no embarassed smiley... will have to make do with a

[getvisible]

no worries mate - I do it- msn me when ur on and i'll show you how.

Redirects are used all over the place, advertising tracking etc. Just don't use it to hide keyword stuffed pages in.

[KieronD]

Shane, just sent you an email detailing how to do this.

Cheers!

Kieron

[renegade]

using dreamweaver mx if there something built in that...

The site wide search/replace feature in Dreamweaver is usually good enough to change links in bulk.

[Shane]

Fanks Lee.... and kieron thanks for the email.

thanks Joe, I really need to get stuck into DW as I use it to the limit I know and then no further and it's the dogs nads really.

Will have a look at both ways

fankya

[Guswold]

I've just tried to do the same thing myself, but I'm sure the method I've devised is pretty rudimentary and not as subtle as perhaps it could be.

I would certainly appreciate any advice on the best way to do this.

[Darren]

My prefered way of achieving this is by using a Meta Refresh.

The example below includes some XSSI, that would allow you to add a query string on the end of the URL to the meta refresh, that would automatically set the click reference to the query string + the current date.

Simply wack the below code into a blank index.shtml, remembering to replace ( and ) with < and > (or whatever extension supports SSIs on your server)

(html)

(head)
(title)Merchant Name(/title)
(!--#if expr="$QUERY_STRING = ''" --)
(!--#set var="referer" value="noreferer" --)
(!--#else --)
(!--#set var="referer" value="$QUERY_STRING" --)
(!--#endif --)
(!--#config timefmt="%d-%m-%Y" --)
(meta HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh"
CONTENT="0;URL=http://network.com/?affid=1234&merchant=4321&tracking=(!--#echo var="referer" --)-(!--#echo var="DATE_GMT" --)&url=http://www.deeplinktomerchant.co.uk")
(/head)

(body)
(/body)
(/html)

Obviously, replace the relevant bits with what you want; URL, etc.

Then, upload this file into a new directory. I have a directory off my route called 'visit', inside this folder, I have another folder with the name of the merchant containing a meta refresh.

If I then set up a link to:

www.mysites.co.uk/visit/merchantname/

The link would follow through to the merchant, and the click reference would be 'noreferer-01/02/03'

If I set up a link to:

http://www.mysites.co.uk/visit/merch.../?mynewsletter

The link would follow through to the merchant, and the click reference would be 'mynewsletter-01/02/03'

I hope that makes sense.....if anyone wants me to elaborate, feel free to let me know

[Darren]

I forgot to mention, the principle of using the query string to set the click reference can easily be changed so that the variable being set by the query string is a deep link.

[Guswold]

Thanks Darren - this is definitely WAY more sophisticated than my method! I shall give it a go and see how far I get...

[Darren]

Hey....no worries......if you need a hand, drop me an email or catch me on MSN

[Bosh123]

Hi,

I am wondering if a normal meta refresh tag inside the head tag will track sales:

(META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT="5;URL=network/merchants/merhant-page&tracking code.html")

Thanks

[Darren]

Of course....it'll work just as well

[Bosh123]

Thanks Darren.