LOL I love to answer this question because I have been around longer than most of these services and know the score in using them.
Reasons not to use them.
1. They look like you are hiding something. Why do you not want me to know where you are sending me? I know people who use them to mask viruses and phishing sites that are set up to steal my identity so why should I believe anything behind these redirected links is good for me and my family. Heck I have even had shrunken links tell me I was going to Amazon.com and the site I landed on was more like AmazonMigetPorn.com
2. They look unprofessional. If you are serious about your business why don't you have your own domain name and website? Why is it important to hide the name of your supposedly honest and upstanding business opportunity?
3. Affiliate links are already a re-direct link. A URL shrinking or masking service is also a redirect. People with McAffee Anti Virus and a number other anti phishing softwares get a warning that says this site may contain a virus or put your personal information at risk when the scan detects a double redirect. The anti-virus simply can't see that the page goes to SFI, you put two links ahead of the final destination and it now looks dangerous.
4. You look like someone who is ready to be fitted with a tin foil cap spouting all this nonsense about people stealing your commissions out of malice. Not only does this seldom actually happen because of the security measures affiliate programs have in place but masking the link doesn't stop this behavior from the few who do wish to cut you out of commissions. If I want to do this, remove your referral ID and just sign up with SFI I can click the shrunken url, find the name of the page, delete all cookies and browser history or use a separate computer, and go directly to the gateway with no sponsor. In the case of SFI it will still assign me to someone who has PSA-To-Go or S-Builder purchased so I have gained nothing and all you have lost is someone too dishonest to ever be successful.
5. Business cards look great with my domain name, OK with a prestige domain, and still have some appeal with an affiliate link, but they send those same shady business vibes to card holders when you try to use a shrunken URL on them.
6. If the site deletes or blocks your account or is sold off, or otherwise closes you could be in a spot where you have 10,000 active ads this month and 10,000 worthless ads with broken links that make you look bad next month. 10,000 ads takes a long time to put in place. It might have taken you 2-3 years to get them all up and develop a system for renewing them on time. More time to add tracking codes to them and track results to see which ones are working and which waste time and BAM all of that is gone with the stroke of a delete key.
7. If you are still thinking of using them because most SFI gateways are blocked for SPAM you may get a shock. If you are using tools like Facebook Auto Poster and blog comment blasters, FFA pages, etc.. These cloaked links will still get blocked and when it happens you will not know any faster or save one minute changing links. You will also not have learned anything about marketing and will still be a spammer when you add a gateway to the next cloaking service.
8. Your own domain and website has SEO or search engine optimization values. It can be ranked and gain inbound links, and move up to page 1 of Google in time. You can add content to it and create more points of access to your page, and get a ton of free and targeted search traffic. You can even build an e-mail list to re-market to people you exposed your business to who were not ready to join yet. You can't do any of that with a cloaked URL.
On the good side for them I don't really have anything.
They only delay negative action on criminal behavior, and build distrust in the industry. They are dishonest and dangerous and even you don't know what kind of malware the provider may pass on with your links. I wouldn't trust my reputation to them nor that of SFI, and think nothing but red flags and that common sense should say don't use them.
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