Have you noticed that a lot of marketers send you emails with links inside that look like http://clicks.aweber.com/dfakja/adfafk.asd.af? Are you doing the same thing?

In today’s lesson, I’ll show you why that’s happening, and how to make your links look like real links your readers won’t be afraid to click.

With Aweber and other autoresponder services, you’re able to track how many people open your email and how many of those people click your links. This is helpful to measure the effectiveness of your email campaigns. With the data, you can make smarter decisions.

The trouble with those links though, like any other “cloaked” link (such as a tinyURL), is your readers don’t really know what will be on the other side of the link. This causes hesitation among many of your readers.

One solution is to turn click tracking off. Which of course is a mistake if you want the data. Another solution savvier marketers do is to change their HTML message to show a regular call to action phrase with the text linked. For example, Download This Free Report would be a solution of this type.

But still, there is a way to make your link look like a regular website address, and not have it turn into a long click tracking link, while still using this feature.

This is important because many marketers realize that a great domain name can be just as or more effective at getting the clicks they want.

Here’s how to do it.

Using the HTML version of a message, type your link as it’s full link. For example, I’ll use the example of one of my sites, DiscoverAutoresponders.

The link should look like this:  http://www.DiscoverAutoresponders.com. You’ll need to make sure to link the text using the HTML editor’s link button (looks like a chain). If you leave it like this, Aweber will change your link to it’s click tracking link. But by simply making a minor change, this won’t happen.

Just delete the front part of your domain in your email. So now, your link will look like http://DiscoverAutoresponders.com. Simply by doing this quick step, the text of your link will be different from the target address, and the click tracking link won’t replace your link in the email. However, the link tracking feature will still work as designed, giving you all the information you need for your market research.

You’ll want to test the link to make sure that the link with and without www works as expected – some older web hosts don’t treat them the same.

Now your links will be attractive to your readers, and full of data for you – a win, win to remember.

Bob Jenkins

p.s. Remember – getting your readers to click the links in your emails will result in higher customer retention rates, more revenue, and better information for your marketing. Let me know if you get better results from this tip!

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