Markting Urls

[robmob]

I have search the forum for the last 15 mins but not been able to find the answer to this question:

We are looking at producing a couple of leaflets with slight variations to test. On the leaflet we want to use a fairly short and different urls

i.e www.performancemotorcare.com/offer1
www.performancemotorcare.com/offer2

we do not want to use the long version with the /acatalog/ in the middle.

Is there a way of using the short urls above but re-directing to
www.performancemotorcare.com/acatalog/offer1 etc?

Many thanks

[Darren B]

set up a redirect in your htaccess file search for htaccess redirects (google that is)

[robmob]

Thanks Darren

I'll try a forum search on htaccess for further details on how to.

Your speedy response is much appreciated.

Kind regards

[Duncan Rounding]

Or perhaps use a forwarding link from TinyURL.com perhaps.
So this page:
http://www.performancemotorcare.com/acatalog/Microfibre_Cloths.html
would become this for example:
http://tinyurl.com/6zsbn8

[Duncan Rounding]

Here's an .htaccess example:

redirect 301 /offer1.html http://www.mydomain.co.uk/acatalog/offer1.html

[Duncan Rounding]

Another thought. It might be worth considering an affiliate system or similar so that you can track the responses and order conversions. I use my affiliate system primarily for that purpose. I create a new affiliate for each 'offer' and track related sales.

[Darren B]

oooh just an after thought, if you go down the htaccess root - cant be a windows server.

[robmob]

Thanks Duncan.

Again much appreciated. Also thanks for all the help and work you have done recently on the optimizing the images for our new site.

[robmob]

Duncan

I have been considering AllAfilliatePro but wanted it to run a recommend a friend scheme which it appears in won't handle too well without some additional programming (about £3ks worth!).

Will something like this be able to utilise the shorter urls, re-direct them and then also provide analytics?

[Duncan Rounding]

AAP will only use normal URLs but with TinyURL you can specify unique custom alias.
So for example can perhaps get a URL like this:
http:/ tinyurl. com/ PMC-Offer1 (purposely broken link)

AAP is really limited to affiliates that are already registered. Maybe there's something else someone knows of that will handle the recommend a friend system better.

[robmob]

Darren

I beleive we are hosted on a server that is: Linux (Centos 4)/Windows 2003

This doesn't mean much to me and I am not sure if this is an either/or.

[Mike Hughes]

Rob, your server is using Apache. i.e. it's on linux.

Mike

[Darren B]

OK, if your not to confident with this sort of thing and your control panel does not allow you to edit the htaccess through it, i mean that you have to manually edit it using and ftp progrm then dont delete stuff that is already in it, your need to add on to the end.

but make sure you test your site straight away, if it does not work then delete the stuff you have put in it.

[Mark H]

Unless I'm missing the point, why not just create two new HTML pages called:

i.e www.performancemotorcare.com/offer1
www.performancemotorcare.com/offer2

And put some marketing blurb on each page (opportunity for more testing!) and a big link on each to the appropriate product, or even the product details on each page and the appropriate add to cart (or "tell me more" button) on each page?

[robmob]

Mark

Unfortunately I am not that technically minded. I am creating all my non-product pages as Actinic Brochure pages which automatically assigns them after the /acatlog/ directory.

If what you are suggesting is simple to do within Actinic then I am more than happy to look at how to do this.

Thanks

[Darren B]

Actinic will unfortunately stuff it under the acatalog directory, Mark was suggestion you creeate and new page for this promotion with links to the refering actinic pages.

Have you managed to crack this yet? or decided how you want to do this.

This is an example of how htacess works http://www.tametheweb.co.uk/orders/Knowledgebase.html

redirects to

http://www.tametheweb.co.uk/knowledgebase/

its the same sort of thing but in reverse

D

[Mark H]

But wouldn't placing an htaccess file on the server require an ability to use FTP software outside of Actinic, which Rob might not be able to do?

[Darren B]

Mark it possibly would, as i said earlier, it depends on his hosting control panel, so can be done easily without the need for ftp.

But i know nothing of rob's abilities, and maybe it might be something he is not comfortable with trying. I did ask if he had cracked it yet or had decided which way to go, i was also giving and example of how htacess can be used to help in this decision.

D

[Mark H]

Darren/Duncan - wouldn't it be relatively easy to set up two subdomains on the host's control panel (with their help if available):

i.e www.offer1.performancemotorcare.com
www.offer2.performancemotorcare.com

and have them point/forward to the relevant products? Change "offer1" and "offer2" to some wording that could still be used in the future simply by changing the point/forward.

[leehack]

Whatever you gain in one hand, you will lose in the other as within actinic means same design/template, so easy management of pages. If someone is prepared to type in a long domain name, I suspect they will go that extra mile and type 8 more characters.

OR, hows about renaming the shop top page and having index.html as the prize landing page or even crazier, why not buy domain name www.pmc.com and have that redirect to the correct page.

[Darren B]

depending on the host and if they allow subdomains, but this would also require a redirect, again back to htaccess.

The easy answer is to use the proper url including the acatalog folder. But i am sure rob could manage this without to much trouble.

I think the question is for Rob to answer - "Do You Feel Lucky" oops wrong line "Do you Think You Can Do It"

Tools required are
and ftp program - filezilla will do
a text editor- notepad will do

logon on to the server and look for the .htacess file (you will need to select show hidden files under filezilla)

right click on the file and select view, add the lines save click back on filezilla and it will prompt you to upload.

This is a brief explanation but gives you the idea

[Darren B]

OK

the lines for your htaccess would be
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^performancemotorcare.com$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.performancemotorcare.com$
RewriteRule ^offer1.html$ "http\:\/\/www\.performancemotorcare\.com\/acatalog\/offer1\.html" [R=301,L]
RewriteRule ^offer2.html$ "http\:\/\/www\.performancemotorcare\.com\/acatalog\/offer2\.html" [R=301,L]check this works immediately after you have uploaded it to your sites root area

D

[Darren B]

Whatever you gain in one hand, you will lose in the other as within actinic means same design/template, so easy management of pages. If someone is prepared to type in a long domain name, I suspect they will go that extra mile and type 8 more characters.

OR, hows about renaming the shop top page and having index.html as the prize landing page or even crazier, why not buy domain name www.pmc.com (http://www.pmc.com) and have that redirect to the correct page.


Yer that too :D

[Mark H]

"depending on the host and if they allow subdomains, but this would also require a redirect, again back to htaccess."

On a lot of control panels (for instance 1&1) all you have to do is enter the URL of the page you want to point/forward to, and copy this from the relevant product page. I agree, of course, that htaccess is a good solution, but this might be simpler:)

Time for a beer.

[RuralWeb]

IMO marks idea is the simplest

[Darren B]

"depending on the host and if they allow subdomains, but this would also require a redirect, again back to htaccess."

On a lot of control panels (for instance 1&1) all you have to do is enter the URL of the page you want to point/forward to

This is what i have been saying, but not all hosts have this option, the way this works is to create / edit the htaccess already on the server.

And The Beer sounds like a great idea, mines an IPA

[Mark H]

Which host are you with Rob? Chances are that at least one of us can guide you through this.

Sorry Darren - has to be a cool Peroni;)

[Darren B]

I think Rob has gone and hung himself

has to be a cool Peroni
and a what ?

[TraceyHand]

that's the second time someone has mentioned a Peroni today (not both here) and I'd never heard of it til now either

(mine's a Stella, btw..after a couple of 'home measured' bacardis ;) )

[Mark H]

In my experience (don't ask) the best lager in the world.

[Mark H]

Sorry - let's make that a large one:)

[TraceyHand]

Sorry - let's make that a large one:)

no, no, no
all wrong
Stella is the bomb! (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/Stella_Artois_Bottle.jpg/321px-Stella_Artois_Bottle.jpg)

[pinbrook]

Peroni :D
stella :(

[TraceyHand]

well, I've looked at 'Peroni' and decided it could be Stella, re-bottled!
Never even heard of it til earlier today, let alone tried it so I'm going to hunt it down to try...all in the name of research, you understand ;)

[Darren B]

Hmmm might consider one, only really do bottle beers to be sociable and at bbq's prefer the real ale, the chemical stuff gives me a hang over

[Mark H]

No chemicals in a proper lager, just the 4 real ingredients:)

[TraceyHand]

prefer the real ale

I always associate 'real ale' with.....*coughs* old men

hehe

[Mark H]

BTW Rob when you read this in the morning, the answer is at about post #19:D

[Darren B]

I always associate 'real ale' with.....*coughs* old men

hehe

Shush You your only old as you feel ;)

[Darren B]

BTW Rob when you read this in the morning, the answer is at about post #19:D


thats 19ish ;)

[Mark H]

Do you mean #25? ;)

[Mark H]

"Never even heard of it til earlier today, let alone tried it so I'm going to hunt it down to try...all in the name of research, you understand"

It surfaces in the major supermarkets now and again (and almost always in the Co-op, at least in SE) - also in CostCo, and in France if you you do the Channel hop. No more expensive than other good lagers.

[robmob]

Thanks to everyone for your help and suggestions. Fortunatley I dicided against the rope and went for the Pironi instead. Also have downloaded filezilla and attempting the htaccess route.

Thanks again

Rob