External & Affiliate Links Processor

This plugin controls several useful attributes of external links.

• Add affiliate ID tags to links to sites where this makes sense
• Create buttons to add products directly to Amazon’s shopping cart
• Control, based on the domain of the outbound link, whether or not to add rel=nofollow.
• Control whether to open outbound links in new windows (target=_blank)
• Control whether to add visual cues for outbound links, including the favicon for the target site, and/or a generic external link icon

Unlike other nofollow plugins which force every outbound link to be nofollow’d (or not), this plugin lets you select which domains get what treatment. It includes two lists of domains, a white list and a black list. Domains on the blacklist are always nofollow’d, while those on the whitelist never are.

It’s useful to your visitors to let them know which links will take them off your site. This plugin will show icons either before or after the link. One icon is the favicon for the target site, and the other is a generic external link icon.

Sometimes you want to quickly and easily make an affiliate link, requiring a correctly formatted link according to affiliate network specifications. Services like VigLink or Skimlinks can simplify the hassle of remembering the correct formatting of each affiliate network, by using JavaScript to convert natural links into affiliated links. While convenient, these networks take a percentage of your affiliate commissions.

This plugin lets you make a simple natural link to the destination, and the plugin rewrites it with the correct affiliate ID codes. For certain affiliate networks. You don’t have to remember the correct formatting for the affiliate network, you simply make the link and the plugin automatically rewrites it for you (using the AffiliateLinkProcessor library). It also interacts well if you’re using VigLink or Skimlinks, because those services can continue handling whatever links this plugin does not touch. Supported networks are:

• Amazon.com (and all known international Amazon sites)
• Sites on the Linkshare/Rakuten network
• Zazzle.com

In addition to rewriting links to Amazon websites, a shortcode is provided which generates a button which adds a given product directly to an Amazon shopping cart. Many claim doing so has a beneficial effect on the cookie Amazon places into the browser.