As a blogger, I am sure most of us search for ways to make money and some go with writing posts on themes, recommending hosting services or some other electronic products. However, there is a need to cloak affiliate links. Cloaking is nothing but masking your long affiliate links into shorten url.
You can use online url shortener like tinyurl but if you want to make your own custom domain shortener then here is an tutorial for you.
Note: You need to upload files on your server, if you have permission for this then try out the tutorial and make unlimited shortened urls with your affiliate links.
Shorten Affiliate Links As Custom Domain URL
Here are the step by step instructions for anyone who would like to add shorty on your own domain name and cloak the affiliate links.
First and foremost, visit shorty website and download the zip file.
Extract the zip file on your desktop and open ftp client, I recommend filezilla which is free to use. You can use any of the ftp clients..
Visit public_html, this is the place where you have all the wordpress folders like wp-content, wp-admin. Right click and create a new folder.. let’s call it recommended. Now go inside the recommended folder which is obviously an empty directory…
You can create any folder name you want. As you have already unzipped the shorty folder which is saved on the desktop - Open it and you can see these folders..
Click on the ‘Shorty_beta’ folder and numerous php files along with folders are displayed that are in the folder..
Copy each one of them or select all using ctrl+A and upload to the recommended folder. Half of the job is done now!
Installing Shorty on Custom Domain
You can open the _instructions.txt file on how to install shorty on the domain. In anyway, I will walk you through the process of setting it up..
Now, as you have finished uploading all the files you need to change the configuration and include your database information. Click on configuration.php file that is in recommended folder and edit it with your database information, you can use the existing database password, username or create a new database from cpanel or phpadmin..
Once you have done that.. visit www.yourdomain.com/recommended/_install.php where yourdomain is the domain name you are using to install shorty url shortener.
Rest of the process is easy. Fill in the admin username and password and after filling it up you will be notified to remove _install.php from the server. Do it and enjoy shortening unlimited links 
Demo – Visit my Homepage 
This is nice. Atleast now we dont have to spend on costly plugins. I will use it.
Yea indeed.. some free plugins does this though I never used ‘em
What is the next step to actually shorten any affiliate link that I have, I mean where to put the affiliate link?
Is it to put in recommended folder or what?
Hey Neel,
You need to visit the folder from your address bar, login and you will be able to add affiliate links with custom url…
Example: http://bangaloreloka.com/recommended/
OK thanks! I got it
Oh, I’m using Blogger.. I can’t use that..
Haha.. Another reason to move to wordpress
I use it, and I always prefer it. Simple admin interface to create links in a zap!
Cool Joseph.. I stumbled across this shorty recently, although it was made in 2006 but does the job for me!
You can do this using plugins, which is more easy to handle.
Yeah.. but can be useful for non wordpress blogs too
I am using Go Codes plugin which works similar . .
Ah! Never tried plugins for shortening links.. sounds cool though
and thanks a lot for the input!
Perhaps, shorty does it for me. Like the interface..
Kick ass man! I had written about it before while trying to create brand awareness for my blog. What is the need to use any other domain’s URL shortening service when you have your own?
Indeed..
Shortening links on custom domain is an real joy 
I do love google shortlink then no workload for my database. Thanks
But it isn’t custom right?
overall the db won’t be affected that much as you might think..
Thanks for the comment.