How to Mask a Website Address
By Joanna Polisena
To hide long and complicated Web addresses, you can mask the address with one that is shorter and more attractive. This feature can also be useful when you have multiple websites on the same Web space or you’re using free hosting services, but don’t want your visitors to know that. Website address masking means you can provide your customers and friends a short URL that will direct them to a third-party website without them realizing that they left yours.
Hosting Products
Your domain name provider may offer forwarding and domain masking services as part of your subscription or as add-ons. You would be able to create a folder for each of your websites on a single Web server to share available hosted space among them. Purchase your domains and request these services. Each provider may require a slightly different setup, but the process should involve associating the domain with the appropriate folder and setting the appropriate masking options.
Short URLs and Subdomains
You can hide long or unattractive addresses using third-party short-URL services. These are good for masking affiliate links, too. Many free short-URL services do not include the permanent mask, which means as soon as visitors enter the short address into a Web browser to access your site, the real site address replaces it when the page loads. Through paid subdomain services, however, you can take advantage of masking services, too.
References
Writer Bio
Joanna Polisena has been writing professionally since obtaining a high school mentorship at her hometown's city newspaper. Her work has appeared in daily newspapers, an employment agency's monthly newsletter and various corporate multimedia productions. She earned an AA in letters, arts and sciences from Pennsylvania State University.