How to Cloak Your Shopify Store
Hello friends, in this guide, we will explore how to use Cloaking.House for your Shopify store.
To get started, you will need:
- The link to your Shopify store.
Let's begin with registering an account, which you can do via the following link: https://cloaking.house/
Upon registration, you automatically receive a 7-day trial period with no restrictions.
To start, you need to upload your pre-prepared white page to your hosting and domain.
Navigate to your hosting and upload your white page to the root directory of your domain.
Next, you'll need to rename the index file of your white page to a different name. This is done to prevent conflicts between two index files in the same directory. Specifically, you should rename the index.php file of your white page to another name, such as site.php or site.html, depending on the programming language used for your white page.
In the end, you should have something like this with the renamed file.
Next, go to Cloaking.House and click on the "Create Flow" button.
In the opened menu, we will configure the stream together. On the first page of stream creation, we need to specify the following: stream name, path to the white page, and the link to your Shopify store. Let's break this down in more detail.
You can use any name for "Flow Name".
In the "White Page" field, you should enter the name of the index file of your white page that we renamed earlier on your hosting. Just to remind you, we renamed it to site.php, if you did follow the tutorial exactly, then use “site.php” in this field.
In the "Offer Page" field, you should insert the link to your Shopify store.
Here's a screenshot of how it should look:
Click on "Save" and proceed to the next page for flow configuration.
The system offers 5 main filters:
1. Cloaking Filter: This is a general protection against bots and moderators from all advertising sources. When this filter is enabled, such traffic will be filtered and directed to the White Page.
2. Disable VPN/Proxy Traffic: Proxies and VPNs are tools that help visitors hide their data and change their IP and location. Since regular users typically do not use these tools, you can filter out traffic from users using VPNs or proxies.
3. Disable IPv6 Traffic: IPv6 is an enhanced internet access protocol, but most global internet users still use IPv4. IPv6 is mainly used by bots and moderators. With this filter enabled, such traffic will be filtered and directed to the White Page.
4. Disable Traffic without ISP (Internet Service Provider): Typically, every visitor should have an ISP. If our system detects that there isn't one, such traffic will be filtered and directed to the White Page.
5. Disable Traffic without Referrer: You can enable this option if you don't want visitors with direct referrals to see your Offer Page. The idea is that visitors who click on your ad in a social network will have a referrer, while moderators may go directly to the link by copying it into the browser's address bar.
Configure these filters according to your preferences and needs. Once you've set them up, continue with your stream configuration as required.
Next, you can set additional filtering parameters:
Max. Number of Clicks from One IP per Day: This parameter allows you to specify the maximum number of clicks from one IP address within a day before the visitor is forcibly redirected to the White Page.
Number of Clicks Before Cloaking: This parameter allows you to specify the number of clicks after which cloaking will start. All visitors who access your link before the click limit is reached will be redirected exclusively to the White Page.
You can also choose allowed and prohibited countries, devices, operating systems, and browsers.
These additional filtering parameters allow you to fine-tune the behavior of your flow and tailor it to your specific needs and requirements. Adjust them based on the type of traffic you want to allow or filter out.
The screenshot below will show the standard-optimal settings for your stream.
After you have selected all the necessary filters and settings, click the "Save" button. You will then be directed to the third page of stream configuration, where you can create a white list of IP addresses. Click the "Save" button again.
After successfully creating the stream, you need to download the cloaking integration index file and integrate it into your white page, which is installed on your hosting. Here's how you can do it:
1. In the "Flows" tab, locate the stream you created.
2. Click on the "Download" button to download the integration index file.
This index file is essential for integrating the cloaking functionality into your white page. Once you've downloaded it, you can proceed with the integration process according to the provided instructions or guidelines.
In the popup window, click on "Download index.php".
The downloaded index.php file needs to be uploaded to your hosting server alongside the white page, that we have prepared earlier.
After integrating the cloaking index file, when you visit your white page's link, the cloaking functionality will be in action, and it will filter incoming clicks. All clicks will be displayed in the "Clicks" tab on Cloaking.House. On this page, you can also see which filter is triggered by the clicks and where it directs them. This information can be valuable for monitoring and analyzing the behavior of your cloaked traffic.
With this, the setup of cloaking your Shopify store through Cloaking.House is complete. Please note that there are many other interesting articles on the blog that can help you become more proficient and avoid errors.