This is so vitally important and many people don't pay attention to it. A "LINK" is what you click on to go to another website, another section of a website or to view a photo, etc.
This is a link to Amazon's Home Page. http://www.amazon.com/ <-- Notice the " / " , everything before the " / " is the website's DOMAIN NAME your going to. But you can not always trust the links you see in the website's text. You should take a moment and put your mouse cursor on the link without clicking it and wait a few seconds. On the bottom of your browser (ie explorer, firefox, ect) you should see the real address the link is going to.
http://www.amazon.com/
If the link before the slash is not the same as the link shown in the webpage then someone it trying to trick you into going to another website and usually for unscrupulous reasons. for instance. Amazon's page link above. "http://www.amazon.com/" if you put your mouse cursor over it you will see the link before the slash is the same which means your going to Amazon's home page and no where else.
But if the link at the bottom of your browser shows something like this --> "http://www.amazon-xyz.com" then you would be going to a website that has nothing to do with Amazon's website and someone is misdirecting you to their website or a more than likely harmful website.
"amazon.com" is Amazon's domain name. They purchased and registered this domain name and no one else can use it. This is how domain names work. (Amazon.com, Google.com are domain names) So when you go to www.amazon.com/ (remember look at the domain name before the slash) your going to their website.
but "http://www.amazon-xyz.com/". in this example there is a -xyz added to the domain name, which makes the domain name "amazon-xyz.com" which is not amazon's. Someone has purchased and registered this domain name to look like Amazon's and people do this to 9 out 10 times for criminal reasons.
Always remember, http://www.amazon.com/ or http://www.Google.com/ or www.verizon.net/
The red part of the links above is the Domain Names and that is the part you want to be aware of at all times.
It does not matter what comes after the domain name.
http://www.amazon.com/ (this area is after the domain name.)/
Everything after the domain name will still be that domain names website. For example the long link below.
http://www.amazon.com/Essential-New-York-Times-Cookbook/dp/0393061035/ref=amb_link_354390402_20?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1ZCTT369NKH7EBWA0YP5&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1278853142&pf_rd_i=509156
This is a valid amazon link to a specific product . Notice the domain name i highlited in red is amazons domain name. Remember that in most cases you wont see this long tail link until you put your mouse pointer over the link and look at the bottom of your browser. Nothing is wrong when you see long tail links like this. There are billions of webpages on the internet and each webpage has it's own unique link name. So it is impossible to maintain short links these days.
About Product and affiliate links on a website.
There nothing wrong or unscrupolious about affilliate or product links on someones webpage. They are the same as Television does with commercials, department stores do with their flyers, and advertisments in a newspaper. It's simply marketing. Somone is promoting another companys profit for a commission. You just have to pay attention to the same area as above. The Domain Name area. This will tell you what company, Store, ect. is actually selling the product and if you recognize the name you can feel safe going to that link. Below is a example of a affiliate link, one is a image ad, and one is a text ad. If you put your mouse pointer over the text ad, you will see the long tail link below it at the bottom of your browser.
Taylor Swift - Speak Now - CD
Notice the first part of the domain name is http://www.amazon.com/. From that you know your going to Amazons website if you click on that link. The rest of the link doesn't matter, it is still amazons website. The rest of that link is pointing to the products webpage on amazons website and has the affiliates id number in it so he or she gets credit for the commission if someone buys the product. The rest of the link is pointing to where the product is on their website.
These long links may look scary and intimidating. But once you know that you only have to be aware of the Domain Name area of the link to verify where that link will take you it is not that intimidating any more.
If your still confused about this send me feed back and I will explain it more clearly to you. This is something you need to understand to be safe.
Only Use Secured Servers When Purchasing Anything
One of the most important tips I can give you is when you found something you want to buy and you get to the payment page where you have type in your Name, Address, etc., and Credit Card Information. Before you do this look at the URL!!!Say your shopping at http://www.amazon.com . http://www.amazon.com is the URL. Make sure your still at amazon.com when your at the payment page!
Also make sure the http:// part of the URL has changed to https:// . Very Important!
The https:// means it is a secure server and all your information will be encrypted before it is sent from your computer to theirs. This means that "if" someone did intercept your data being sent all they will see is encrypted data.
What is encrypted data? To put it simply. The name John Doe is sent on a non secure server (http://) and someone intercepts that data, they see "john Doe"
If it sent on a secure server (https://) and someone intercepts the data, the data is encrypted first and then sent, they only see what looks like gibberish "^%*)G*&&*OH^&%&(())JHG^&)*Y&TH(*H&(_)HJ&*))_YH&)G*)(H&T_(H&)" instead of John Doe.
Only the Secured server, (which in this case would be Amazon.com) has the encryption key to turn that data back to readable english.
