Today I just want to do a quick post to answer the question what is an affiliate link? I am going to explain the difference between an Affiliate link and a normal link. I am also going to answer lots of other questions concerning this topic. The reason why I decided to write this post, is that there are a lot of people out there who don’t really understand what an affiliate link is and what the difference is between a normal link and an affiliate link.

To be honest, I used to be one of those people. I used to do lots of research on maybe a product that I intend to purchase, but I was afraid of clicking on an affiliate link because I really didn’t understand what it was. But when I did my research and understood what an affiliate link was. I was very happy to click the affiliate link and make a purchase because in a way it’s a way of thanking the person who did the research and provided me with the information I needed about the product.

So What Is An Affiliate Link? Let’s Find Out

An Affiliate link is a link that a person gets from the advertiser of a product, let’s take Fiverr for example, I am an affiliate with Fiverr and what that means is that they have given me a special URL to use on my posts so when someone signs up with them using my link, they will be able to track those sign-ups and compensate me accordingly.

In other words, an affiliate link is a link that contains a special id code that allows the affiliate network or program to track your sales so you can get your commissions. If you send someone to a website using a normal URL, you will not get a commission even if you are affiliated with that website.

The affiliate programs do also provide you with a dashboard where you can track your sales so you can see your performance.

Does It Make A Difference To The Customer When They Click On An Affiliate Link?

To be clear, clicking an affiliate link and making a purchase, does not affect the price the customer pays unless there is a discount code. Some advertisers do provide their affiliates with promotional codes and coupons. This means if the customer clicks on the affiliate link, and they are given a coupon to use at check out, then they will get a discount or whatever is offered.

How Do You Get An Affiliate Link?

It’s very easy to get an affiliate link. All you have to do is sign up with one or more of the affiliate networks and programs, and there are thousands of them out there, to be honest, there are affiliate programs for almost anything you can think of. Once you sign up and are accepted, then you will just copy your affiliate link and share it wherever you want, you can share it on social media ( if the program allows that)

You can use your link on your YouTube Channel, or you can use your links on your websites like I am doing here. There also many people who are using their links on Pinterest but I think the best way is to use them on your websites. And use Pinterest as your traffic source. I have found that to be the best way, because Pinterest does not seem to like affiliate links.

I have posted a few pins using affiliate links and those pins are doing horribly. That is despite me putting extra effort into design and keywords.

Can I Use Affiliate Links On Social Media?

Some brands are not very strict and they allow you to use your affiliate links anywhere as long as you drive sales. The problem is the platforms, just like I mentioned above, in the case of Pinterest, they do mark many affiliate links as spam. Or they just don’t show your pin if it contains an affiliate link. also, most group boards on Pinterest don’t allow affiliate links which makes it hard for an affiliate pin to perform well on Pinterest.

The only way you can make your affiliate pin get lots of traffic is by paying money to Pinterest to promote it. In my opinion and I have mentioned this a few times, on my other posts. The best way to promote your affiliate links and run a successful affiliate marketing business is by having your own website. And then using platforms like Pinterest YouTube, FaceBook, Twitter and even Instagram to drive traffic to your affiliate offers on your website.

How Much Money Can I Make With Affiliate Links?

There is the potential for making big money with affiliate marketing. It really depends on the commission rate and the number of sales you can make. There are some programs that pay really big commissions. One of those programs is Shopify, they pay $58 per sale and they will pay you $2000 for every Plus Referral.

I think $2k is a good amount for just doing some work on your website, and helping people find a place where they can start their own online store. Because that is what Shopify is. It’s a place where people can just create their own online stores and sell goods online.

How does an Affiliate Link Look Like?

Usually, an affiliate link is very long with many characters and symbols. And although some programs do allow you to shorten the link and make it presentable and easy to share especially on social media. Some programs like Amazon Associate does not allow you to shorten their affiliate links so you will have to read each affiliate program’s terms and conditions carefully to learn if you are allowed to shorten your affiliate link.

Another problem you might face when you shorten your affiliate link is platforms like Pinterest do not recognize a shortened link. And that means the link might not function properly on Pinterest.

Why Do I Have To Disclose My Affiliate Links?

If You have a blog/website and you are making money online by affiliate marketing then you have to have a disclosure. Especially if you are based in the US, UK, or Canada. you must let your readers know that you will be earning affiliate commissions if they make a purchase using your affiliate links.

Although the FTC(Federal Trade Commission) law does not affect other countries than the ones mentioned above, it’s better to have the disclosure regardless of where you are based. because working online means you will be doing business with companies that are based in the US, UK, Canada and other countries around the world. So I think it’s safer to have the disclosure. Click Here To read the FTC disclosure guidelines

Also, remember if you post your affiliate links on Pinterest. Twitter or other platforms, you must disclose. For example on Pinterest when describing your pin you must add either #affiliatelink or #ad

Conclusion

Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money online. And knowing how to properly use your affiliate links, will help you avoid loss of revenue. I think this post is also helpful to customers who maybe did not have a full understanding of what an affiliate link is.

Well, I will leave it there for now. I would love to hear your opinions, did know what an affiliate link is prior to reading my post? my next question is directed to affiliate marketers, have you been using your affiliate links correctly? and also did you find this article helpful? If yes then please leave me a comment below, because it really helps my content when you comment.

Thank you for your time, and for your comments

Rose

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