Want to share affiliate links and earn some money? Then keep on reading.
One of the best ways for bloggers to monetize their content is through affiliate marketing.
You can increase the amount of money you make from each click by signing up for a high-ticket affiliate program and optimizing the performance of your affiliate links.
And since over 80% of brands use affiliate marketing programs, there’s never been a better time to share affiliate links on the Internet and profit.
But how do you reasonably do that without losing the trust of your readers? You must rank for the right keywords to get traffic to your link and place them strategically to maximize earnings.
In this guide, I’ll show you the best places to share your affiliate links, some practical tips on where and why you should share them, and some real-life examples.
Contents
Whare Are Affiliate Links?
Affiliate links are unique URLs used to monitor the traffic that comes from your website and goes to the advertiser’s website.
Each affiliate marketer has a unique URL that includes identifiers unique to them, such as your username, a random string of numbers and letters, or some other method of identification.
In order to measure your metrics, including clicks, sales, and affiliate commissions, a record is sent to the affiliate program each time a website visitor hits one of your affiliate links.
Normally, you’ll only get paid a commission if a visitor buys something, but you might also get compensated for leads.
Cookies are used by affiliate marketing programs to track activities in addition to your unique ID in the URL. A cookie is a little file downloaded to a reader’s computer when they click one of your affiliate links.
This cookie will then record the user’s actions and credit your affiliate account with the transaction if a product is purchased within the window of time specified by the cookie’s duration (that can range typically from 30 to 120 days, depending on the affiliate program).
What Are The Best Places To Share Affiliate Links?
Here are the top places to share your affiliate links.
1. Blog content
Your blog content is one of the best places to share your affiliate links.
You can add them to text and images, inside your main content, or in promotional sidebars.
When you first start a blog, conduct some keyword research to determine the keywords you want to rank for that have the potential to generate affiliate revenue.
These are the best types of posts you can write for sharing affiliate links:
- List posts.
- “How-to” posts.
List posts
In list posts, you can draw attention to many different products (with affiliate links), write small reviews, and give valuable information to the reader.
Remember that you are writing for a real person and should provide value. This way, your links won’t seem spammy.
List posts usually perform better when you have the word “best” in them, like “the best small gadgets everyone should have” or “the 9 best laptops of 2020”. Best of all (no pun intended), this works in any niche. For example:
- Marketing: Best SEO tools for a small business.
- Business: Best 5 books every entrepreneur should read.
- Tech: Best smartphones of 2020.
- Travel: Best travel agencies for this summer.
- Food: Best vegetarian ebooks for beginners.
Customers frequently seek in-depth reviews that offer various options and mention many brands when seeking information on a specific product.
List posts provide this.
And whenever you mention a brand name, add your affiliate link to it.
Even without adding the word “best” in the search query, when searching only for “laptops,” notice the pages in the top 10 Google positions. If you look further into those websites, you’ll find that they use affiliate links to generate revenue.
Most affiliate links have a sticky cookie that lasts some weeks or months. This means it doesn’t matter if the reader doesn’t buy the product right after clicking your link. Even if they enter the product’s website directly, you’ll still be accountable for referring to them (unless, in the meantime, they click on another affiliate link from another affiliate marketer).
Usually, the cookie duration window can last from 30 to 120 days, sometimes even more, depending on the merchant. Legendary Marketer, for example, has an affiliate program with a lifetime cookie duration.
Your odds of someone clicking on your affiliate link, making a purchase, and paying you a commission increase with the amount of traffic your blog receives.
“How to” posts
Another type of post with revenue potential is a “how-to” or tutorial post.
These posts guide the readers through a path, teaching them something new.
It can be anything from showing how to use specific software or how to make sure you have the best rental experience to teaching how to make socks (you can even put an affiliate link to Amazon skein yarns).
Your viewers are more likely to click the affiliate link if you present a problem and then provide a solution, including the product you’re promoting. This builds both your credibility and their trust in the product.
How do you strategically place affiliate links within blog content?
When you have a list post, focus on using an affiliate link 2-3 times within a brand section.
For instance, if you have a post about “The Best AI-Writing Software,” you can add your links to:
- The main heading of the product.
- The first time you mention the brand or software in your text.
- A call to action at the end of the review section, like “Check out this brand’s software” or “Visit the brand’s website.”
Affiliate Disclosure
Back in 2009, the Federal Trade Commission updated its endorsement and advertising guides to help consumers avoid misleading reviews in advertising.
And it included blogs.
When you have affiliate links on a post, always include an affiliate disclosure, informing your reader that you may receive a commission if they decide to purchase the product through your affiliate link.
With an affiliate disclosure or disclaimer, you are being transparent with your audience avoiding “deceptive” endorsements. While most readers are unaware you’re using affiliate links, the law still requires you to disclose any partnership you may have with a brand.
Here’s an example from my own blog of how you can disclose your links within your blog content:
I even included a link to my privacy policy where I go deep into the subject.
2. Email Content
You can share your affiliate links through your email marketing campaigns if you have a big audience.
It also works well with welcome emails, but make sure you provide enough free value and don’t just start sharing links in a spammy way. Your readers will spot it immediately, and you’ll sound like you’re over-selling.
In this example, you can see how Ryan talks about her friend’s program and adds a link for his reader to enroll.
Like in blog content, you can also deliver a “how-to” series of emails outlining all the steps necessary to perform a specific action.
You can send a series of emails spaced out over several days using the drip campaigns or autoresponders provided by email marketing software.
Every email you send should include affiliate links to the products your reader needs to solve each step. If your email series is about starting a blog, it can be anything from a web hosting provider to WordPress SEO plugins that you endorse.
You can even transform a post you already published on your blog into an actionable email series. Repurposing your content on multiple platforms is an excellent way to use what you already have and reach a wider audience.
Remember to disclose the affiliate link at the bottom of your email.
3. Resources page
If you have a page dedicated to your favorite resources that you personally use and endorse, like web hosting, themes, WordPress plugins, software, or even cameras and lighting equipment, you should place your affiliate links there.
At the top of your website’s main menu, be sure to place a link to your resources.
And just like in blog posts, include an affiliate disclosure to play it safe. The affiliate disclosure should be brief and stress that there is no additional cost to the reader.
4. Inside Digital Products
If you have a lead magnet on your website or sell courses or ebooks, you can add affiliate links inside those products.
People are fond of free products (aren’t we all?). If you have loads of free content in your blog, why not condensate some of that in a free ebook (or paid) in exchange for email addresses?
You’re maximizing your earning potential by repurposing your content on a PDF (with your affiliate links) that your audience can download.
Here’s how Pat Flynn added an affiliate link inside the resources section of a lesson of his course Smart from Scratch:
Notice the disclosure? Don’t forget to include it.
5. Social Media
If you have a large social media following, you can leverage all those platforms and make money through affiliate links. You just have to be careful about complying with the platform’s policies regarding advertising.
Short-form content on platforms like TikTok, Facebook Reels, Instagram Reels, and Pinterest Idea Pins is trendy right now.
Some years ago, traffic was the biggest problem for marketers. But since these platforms aggressively push short-form content, even those with little prior expertise can quickly reach a larger audience.
You can check out this training that teaches you how to leverage a platform like TikTok to grow your online business.
Including your affiliate link in the profile and comments is the best part of creating short-form content. You can even add affiliate links to Facebook groups without problems.
In the following image, I added my link to a Facebook Reel’s comment section. Although this is not an affiliate link, I guide the viewers through a funnel where they’ll ultimately click on my affiliate links.
Sometimes it’s better to send the viewer through a journey, including a bridge page and testimonials, instead of sending them directly to the affiliate offer. It depends mainly on the product you are promoting.
To know more about applying funnels and bridge pages to your offers, check out this free course by super-affiliate Brian Brewer.
6. YouTube
YouTube is the Internet’s second most popular website (it’s actually a search engine), and you don’t necessarily need to display ads to make money on YouTube. Even without making videos, Youtube is still a source of revenue for me.
By placing your affiliate links in your description, you leverage this powerful platform so you can make some money online.
Like in blog content, where you review products, you can also make comparisons of various products or even video tutorials and link them in the description.
Check out how this channel uses affiliate links on the description of their keyboard comparison video.
Affiliate links are usually long and may have weird characters. Because of that, it’s always best to shorten your links using Bit.ly (free) or to cloak them with a free WordPress plugin like ThirstyAffiliates (also free).
7. Podcasts
Podcasts are also another great place to share affiliate links.
You might think podcasts are only for entertainment, but many podcasters have found ways to monetize their shows and make money from them.
This can be a great way of building an income stream, especially if you already have a following. You should consider adding affiliate links to your show if you want to record your own podcast.
But podcasts aren’t limited to audio. You can create transcripts and include them on your blog.
If you have a podcast, you can have a transcript of every episode you post online for search engines to recognize and properly index it, allowing users to find it when they conduct keyword searches related to your subject.
By using speech-to-text software, you can transcribe your podcast in no time.
The transcripts should also include any affiliate links you mentioned during the show so they get picked up by Google.
Conclusion
Sharing affiliate links on the Internet is easy, but some places are better to generate income more sustainably.
As a long-term strategy, starting a blog and creating good quality content, along with keyword research, is the best way to use affiliate marketing to build a sustainable online business.
Now is the ideal time to become an affiliate marketer and begin making serious passive income, thanks to all the fantastic platforms available for growing an audience and adding affiliate links.
Check out my high-ticket affiliate marketing guide for a more in-depth explanation of how affiliate marketing works and how you can leverage big brands for higher commissions.
And if you want to know how super-affiliates make tens of thousands every month, be sure to get my free ebook.
