Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest ways to make money online because you don't need your own product to sell. You can choose from hundreds of different merchants who are willing to pay you commissions when people purchase their goods or services through your promotional efforts. It doesn't matter if you're selling fashion apparel, weight loss supplements, diet pills, or dog food. The only thing that matters is whether there's a market demand for what you're offering. If so, then you have the opportunity to make some extra cash by linking to those items in various places.
There are two main types of affiliates: publishers (who set up websites) and marketers (or "promoters," as they're also called). Publishers create sites with advertisements and articles about whatever it is they want to promote. They can be bloggers or just regular folks like yourself. Marketers use these sites to drive traffic to their own stores where customers will buy something after clicking on the ad or article. Both kinds of affiliates will get paid a percentage of any sale made via their promotion. This could mean anything from $10-$100 depending on the terms of the agreement between the publisher and the retailer.
So how does all this work? Here's how to put an affiliate code on a website using Shopify, WordPress, YouTube, TikTok, Amazon, Facebook ads, Google AdWords, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, email newsletters, text messages, landing pages, and more.
First things first—you'll need to sign up for an account at one of several popular affiliate networks. These include Commission Junction, ShareASale, LinkShare, Awin, and JVZoo. Many offer free accounts but may require you to provide personal information before you can actually begin monetizing your site. Once you've signed up, go ahead and build out your profile by uploading photos and filling out your company name and contact info. From here you can browse existing advertisers' profiles and decide which ones seem interesting to you. Then, take advantage of the tools offered within each network to find the best way to promote your brand.
Once you've found the right companies to partner with, it's time to figure out how to spread the word. There are many options available, including blogging, social media posts, email campaigns, and even video tutorials. For example, you might post videos showing off your favorite recipes on YouTube. Or maybe you'd write a series of tips on a niche topic such as making homemade breads or cleaning appliances. Whatever method you choose, remember to keep the content relevant and entertaining while providing valuable advice. That should help ensure viewers stay around long enough to click on your promotions.
If you prefer writing instead of speaking, you can always hire someone else to ghostwrite a few blogs for you. Just know that anyone doing this must agree not to reveal the author's identity. In fact, since most affiliate programs prohibit this practice altogether, we recommend signing up for a freelance writer platform like Upwork or Fiverr rather than hiring someone new.
Social media platforms allow you to share links directly from your browser without having to copy them over manually. So, once you find a great deal on a particular item, simply click on the button that says "share" and select one of the various social media apps listed, like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, LinkedIn, Tumblr, WhatsApp, Reddit, Telegram, TikTok, or Pinterest. Make sure to tag the advertiser along with the hashtag #afflink. Also consider adding hashtags related to your industry or niche. Some examples would be #weightloss, #dieting, #fitness, or #foodporn. Finally, you'll probably want to include the URL of the page hosting the affiliate link, too.
No. While building an audience is important for every business owner, it isn't necessary for getting started with affiliate marketing. However, if you plan to focus solely on affiliate marketing, you should try and establish relationships with other businesses that already have audiences. By partnering with others, you'll be able to leverage their followers and reach more potential buyers. Plus, you'll likely save time by avoiding the hassle of creating and managing separate advertising channels.
For instance, let's say you run a fitness-focused blog full of workout routines and healthy meal ideas. Instead of trying to convince people to visit your site and buy expensive supplements, why not team up with another blogger whose readers are mostly interested in health and wellness topics? Together you can both feature similar workouts and healthy meals on your respective sites. And as part of the partnership, you can cross-post each other's content across multiple social media channels. Not only will this give the impression that the brands you're working together endorse each other, but it will increase exposure to your joint venture partners' loyal fans.
Finally, here's a quick tip regarding social media promotions. Since you won't personally interact with anyone who clicks on your affiliate link, you shouldn't expect much in return except perhaps increased visibility. But if you follow a strategy that includes asking your friends to share your social media posts with their followers, you can still reap the benefits of affiliate marketing without needing to invest lots of time.
Now that you understand how to put an affiliate code on a website, advertise your affiliate links, and promote affiliate marketing on social media, you're ready to dive into the world of affiliate marketing! Keep reading below for additional resources and helpful guides to learn everything you need to know about starting a successful affiliate campaign.
1. How Do You Paste An Affiliate Link Into A Site
There are many websites out there that offer lots of information about how to use an affiliate link. For example, this site offers three very helpful articles about using them.
The Basics Of Affiliate Marketing – There's no shortage of resources available to help you get started with affiliate advertising. This article will teach you all about how it works and why you should consider doing it.
Creating & Placing Affiliate Links – Once you've got a good understanding of the basics, you'll want to learn more advanced techniques like creating custom banners and building links directly within text. This article gives you step-by-step instructions.
Getting Paid With Affiliates - Learn how to track down affiliates who earn big commissions and how to keep up with the latest trends in affiliate marketing.
But most sites won't tell you exactly how to add an affiliate link to your own page. That's where we come in! Here are several methods for adding an affiliate link to any web page without modifying the HTML code.
Method #1 - Using Javascript To Insert A Link
Javascript is a programming language used primarily to create dynamic content for Web pages. One great way to insert an affiliate link into a webpage is via Javascript.
var newLink = document.createElement('a');
newLink.href='http://affiliatelink';
newLink.onclick=function(){window.location="http://www."+this.href;}
This method requires little effort, but it also has limitations. First off, it works best if the link itself isn't too long and includes words like "buy" or "download". Secondly, it makes sense to put the URL inside quotes since it may contain spaces (e.g., http://affiliatelink). Thirdly, it's not possible to include more than two parameters. Finally, if the user does nothing after clicking the link, they will be taken back to the same page they were viewing before.
Method #2 - Including An Image In The Page
Adding an image is another option that allows you to display a clickable graphic instead of just plain text. Just follow these simple steps:
Adding an affiliate link to any platform can help drive traffic from sites where people are looking to buy something. It’s simple to put in place so long as you know what you're doing.
Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest ways to make extra cash online because you don’t need your own product or service to sell. You simply promote other people’s stuff and get paid when someone purchases it through your site/link.
If you like the idea of earning passive income but aren’t sure if affiliate marketing is right for you then this article will explain exactly how to use affiliates to boost your profits and grow your business. We'll also reveal some tricks to getting more out of them too.
Yes! There’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to include affiliate links within videos (as well as websites) without worrying about copyright issues – although there may be restrictions depending on which country you live in.
YouTube has specific policies around using their video content in advertisements. In order to comply with these rules, all adverts must have a ‘Sponsored Content' tag at the beginning of each clip. This means that YouTube cannot show ads alongside anything else unless they have been approved by both parties beforehand. If you want to add affiliate links to your YouTube channel, you should ensure that you follow all of YouTube’s guidelines.
You could try adding the code yourself, however most platforms allow users to embed codes automatically. The best way to find out whether or not a particular platform allows you to insert affiliate links is to check out their FAQ section. Some platforms even provide instructions directly within their software itself. For example, Shopify lets you choose between three different methods for inserting affiliate links.
To see our top tips for creating great affiliate marketing campaigns, click here. To learn more about Google AdSense, click here.
When choosing which affiliate network to join, you might notice that many offer the option to generate a unique URL containing information about your account. Once you've joined a certain marketplace, you should create an account with that same affiliate company. They will usually give you access to their dashboard once you sign up. Here, you can view details about your accounts and edit settings such as your profile picture and email address.
Once logged in, select 'Links & Tracking', followed by 'Link Codes'. From here, you can either manually type your affiliate referral code straight onto your website - or you can grab a piece of HTML code that contains everything you require.
For instance, let's say you wanted to add an affiliate link to Shopify via LinkShare. First, head over to the relevant page on LinkShare, enter your login credentials and hit Log In. Next, scroll down until you reach Links & Tracking. Finally, tap Add New Code to display a list of available codes. Select the code you'd like to use and copy it into your browser window.
The URL you receive after clicking Save will contain your affiliate link along with additional data including the amount of commission you earned last month. Copy this and paste it wherever you would like it to appear.
Alternatively, you can download the code straightaway by going back to the Dashboard tab and selecting Download Code. Then, open the file in Notepad or another text editor and cut-and-paste it into your website.
Most affiliate programs now work much like traditional advertising. Instead of paying for every sale generated by visitors who come across your banner advert, advertisers pay only for those who end up making a purchase. However, since these clicks are coming from outside the normal search results, there’s less chance of being caught by webmasters.
As such, it’s important to clearly label your affiliate links whenever possible. These days, almost all major browsers support automatic labelling and the majority of popular social media networks already have built-in functionality to detect and notify users. However, some platforms still lack this feature.
Here are just a few examples of places you can add affiliate links:
Facebook: By default Facebook does not allow publishers to post affiliate links. But you can easily change this setting and start promoting your items immediately by heading to Settings " Ads & Pages, then tapping Promote Posts. Scroll down and tick the box next to Posting new pages and posts with sponsored stories.
Twitter: Twitter offers two options for sharing your affiliate links. Firstly, you can set up a custom button within Tweetdeck. Simply go to Tools " Customize Button and drag your button onto your homepage. Alternatively, you can paste your link directly into tweets. Just highlight the text you wish to include before hitting Cmd + Enter.
TikTok: TikTok doesn’t currently permit publishers to embed affiliate links directly into their feeds. However, you can easily bypass this restriction by uploading a.mp4 version of your video on YouTube instead. On the left hand side menu, hover over Videos, then Upload Video. After clicking Choose File, browse to your video file and upload it.
Clickbank: If you plan to market digital downloads, you can always submit your affiliate link to ClickBank. They accept a wide range of products including ebooks, audiobooks, courses, software, apps and games.
Amazon: With Amazon, you can either paste your link into emails or leave it blank and attach the image below. Either method works fine, though we recommend leaving it blank when sending promotional messages to potential customers.
In order to keep things easy for readers, we highly advise you to avoid copying your affiliate IDs. Doing so can result in confusion among buyers, especially if you decide to switch companies later on. Also, consider that every time you update your Amazon listing, your old ID won’t match the current one.
Instead, opt for one of these alternative solutions:
Use a tool called AMZScout to quickly retrieve your Amazon affiliate ID. Type your first name, surname and email address into the fields provided and hit Generate Account Number. You’ll soon receive an 18 digit number which you can use to replace your existing ID.
Copy the entire URL of your Amazon affiliate link and save it somewhere safe. When you’re ready to begin selling goods on Amazon, simply paste the URL into your browser rather than copying and pasting your ID again.
Create a dedicated landing page on your site and fill it with product images and descriptions. Use a plugin like WooCommerce to enable free shipping, discounts and gift wrapping. Set the price accordingly and wait for orders to roll in.
We hope you found this guide useful and learned how to add affiliate links to your website. Nowadays, almost everyone owns a smartphone, tablet or laptop computer, meaning there’s virtually nowhere you can’t advertise your wares. So, whatever niche you’ve chosen, think carefully about how you can maximise your chances of success. Remember, you don’t necessarily have to build a brand new website to achieve success. All you really need is a little bit of work and dedication.
Many people are making money from their websites these days by using affiliate marketing techniques. You can use this method if you have a personal or business website that sells something - whether it be a physical product like books, electronics, or clothing, or services such as web design or graphic design work.
You might also find yourself doing affiliate marketing with other types of sites, including blogging platforms like WordPress, video sharing platforms like TikTok, social media networks such as Facebook and Instagram, and even some online marketplaces like Amazon.
If there isn’t any specific rule about adding affiliate links in all those places, then we're going to focus here on Shopify and Wordpress - two of the most popular ecommerce stores out there right now. But before getting started, let me explain what "affiliate" means.
An affiliate link looks different than a regular URL when they appear on a page. They start with a special code called an “Affiliate ID” (or sometimes just “ID”) which includes information about who owns the site where the link appears. The ID consists of four parts separated by dashes (-).
The first part indicates the name of the owner. For example, if the owner has registered his/her domain at NameCheap.com, then the ID would look like this: shivam-domainname.com
The second part is usually either the number 1 or 2 depending on the order in which the domains were purchased. So if you bought your domain through GoDaddy.com and not NameCheap.com, then the ID would read like this: 1shivam.goddaddy.com.
The third part is simply the name of the store being sold. In our example above, the ID would be shivam-store1.shopify.com.
Finally, the fourth part contains the actual affiliate ID itself, starting with the letter A followed by five numbers. It doesn’t matter what letters follow after the fifth digit, but it must always end with a period. Let’s take another example. If someone else had purchased the same domain name from us (GoDaddy), then the affiliate ID would look like this: shivam-domaintwo.gofunday.com.
Now, let’s talk more specifically about how to put these IDs onto your site so that you can make money from them. We'll cover both WordPress and Shopify below.
There's no strict rule governing how many times you can place affiliate links in your content, but generally speaking, if you want to get paid commissions for referring customers to your store, then you should avoid putting too many of them in your posts.
In fact, most professional bloggers will only allow one affiliate link per article, though some may go up to three if they feel strongly enough about a particular brand. When writing articles, aim to keep your readers engaged by providing valuable information, rather than trying to trick them into clicking on an ad. This way, you won't lose credibility among your audience.
On the flip side, you could decide to include multiple affiliate links within the same piece of content, but again, only one or two should suffice. There's nothing wrong with earning extra income by promoting several brands, but try not to overwhelm your visitors with too much advertising.
However, if you'd prefer to promote a single retailer instead of several, then you can safely include dozens of affiliates without worrying about losing respectability. Many big companies choose to give away freebies or coupons as promotional items to generate buzz around their products. These kinds of promotions are great opportunities to drive traffic to your site and build relationships with potential customers.
Of course, once you've established good rapport with your followers, you can ask them to share your affiliate links on other forums and sites. That way, you can continue building your list while generating new revenue streams to supplement your existing income.
As mentioned earlier, you can create an entire section dedicated to selling affiliate products on your website. This allows you to collect payments directly from interested buyers and receive payment via PayPal or Stripe. While you probably wouldn't want to dedicate a whole page to this purpose alone, you could consider creating separate pages and linking them together with affiliate codes.
This way, you can still provide useful content on each individual page, but you could easily direct users elsewhere to buy a certain item. Of course, this type of setup requires more effort upfront since you have to develop the landing page and set up tracking software. However, it's worth considering especially if you plan to offer high ticket items.
When setting up a WordPress theme, you will see a blank space on your sidebar known as the "Primary Navigation". You can fill it up with Google ads or whatever else you wish, but for this guide, we'll stick to affiliate links.
To create a custom menu, click the dropdown arrow next to Primary Navigation, select Custom Menu, and enter the following HTML code:
Here, [link] represents the URL of your affiliate link. Make sure to replace "[link]" with the appropriate affiliate ID, otherwise your site won't load properly.
For Shopify themes, you can insert the affiliate link between brackets inside the Product or Service card template. Here's an example:
{{%prod_card 'Product title' %}}
That's it! All you have to remember is to change the text inside the brackets according to the affiliate ID. Once again, you can copy-paste this snippet into your theme files wherever you'd normally include an image tag.
Yes, absolutely. You can display affiliate links anywhere you'd typically show content - on blogs, forums, newsletters, etc. Just make sure you understand the rules of each platform and comply with them accordingly. Some communities frown upon spammy tactics such as posting hundreds of affiliate links every day, whereas others welcome such behavior.
Before publishing anything, check the terms of service of your chosen forum and adhere strictly to them. Also, make sure to mention that you're affiliated with the company whose product you're promoting. Most importantly, never violate anyone's copyright or privacy.
Yes, you can. Simply upload the file containing the embedded code along with the video to your channel, and voila! Now whenever viewers watch the uploaded video, they'll automatically be redirected to the relevant affiliate website.
Absolutely. You can apply the same methods described above across various channels to maximize your earnings. Plus, you can combine your efforts with other marketers and split the profits down the middle.
All you have to do is reach out to fellow affiliates, pick a profitable niche, research the best offers, find out how much they charge, and negotiate fair splits. After that, all you have to do is sit back and enjoy the rewards.
Do you know of any other tricks to increase conversions on your website? Or perhaps you're already using a tool to track your results? Tell us everything in the comments below and share your experiences with us!
Just follow our battle-tested guidelines and rake in the profits.