If you’ve ever clicked on a product link on a blog post or social media post, there is a good chance you clicked on an affiliate link.
But what does that mean? And how do blogs actually earn money from them?
We even use affiliate links on our posts here to help support our blog. In the spirit of transparency, we’ve decided to make a post breaking down some frequently asked questions regarding affiliate marketing.
Let’s get into it!
(Disclaimer- This post will include affiliate links to be shown as examples. As an Amazon associate we earn from qualifying purchases.)
What Is an Affiliate Link?
To put it as simply as possible, an affiliate link is just a special URL link that tracks when someone clicks on it and makes a purchase.
It contains a unique ID that is tied back to a specific blogger, influencer, or website.
Whenever a reader or follower clicks on the link and purchases something, the blogger earns a small commission.
This comes at no extra cost to you.
The person referring you to the product simply gets a percentage cut of the total sale from the seller.
How Do Blogs Use Affiliate Links to Make Money
Bloggers, us included, will usually sprinkle affiliate links naturally through our content with certain trigger words.
For example, if I was writing a post about sleep set-ups when camping, I would put an affiliate link on certain words like tent, sleeping pad, inflatable pillow, or sleeping bag.
Those underlined words are now my very own distinct affiliate links.
If you click one of the underlined words (the affiliate link), you will end up on the product page for that item. The seller will know (from our unique ID) that you ended up on their site because of our review.
If you were to then buy the tent, sleeping bag, pillow, etc., we would get a small percentage from the sale.
This commission is normally only a few bucks. It is still essentially a reward from the company for us referring the sale to them.
Why is Affiliate Marketing Popular with Bloggers
Affiliate marketing is popular with bloggers because it works as a form of passive income.
Posts that they made long ago can still drive traffic through affiliate links. This puts money in their pockets even years later.
Affiliate marketing is an easier source of income (with low barrier to entry) and tends to fit naturally into blog content as blog content is typically focused on products and in-depth niches already.
If a beauty blogger is already recommending you a certain makeup that they use, why not use that opportunity to make a little money off of their content?
It is a scalable form of income that doesn’t ever require making, shipping, or handling a product.
When bloggers build trust and authority with their readers, readers begin to trust them for product recommendations.
Why We Use Affiliate Links on Our Site
We use affiliate links on our site for two main reasons: to connect you directly with the products we use and to make a little money from our efforts.
Running a blog is not inherently expensive, but traveling, gear, and other factors come into play for a camping blog like ours.
We try our best to never point you towards a product or company that we don’t believe in. Most products that we link to our products we have actually tried ourselves or are highly reviewed.
Affiliate links simply help us get readers to the gear they need quickly and without multiple steps. If you like a product, you simply click the link, add it to your Amazon cart, and purchase it.
Final Thoughts
Affiliate links are common throughout the social media and blogging worlds. You are likely to come across them on a regular basis.
They are not a scam or anything shady, they are simply a new tool used to help creators and companies make money in partnership.
We will always put an affiliate disclosure at the beginning of our posts (like the one you see up top) to let you know when affiliate links are present.
The digital world is changing how we make money, and affiliate links are leading the way. They are nothing to be afraid of!
Thanks for reading!
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