SEO glossary: Affiliate link

 

What are the advantages of affiliate links?

Bloggers as well as influencers, entrepreneurs and other people can easily get into affiliate marketing. Affiliate networks offer advantages to both parties.

 

While the link generates additional income for affiliates, the advertising customers expand their own reach with the help of the partner programs.

 

Affiliate links also have the following advantages in online marketing:

 

• Manageable and calculable costs
• Easy entry
• Low entrepreneurial risk for providers and advertisers
• Simple embedding on other websites
• Various possible applications (blogs, social media posts, email marketing campaigns)
• Competitive advantages through varied content and special promotions
• measurable sales
• Development of affiliate networks
• Expansion of online marketing strategies

 

How affiliates earn money with affiliate links

 

In principle, any company or person can easily get into affiliate marketing. However, certain prerequisites and basic knowledge are necessary to earn money with affiliate links.

 

• If you want to use affiliate links effectively, you should at least have a basic knowledge of content marketing or be willing to acquire this knowledge. You should also know which SEO basics are currently in demand and how search engine advertising works in general.
• Think about how you can find suitable affiliate partners. You can set up your own affiliate program if you have the financial and technical means to do so. Alternatively, you can use an existing affiliate network. Various platforms are available to you as online marketplaces for this purpose. Such a platform acts as an intermediary and takes over all tasks in connection with the affiliate links. The disadvantage of large providers and partners such as Amazon is the fact that you are tied to the platform and its structure.
• As with other online marketing measures, your target group forms the basis for successful affiliate links. Only include affiliate links on your websites from advertisers that are relevant to your target group. A link that provides your customers with real added value generates more clicks, increases sales and strengthens trust in your brand.
• Pay attention to the duration of the affiliate links. They can vary greatly with a duration of between 30 and 90 days or longer. This means that a customer must click on the advertiser link and take an action such as a purchase within the term in order for you as the publisher to receive a commission.

 

 

Using affiliate links on social media: Tips and tricks

 

In addition to your own website, you can also integrate your affiliate links on social media. The following tips and advice will help you with your promotion on social networks.

 

YouTube

 

Affiliate sales via YouTube work by embedding tracking links. Simply post them in the description of your videos and refer to the content to create a natural link.

 

Facebook

You can use affiliate links in various ways on the Facebook social network. One option is to integrate the links into a post. You then insert a shortened tracking link in your article, which users can then use to reach the desired page. Another option is to use link buttons and links in groups.

 

Instagram

 

On Instagram, clickable affiliate links cannot always be posted on an image. However, you have other options.

 

For example, you can integrate the partner page using a hashtag or add the affiliate link to your bio. If your channel has more than 10,000 followers, you can add the links to your stories.

 

X (formerly Twitter)

 

It's comparatively easy to integrate links on X. Simply post your affiliate link in the text post.

 

TikTok

 

Would you like to advertise a partner's product on TikTok? There are also various ways to do this. However, you cannot insert such a link directly into a video.

 

Instead, you have the choice of including the link in your profile biography or integrating it indirectly by cleverly linking to other social media channels.

 

 

Legal basics: Labeling affiliate links correctly

Affiliate links must be correctly labeled as components of a "commercial communication" in accordance with § 2 No. 5 lit. b of the German Telemedia Act (TMG).

 

So make sure that every link has a legally compliant, transparent designation that clearly states that it is an advertising recommendation.

 

An exception to this advertising label is only made for pure price comparison sites where the commercial characteristics of the links are immediately visible to everyone.

 

Conversely, editorial articles, blog posts and social media articles must (usually) clearly identify an affiliate link.

 

Please note: The legal aspects differ in many countries and also change regularly in your own country.

 

In Germany, most bloggers and influencers label their links with the terms "advertisement", "advertising link" or "paid advertising".

 

Commission and billing for affiliate links

 

The billing model plays a major role in affiliate links. After all, the advertised products should generate money for the affiliate program.

 

For this reason, there are various billing models for commissions, which are agreed in advance between the retailer and the advertising partner.

 

The following remuneration models are common in affiliate marketing:

 

• Pay per click
• Pay per lead
• Pay per Sale
• Lifetime (ongoing commission, for example for subscriptions)