Affiliate Marketing For Bloggers

The Rules of Affiliate Marketing

This content is for Fizzle members only.

Disclaimer: This is for informational purposes only and only pertains to affiliate marketing in the U.S. It’s smart to stay up to date on the law and what the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has to say about affiliate marketing

1. Disclose affiliate links at the top of the post or with every link.

  • These can’t just live on the disclaimer page

2. Disclose the relationship between you and the product that you are promoting in a very clear way

  • For example, “If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission”

3. Disclosure should be visually obvious

  • No one should have to go searching for the disclosure in extremely tiny font

4. Disclose when you share on social media

  • For example, “If you click this link and make a purchase, we earn a commission” or #affiliate

5. Specific affiliate programs may have extra rules

  • For example, look for conversion requirements. For some programs, it’s best to wait to apply to those when you have more traffic or a bigger audience

6. Beware that Amazon has the strictest policies and rules

  • Advertising the price violates their terms (the prices change)
  • Be careful with link cloaking

7. Know your Nexus State laws

  • Summed up very briefly, the “Click-Through Nexus Tax” says that a company must pay sales tax if it’s paying commission payments to a resident in certain states.
  • Some companies like Amazon have started eliminating affiliates in these Nexus states. So you might not have access to Amazon’s affiliate programs if you live in one of those states.
  • If you can’t use Amazon Associates, you can establish a relationship directly with the company whose products you want to promote (you might get a higher commission) or find a different affiliate program to work with

8. Additional Resources