Should You Disclose Your Affiliate Links?

To disclose or not to disclose, that’s the ultimate affiliate marketing question. A lot of affiliate marketers try to pull a fast one out on their readers and hide our affiliate links, thinking that their audience is not smart enough to figure out they are getting paid through our links. A lot of us fear that by disclosing our affiliate links we are going to lose our commission money and even the trust we have built on our sites. These fears are legitimate. For some reason, many consumers have trouble coming into terms with affiliate links. It just seems some people have a hard time understanding that you can’t just create content forever for free without getting some compensation in return. It seems it’s easy for folks to assume you are recommending something because you are getting paid for it, but not so easy to understand that may you want to be paid so you can continue providing free content to others. You also want to protect yourself against hijackers which is why some folks hide their affiliate links.

This is really a thin line here. In reality, there is no way to tell the real motives of affiliates. A lot of affiliates promote products without even trying them. A few others put more work in to provide reliable information to their readers. But both groups may be doing it just for the money. In reality, you should focus on building trust with your readers to get around this issue. As long as your readers trust you have their best interest in mind, they don’t mind clicking on your affiliate links. However, if they feel you are in it for the money, they are not going to reward you.

Should you disclose your affiliate links explicitly? It’s really up to you. I have seen many gurus who go out of their way to make sure their audience know there are affiliate links on their sites. That approach can help you build trust or destroy it. So it’s a double-edged sword. If you feel your readers can handle it, then go for it. I personally disclose affiliate links on my about page. If my audience don’t like me using affiliate links on my site, they can just go straight to the source and avoid using my links. I focus more on providing value to my readers and less on worrying about money. In the end, everything works itself out. That has worked for me. But you can always test different approaches. Ultimately, it’s trust that matters not whether you are using affiliate or direct links.