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Affiliates. A part of everyday life on the internet. Some affiliates make very little, and others make millions of dollars a year promoting products for other companies and taking a slice when you click their affiliate link and make a purchase. There's an issue though, with affiliates and affiliate links; everyone seems to think it's a dark art and something that only shady people or companies take part in. That couldn't be further from the truth.

What Is An Affiliate

The most basic explanation of an affiliate, is an individual or a company that promotes another person companies product/products and in return receives a percentage of the sale or a fixed fee. Unlike a traditional salesman though, an affiliate is usually genuinely interested in the products they are promoting. Affiliates share links and information through various channels, one of the most popular ways of making income as an affiliate is by writing a blog. While it takes time and effort to build up a loyal readership following, it's often one of the best ways to make a regular affiliate income.

You may find some affiliates spam Facebook user groups, forums and other communities with the hope of making a quick buck. These affiliates are in it for the short haul with the pure aim of making as much money as possible in the shortest amount of time. You'll spot these affiliates a mile off. And quite simply, they are the spam emails of communities, clogging up good information with crappy information and rubbish links. You should always be aware that these types of affiliates do not represent the general affiliate community.

Why So Shady?

It's no secret to most people that some online blogs and companies use affiliate links without being upfront about it. But why? Some feel it'll damage their reputation or impact on if people will click the links or not. In general, that's highly doubtful.

If you have a loyal readership through posting and sharing good honest information, your readers are unlikely to care if you make $5 off that Amazon purchase they make through clicking a link on your site.

You know what they may care about more though? You or your company not being upfront about using affiliate links. Even more so, if you run a review site, while the reviews may be genuine if you use affiliate links and aren't upfront about it, you'll cause distrust amongst your readership. People may think you are writing the reviews with the sole purpose of making affiliate income.

Don't be shady that you use affiliate links. It isn't dirty and isn't wrong, so why hide it? Add a disclaimer page about affiliate links or add something in your footer. But if you are writing and sharing information for the love it and aren't writing spammy posts targeted to just generate income there's a good chance you'll make more money than you ever have before.

What to Watch Out For

If you're the reader of a review site and specifically if you are in the market for either consumer electronics or software you should always be wary when it comes to reviewing sites and opinions. It's no secret that the hosting industry is rife with paid affiliate reviews and large payouts to entice people to write good reviews and offer discounts using special affiliate coupons to make a buck while the actual service itself may suck.

Some of the largest affiliate payouts are in the hosting industry.

Some companies are willing to pay 200% or more of what the customer buys. You may be wondering though why these companies pay such high payouts if in effect they actually end up losing money per customer? The simple answer is up-sells. Upsells are all the rage, sell someone a cheap plan at $0.99, but then sell them a security add-on for $50, an SSL certificate and setup for another $50 and then a range of services and domain options. You can quickly see how the profits can rack up from what started out as a huge loss/loss leader.

Did you know you could be breaking the law?

In 2009 the FTC (or Federal Trade Commission) introduced new guidelines and rules surrounding word of mouth marketing and any compensation that is received for that marketing such as affiliates. It's all about being upfront and honest with your readership that you are getting a payment in return for recommending or promoting this companies products or services. There are a couple of great blog posts on the subject. You can read one here and then the official guidelines here.

Verdict

There's no need to be shady about your affiliate links, your readership will still click links and if anything they will have more trust in the site you run because of the honesty. Affiliates are such commonplace, no one blinks twice at coming across an affiliate link, but they may if you try and be purposefully deceitful about it. Embrace the affiliate links. They are the path to turning your blog into a business and done the right way can be very lucrative.

Are you an affiliate? Maybe you've come across a shady affiliate in the past or are a reformed and honest affiliate? Let us know in the comments below.