Blogger affiliate links disclosure examples and tips

Why should you disclose affiliate links?

As a blogger and affiliate marketer, you may have asked yourself: “Do I need to disclose affiliate links?” You certainly do, and here are the two main reasons why. First, you are legally required to disclose any compensation you receive for your activities, according to the Federal Trade Commission, a US agency that aims to protect consumers. You could be in legal trouble if you don’t follow the guidelines and keep your partnership relationships confidential.

Also, many affiliate programs have their own requirements when it comes to affiliate disclosures. So make sure you understand and follow them. For example, the Amazon Affiliate program requires a specific sentence in the affiliate disclaimer.

Second, affiliate relationships are based on trust and, no matter how attractive, you shouldn’t keep your audience in the dark about them. There is a widespread belief that if you leave out your affiliate relationships, you will avoid the risk of losing a certain part of your target audience.

However, it is usually the opposite. Many Internet users are tech savvy enough to detect an affiliate link and will realize that you earn by promoting the product. Therefore, this lie of neglect can spoil the relationship between you and the audience you worked so hard to establish.

Affiliate links disclosure tips

There are a number of rules on how to disclose affiliate links in order to comply with the FTC disclosure guidelines. One of the main points repeated in the FTC guidelines is that your affiliate disclosure should be clear and eye-catching to a reasonable consumer.

Now, we’ll explain what that means and exactly what you need to do to meet the FTC’s requirements.

Make it visible

Make sure your affiliate disclaimer is clear to your readers and hard to miss. If you don’t, it may seem like you’re not really trying to be transparent with your audience and can undermine trust. To make a disclosure visible:

1. Embed on every page with affiliate links.
2. Do not limit disclosures to those placed on your profile, About or Privacy Policy page.
3. Do not format descriptions so that they are less conspicuous by using small font sizes or pale colors. Make sure they stand out and are easily seen.
4. Place descriptions on each platform where you run affiliate marketing campaigns.
5. Do not keep your description in places where users are less likely to see it, for example, at the bottom or bottom of the post.
6. Don’t let users scroll down or click to read your disclaimer.
7. Avoid placing affiliate descriptions in sidebars as mobile users may not be able to see them.

Be open and transparent

The format and language of the affiliate disclaimer is imprecise, and there is no universal affiliate link disclosure template. The main condition is to make your paid relationships available to viewers. In other words, you need to make sure that readers understand what you are trying to tell them.

Here are some tips to help you create an easy-to-understand and FTC-compliant affiliate description:

1. Write your affiliate description in simple and plain language.
2. Avoid using niche-specific terms like affiliate links, PPC, CPA, etc. Your audience may not know the terms, and complex language can put them off. Also, it doesn’t make your message transparent and therefore doesn’t meet the FTC’s requirements.
3. Keep it short.
4. use words like commission and compensation to let your readers instantly know that you get paid for promoting affiliate links.
5. The disclaimer must be in the same language as the main piece of content where you are placing the affiliate links.

use your own voice

When creating a co-disclaimer, don’t be a copycat and avoid using other people’s affiliate disclaimers. Create your own and make sure it resonates with your audience.

You should use the disclaimer as another chance to communicate and build trust with your readers. For this, make sure you only promote products and services that you have tried and can vouch for.

It is also very important not to praise products that you do not like or of poor quality. Also note that your commission will not incur any additional cost to your target audience, but you will appreciate their support.

To streamline the process of creating disclaimers and embedding them on your website, you can use affiliate disclosure tools like PrivacyPolicies’ Disclaimer Generator or TermsFeed’s.

Affiliate link disclosure examples

Now, let’s take a closer look at how some well-known travel bloggers disclose their affiliate links on their websites.

Lili’s travel plans

Lili’s travel plans is an inspiring blog about Lili’s life on the road. Lili shares the stories behind the places she visits on her blog, as well as some affiliate links.

When a blogger promotes an affiliate link in a post, they place a short in-content disclaimer at the bottom of their post. While the disclaimer’s location doesn’t exactly follow the FTC’s guidelines, it’s still transparent and explains the nature of their paid relationship. In his disclaimer, the blogger also reassures his target audience that their affiliate relationship will not incur any additional costs for them.

Flying From Solo

Dan is obsessed with travel and quit his well-paid job in 2014. Since then she has been traveling the world and has become a professional blogger. Dan makes a living by telling people his adventure stories on his blog and also promoting his affiliate products. The blogger tries to be absolutely transparent about his affiliate relationships with readers.

Therefore, the affiliate explains its principles for running its business on its Cookie, Privacy and Disclaimer Policy page.

In addition, Dan places a disclaimer at the top of his posts alongside videos.

A Broken Backpack

Melissa Giroux is a seasoned traveler and digital nomad, creator of the blog A Broken Backpack. On her blog, she shares hands-on tips to help people stay on the road longer and transition to a nomadic lifestyle.

Mel uses affiliate marketing and advertising to monetize her blog and makes sure it’s crystal clear for her readers with the help of affiliate disclaimers. There are several places on the website where you can find them.

First, it explains the nature of the affiliate relationships it is involved in on its Disclaimer and Privacy Policy page.

Second, it places the disclaimer in the footer of the website.

And finally, the blogger reveals affiliate relationships at the bottom of many of his posts.

Travel Break

This travel blog is another great example of disclosing affiliate marketing on a travel blog. The Disclaimer is embedded in the Disclaimer and Conditions page and is short, clear and easy to understand.

Cornerless Market

Uncorned Market is a community of travelers who live by the motto “Driven by Curiosity, Driven by Respect”. They also show respect to the audience by making their affiliate relationship prominent. For this, bloggers place affiliate descriptions in various places on their websites.

First, on the Disclosure Policy page, they clearly state that if readers make a purchase through their affiliate link, they will receive a commission.

Additionally, they provide a brief description with a link to their Disclosure Policy page before each post to ensure readers are aware of the affiliate relationships they are involved in.

Atlas and Boots

Atlas & Boots is an outdoor travel blog with over 250,000 monthly readers. Its founders use the blog to put their passion for travel into words and monetize it.

They also consider FTC regulations and disclose affiliate links at various places on their website.

They explain the nature of their affiliate relationship on their Privacy Policy page.

Similar to the authors of Cornerless Market, they put a short disclaimer linking to their Privacy Policy Page before posts with affiliate links.

the wandering earl

Derek, a veteran blogger and founder of the Wandering Earl blog, makes it clear to readers that he can earn commissions from purchases they make through affiliate links on his website.

There are several places on this blog where you can find affiliate disclaimers. A brief affiliate disclaimer is embedded in the footer of the website.

Also, Derek places disclaimers after posts that contain affiliate links.

nomad mat

The founder of the Nomadic Matt website and the New York Times bestselling author, Matt runs his blog to help his audience answer travel questions and share valuable travel tips.

Matt also monetizes his travel expertise through affiliate marketing, which he explains on the website’s Privacy Policy page.

It also places an affiliate description that’s hard to miss before or after posts with affiliate links.

Everywhere We Walk

Anywhere We Roam is a travel blog by Mark and Paul, who live adventurous lives and share their unorthodox experiences with readers.

They include an in-content co-disclaimer in every post that contains affiliate links. In the disclaimer, bloggers thank their readers for their support.

How to write affiliate links description for your blog

To sum it up, disclosing affiliate links is a must if you want to do affiliate marketing properly and build trust with your target audience. So, follow the hands-on tips we’ve shared with you and make your affiliate disclaimers hard to miss and easy to understand. But keep in mind that there are other important things to do to earn big as an affiliate, such as creating top-notch content, tracking affiliate links, and experimenting with programs and tools.