Affiliate links?

Want to know what affiliate links are?  It’s a pretty simple concept.

In a nutshell: I link to a product, if any of my readers click on that link and make a purchase from that retailer, the retailer gives me a percentage of their profit from that sale.

More details?

Most online retailers have affiliate programs that bloggers can apply to be a part of.  (For example, I am an affiliate for Amazon, Cost Plus World Market, Craftsy and others.)

As a blogger and affiliate, when any one of these retailers sells a product that I would like to talk about in a post, I go grab a unique link to that product via their affiliate site.  The link will lead the reader to the same product as if they had searched for it themselves, but the retailer will know that the visitor has come from my blog.  Because I am sending traffic to them, that link is considered advertising.  These companies are being fair and offering the blogger a percentage of each sale in exchange for advertising their products.

It’s important to note that the price the reader/buyer pays for the product linked to is exactly the same as if they had visited the site on their own.  The retailer just gives the blogger a small portion of their profit.

So what is the percentage?  Besides small?  Amazon offers 4%.  So far, my average commission from Amazon has been $1.20.

It’s also important to note that I would never link to a product just to try to get you to purchase something.  I will only ever attach affiliate links to products that I would write about whether I could get paid to or not.

 

Here is my official, legal disclaimer:

Little Victorian is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.