This is an additional way for site owners to monetize traffic they drive to e-commerce sites like Zappos and eBay. This feature is native to your visitor's experience and compensates you (the publisher) anytime a visitor makes a purchase based on a link from your site. The intention is to help monetize outbound links for you which probably would not have been monetized otherwise ie. it's “found money” or extra income for you!
Why does Shareaholic offer affiliate linking?
Many websites reference and link to products in their content. Shareaholic is able to leverage partnerships with these merchants that compensate publishers for sending qualified traffic to e-commerce sites when a user clicks on that link and purchases an item.
What do I need to do?
You don’t have to do anything. This service is enabled by default, and no new code is required.
Will this change what my visitors see on my website?
Your site visitors will have the exact same experience as they currently have, whether or not you enable affiliate linking.
We are not inserting links or changing anything about the look and feel of your page. Rather, we simply ensure that when you send traffic and that traffic buys a product, you are credited for the referral and in exchange earn money.
What if I already use an affiliate linking service?
If another service is already in place, the App recognizes that and instead gives priority to the pre-existing service. Also, if you manually link to something with your own affiliate link, our intention is to leave the link untouched.
How can I see how much I have earned?
Visit your earnings dashboard to view how much you've earned.
Do I need to disclose anything to my users?
The Federal Trade Commission requires that publishers disclose to their readers when they endorse a product or service and have a "material connection" to the seller. If a publisher is using affiliated links, with or without Shareaholic, they have that connection. Including a disclosure in an appropriate section of the Publisher Site is a great way to disclose this connection to your visitors:
"Our website may contain affiliate marketing links, which means we may get paid commission on sales of those products or services we write about. Our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers or affiliate partnerships. This disclosure is provided in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR § 255.5: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Note that because laws across countries and territories vary, and because Shareaholic can be used in many ways, Shareaholic is unable to provide the exact language you need to include in your privacy policy. Only you understand the unique aspects and special considerations of your business, and your privacy policy and terms of service should account for this information that only you can provide.
Is this designed to compete with or replace existing ad solutions?
No. It is meant to be complementary and additive to other advertising on your site. These pre-existing links on your site represent a unique and underutilized opportunity to generate revenue for your site. Recover lost revenue by automatically turning outbound links into affiliate links.
Can I turn off the Affiliate Links app?
Of course! Log in to Shareaholic.com, click on site tools and toggle the Affiliate Links switch to the left (it will turn from green to red, indicating that this feature is turned off).