Affiliate Links: Where to Get Them, How to Add Them

Let’s talk about affiliate links.

Or more importantly:

• How to get them
• Where to add them

The affiliate links are the center-point for everything you do in affiliate marketing. Without them, programs and brands cannot track your sales and performance. This means no referral income.

This post is a short and sweet guide.

Let’s get into it.

How to Get Your Affiliate Link

Every program is different, but the process is about the same:

1. Log into the affiliate program
2. Look for the ‘Links’ section/tab
3. Copy your affiliate link to the clipboard

Here’s an example if you were a Shopify Affiliate Program partner:

Click on Affiliate Tools.

Click on Create Affiliate Link.

Grab your affiliate link.

Here’s what it looks like on the ShareASale Affiliate Network:

Click the Get a Link/Banner from the Links drop-down.

Click Get Links from your partner programs.

Select and click Get HTML Code from the link list.

Click Select All to copy the URL — or Select URL Only for the URL (only).

Most affiliate links from independent programs will look like the first. Most links from affiliate networks will look like the second. You’ll generally find them when first joining or logging in. Else, easily accessible in ‘Link’ tabs/sections.

Should I Cloak Affiliate Links?

Yes.

Cloaking:

1. Makes your URLs pretty and easy-to-read
2. URL shorteners usually include tracking features
3. Shorteners let you swap links without breaking the URL

We use the ThirstyAffiliates plugin.

See the section below for the process.

This is quite handy as it lets our links show as /recommends/something versus ?=AHd9hsjs.

How to Add Affiliate Links to WordPress and Websites

Let’s cover two ways:

• Embedding basic HTML affiliate links
• Embedding shortened affiliate links

The affiliate link you copy & paste from the affiliate program is good-to-go. You can add it to your site and begin tracking affiliate referrals. Adding them is simply pasting the code into the appropriate space.

With WordPress and visual site editors:

Option A: Use the Insert/Edit Link

Option B: Insert the Affiliate Link via Text Tab

Change the text between the > and < for the link as per HTML basics.

With the ThirstyAffiliates plugin:

Hover the ThirstyAffiliates tab and click New Affiliate Link.

Use the title to name the link something easy to remember (like the brand, product, or program). This is used for the URL, but you can edit this at any time.

Add a Link Category so it’s easy to track if you’re promoting similar products and offers.

Set the No Follow This Link to Yes. Leave the other options default for now.

Paste your affiliate link into the Destination URL

Click Save Link

Copy your new Cloaked URL

Now you’re free to add this link throughout your website in key areas like:

• Call-to-Actions
• Images
• Body Text
• Buttons

Your link is good-to-go for email marketing, social media marketing, and link-building campaigns, too.

Special Note (Read This!):

1. You probably don’t want to include affiliate links in the footer, header, or sidebar because this becomes overly promotional. Understand how Google treats affiliate links. Basically, don’t go crazy with them – use them when they make sense like in reviews.
2. This is the same with social media – social is about being social – overloading followers with affiliate links will send them away and may break terms if you’re abusing the platform.

Other than that…

That’s All There’s to It

There’s nothing complicated about affiliate links.

You just learned how to get them and place them on sites. Easy, right?

Keep this in mind whenever you’re reading posts here on AffiliatePrograms.com. We mention needing the link frequently when building sites and launching campaigns.