affiliate links and trust: a few thoughts

Ha. Link.I’d like to take a few minutes today to try to articulate something that has been bothering me. This doesn’t directly apply to simplicity but it does affect this blog.

Something that has bothered me for awhile is how much bloggers seem to bend over backwards notifying their readers of affiliate links. I’ve been doing it too. It seems like every time a writer links to something they could potentially gain financially from (i.e. affiliate links) there is always a small paragraph (or at least a sentence) explaining what an affiliate link is. Please don’t get me wrong; I understand completely why they do it. Nobody wants to appear to be promoting something solely for monetary gain or risk having a reader feel taken advantage of. I can get behind that 100%. However, I want to approach this in two ways, first as a reader of blogs, and secondly as a writer.

When I am reading a blog and I come across an affiliate link that is clearly marked and has several sentences after it that further explains what it is, I get very annoyed. It breaks up the flow of the article. However, the most annoying aspect of it is that I feel the writer is trying to show me how noble and honest he is by taking the time to inform me of every single affiliate link. I think lots of writers try to play that up as much as possible to impress everybody around them with their honesty and indifference to money.

Here’s how I see it. Affiliate link to whatever you want and don’t even worry about informing me. First of all, it doesn’t cost me anything extra to purchase from an affiliate link– so that’s not a concern. Secondly, if I buy what you link to and it sucks how likely am I to ever again click on anything you promote? That should be the biggest deterrent to unethical bloggers affiliate linking to everything under the sun. If you abuse my trust or your authority by linking to bullshit you’ve just lost a customer for life. It isn’t necessary to tell me every single time you affiliate link to something, but it is necessary to link to only the best products or services.

As a writer, the most valuable asset I have is not my computer, domain name, or layout; it’s the trust and credibility I have built up with my readers. It’s what I take most seriously and it’s the only thing that keeps this blog going. If I abuse this trust by linking to crappy products in hope of making an extra buck or two, then I deserve to lose readership. If somebody has been reading this blog for a long time I hope they have learned that I treat my readers with the utmost of respect. I feel like it’s almost insulting to have to show them every time I link to something with an affiliate link. My readers don’t care about whether or not I’ll make any money if they click a link. They care about being shown the best resources possible. If I fail to do that, then shame on me.

I’m pretty sure this is a very unpopular view to take among bloggers. The way everybody seems to fall all over themselves announcing affiliate links makes me think that I am in the vast minority with this point of view. It all boils down to one thing:

I will never hinge my trust and credibility on shitty resources, whether they make me money or not– and my readers know that.

If you click on a link to a product, it’s probably an affiliate link and I’ll make a few cents (or a couple dollars at most) if you purchase something. If it’s a link on my site, it means I think it’s awesome. I don’t gamble my most valuable asset, your trust, on anything that is sub par. At the same time, I’m not going to insult the reader by tripping all over myself announcing affiliate links which a.) breaks up the flow of an article and b.) is a veiled attempt at showing you how noble and honest I am. I give you 100% permission to never click on another link on this site again if I ever direct you toward something that sucks.

What do you think? Am I way off-base with this?

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 at 7:33 am and is filed under business, personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • http://www.wayupintheclouds.com Usman Ahmed

    Nice one, you hit right on point with this article :) a reader who cares for your content will not care if its an affiliate link or not!

  • Peter

    Except that it's now illegal for a web site owner to not inform their visitors of affiliate links. Sure, they can do it all in one lump sum somewhere, but the FTC just updated marketing rules that you can't avoid…if your server is in the US, that is.

  • http://www.step1minimalist.com Brett

    I agree Sam. I think most readers are discerning enough to figure it out. A statement made somewhere else on the blog informing the readers that some products may be affiliate links is enough for me. It really does break up the flow of an article in my opinion, especially when they are stating that it is NOT an affiliate link.

  • http://www.casadeblundell.com/jonathan jdblundell

    Sam, I'm with you. I think it's annoying to have to flag all your affiliate links with additional statements. As I understand the FCC rules, you have to have some type of notification for sites in the U.S. and I'm sure that's what's led most people to be overly cautious.
    However, I also understand that you can have a blanket statement on your site (which I use) – I haven't seen the updated version that @peter mentions in the comments.

  • http://theminimalistpath.com David Damron

    You can thank the FTC for all of us having to note affiliate links….

    http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/ftc-disclo...

    David
    TMP

  • jarkkolaine

    I agree 100%. To comply with FTC requirements, I guess there needs to be something, but definitely not within the post itself. That will just make it unreadable.

  • http://www.gipplaster.com Gip Plaster @ So Much More…

    I don't think readers care whether a link is an affiliate link or not. If a blogger links to an Amazon product, for example, I would expect them to use their affiliate code because it would be silly not to.

    There are no affiliate links on my blog at the moment, but there will be soon. And I'll put one of those generic comments about affiliate links somewhere on a page people rarely view, but that's about as far as I'm willing to go.

  • http://simplyminded.net/ Dave Thielen

    Most times it doesn't bother me if I'm reading a post and the author makes a quick note about an affiliate link, but I can completely understand what you're saying. It can get tedious when a blogger is busy declaring affiliations left and right, but I don't really mind when a blogger errs on the side of full disclosure in the name of building trust.

    Yes, those of us who read a multitude of blogs operate under the assumption that all links are affiliate links (and it's pretty easy to tell even without disclosure when you hover your mouse over a link and see that it goes through e-junkie or another affiliate program), but there are lots of folks out there who have no idea how those things work.

    And as multiple people have already pointed out, at least some disclosure is required by the FTC, although there appears to be some minor confusion over how to address this requirement (blanket statement vs. statements in every post).

  • http://www.thesimplerlife.net/ Sam Spurlin

    Thank you for all the great responses guys! I wasn't aware of the FTC requirements. Does anybody know if one, blanket statement on a page satisfy the requirement?

  • http://www.thesimplerlife.net/ Sam Spurlin

    Thank you for all the great responses guys! I wasn't aware of the FTC requirements. Does anybody know if one, blanket statement on a page satisfy the requirement?

  • http://grokkery.com/blog Jonathan Wondrusch

    Sam, as far as I know – every instance must state that it is an affiliate or promoted link. I'm sure you could put a blanket statement at the beginning or end of a post that states “These are affiliate links.”

    While I agree that trust is the most important component of the blogging relationship, I feel that getting affiliate kick back's ethically necessitates a full disclosure. I wouldn't promote anything I don't feel good about, but conversely, that's not how everyone does it.

  • http://www.step1minimalist.com Brett

    The blanket statement somewhere on the blog covers it. Which is what makes people going out of their way to state it over and over again even more bothersome to me.

  • http://rowdykittens.com Tammy Strobel

    Great article. As a general rule, I always disclose affiliate links at the bottom of my posts that way the flow of the article isn't interrupted. I want to be honest about what I am promoting, plus as folks have already stated the FTC requires full disclosure.

  • daviddamron

    Having it in one accessible place will do like Brett said….

    Don't get me wrong, I understand your point. However, there are many non-blog readers that would know it. It can be annoying to let readers know and for readers to be interrupted, but as soon as I don't mention it, some readers feel duped. It's a cache 22.

  • http://simplytrece.wordpress.com Trece

    Sam, I like the way you articulated this. I understand about the FCC, and I should think a simple disclaimer on the home page would be sufficient.
    As a reader, I assume that you value what you're affiliated with, and that you won't scam me. As you said, trust.

  • http://simplytrece.wordpress.com Trece

    OK, FTC not FCC. And if they insist, then I think Tammy's right, a statement at the end of the article should do.

  • http://rowdykittens.com/2010/06/simple-living-news-update-32/ Simple Living News Update

    [...] Affiliate Links and Trust: A Few Thoughts [...]

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