Affiliate Disclosure : This blog contains affiliate links and I may earn commission if you buy a product or service through these affiliate links without costing anything extra to you.
You may have seen these above kinds of statements on many websites and if you are not familiar to affiliate marketing I doubt (and afraid most of the people who don’t know affiliate marketing will bounce off the site reading these kinds of statements) you may find these statements unmeaningful or maybe you think people who may earn a commission are greedy.
(this first paragraph is personal so you may want to jump to contents).
Before going to contents it is very important that I clear your doubts if you think people owning websites are greedy and why should I purchase if they earn commissions from these links.
To be frank I used to doubt purchasing from links of the websites that are giving reviews uptill I came to know more about affiliate marketing basics. In the below three points I’m clearly talking to the negative me and don’t take it personally it’s not about someone like you.
1) Affiliate marketing is one of the major source (many times the only source) of income for website owners these days and many websites (like BloggingJournalists.com) completely give up on their Ads income so that visitors can easily read the content of the website without any ads which may divert their attention.
2) Afterall Website owners are also humans and it takes a lot of hardwork to create engaging and truthful contents that is absolutely for free and we still have to pay for tools and Hostings so that our website is always there for visitors.
3) So if you think websites who may earn a commission if you purchase through their affiliate links are greedy then it is time for you to learn more about affiliate marketing because when you end up starting your website you are also going to feel the same what most of the website owners feel and it’s that people should buy from your affiliate links.
Contents :
So first why you see these kinds of affiliate disclosure statements on most of the sites ?
What happens when you click on affiliate links ?
Why the websites who give affiliate disclosures to visitors are more trustworthy ?
How you can support affiliate marketing or any website that you like ?
How you can support BloggingJournalists.com and what you will get in return ?
Let’s find the answers :
why you see these kinds of affiliate disclosure statements on most of the sites ?
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) which is a Government Agency of the United States makes sure that the consumers don’t get trapped into online frauds.
Few years back I was also one of those who never used to believe online ads like You Tube ads or Google ads because there are dishonest people everywhere.
Federal Trade Commission is the Agency that enables consumers or Website visitors like you to get the overall idea about what is going on in the online market.
Federal Trade Commission makes sure by making it compulsory for all marketers to disclose their information regarding online marketing so that the consumer will get the overall idea of their relationship with the merchants.
You should definitely read how FTC guidelines and measures makes internet more reliable.
For many visitors it will not matter what relationship the website has with the merchants or companies but the thing is that the website owner when they are showing these disclosures on each and every post they are abiding by the laws that will eventually bring trust and sense of reliability in the overall business.
(Important : So as a consumer you should definitely look for these kinds of disclosures before making any purchases from any websites. These disclosures are one of the factors that shows honesty of the website owner and bring transparency to the online business).
What happens when you click on affiliate links ?
The website owners who are giving useful reviews and insights about any product or service may have got affiliate links on their websites so that visitors like you or any can conveniently click on that affiliate link of any particular product or service and can go to the third party or Merchant website of the particular product or service who actually sells the product or service.
(So when visitors click on affiliate links on this site they are taken to the website of the product or service that I am recommending on my website and this one click generates a cookie on the visitors computer about the visitors visit on the third party website which is going to be helpful to me as a website owner to receive commission if the visitor decides to purchase that particular product or service in a specified time period.
So in short and simple manner when visitors like you click on the affiliate links and go on to the third party website a cookie is created which will tell the company who sells the product or service that this particular anonymous visitor has come up from this particular website so when a visitor like you in near future purchase that particular product or service then on the basis of the cookie generated through my affiliate links only I will receive a commission for that.)
So basically when a visitor like you clicks on the affiliate links on my site or any legit site these things takes place.
1) When you click on the affiliate links you will be taken to the third party site of which the product or service I am recommending to you.
2) When you click on the affiliate link and go on to the third party site a cookie or cookies are created and stored on your computer. Don’t worry these are very small minute files.
3) These cookies are very important for the affiliates like me because in near future if you decide to make a purchase from that particular third party or Merchant site then on the basis of that cookie I may receive some commission on that purchase without costing anything extra to you.
4) Cookies are not forever and if visitors buy from the same site after the cookies have been expire then the affiliates like me will not receive the commissions.
5) Before buying anything If you decide to clear history along with cookies from your browser then in that circumstances affiliates like me might not receive the deserved commission that is not costing anything to the visitors (potential buyers) or customers like you.
Why the websites who give affiliate disclosures to visitors are more trustworthy ?
Federal Trade Commission is the agency that works to prevent unfair business practices in the marketplace and provide information to help consumers spot, stop and avoid fraudulent business practices.
Through FTC you can file complaint online for any consumer fraud related matters that you have faced (more you should check with their website www.ftc.gov ).
So, for website owners it becomes important to tell you in advance that their website is not involved in any fraudulent activity at all and you can trust their website by seeing this essential and necessary disclosure on their posts which should ensure that the website owners and affiliate marketers are abiding by the rules.
To get you explained better try answering following questions :
1) If you are buying something from a person or buying on the basis of recommendations of a third person what would you expect from that person or website ? You want them to be honest with you right ?
2) Will you purchase from a person or website who sells you something and then goes away and never replies ?
3) Will not you be more satisfied and happy if a person or a website recommending to you something to purchase will also tell you the mechanism that how it brings certain profits to him also ? It brings more connection and the feeling of trust between the marketer and the consumer.
4) Will you trust an expert who only tells you to buy something on regular basis and never discloses how he will earn something out of this.
Or will not you be rather more happy with a person who tells you everything about the products plus tells you everything that may open the new doors of opportunities for you that you might have always been looking for ??
So this how affiliate disclosures directly or indirectly brings the feeling of trust between consumers and affiliate marketers however product satisfaction (or consumer satisfaction) is totally based on individual experiences and that’s something that you should complain to companies or merchants and they are directly responsible for product quality and consumer satisfaction regarding that specific product.
How you can support affiliate marketing or any website that you like ?
If you have read enough about affiliate marketing or have not directly jumped at this topic point then it would be easy for you to understand that it takes a good amount of time and hardwork to first of all make engaging stuffs that should give something extra knowledge to the visitors that they are actually looking for on the internet.
As you have read earlier it’s all about trust between the marketer and the consumer and if you really think that you have gathered good information and knowledge from that website then you can think of making a purchase from their affiliate links or you can at least share that source of information on social media or with your friends so that the website remains motivated.
Second thing you can do and which is the best thing to do is to donate to that website and specially do this if you are using free and open source things or products.
Important : There are many websites which would not like to take donations but are providing good information and knowledge so it is best to purchase from their links whenever you decide to purchase.
How you can support news.BloggingJournalists.com and what you will get in return ?
You can participate in the Blog community and write for news.bloggingjournalists.com
The aim of this blog is to invite more and more people to write their heart out for the blog and provide useful information to the society.
You can support news.BloggingJournalists.com by purchasing through our affiliate links.
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So that’s all about Disclosure
I hope this platform brings good to the point knowledge to you so that you can grow on the internet safely and happily.
Thank You
Yogesh Vyas