Today I stumbled across a question I haven't thought too much about
@theblindsquirl asked me about affiliate links.
I'm not sure if he saw that I had affiliate links in that post, or if he was genuinely curious.
For those of you unaware, Anytime I link to Amazon Or another site. It's often an "affiliate link." Which means If you click my link and make a purchase. I will receive commission earnings on your purchase.
- This does not hurt you in any way.
The cost of the product stays the same. You do not have to pay more for me to receive this money.
Should we allow Affiliate links on Steemit?
This can be somewhat of a hard question. We obviously don't want to see people spamming their links everywhere. But at the same time, people can provide value while including a link here and there.
The Pros of using affiliate links
Currently, We are at a one-week payout. After one week our posts can't make any more money. (We can argue all day on whether they should or not) But the point is, We WANT people to post on here!
When you have your website, You can include as many links as you want. Even though you don't get paid as Steemit pays. By posting on Steemit, You miss out on an opportunity, To grow a blog on your website. The website which you own, And you have all the control.
You can't set up an email list on steemit in the same way you can on your site; you can't set it up exactly how you want.
Things like this, scare people who want to build a business, Away from the platform.
When We allow Affiliate links, We allow people to make money BEYOND the one week. For those of you who haven't checked. Some of our Steemit posts are ranking on Google! This will drive more traffic to the platform. Just because you wrote a post a long time ago, Doesn't mean it will never be seen again. Because of theres a chance that Google is ranking it. This ranking brings traffic to Steemit, And traffic to those affiliate links.
This brings more people to Steemit but also encourages people to write great blogs with the occasional link. Because it's a source of passive income in the long run.
This will also encourage more business owners to come to the platform. Which may promote Steemit to their email lists, Which will then gradually get more and more people to join.
Yes Spam,
Spam could be an issue. But that's what our flagging button is for! If people are posting the links everywhere and are not offering value. We can flag. Eventually, they may give up.
Just because some people may abuse it, Doesn't mean we shouldn't allow it.
Affiliate links will encourage people to invest more of their time in the platform, Adding value to the Internet and bringing more people here. I think everyone should use an affiliate link, Whenever they are talking about a product or service that they like. It only makes sense.
Most people seem to link to stuff, they genuinely like. And things that they've tried. This can add even more valuable information to the platform.
Yep, It's an affiliate link.... And guess what?
@kaylinart, I've been thinking about the 'lifespan' of a steem post too. Right now, Steem highly incentivizes fast content that is somewhat bitesized or entertaining, and disappears in a week. It's pretty exciting, but it also predisposes the KIND of content that will proliferate across the network.
One of the coolest things about the internet is the amount of USEFUL information out there, in depth tutorials, DIY instructions, well documented experiences...these things tend to take a lot of work to create, but can useful for a long time. Think of StackExchange, there's a community that gets a LOT of google traffic, and helps a LOT of people get detailed solutions to whatever they're looking at. I think it's one of the coolest community systems online. Steem has the possibility of being better...but not without some work.
Stack exchange is a great example of highly targeted reference content, it excels at answering technical questions where a helpful answer actually does exist somewhere. Once somebody takes the time to Document this, that answer is then helpful to thousands and thousands of other people oftentimes over several years, if not longer.
Right now, Steem as a system disincentivizes longterm reference or tutorial content. This is a HUGE market, not to mention a hub of really competent, creative, skilled people. How can we encourage a variety of useful content beyond the "most entertaining facebook of the last 5 minutes" variety???
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Amazing comment! I love your insight on this! I never thought about it like that before. I haven't really heard of stack exchange, I need to look into it !
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Thanks Kaylin, here's a list of all the communities on stack exchange.
https://stackexchange.com/sites
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Hey please follow me
https://steemit.com/@sharmaakash
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I wonder what can be done within the Steem system to encourage this? It's a HUGE benefit to the community to encourage people to write longterm content that brings in Google Searchers. That doesn't just happen...it takes a lot of work, intent, effort. But the power of having people incentivized to write content that itself brings in new users over a long period of time would be completely insane.
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Hey, Please follow me as this will help me
https://steemit.com/@sharmaakash
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I agree 100% with you. If Steemit wants to create a platform with in-depth, useful content, then the posts should be monetized long after than just a week. What happens now, is these short, bite-size blog posts are churned out so that bloggers can monetize optimally for the week.
What happens if people still upvote your posts months after they where created? What happens to that money?
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Yes. @kaylinart
AdSense enables monetization of a web page, blog post till the end of AdSense.
Steemit enables a week's monetization.
The affiliate link may give a Steemit post some extra monetisation legs.
With or without affiliate links, Steemit has both spam & scraped content. Spam is bad for UX, scraped content kills SEO. Steemit needs more than flags & @cheetah till Steemit becomes its own universe like Facebook or even LinkedIn, where ranking on Yandex, Baidu or Google is not that important.
More than spam, with the porn content on Steemit ramping up, will any sane parent encourage their kids to blog on Steemit?
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I've set my account to hide nsfw content. I recommend others do the same.
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Yes, @cybercranium
That's the way to go.
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I did the same.
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wow, hadn't thought of that.
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As a parent, I think there is a high risk having my child blog on Steemit or even watching vids on DTube. For now my daughter isn’t allowed on DTube. I’ve searched some innocent things on there and came up with some...well, you know what I mean, content.
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The internet is the last place that protects a child's innocence. @cluelessmamad
With no regulation, @Steemit is potentially the ultimate free for all.
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there's porn here?
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At least via some @DTube NSFW videos: yes. @archytus
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I think that they should be allowed.
I have seen a couple of people get nasty over someone recommending a service in their blog but not disclosing that the link was an affiliate link. They were basically accused of being greedy. Which is pretty funny to me because Steemit kinda encourages that with the whole 'get paid to blog' bit.
I could see it possibly becoming a problem if people were putting affiliate links in comments. Like where someone is blogging about how their arthritis is acting up again, and then another person posts a link to a product that they say will help but with an affiliate link. Now of course this could be genuinely helpful advice, but it could also be abused.
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Lol.. this happened to me on FB. I market a product that gets rid of wrinkles in under 2 minutes. A hairdresser posted a picture of a client with a new hairdo. The the hairdresser was bragging what a great hairdo her cleint had, but the picture of her client showed big bags under the eyes. So I mentioned to the hairdresser about my product and how she could make the lady even happier by removing those bags instantly before she sends the client home. Here I was offering GREAT advice on how to make her customers happier AND put more money in her pocket at the same time. Instead of being appreciative she took it as me calling her a failure as a beautician. Afterwards, I guess she was right. If a hairdresser can make a client look more beautiful (which is why the client is going to a hairdresser) with less than 30 seconds of work, and fails to put in the extra 30 seconds, they are doing an injustice to their client and are a failure. At the time I wasn't looking at it that way. I was just trying to help her and her clients look more beautiful.
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yeah, it's hard to figure out intent when someone does this. I usually give them the benefit of the doubt, unless I investigate and see that are basically spamming everywhere.
Sorry the hairdresser got so mad at you.
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@internetguy,
Perhaps the issue was not that she saw you as saying she was a failure as a beautician (even if that is what she told you), but perhaps it was that she felt like you "hit her up" to try to sell her on your product/opportunity. You probably know this, but there are a lot of sales reps who see someone mention something that the rep's product can solve... and it is like the proverbial blood in the water to a shark.
I've seen this so many times on Facebook - someone mentions that they are trying to lose weight by eating more healthily, and all the weight loss company reps come out and start commenting about how the person should try their product.
Another person might talk about migraines, and the essential oils people flood the thread to talk about their oil company. It leaves a bad taste in people's mouth and makes these direct selling and network marketing companies look bad, because their reps are just waiting on an opportunity to sell, sell, sell. I've even seen people post about weight loss and say outright that they don't want anyone commenting about their company's products and yet, there are always many reps who jump in trying to make a sale.
So maybe take that as food for thought next time. Certain industries get bombarded with sales pitches, and the haircare industry is one of those. And this applies even if you're not in direct sales or network marketing.
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I understand both sides of the fence... The whole concept of affilate links though is solving problems others may have by reference to a solution but to give credit to the person who has shown the person with the problem the solution. If some one didn't refer someone to a new great platform such as this.... It may not be found... even if it was a paid referral such as an ad that paid when the product was bought or generated traffic. Great discussion and love all the answers. I myself would use a referral link- affiliate link to help others find great products and services that offer value to others.
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I mentioned this in a reply recently, it's inevitable that there will be commercialisation of certain posts and it would be a disservice to the reader not to in some cases. If you were to review a product and could not provide a link it would be pointless. I am sure some will object but a landing page, offer or link to an external competition is just a normal extension to any blog.
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@newsdesk, I agree - what is the point if you have a solution, or know where that person can find the solution, but you don't share it, what is the point? Great point.
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I would say yes.
I use Amazon links when I reference books ( or maybe if I were doing a review of a product)
Once I used an Amazon link for a spice I used in a recipe.
If the link could be considered natural to the post, no problem at all.
And the "writers" who just spam links?
They will be scrolled past, and eventually lose interest here...maybe w/ the assistance of a downvote here and there ;>
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everybody have the power for publishing whatever they want. But the philosophy of steemit is creating quality content and give a possibility of a content creator to improve itself. So if the affiliate link don't hurt the sensibility of community well, but I'm for a different approach, just create quality inside this platform and don't do the own commercial zone for grabbing some money
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I see what your saying on this.
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I like where your going with this. You know, everyone posts at their own risk. If someone gets flagged for spam... Well? Or should I say Oh well...
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Holy word mate
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my opinion
Steemit should allow cutomization of individual accounts...
and yes...allow advertising AND affiliate links
ONLY ON THAT BLOG
it should not be inflicted on anyone else
(such as resteem currently is)
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I agree with that one :) That would work well.
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Good point if they can implement that on resteems
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Yes, only on that blog.
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I agree with you, I don't care. If it is something I don't like no one is forcing me to read it, so I move one... change the channel instead of being constantly offended. just my opinion.
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Exactly! I love that mindset because you can't satisfy everyone.
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My sentiments exactly.
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The use of the links doesn't affect value and sometime may offer special price cuts, bonus and incentive... It's not all about being paid. The amount you would make on an affiliate link does not make you much and is more about helping other find what they may been searching for while get a percentage as advertising an ad. No one forces any link on anyone and if it is something you are looking for than you would click. if you weren't well than why would you click?
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Excellent point, @accessoriesbay. Yes, people can make money with affiliate marketing, but unless they are doing it full time, the chances of making a LOT of money are not that great. The affiliate links, though, like Udemy links and so on, often do give price cuts or other incentives.
And you are absolutely right that if someone isn't interested, they likely won't click.
The only issue I would have is if the post is rife with links and very little content.
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In my opinion, I think affiliate links should be encouraged coz sometimes posts can be undervalued or some users don't make much but an affiliate program keeps paying you :)
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Exactly! Not all users are noticed. So affiliate links will at least give them something :)
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Yeah. That's what I think.. :)
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Yes! I'm in agreement. The links should be allowed to a certain extent, as long as it doesn't become spammy.
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If it is used in a manner that is to help others and not just thrown around... no harm no foul. It is intended to provide great content and value to people... It has been abused and given a bad name but does not steal information or decrease value of the same thing you would bought to begin with... Just pays a little for advertising a great product or service that may not otherwise have been noticed,.
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I'm not trying to come across as an ass but the white paper really (albeit) indiscreetly wants the community to take care of itself. I am ok with brain/thought flexibility, but this convo is kinda the antithesis of the steemit blogosphere. We are already generating revenue for content. Apparently, that isn't enough. We live in a (more, more more!) world. It would be kinda sad to allow it.
I have few followers, and IMHO provide awesome content ( lol) but does that mean I should start spamming? No.
It's part of the rules of engagement. Provide good content, put in the time, or go back to FB.
Just my 2 cents
Have a good one ;)
Chris
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Well said Kaylinart. A steem-er after my own heart.
The community was once unkown and it had a very narrow perpective on what this platform is designed to be.
Now we have all sorts of STEEMIT wanna be cops flagging posts over people such as me... all because I do not fit into their perspective of community standards. Fuck the free-speech... you WILL abide by OUR standards.. even if those standards violate treatment in many treaty and conventions.
I have no sorrow for those who promote such values of hampered speech,.. to protect a position on personal views of social platforms.
Very CLINTON-esk if you ask me!
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I think it is a platform for content makers (original). So if some one enter with your reference for example , you will support them in the beginning, irrespective of what they are doing. And few user only vote for their followers .
It shold be independent and content driven then community driven . So I think this idea is good but it do not suite the values steemit stands for.
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Thanks for clearing that up @kaylinart
I've hesitated posting a few things simply because I wasn't sure if I was going to screw myself by putting the links in and the links help pay the development costs of some of my projects.
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NO problem :) I understand it can be really scary. You don't want to get flagged!
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I think you bring up some things to consider. I am new here and need to learn the rules. Thanks for posting this. Resteemed :)
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I don't have an issue with them. People should be allowed to supplement their income. If others don't like it then they have to option to not follow.
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The crypto world allows us to be selfdirected, uncensored and free, as well as self-responsible. That includes affiliate links. Everyone should be allowed to use them. If we do it in a responsible way that doesn't scare away our followers, then everybody wins. If our followers feel spammed, then only we lose. That's fair.
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Good topic. Resteemed.
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If you don't want to get flagged you should affiliate things that you really care about and you should explain it in the things you post.
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Nice post. Affiliate links are fine by me. And I didn't know about this:
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... Just a noob... Still trying to figure this out...As I understand this site is uncensored!
So it is up to you to choose what you want to see.
I have seen and read post about some of the nsfw Post's...I think that is plenty of censorship...If affiliated sites become to much of a problem ,we can always implement a ALI(Affiliated Link Included) warning...?
I would really hate to see this site destroyed by people's opinions being hurt!
Namaste
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yes, we should allow - upvote + follow + resteem for the great post ;)
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First post, been lurking on and off for a while now and affiliate links had been on my mind lately.
It pains me to saw this because I use affiliate links myself around the web at times, HOWEVER, I don't think all are bad. In short, my only real issue is with the "buy my course and use this hosting site to make thousands a month blogging from anywhere in the world!"
There should be a proposed list of approved sites that you can include affiliate links for and all else get flagged.
At the end of the day, those income reports from the "take my blogging course and download my e-book for the low price of $499 and only 15 minutes left before it's full" are misleading, unethical, and no one actually knows if their "income reports of $20K months blogging" are real or just copy.
Someone in a bad spot is just the sucker to fall for that, just making things worse and giving those that truly have the talent to teach a bad look.
But I digress...
So whaddya say @kaylinart ...want to help build the proposal of preliminary affliate links list of with me?
I'll start...Amazon (acceptable) - hard to see any negatives linking to 99% of the items on there.
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@wetthebeak,
How would you propose to build such a list? There are many great affiliate programs out there in various niches. It would be near impossible to have a comprehensive list. Many people are interested in online marketing, but some of us are in other niches like homeschooling, or self-defense, or other non-mainstream niches. Are you able to commit to researching all of these?
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Great post ! Just answered my questions about affiliate links. And i also think that the "flag" system will keep away spammers.
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So interesting points! Now, I have some people that asked me about the referral link for steemit. It would be a great option, but as you said, we would have so many spammer everywhere posting their referral link and making people to annoy.
For now, I prefer not to have referral because, I could understand that steemit is a place where you can earn, but this is just an option. Many people write, just because they want to make comments or talk about some topics that in others social medias, could be irrelevant, and are not interested in earnings. On the other hand, if we get a referral link, it would make people to think they are going to become rich by steemit and it isn't true.
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Speak for yourself. I intend to get rich. :)
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I don't see a problem so long as it's obvious it's an affiliate link. A post filled with such links would be undesirable
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Cool posts as beautiful as the owner of a blog post
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Good topic! I think it's fine to use aff links and there are plenty of highly reputable companies with affiliate programs, like Amazon. As some others have said, just keep it relevant. I think the community has a great policing mechnism, so if someone is too spammy about it they're going to feel it in the upvotes and will stop.
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I am a big fan of affiliate links and I will never understand why some people despise them so much!
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i think affiliate links are completely kosher as long as its not spammy, maybe just as a plug at the bottom of a post or something? @kaylinart
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Beautiful girl
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I noticed you had affiliate links too. I was going to ask about them but decided not to. I mainly wanted to know if you made much if any money that way. In my opinion, you should be able to advertise whatever you want. It's your blog.
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That's the dichotomy of an uncensored blockchain community. People are free to post whatever they like, thus spamming can very well happen. I'm all for affiliate links (heck I do a couple here and there), but there will likely be someone that over does it.
Common sense is not exactly instilled in 100% of the population...Lol.
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Free markets should allow affiliate marketing. Referring someone to a product or service and getting rewarded for that referral is not evil. The marketplace will decide what works and what doesn't by simple voting practices. I believe in the power of affiliate marketing!
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Posting our affiliate links the right way won't stop making steemit a great platform. Unless there's a way to continue earning from our previous post, posting affiliate links and linking to our sites are the only way to earn passive income.
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I've been wondering about something similar for Patreon links. I see some people use them but so far I have resisted since it seems like double-dipping to me.
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Interesting post! Never thought to much about this before.
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As long as it's clearly highlighted that there are affiliate links contained in the post, i think it should be fine. I'm an Amazon affiliate site owner and i'd be happy to move the content over if it were allowed.
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It's an excellent idea, especially if done the way everettdmickey says AND after they get a few more of the bugs ironed out.
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Of course they should be allowed. They are not hurting anyone as long as the post is not spammy.
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I say yes to affiliate links! its also another way to help pay content creators and even join in extra profits with them like ibotta for example.
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Great point! I was curious of affiliate links too. Thanks. I didn't even know about the one week pay out ...is there a way I can promote old posts ...since google might rank them? anyways thanks!
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I think if you look at Steemit for what it is, a blog platform, then you should absolutely be able to use affiliate links. I mean, aren't we all here to make a little, or a lot of money if we can. People that have a problem with this are not thinking clearly or are just mad that people other than themselves are making money. As long as its not spam, then I am good with it.
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really nice lines . helpful
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IMO, I think affiliate links are ok, but don't over do it.
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Can you imagine if Jimmy Kimmel, or any talk show for that matter, would not allow their guests (content providers) to promote their latest movie or book? They would never get any experts or celebrities to come on the show and provide the stories they do (well they could always offer huge sums of money but guests really go their for publicity purposes)
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yeah. I wanted an affiliate link as my friend is thinking of joining to post his photos.
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Steemit is an open platform, so go for it. You put in the work and you deserve it.
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I say why not. Nobody gets hurt as long as it's not spammy. Right?
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Great Article, I had the very same question. I want to contribute to this community by sharing my knowledge and obtaining knowledge from other steemits.
Putting together a post that adds value to the users takes some thought and planning. So a little extra monetisation from an affiliate link is okay with me as long as the links pertain to the post. However I was afraid affiliate links would be frown upon. The general consenseus seems to be it is okay if done tastfully.
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Just what I was looking for, great points @kaylinart!
I have stumbled upon many courses and tools that are really unparalleled from what I've seen anywhere. So I started sorting them into ideas for great-value posts on steemit to release them in a logical and emerging order. A way to tell and relay all of my hacks for quicker and more efficient learning that are still top-notch in my book anyway.
THEN I figured out that many of those products offer affiliate programs.
In other words, I can write from my heart and experience, openly declare that the following is an affiliate link, and I think nobody would get angry about it at all, or if they do that would be their problem.
What did confuse me before is 'coded links', like tinyurl sort of stuff, with no disclaimer.
When I clicked on it and then found out it was generating commision for the one having posted the link I felt somewhat conned, though no harm had been done I felt it wasn't quite "right".
So I feel, if you declare that a link is for an affiliate program, and offer great value in your post as to why this program is worth the investment this should be a win-win for everybody.
Especially and only if you actually do endorse the value of the products linked. There are affiliate programs for all kinds of garbage, which is one of the reasons I never warmed up to online-marketing in general. One can earn a ton of money on promoting dangerous, mind-numbing and soul-leeching content and products which I vowed to not do, EVER.
I'd rather die than earn money by telling people to go eat that Big mac.
So if you love a certain course, product or service and want to write about it on steemit, why not check if they have an affiliate program as well?
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I like the idea of affiliate links very much but it's a double edged sword - I think it will only encourage more spam at this point (Steemit still having growing pains) and do exactly the opposite of what the creators of Steemit intended - to create a go-to place for a wealth of useful info. This platform will only end up with a bunch of product and service recommendations instead of interesting posts about, well, everything else.
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I was looking for info on just this.
Thank you. as a newbie to Steem I was not sure if it was ok. I have seen some affiliate linking. So I tried it on my 2nd post. No real following yet but any tips greatly appreciated. I will also look through your other posts. Following hoping this minnow will grow to your level in a couple of years.
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I am a fan of tracking web traffic. I would love to have a way to track the traffic I send to Steemit.
An affiliate program combines tracking traffic and rewards.
But even if steemit doesn't go the affiliate route, I would love to have a way that I could see the traffic I sent here.
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I was searching for this question from a long time and found this blog. I am still not sure if it says that affiliate links are allowed or not. yes its a debatable topic but can anyone tell the conclusion " Is It allowed to put affiliate links on steemit?"
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If you are into affiliate marketing, this would be something you might want to check out too:
https://steemit.com/affiliate/@itsteems/reflink-affiliate-is-coming-online?r=itsteems
Reflink Affiliate is coming with a website with free information about referral link affiliate marketing for everybody to use. Read the article for more information and social media handles. Good luck with the reflinks! I can't wait for Steemit to give the green light on affiliate links on this platform!
LET'S GO!! @steemit
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