No one is perfect, but your links can be! Give your affiliate links the attention they deserve and they will do the hard work for you. But what exactly should you be on the lookout for?
1. Give Your Links a Makeover
A “dirty” link should never be used if you’re a professional. A dirty link has a bunch of extra code on the end for a variety of reasons, but primarily for tracking. For example, take a look at this Amazon link for bedding that was directly copy-pasted from the address bar:
https://www.amazon.com/5-Star-Quality-Thread-Premium-Elasticized/dp/B076F26KN3/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=1DKOPH35CK9ZN&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.YaoF8U61ahmlr5jnabrVHGoBO5njQInzibBe2aoBBzQQhH8u0DfXh4pxwjC0Z-Lj6OBIA6BETJ8-LTOTozpH5_-EJsSzmqZALTSOUSqNy0OTAIer0_Rc1CCU5HsB8j4ilQE-7LJ7hcqkDKWm3o8Fxqz11xnSYI7tE8fFVOPB1IgC-FN7HIALP5tnS40C98iajp0a3ylQ9N6CLFO_JChMM-8FIYVJLLNB_vp5PUjs0ecBrsUxzRyUUYMjdc-7ZCX7cU45QZ2qR92maShC_9Vl3AzfxBK221NkOuEC7rkhq7E.A-WAvhNUr0fY7eiEI3uIhdllt0bA-VazxbyEJHo6Fjk&dib_tag=se&keywords=1000+count+cotton+sheets&qid=1709081076&sprefix=1000+count+cotton+sheet%2Caps%2C117&sr=8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1
What a monstrosity! If you couldn’t tell, most of this link is completely unnecessary (at least, it’s unnecessary if your name isn’t Amazon). This is the “clean” version of the link:
https://www.amazon.com/5-Star-Quality-Thread-Premium-Elasticized/dp/B076F26KN3/
That is a crazy difference! Which of these would you rather put in a post? While this example might be extreme, and you also need to include your affiliate information, the takeaway is to keep your eyes sharp. There might be superfluous information in the link that you should remove.
If you need to check what is needed, you might want to experiment with cutting and pasting yourself in a browser to see what will work. Make sure that your links are as short as possible using a service like Bitly, or better yet, use a professional-looking shopping cart link from Shared Vision. If you have a blog, you can even link the words themselves, or include a full Shared Vision shopping cart.
2. In It For the Long Term
You might be looking out for your audience and share an amazing promotion that will save them beaucoup bucks. Unfortunately, the best promotions that you want to share the most often last the least amount of time!
To keep your content evergreen, take note of these short-term links and change them out for the product at its regular URL as needed. And remember, Shared Vision’s broken link tool can identify these links for you, making that a whole lot easier!
3. Not Found or Out of Stock
If your audience is in the middle of reading a piece of your content and they get so excited about a product that they’re willing to click the link and buy it, only to be met with a “404 Not Found” or “Out of Stock” dead end, there really couldn’t be a worse scenario! Not only are you losing a sale, but you might even be losing a follower! Those dead links are frustrating for your audience and they make you look unprofessional.
You might think that these types of links take too much of your time, but remember that every post is a potential source of passive income. Use Shared Vision to fix these links in a fraction of the time.
4. Disclose, Disclose, Disclose
While it might be tempting to not come off as an ad, guess what—“ad” is not a four letter word! While disclosure laws vary from country to country, not disclosing a link as sponsored can potentially land you in hot water.
Plus, your audience will appreciate your transparency.
5. Oh, SEO
Did you know that SEO includes the links on your site? This applies more to internal links that help Google “map” out your site, but it also applies to external links like your affiliate links. External links will relate your content to other websites, building your SEO score. Keep in mind that a site with a lot of broken links will lower your SEO rating.
Links might be an annoyance, but at the end of the day, they’re the core of your business. Using Shared Vision can help you address some of these concerns, especially your broken links. Ease your mind by signing up for Shared Vision.
