“Do you want to automatically include an affiliate disclosure for each blog post? Affiliate marketing is a popular way to earn money online. However, failing to disclose your affiliate links can lead to legal issues. In this article, we’ll guide you on how to seamlessly add an affiliate disclosure to all your WordPress blog posts.
**Why Include an Affiliate Disclosure in Every WordPress Blog Post?**
Affiliate marketing allows you to earn a commission when someone clicks a referral link and makes a purchase, making it a lucrative way to monetize your WordPress blog. However, it’s crucial to make it transparent that your links are paid promotions by adding an affiliate disclosure. This involves posting a brief notice explaining what affiliate marketing entails and that you receive compensation for discussing the product or service.
Many countries have laws regarding the disclosure of paid endorsements. For example, in the United States, you could face fines from the Federal Trade Commission if you don’t disclose your affiliate relationships. Moreover, non-disclosure can lead to being banned from reputable affiliate networks, such as Amazon Associates. Even if you evade legal consequences, visitors who click on undisclosed affiliate links might feel deceived and stop visiting your WordPress website.
**How to Add an Affiliate Disclosure to Every WordPress Blog Post**
One approach is to create a separate page for your affiliate disclosure, as we do on WPBeginner, and then add a link to this page in every post containing an affiliate URL. This is a suitable choice if your disclosure is lengthy and you don’t want to distract from the main content. If your disclosure is relatively short, you can often include the full text within each post.
Regardless of your preference, you can save time and effort by automatically adding the affiliate disclosure. Simply use the quick links below to navigate to the method you’d like to employ.
**Method 1: Add Affiliate Disclosure Using Pretty Links**
Pretty Links is a powerful affiliate marketing plugin that streamlines various affiliate-related tasks, including adding a disclosure. Pretty Links offers an advanced auto-linking feature that enables you to specify keywords or phrases that should automatically become affiliate URLs. When you mention these keywords or phrases in a post, Pretty Links will automatically transform them into affiliate URLs. What’s more, if you’ve created a disclosure notice page, Pretty Links can insert a link to it in your post.
For example, if you designate “MacBook Pro” as a keyword and use that phrase in a new post, Pretty Links will automatically convert “MacBook Pro” into an affiliate URL and include a link to your disclosure notice page.
Please note that Pretty Links won’t add the disclosure link if you manually insert affiliate URLs. It operates exclusively with automatic keyword linking.
To get started, install and activate Pretty Links. If you require assistance, refer to our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin. After activation, navigate to Pretty Links » Activate and input your license key in the ‘Enter Your Pretty Links Pro License Key’ field. You can find this information in your account on the Pretty Links website. Once you’ve entered the key, click ‘Activate.’
Following activation, proceed to Pretty Links » Add New and insert the first link you wish to manage using the Pretty Links plugin. For a comprehensive step-by-step guide, consult our tutorial on cloaking affiliate links on your WordPress site.
Afterward, click on the ‘Pro’ tab. In the ‘Keywords’ field, specify the words or phrases where you want to automatically insert this affiliate URL. Repeat this process for all your affiliate links. Whenever it inserts an affiliate URL, Pretty Links will also append a link to your disclosure notice.
The next step involves creating the disclosure notice page that Pretty Links will link to. Visit Pages » Add New and compose your affiliate disclaimer while adding relevant categories or tags if desired. Once satisfied with your disclaimer, publish the page to make it live. It’s advisable to note the page’s URL as you’ll need it in the next step.
Subsequently, navigate to Pretty Links » Options and click on the ‘Replacements’ tab. Enable ‘Replacements’ if it’s not already selected and check the ‘Link to Disclosures’ box.
In the ‘URL’ field, enter your affiliate disclosure URL. By default, Pretty Links will use ‘Affiliate Link Disclosures’ as the link’s text, but you can customize it by entering your preferred text in the ‘Text’ field.
You can also choose where Pretty Links positions the affiliate disclaimer link. By default, it appears at the bottom of the post, so as not to distract readers from the content. Another option is to place the disclaimer at the top of the post, as done on WPBeginner. This informs visitors of the affiliate link before they start reading, building trust with your audience. However, some readers might choose to leave the page upon seeing the disclosure, potentially increasing your bounce rate.
For sites with lengthy posts, you can add the disclaimer at both the top and bottom of each post. To determine the position, select ‘Bottom,’ ‘Top,’ or ‘Top and Bottom’ from the ‘Position’ dropdown.
Finally, scroll to the bottom of the page and click ‘Update.’ Pretty Links will now automatically insert an affiliate disclosure link whenever it adds an affiliate URL to your posts, pages, or custom post types.
**Method 2: Add Affiliate Disclosure Using WPCode (More Customizable)**
Sometimes, you may want to place the affiliate disclosure in various locations within each blog post. For instance, you might want the disclosure to appear after mentioning each affiliate product for the first time. In such cases, creating a custom shortcode for the disclosure provides complete control over its placement without the need to manually type the entire text each time.
WPCode is a convenient plugin for creating custom shortcodes and custom code snippets without altering your theme’s functions.php file. It simplifies the process by validating code snippets to prevent common errors.
There are multiple ways to incorporate an affiliate disclosure using WPCode. In addition to the shortcode method, we’ll also share an easy way to automatically include the disclaimer in every post, page, or custom post type.
Begin by installing and activating the free WPCode plugin on your website. Refer to our detailed guide on how to install a WordPress plugin for assistance.
After activation, navigate to Code Snippets » Add Snippet. You’ll reach the ‘Add Snippet’ page, which displays pre-made snippets available for use on your site. Since we intend to insert custom code in WordPress, hover over ‘Add Your Custom Code (New Snippet)’ and select ‘Use snippet’ when it appears.
To begin, provide a title for the custom code snippet that helps you identify it in the WordPress admin area. We’ll add a PHP snippet, so open the ‘Code Type’ dropdown and select ‘PHP Snippet.’
Next, paste the following code into the code box:
“`php
function disclosure() {
return “This site may contain links to affiliate websites, and we receive an affiliate commission for any purchases made by you on the affiliate website using such links.”;
}
add_shortcode( ‘disclosure’, ‘disclosure’ );
“`
You can customize the affiliate disclaimer text by editing the provided code. For example, you may want to add an HTML link to your affiliate disclosure page.
Scroll down to the ‘Insertion’ section and ensure that ‘Auto Insert’ is selected. Opt for ‘Frontend Only’ in the ‘Location’ dropdown to enable the shortcode on the live site.
Finally, click ‘Save Changes and Activate’ to make your custom shortcode live. You can now use the shortcode `[disclosure]` in any blog post to incorporate your
affiliate disclosure.”
This revised and completed content provides detailed information on adding affiliate disclosures to WordPress blog posts, offering two methods for achieving this while ensuring legal compliance and user transparency.
