When I started my blog, I was pretty adamant — possibly annoying so — about how I didn’t have any affiliate links. I wanted to be seen as trustworthy; I wanted people to know that, if I was writing about something, it wasn’t because I hoped to make money off it. I wanted to be seen as pure.
I’ve been paying attention to how I respond to bloggers and YouTubers and so on, and I’ve noticed that I don’t actually resent people offering affiliate links to the things they mention in blog posts or videos. I judge these people on what they say, not on whether they have an Amazon disclaimer in the description below their video. I trust that they’re presenting information or ideas that matter to them, until proven otherwise.
Some of them do prove otherwise, but it’s not because — or not just because — they’re affiliates. It’s because they become tediously repetitive, or offer shallow reviews, or write about the same damn things that everyone else is already writing about. In other words, it’s usually obvious when people are just chasing views and clicks and all that. (And here’s an interesting twist: I still enjoy, and learn from, some of them!)
So I’ve decided that I’m not going to shun affiliate marketing. If it helps me cover some camera equipment, or an Adobe subscription — or if it just pays for a pound of coffee! — well, I’m okay with that idea.
I’m pretty early in my blogging journey, too, so the number of people this may disappoint is fairly small. And, as such, it’s probably better I make the change sooner than later.
All that said, I’m still committed to creating posts or videos that matter — to me, at least, and (to some extent, I hope) to others. I do still want to be trustworthy.
(Note: I wrote this page on Nov. 30, 2019, to explain why I moved from the policy I laid out in my (non)disclosure statement to my new affiliate disclosure statement.)