Affiliate marketing techniques
5
September
2024

YouTube affiliation: How does it work?

YouTube brings together all kinds of passions. Amateur and professional video content creators alike can earn money using the Adsense ad monetization platform. However, many Internet users use ad blockers, which directly affects this income. With affiliate marketing, it's possible to monetize your videos in a more direct way. This article will explain how to make money with affiliate marketing on Youtube.

How to set up affiliation on a Youtube account?

Affiliate marketing is permitted on YouTube, subject to certain conditions. Google has laid down strict rules for its platform.

For example, it is forbidden to create videos that are too sales-oriented, that encourage the purchase of products or that deal with illegal subjects. For a complete list of prohibitions, please consult the rules governing external links on YouTube.

As with written content, the key to generating a large number of views on your videos will then be your relevance, humor, and exclusivity to differentiate you from other youtubers.

Where to share affiliate links on Youtube?

The sharing of links (affiliated or not) on Youtube is limited to defined locations:

  1. The video description : this is the main place to share affiliate links, directly below your video. This is where you can insert one or more links.
  2. Cards: these inserts, which appear while your audience is viewing the video, enable you to offer other videos from your channel for further playback, as well as outgoing links. However, you need to check that the site you wish to link to is on the list of sites authorized by Youtube.
  3. Embedded videos : If you repost your videos on social networks or on your website, you can include affiliate links with them.
  4. The companion site: If you have a website that accompanies your channel, you can redirect your audience to it and include the affiliate links of your choice (NB: if you use Affilizz's services, you generate all the formats to be published at once: the YouTube link, the social network link, a possible price table for a classic web page, etc.). This method has two advantages:
    - You are not subject to Youtube rules on outbound links, and can redirect your audience to any website.
    - You can offer more effective CTAs than simple text links, such as buttons or price tables (see our article on optimizing CTAs in affiliation).
Affiliate link on Youtube
Youtubeur Joueur Du Grenier places affiliate links in video descriptions, and provides explicit reminders of where the link is located during viewing.

How can Affilizz help you generate affiliate links on YouTube?

If you've registered with Affilizz, or are planning to do so, you should know that you can create affiliate links very easily. So whether you have one, two, three or more than a dozen, you can generate them and integrate them very naturally under your YouTube video. How does it work? We'll give you a quick explanation, but you can find out more about creating affiliate links at Affilizz via our dedicated tutorial. In any case, here are the main steps for (quickly) integrating your affiliate links on YouTube:

  • Copy the merchant's link (or search for an offer using our integrated search engine)
  • Paste it into our publication creation area
  • Immediately, the affiliate link is created (if there is a partner program for this merchant, of course).
  • Click on the green button to copy the link to your clipboard, then paste it below your YouTube video.


And that's it! That's it for integrating a single affiliate link. If you have more than one, it's possible to import your Affilizz affiliate links en masse into YouTube, whether you have 10, 100 or more...To do so, go to one of the Affilizz publications you have in your account (or create one if necessary), then click on the "Copy all content" button at the top. A screen similar to the one below will then appear:

affiliate link creation screen for Youtube

You can easily set your affiliate link options, such as the anchor that appears (or not) on your link. Just copy the whole thing, and "Paste" it under the YouTube video to make it all fit! In short, if you're in the habit of sharing a lot of links under a video, this should be invaluable help!

How to make a success of your affiliation on Youtube?

To succeed in affiliate marketing on YouTube, there are four main rules to follow:

  1. Respect your audience by being honest about the products you test and promote, and remember that you are an enthusiast trusted by a community.
  2. Make affiliate links available by clearly indicating them in the video description, the cards and on a companion website, to avoid losing revenue. Explain where these links are located:
    - For the description, put the link at the top of the description and indicate it in the video.
    - For the cards, add them at the right moment and make a reminder at the end of the video.
    - For a companion website, redirect directly to the page offering the links. Make them appear at the top of the page. Don't forget that your site must be viewable on both smartphone and desktop.
  1. Listen to your audience , using constructive feedback to improve the quality of your content.
  2. Improve the quality of your productions by developing your video editing skills to achieve a professional look. You'll find numerous tutorials on Youtube to help you learn how to create beautiful videos.

You can easily set your affiliate link options, such as the anchor that appears (or not) on your link. Just copy the whole thing, and "Paste" it under the YouTube video to make it all fit! In short, if you're in the habit of sharing a lot of links under a video, this should be invaluable help!

Youtube affiliation: advantages and disadvantages

Benefits

👍 The opportunity to earn money by talking about your passion
👍 A simple Smartphone is all you need to create videos
👍 The ease of sharing links
👍 A highly developed potential audience

Disadvantages

👎 Places to share links are limited
👎 Youtube's algorithm cannot be bypassed

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Key points to remember
  • Affiliation is authorized on YouTube under specific conditions
  • Put the odds in your favor by optimizing link placement
  • Use feedback from your community to improve the quality of your content
  • Conclusion

    Affiliate marketing on YouTube is now well established among content creators. This monetization method is tried and tested on the platform. What's more, YouTube has put in place a framework that allows youtubers to earn money while protecting users from malicious links. It's important to follow the guidelines mentioned in our article when creating and publishing your videos to maximize your affiliate income.

    About the author
    Vincent Alzieu
    General Manager

    After successfully managing several companies in the tech world (Les Numériques, Doctissimo, Au Féminin...), Vincent Alzieu joined Affilizz as late co-founder in 2022 to bring his experience of media and affiliation.‍

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