Need help? Check out our Support site, then


WordPress.com Forums » Support

What are the popular affiliate programs WordPress.com allow?

  1. qanquinette
    Member

    I've looked high and low for a list of affiliate programs that wordpress.com allows for its blogs and I can't find a single one. I have read the Tos and any other information related to advertising. From what I understand, as long as you have a real blog with real content, you can have some affiliate links on your blog.

    I have two blogs on wordpress.com and several for wordpress.org. One of my wordpress.com blogs is an entertainment critic review & news website and also home to my random rablings. My authors and I write our own reviews and news in these topics: video games, anime, films, music, literature (including comics, novels, etc), live entertainment and recreational entertainment (such as museums, art galleries, etc in the form of recommendations and experience). This blog is fairly new to the review and news because at first the blog was just created for my random entertainment recommendations but because a home for critics as I am a critic.

    I would like to give my readers an option to buy the product that I or an author is reviewing on blog with respect to the rules of course. So here is a list of affiliate programs I wanted to try and would WordPress allow these?:

    1. Amazon or Best buy
    2. Netflix, Redbox, Hulu
    3. Audibles
    4. Gamefly, Gamestop or PlayAsia
    5. CDuniverse
    6. Crunchyroll

    Also, would WordPress allow just regular non-affiliate links on blog posts such as if I posted a link to where a reader could watch anime online LEGALLY or buy a video game (like a search url on ebay)?

    I would not put up a banner, a whole bunch of widgets, etc for affiliate links or buttons. I just wanted to include a button at the end of my reviews, that's all.

    And thanks for the help in advance, Happy Holidays!

    Here's my blog: http://entertheqann.wordpress.com. Currently, no affiliate links, buttons, or graphics exist on the blog. Just my own content and some videos from youtube.

    ~Quaisha

    The blog I need help with is entertheqann.wordpress.com.

  2. justjennifer
    Member

    Rather than repeat ourselves, please see this earlier reply from Staff on affiliate ads

    http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/affiliate-links-doubt-in-wordpresscom-not-org?replies=34#post-949060

    The entire thread is worth a read.

  3. qanquinette
    Member

    @justjennifer

    and somehow I missed that thread, lol. Thank you. So what I got from that is sparingly usage of Amazon.com and other popular websites like it is allowed as long as its not the main focus.

    ok, this is exactly what I wanted to know. I don't get much traffic to my blog right now, maybe 40 - 70 views a day. I figure I test out a link here and there on a review to see how the response is. If the response is good then I'll just set up a wordpress.org blog so that I can use more links.

    Thanks again and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

  4. justjennifer
    Member

    and other popular websites

    Not at all! Amazon links used sparingly in a real blog, with real content. As macmanx said
    All other affiliate links are not allowed.
    Otherwise you may find your site suspended.

  5. qanquinette
    Member

    hmm,

    At this url: http://en.support.wordpress.com/affiliate-links/ , it says this:

    There are exceptions to this policy. Amazon.com and other select affiliate links are permitted so long as they are not the primary content of the blog in question. Other exceptions are made on a case-by-case basis.

    And this was what I was confused about. Last time the page was modified was in November 2011. What are these "other select affiliate links"?

    In any case, I tried contacting WordPress.com staff directly, but they redirected me to filling out this community post. I wanted to avoid asking the community about it because there's a lot of confusion about this. I listed the specific affiliate programs above and I'm looking for a YES OR NO answer to each one of those.

  6. raincoaster
    Member

    If you are looking to make money from affiliate links, you would be a complete fool to host at WordPress.com. I have both kinds of blogs. You can spend hundreds of hours trying to find out those other kinds of speciallized affiliate links OR you can just spend ten bucks a month to get independent hosting and use WordPress.ORG software.

  7. qanquinette
    Member

    @raincoaster

    I posted these earlier in the thread:

    I have two blogs on wordpress.com and several for wordpress.org.

    I don't get much traffic to my blog right now, maybe 40 - 70 views a day. I figure I test out a link here and there on a review to see how the response is. If the response is good then I'll just set up a wordpress.org blog so that I can use more links.

    Therefore it's safe to say that I can get a new wordpress.org blog anytime I want since I already have web hosting. But that doesn't answer my original question now does it?

    what @justjennifer posted and what is stated in the official wordpress.com support link on affiliate links are TWO DIFFERENT THINGS. I just want to know what the "Amazon and OTHER SELECT AFFILIATE LINKS<"/em> that are permitted. There's no list ANYWHERE clarifying what the OTHER are. My first post of this thread listed the most popular affiliate links/programs that are similar to Amazon.com.

    If those links/programs are accepted, then I would simply require a "Yes, all those links are acceptable." If not, then a simple, "NONE of those links/programs are acceptable or ONLY amazon.com is acceptable, or some of those (specifying which ones) are acceptable."

    Again, I tried to get in contact with customer support DIRECTLY to ask to avoid all of this redundancy in the forums, but they redirected me here to make a post.

  8. justjennifer
    Member

    While I earlier pointed you to a clear reply from Staff, I've tagged this for their attention.

  9. zandyring
    Staff

    Hi @qanquinette, our most recent guidance is that you do only use Amazon, and only use it sparingly.

    Other links could well get your blog auto-flagged for spam, as we've been working hard on ratcheting down on illicit use of the platform.

    So my strong recommendation is to keep to Amazon. If you have to use one of the other links once in a while, you may be ok, but you could also find yourself with a flagged (suspended) blog, which we would have to review before re-instating.

    I hope that helps clear things up!

  10. notawoodpecker
    Member

    Zandy, maybe a bit of rewording on the Affiliates support page is in order?

  11. zandyring
    Staff

    I will take the suggestion to the team :)

  12. qanquinette
    Member

    Hi @zandyring,

    Thank you very much for your clarification. It was clear and to the point. That was all I asked. :D The others couldn't give me a clear answer.

    @notawoodpecker Took the words right out of my mouth :D

    Thanks again and Happy Holidays!

  13. zandyring
    Staff

    Glad to be of service!

Topic Closed

This topic has been closed to new replies.

About this Topic

Tags