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Everything you want to know about how affiliate links work (and how I use them)

Mar 14, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Lately I’ve gotten quite a few questions about what affiliate links are, how they work and what it all means.  I’m here to explain the whole process to you!

Canvas shopping bag this image

Recently I had a friend come over for a weekend stay. As girlfriends do, we talked about different “things” we were using: makeup, hair, home goods, etc. and she asked if I could send her a link for things: hair products, planters, faucets…the list goes on. YES, I replied, in fact, I shared how if she used links I’d send (affiliate links) at no additional cost to her, I’d actually earn a few pennies and that affiliate links were something I’d like to get into a little more as a revenue source for my business. She had no idea, and said she’d love to support me via affiliate links, because half of this stuff she’d looked on Pinterest or google and hadn’t found what she was looking for, so the fact that I had purchased the stuff and made the recommendation, she said she was more than happy to support me!

I opened up my phone and showed her Like to Know It (LTK) – an app where one can essentially ‘shop an image’ – styled by Creators (me) you know and love!

She downloaded it and bought a bunch of stuff right away…and I made a few pennies! YAY!

A week later, I had the exact same conversation with my mom and the following week more conversations in DMs on Instagram. So I thought I’d go through it!

My friend was saying that she had heard things here and there but never knew exactly how it all worked. I mentioned that I had done a few IG stories on how it worked, but she said she missed them and would love a post explaining it.  So here goes!

Like to Know It logo and profile
I use a company called Reward Style to generate affiliate links.  The first step was for me to apply as a Creator and wait for approval.  As soon as that happened, I was/am able to generate affiliate links from participating companies (like Williams Sonoma, Amazon, Target and hundreds of others).
An example of how I use affiliate links is that if I (or my team) uses and loves a product, we’ll go the the patriating site and use our fancy widget to generate a link that’s specific to SweetPhi (it is also always a product we have personally used and love, otherwise we’d never recommend it) and then include it in a blog post or roundup.
Various kitchen and home products
Osea | Salt cellar | Sheet pans | Floor pouf | Kitchen stand | Water bottle | Air fryer | Dishes

After we’ve created the affiliate link, we use that link to either link the product in a blog post or add it to our Like to Know It page – more on that below.

What is an affiliate link?

  • An affiliate link is simply a specific URL that is tied to a person/creator/influencer that earns me a little commission each time you use it to purchase an item.

Like to Know It app

To shop affiliate links via Reward Style, you will need an app called Like to Know It.  It is super simple and free.  From there, I would love if you found my profile and followed me.  You can then adjust your settings to your preference of alerts etc.  I should also say that Like to Know It really works best on mobile, but you can access it on desktop if you prefer.Shopping the Like to Know It app

In the app, you can use the product search to find what you’re looking for.  Or you can simply scroll images for inspiration.

Once you find an image that you love, you can shop all of my favorites right below each photo.  When you click on an item, it will take you outside of the Like to Know It app and to the site where the product is sold so you can buy it directly.

Shopping through Like to Know It simple allows me to earn a few pennies for the item I recommended.

Bissell floor mop
Mop

If this is still not making sense to you, I’ll walk you through a quick example using one of my very favorite products – The Mop!  If you’re a visual learner, check out the process in the image below.

Using the Like to Know It app

I recommend this product so highly and so many of my readers saw how the mop completely changed the way I looked at cleaning so they were able to purchase one directly though my link.  So, thank you for doing that – I really am so grateful.

The mop is available on Amazon, which is a site I am able to get an affiliate link from.  As an example, the difference in the two links are below.  The first is how you can purchase the mop using a regular link and the second link is what I plug in as my affiliate link.

Non-affiliate link
https://www.amazon.com/Bissell-SpinWave-Hard-Floor-20399/dp/B08HZFVNS7?&linkCode=sl1&tag=sweetphi-20&linkId=a3e4de1e68207fd0b46a8495f481b89b&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
Affiliate link
https://amzn.to/3rhnzFU
For the shopper, there is absolutely no difference at all!  I just love helping people find things they love and think it’s great that the person recommending the item is able to make a few pennies to help support the person finding the items.
>>>>>>>
Basically, whether you click a link through my blog post or directly on the Like to Know It app, those links earn me a tiny bit of money each time and it all adds up.  My friend I talked about at the beginning of the post said she loved knowing that I’d get a few pennies from stuff and loved supporting me that way.
There are other affiliate programs which pretty much operate similarly. You sign up through a platform to get a unique link, and then if you share that link, you earn a small percentage off your recommendation.
Affiliate programs can get a little tricky too for a creator to rely on. For example, the company controls the relationship and can change it at any time. For example, during the height of the pandemic, a lot of companies just stopped their affiliate programs or dramatically reduced their pay outs. So if one was making 7% off a $35 product ($2.45 in commission) and the company decided they would only pay at 1% ($0.35) you can see how that would be not great. This exact thing happened with many companies and programs.
I don’t know how much other creators make, because everyone is different in how they run their business, but I have a general idea. I broke down ways in which bloggers make an income in my 10 years blogging post. I know there’s huge potential out there and I’d love to lean into it more this coming year. It’s a fascinating world, and I hope that this behind the scenes has been helpful!
All that to say, thank you for supporting my business!  If you have any questions, you can always email me or just leave a comment below and I will get back to you, and if you’re ever wondering about something like “where did you get that xyz thing” and want a link, please DM me!

Blog Posts, Lifestyle Affiliate links, how to shop with affiliate links, Like to know it, reward style, shopping

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