How to Get Paid to Post Links Online (Even as a Beginner!)
This post may contain affiliate links where I may make a commission on purchases made through those links. For full details please see disclosure page.
In this post we are going to talk about how you can get paid to post links online.
If you’ve ever seen people talk about getting paid to post links online and wondered how the heck that actually works (and if it’s even possible), then the good news is that it’s definitely doable, and is actually much simpler than it sounds.
You don’t need a huge audience to begin, or a complicated business setup, or years of experience, to get started. Many people begin earning money online simply by recommending tools, products, or services they already use and sharing your special link to those things.
People are always looking to buy things. If you are promoting the things they want, and you provide your own link, if they buy via you (at no extra cost to them), you earn a commission.
When someone clicks your link and decides to buy, you can earn a small (or not so small) commission. Over time it can become a really effective way to make money online.
Getting paid via those links is known as affiliate marketing. And it’s one of the most beginner-friendly and simplest ways to get started in making money online because you don’t need to create your own products, manage customer support, or deal with any inventory. You are just the link between a product and someone looking to buy. You’re simply connecting people with things that might help them or that they are already looking for lol.
In this post we will go over how getting paid to post links actually works, how you make real money, how beginners usually get started, and some of the different ways you can begin doing the same.
Let’s get into how to get paid to post links online, even as a beginner.
What Does “Getting Paid to Post Links” Actually Mean?
When people talk about getting paid to post links online, they’re usually talking about affiliate marketing. Which is exactly what we are talking about here.
Affiliate marketing is one of those things that sounds more complicated than it actually is lol. Sounds too good to be true if you will, but it’s not at all.
While it’s not “easy” in that it’s not a get rich quick scheme, it’s definitely really simple to get into and to do.
As I mentioned, affiliate marketing is when a company gives you a unique link to their product or service, and if someone clicks it and ends up buying, you earn a commission.
Each company will have their own commission and payout structure so it’s always worth checking those out beforehand. But the overall premise is the same. (One company may offer 2% commission and have a $30 payout threshold, the next may offer 60% and have no threshold etc.)
You pick a product/service, get your own link for it, share it, someone clicks it and buys said product or service and you get paid.
(The reason I had said it wasn’t “easy” was that affiliate marketing is a numbers game. The idea and setup is really simple, but you need eyes on your content/links to be able to get people to click through and buy. That is the trickier part.)
If you are wanting more information on getting started with affiliate marketing, you can have a read of these posts here:
How To Make Money With Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: How to Make Your First $1,000
The Best Affiliate Programs for Beginners (That Actually Convert!)
It’s not about randomly throwing links around the internet and hoping for the best lol. It’s about recommending related things in a way that actually makes sense to your audience.
That might look like mentioning a tool in a blog post that you use all the time, linking to something useful on Pinterest, sharing outfit details on your Social stories or dropping a recommendation into your email newsletter etc etc.
Then if someone wants that product, clicks your link and decides to buy it? You get paid. Ta dahh!
It’s one of those online income strategies that sounds almost too simple at first lol. But once you understand how it works, it makes a lot of sense. And it can grow into a really nice income stream over time.
When well executed and with a relevant and engaged audience, the idea is just to build the amount of eyeballs on your content/links. It’s a numbers game at the end of the day. The more eyes you have on your content, the higher the chance of people purchasing what it is you’re sharing.
How Affiliate Links Work
This is a huge part which is so simple yet seems to get over-complicated a lot.
You will see descriptions such as “affiliate links are special tracking links provided by companies through their affiliate programs”.
But to anyone new to online marketing, that sounds vague and confusing lol.
To simplify… when you are an affiliate for a company you will get access to your affiliate links.
While some require links to be requested/built (don’t worry about those yet), most of them have one big button that says “Get Link” or something there abouts. And that’s the link you share. That’s it.
As an example of a couple of mine and how simple it is, this is HostGator through the Impact dashboard:
and Mailerlite directly:
Each link contains a unique identifier that tells the company the referral/sale came from you.
You will nearly always have to apply to be a part of a companies affiliate program but some have less requirements than others in terms of traffic or audience location etc.
Here’s how the process usually works:
- You apply to join an affiliate program
- You get accepted
- You receive a unique affiliate link
- You share that link in your content (check the rules for that program as to where you are and aren’t allowed to promote links)
- Someone clicks the link
- If they make a purchase within the cookie period for that program, you earn a commission
It means you can earn money simply by recommending products or tools that you genuinely find helpful and are already using.
As you get more into it you can think more about building links, and specialised tracking links etc, but initially, those base links are all you need.
Where You Can Post Links to Make Money
One quick note first here as this is important. You must ALWAYS disclose when something is an affiliate link. Whether that’s in a blog post, Instagram story, Pinterest pin etc. The disclosure has to be visible too, not hidden or out of sight. I won’t mention it through every point below but trust that it still stands for all of them lol.
The nice thing about affiliate marketing and only having to worry about sharing links or ads (if you choose) is that you have a variety of places to post about and share them.
As mentioned earlier, just be aware some programs don’t allow posting of links in certain places. Be cautious and check the rules for that program to make sure you are following the rules.
Examples of this would be Amazon not allowing any affiliate links in private Facebook groups or linked from Pinterest pins directly etc. A pin linking to a blog post which has those same links in is totally fine though!
Just something to be aware of, but there are multiple places you can share your links once you know which ones are allowed where.
Some of the most common include:
Blog Posts
This is a huge one, as you can put your affiliate links into your blog posts in a natural and helpful way, and then you share the blog post link, not the direct affiliate link. This way you can share your blog post wherever you link – just be mindful of always having that disclaimer visible at the top.
So many bloggers include affiliate links inside their content. This could be in helpful posts, reviews, tutorials or tools pages.
For example:
• tool recommendations
• product reviews
• step-by-step guides
• comparison posts
This is one of the most popular ways to earn affiliate income via a blog because blog posts can bring traffic for years.
People can be searching for reviews or tutorials years down the line so could come across your posts at any point.
Pinterest is a huge way to drive traffic to blog posts that contain affiliate links.
Just note that Pinterest doesn’t prefer you to link out to affiliate links directly, to the point is sometimes blocks them.
Amazon as mentioned does not allow you to link out to your affiliate links directly in standard pins (you can via Ad pins from memory but I find it safer not to lol).
What you absolutely can do though is add those links to a blog post or other form of content and then link that back to the pinterest pin.
Pinterest has a huge amount of daily users and the beauty of Pinterest is that it’s a search engine as opposed to a social media. This means people go onto the website or app looking for inspiration for specific things.
Those things could well be what you’re offering!
Email Newsletters
If you have your own email list (highly recommended), then you can share your links in those emails too – again program and rules permitting.
Make sure any links are well disclosed too.
The other way to share your products or links through emails you are sending to your list is to not link directly to your affiliate offer in the email, but to send a helpful email, linking to a blog post/piece of content, that has the links embedded.
Your email list especially is people who have signed up to your email list because they are interested in what you are talking about. This means they are the most likely to want your recommendations.
This doesn’t mean be pushy or salesy or you will lose trust.
But because email subscribers already trust your content, they’re often more likely to click and explore your (honest!) recommendations.
Social Media
This is quite obvious but mentioning it to keep the list more accurate lol.
Affiliate links can also be shared on your social media platforms, carefully lol.
This might include:
• Instagram
• TikTok
• YouTube
• Facebook groups
It can get a little tricker with social media as each affiliate program and each social platform can have different rules and requirements.
Things to remember are that you can’t link directly on Instgram or Tiktok (Instagram stories are good as long as it’s well disclosed), but you can use a LinkTree instead to house all your links.
As I touched on earlier, you aren’t allowed to post any Amazon affiliate links in a private facebook group etc.
Either keeping it to insta stories, putting them in your LinkTree or linking back to a post with the links in keeps you above board.
Just check each affiliate program and the social media platform you want to use and it will keep you right.
Do You Need a Blog to Get Paid to Post Links?
Nope. You can technically start affiliate marketing without a blog.
You can begin by sharing your new affiliate links through your social media platforms, pinterest pins or even email newsletters if you have a list of email subscribers.
However as I mentioned earlier, having a blog can make affiliate marketing a lot easier in the long run for a few reasons.
A YouTube channel is also an amazing way where you can share content that can be found for years to come.
Here are just a few of the reasons:
- Blog posts have the potential to rank in Google. This then means that people can discover your content when they’re actively searching for something related to what you’re recommending so your posts can pop up for people years after you wrote them.
- Pinterest can be fussy about pins linking directly to affiliate links. Linking your pins to your blog post links gets around this and can actually work out a lot more effective. As doing it this way sends readers directly to your blog posts, it helps more people find your content without you needing to constantly share links everywhere.
- Having a blog or a place where you can share all of your content (such as YouTube) gives you a hub where all of your recommendations live in one place. Instead of your links disappearing in social media posts or stories after a short period of time, your blog/channel acts like a list for your content where your audience can easily find things you’ve shared or search for specific topics.
How Beginners Start Getting Paid to Post Links
If you’re completely new to all this, the process of getting started is actually really straight forward.
1. Choose a niche
Start by focusing on a topic you enjoy talking about or have experience with.
You don’t have to be super specific, but it’s not likely someone is going to buy a lawnmower from someone who usually shares content around fitness tips lol. This just helps your audience to know what you’re about and know what they can trust your recommendations in.
This could be:
• Blogging
• Fitness
• Travel
• Beauty
• Productivity
• Online business
Etc etc.
Choosing a clear niche just helps you build that trust and attract the right audience which is important in helping be the bridge between products they may want, and them buying them so you get commission.
2. Join affiliate programs
Once you know your niche, you can join affiliate programs that match your content.
You can look for brands themselves or specific products.
Many companies offer affiliate programs for:
- Courses
- Physical Products
- Digital Services
- Digital Products
You can choose as many as you like of course, but the thinner you spread yourself the less attention each link will get which makes it a bit trickier.
Start with a couple and then you can always add more in later.
3. Focus on creating genuinely helpful content
The best kind of affiliate content isn’t about throwing links everywhere and hoping for the best lol. It’s honestly just about being helpful and sharing the things you use or believe in.
Have a think about the kind of things you would/do actually search for yourself. This could be needing to know how to do something, which option of a product is best for your reader between different options or brands, or whether something is actually worth the cost.
For you that could look something like:
• a reel showing how you use something
• a blog post comparing a couple of options
• a video sharing something that worked well for you
• or just recommending something you genuinely like
When your content genuinely helps someone, they’re naturally more likely to trust what you’re saying as it’s genuine. That’s what leads to clicks and sales without it feeling forced on either side!
How Much Money Can You Make Posting Links Online?
Ahhh the piece of string question lol.
There honestly is no exact answer, but there’s things that can improve your chances of earning a lot.
Affiliate income can vary widely. It really does depend on a number of factors, such as:
• How much traffic/how big your audience is
• What your niche is
• Affiliate program commission rates
• The type of products you promote
The option is there for people to earn a small side income, while for others they can build full-time businesses purely through affiliate marketing.
Often people start by making their first few sales here and there before gradually increasing their income as their content grows.
Because your online content can continue bringing traffic over a long time, affiliate marketing often becomes more powerful the longer you do it. This is especially true for anyone with a blog or YouTube channel as people will be searching for reviews/tutorials/information on specific things for years to come.
FAQs About Getting Paid to Post Links Online
Can you really get paid just for posting links?
Yes, but as this post explains, this works through affiliate marketing. Companies provide special tracking links that allow them to see when a sale comes from your specific recommendation. If someone clicks your link and makes a purchase, you earn a commission.
It’s not about posting random links everywhere and expecting to earn a fortune. It works best when you share links to things your audience are/would be interested in.
Do you need a large audience to make money posting links?
Nope. While a larger audience can increase your earnings (as mentioned, it’s all a numbers game), many beginners start making affiliate sales with even small amounts of traffic.
What matters most is that you are sharing your links with people who are already interested in the topic you’re talking about.
If one person liked what they saw and wanted to buy it so did so, then that sale is yours. Whether you had just that 1 person see your content, or 100 people.
The amount of people seeing your content isn’t the deciding factor, but it can help the odds of those sales.
For example, a product recommendation of something relevant to you/your content can often perform a lot better than simply posting links without context lol.
How do beginners find affiliate programs?
So many companies and brands have affiliate programs now, so finding one (or a few) you like, shouldn’t be too hard.
The simplest way is to search on Google for “[company name] affiliate program”. For example “Amazon affiliate program”. You will be amazed just how many companies have them.
There are also lots of affiliate networks that have multiple programs in one place (often called a marketplace), making it easier to discover opportunities that match your niche.
Impact is one of my favourite ones.
With Impact for example, brands have their affiliate links via Impact, so they all have their own commission amounts, but they are all on the same dashboard making it a lot simpler to keep track. Especially when you have a good few products you are sharing.
How long does it take to make money posting links?
This can vary depending on how much content you create, how warm your audience is, how people discover your links and the cost of what it is you’re promoting.
Some people make their first affiliate sale fairly quickly, while others take longer as they build up content and traffic.
For example if you already have a larger following and do a lot of fashion content and then you share an affiliate link in your Instagram story to something you wore that was really affordable, chances are you will get a lot of sales fairly quickly.
On the flip side if you are brand new with no audience and are promoting services for $2,000 each, it may take a while longer lol.
As mentioned earlier though, you just need the right people at the right time. One of your first people may be someone who is looking for the exact thing you are sharing, and may buy it straight away.
You may average at 1 person in every 100 buys your shared product (very rough example). They could be reader number 15, 41, 84, or even number 1 or 100. The commission is the same, just the timeline is very different.
A note for bloggers specifically, one of the nice things about blog content is that it can keep bringing visitors in long after you hit publish. As your number of posts grows, many people find their affiliate income starts to grow with it. People can be searching Google for something specific, find your article (that had been written 2 years ago) and end up buying through you. This is when it starts to become more passive.
Final Thoughts on How to Get Paid to Post Links Online
Getting paid to post links online might sound complicated at first, but in reality it’s simply about recommending helpful products and earning a commission when people purchase through your links.
With the right content and a little consistency, affiliate marketing can become a flexible way to earn income online.
Many people start with just a few blog posts or recommendations and gradually build from there.
If you’re interested in earning money online, learning how affiliate links work is a great place to begin.
Speak soon!
Katherine
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