Before you begin using any Raptive affiliate products on your website, email, or social media, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires that you include certain disclosures. It’s your responsibility to comply with FTC guidelines.
Website Disclosures
On your website, affiliate disclosures must live:
- In any article, post or other content that contains affiliate links
- In your privacy policy
1. Articles that contain affiliate links
In each article or post that contains affiliate links, you must state that there are affiliate links on the page and that you may earn a commission if readers make a purchase through links on your site.
This text needs to be above the fold, meaning the reader should not have to scroll to find the disclosure. Many sites place this in smaller text near the top of every page so it’s clearly visible and not intrusive.
Example language:
- This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through links on our site, we may earn a commission.
- I get commissions for purchases made through links on this post.
- This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.
- Note: the words “disclosure policy” must link out to your disclosures page.
If you wish to have an additional disclosure next to a product link where it appears in the text, you may do so. However, this does not replace the need for a disclosure at the top of the page above the fold.
The examples above are guidelines only. You can use any language you like as long as it’s compliant with the FTC’s Dot Com Disclosures Guidelines, the FTC’s Endorsement Guides, the FTC’s Endorsement Guides FAQs, and any additional merchant terms and conditions, which can be found here.
It’s your responsibility to adhere to each merchant’s terms and conditions and the FTC guidelines, so it’s worth familiarizing yourself with both.
Common plugins used to add affiliate disclosures to posts:
- WP Affiliate Disclosure
- WP Code
- Ad Inserter
2. Privacy Policy
You need to include a sentence or two about your participation in affiliate marketing programs in your site’s privacy policy. This text should provide transparency to users as to how the affiliate program works.
Example language:
[YOUR SITE NAME HERE] participates in affiliate marketing programs. This means we may post customized links, provided by retailers, to track referrals to their websites, and we may earn an advertising fee from any purchases made through these links. This program uses cookies to track visits for the purposes of assigning commission on these sales.
Email & Social Media Disclosures
As with your website, any email or social media post you publish that contains affiliate links must include a clear and conspicuous disclosure. The disclosure should be clearly visible, for example at the top of an email or in the description of a social media post. Disclosures should not be buried, for example in a smaller font at the bottom of an email or hidden behind a “see more” button on social media sites that limit description lengths.
Here are some examples to get you started!
For your email:
- “This email contains affiliate links. If you click on one and make a purchase, I may receive a commission (at no extra cost to you).”
- "Check out these amazing deals [affiliate link here] – and just so you know, I may earn a commission if you decide to buy."
- "Hey there! Just a heads up, this email contains some affiliate links. If you love what you see and make a purchase, I might earn a small commission. Thanks for supporting me!"
For your social media:
- "Check out this awesome product! #ad #affiliate"
- "I've partnered with [Brand] to share this amazing deal! Use my link to shop and support me. #affiliate"
- Live video disclosure: "Hey everyone, I'll be showing you some products today, and just so you know, some of the links are affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you decide to buy."
It’s your responsibility to comply with FTC guidelines. For additional information, please review the FTC’s guidance: