Affiliate links
Hi everyone, I do need some input on this topic: Is it acceptable by Wordpress if someone were to set up an Affiliate link with an image to an online store? It seems to me that this practice will be regarded as spam. I have included below a cut and paste from a Wordpress site that discusses this.
I had regarded a spam as one of those intrusions on to a page that startles a person unexpectedly in such a way that, had the page been made of mettle a definite "spam" sound might be heard.
Here is the cut and paste from a Google site on Wordpress.com on Affiliate Links. I do not know whether this is authentic Wordpress stuff, so I really would like some help with clarification. I positively do not want to bend nor break any of Wordpress' nor anyone else's rules.
- "Sites whose primary purpose is to drive traffic to affiliate storefronts, rather than creating original content, will be banned as spam. Promoting affiliate links through comments or the support forums is also considered spam. Such activity is a violation of our Terms of Service.
- We do not allow any image with an affiliate link. If you’re interested in making money from this type of ad, check out our WordAds program. You can read more about our advertising policies here." Thank you for considering this request.
Recent Comments
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First thing to understand is this:
Although it's the same company behind both, we differentiate http://Wordpress.com and WordPress.
From Wikipedia ( I am lazy to write it myself ):
"WordPress.com is a blog web hosting service provider owned by Automattic,[3] and powered by the open source WordPress software.[4] It provides free blog hosting for registered users and is financially supported via paid upgrades,[5] "VIP" services and advertising."
Since they are a service, they have their rules as well.
Note, that there are BIG downsides of using http://Wordpress.com as you have already discovered on your own. Also, you will not be able to install plugins with http://Wordpress.com. You will overpay everything in there as they offer some basic options for free, but than charge you much higher prices for other stuff.
It's much cheaper to run a self-hosted website (!)
WordPress itself on the other hand is an open source software - content management system, blog engine... call it however you want, but it's the best system to run your website on.
So... you should stay away from http://Wordpress.com but use WordPress to "power" your website. You can download WordPress at http://WordPress.org.
Let me know if this helped or if you need more info...
Cheers!
I forgot to mention - putting your affiliate links on images is highly recommended in order to increase a clickthrough rate. However, I always feel bad about it... feels like cheating because users expect an image to show in bigger size when clicked on. But I still do it and it pays of. Everything has a price. Just sayin' :)
Hi Mihael, dot org, dot com, the distinction had completely escaped me. Thank you for jolting my attention to this important fact, and for the clarification. I have looked into this a little further on Google and indeed there are some noted differences, such as flexibility in design of web site etc. and extra costs as you have pointed out.
I might need your help later regarding affiliate links. Thanks again. Cheers.
I'm glad I was able to help. Cheers!