Ethical Marketing

The Use of Affiliate Links for Writers on Medium

Guidance to writers who need to use affiliate links in stories

Photo by Ellen Qin on Unsplash

The Importance of Declaring Affiliate Links on Medium

Medium is not a sales and marketing platform. Instead, it is a platform designed for storytelling and article writing. However, Medium allows writers to use affiliate links in their stories meaningfully without overt marketing and sales content.

Remember your goal on Medium. You are a storyteller, not a seller or marketer, on this platform. Yes, you may occasionally use affiliate links following rules and regulations. The use of affiliate links not only relates to ethics but also to rules and regulations.

Some writers ask about the risk of using affiliate links in their stories as they heard some accounts using affiliate links were suspended. This is true. However, the suspension is not because of using affiliate links but because of not declaring the affiliate links in the stories.

Medium makes it clear in the guidelines. Here is the Medium rule definition:

“You must disclose affiliate links or payment for a post. Affiliate links, such as link…