Essential Steps to Incorporate an Affiliate Disclosure on Your WordPress Site for Transparency and Trust

In the realm of digital marketing, maintaining transparency with your audience is crucial, especially when it comes to affiliate marketing. An affiliate disclosure not only fosters trust but is also a legal requirement in many jurisdictions. If you’re running a WordPress site and want to incorporate an affiliate disclosure efficiently, here is a step-by-step guide that will help you do just that, whether you’re using a page builder like Divi or working with a child theme.

Why an Affiliate Disclosure is Important

An affiliate disclosure informs your readers that you may earn a commission if they purchase products through your affiliate links. This practice builds credibility and ensures compliance with regulations, such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines. Including a transparent disclosure can enhance the trustworthiness of your content and reassure your audience that you are providing honest recommendations.

Adding an Affiliate Disclosure Using Divi

If you’re using Divi, the process to add an affiliate disclosure becomes straightforward and efficient:

1. Access the Divi Theme Builder: Start by logging into your WordPress dashboard and navigating to the Divi Theme Builder. This powerful feature allows you to manage your site’s layout from one convenient location.

2. Create a Global Footer: Within the Theme Builder, you can create a global footer that will appear on all pages. Click to add a footer and assign it to all blog articles where you want the disclosure to appear.
3. Add Your Disclosure Text: In your newly created footer, insert a text block containing your disclosure. A simple yet effective disclosure could be: “Some of the external links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission directly from the vendor, but there will be no additional charge to you.”
4. Format the Text: You can format the text to make it stand out slightly; for example, you might want to make the crucial parts bold. Once you’ve customized it to your preference, save your changes.
5. Verify the Changes: Preview a blog post to ensure the disclosure appears appropriately at the bottom. It should now be visible on every blog article, ensuring consistency and transparency across your site.

Adding an Affiliate Disclosure Using a Child Theme

If you’re not using a page builder like Divi, or prefer to work with code, you can add the disclosure using a child theme. Here’s how:

1. Backup Your Site: Before making any changes to your theme files, ensure that you have a backup of your WordPress site. This step is imperative as even a minor mistake can lead to significant issues.
2. Navigate to the Theme Editor: Go to the WordPress dashboard and select “Appearance” followed by “Theme Editor.” Ensure you are editing your child theme to prevent any changes from being overwritten in future updates.
3. Locate the single.php File: Look for the single.php file within your child theme’s files. This file controls the layout of individual blog posts.
4. Add the Disclosure: Scroll to the bottom of the single.php file where you usually find the footer code (typically includes a line like get_footer();). Below this line, paste your affiliate disclosure information. Make sure to format it as needed (for example, wrap it with center tags to center the text).
5. Save and Test: Save your changes and visit your blog to ensure the disclosure appears correctly below your posts.

Additional Placement Options

While the footer of your blog posts is an effective location for your affiliate disclosure, you may also consider adding it to other areas of your site, such as:

• Sidebar or Widget Areas: If your theme supports sidebars or widget areas, you can create a widget to display your disclosure in a prominent location.
• Dedicated Disclosure Page: Some website owners prefer to have a dedicated page that outlines their affiliate partnerships and explains what affiliate links mean. You can link to this page from your footer or within your blog articles.

Conclusion

Incorporating an affiliate disclosure on your WordPress site is a crucial step toward building trust with your audience and adhering to legal requirements. Whether you utilize a page builder like Divi or dive into code with a child theme, it’s important to clearly communicate your affiliate relationships. Following these essential steps will ensure that your disclosures are efficiently implemented across your site, allowing you to focus more on creating valuable content for your readers.