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Why You Should Click on Influence and Affiliates Links

This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

This weekend I had posted a project that I did to one of the Cricut groups I belong to and someone asked me where I got the file. When I posted the link I received a nasty message from the administrator discouraging me from sharing the link. I belong to several different groups some craft related and some not. One thing they all have in common is that they discourage affiliate or influencer links within the group and honestly I cannot understand why.

You'll notice that several of my posts contain affiliate links, this one included. I use three different platforms at the moment:

There are a couple others out there that I've tried, but these are the main three that I use because honestly these are the companies that I personally buy from. I don't promote random crap. I promote items I spent my money on and think that it was worth my hard earned dollars.

Amazon is pretty much a given for everyone I would think. With five kids total (two of them under school age) at home they've basically saved my life and probably my children's a time or two as well. We're Prime members and we order almost everything through them and have several items on subscriptions.
Share-A-Sale is partnered with Cricut which is how I found them. It was just a bonus that they also had a relationship with other vendors I use like: Mixbook, PicMonkey, Expressions Vinyl, and Heat Press Nation.
Design Bundles is where I have purchased literally 100's of SVG files. The bundle deals are awesome, they release free fonts and graphics every Friday, and the affiliate program just gives me credit to buy more stuff from them.

I think that it's been discouraged because there's a huge misconception that we're just sitting back and collecting fists full of money. If I'm being honest, I've never gotten a deposit from Amazon large enough to even cover my monthly bag of cat food, so I'm not looking at retiring from my full time day job any time in the near future.

That being said though, it's always nice when I get that little surprise gift card in my inbox and since it's items I'm going to link to anyway regardless of pennies that I earn when they buy it, I might as well just collect the pennies.

The reality is though, while I'm a full time working mom, with 5 kids, and a successful enough Etsy shop that brings me just enough extra income to support my craft supply addiction, a boat load of these other affiliates out there are stay at home moms just trying to contribute something to their household. When I'm making a purchase online I actually actively seek out affiliate links to give these other moms a little commission on something I know I'm going to buy regardless of their influence. I think it's important to help support our online mom community and encourage one another to share the things you enjoy or use or whatever.

So please, before making your next online purchase, find a blog and click a link. Most likely that shiny quarter that goes to the mom who set up the link will make her day and it's not anymore out of your pocket then you'd already planned to spend anyway.