For one of his early YouTube gift guides, Sean Cannell gathered headphones, books and other things he owned into a plastic laundry bin. Then he sat on his couch and talked through them. As the YouTube educator later told Pat Flynn, he put links to the products in the description. The video helped people choose a gift; affiliate links gave him a way to earn from their purchases.

That’s the basic exchange. You join a brand or retailer’s affiliate program and get a link that identifies you as the referrer. When a viewer follows it and makes a qualifying purchase, you earn a commission. At 4% on a $100 purchase, that’s $4 for you.

You can get started before your channel earns YouTube ad revenue. The first decision is where to find offers that fit your videos. Amazon covers a huge range of physical products; affiliate networks let you browse programs from different brands, including software companies. We’ll look at those options, then use Amazon Associates to walk through the setup.

Where to find affiliate programs for your channel

You can start with a product you already recommend and search for its brand name plus “affiliate program.” Or browse a network’s catalog to discover offers relevant to your audience. A cooking channel might look for kitchen equipment; a channel teaching small-business skills might find useful accounting or email software.

A program is a brand or retailer’s offer: what you can promote and how you earn. A network brings many brands’ programs together, so you can find and manage several partnerships through one account. Joining a network doesn’t automatically approve you for every brand.

Here are four places to look:

  • Amazon Associates: a broad starting point for physical products. Browse Amazon for the books, gadgets, tools or supplies you want to recommend. Associates is Amazon’s own program, so you don’t need to join a separate network. We’ll use its US program for the walkthrough below.
  • Awin: browse brands serving your audience’s country. Its public advertiser directory lets you explore before signing up. Choose a country and look for relevant brands. Awin accepts YouTube creators; after network approval, you apply to the individual advertisers you want to promote.
  • impact.com: find offers by brand or product. Apply to its partner marketplace, then browse brands by category or search their product listings. For affiliate links, choose a brand’s Performance program, which pays for results such as sales, and review its terms before applying.
  • PartnerStack: explore software programs. Its public directory includes design, marketing, productivity and other business tools. This is worth exploring if your videos teach people to use software or run a business. Marketplace applications require network approval, and PartnerStack asks for a functioning business website as part of that application.

Pick a product you can help someone choose or use. Can you demonstrate it, compare it with something else, or explain who would benefit from it? A catalog can introduce you to an offer; your video still needs to give viewers a reason to care about the product.

Also check where the merchant sells. If most of your viewers are in the UK, a store that only ships within the US won’t be much use to them.

What to check before joining

  • Eligibility: Does the program accept YouTube creators, and does it have audience or other entry requirements?
  • Commission: Which purchases or signups earn money, and how much? Software offers may pay once or on recurring subscriptions; check how long those payments continue.
  • Purchase window: How long after clicking can a viewer’s purchase still be credited to you?
  • Payment: How and when does the program pay you, and is there a minimum balance?

Some requirements are specific to the product. For example, livestreaming software Ecamm requires affiliates to have an active subscription. If you already use it, you can consider the program without taking on another subscription.

Getting started with Amazon Associates

Amazon is a useful worked example because its catalog covers so many everyday products. If the item you want to recommend is sold there, you can create a link straight to its product page. The following steps use Amazon’s US program; choose the relevant country on the Associates site for your audience.

Apply through Amazon Associates. For social-media applications, its US guidance looks for an established public channel with original content and, in most cases, at least 500 organic followers or subscribers. If your channel is new, build up your videos and audience before applying.

You can start sharing links during the initial enrollment period. Amazon reviews your application after three qualifying sales within 180 days of signing up. Your own purchases don’t count toward those three sales. If you miss that target, it can withdraw your application, and you can reapply later.

Once you have access, sign into Amazon with the account connected to Associates. Open the product page and look for SiteStripe, Amazon’s link-building toolbar. Choose Get Link: Text and copy the generated link. If the toolbar isn’t visible, check the SiteStripe options in your Associates account settings.

That link includes your tracking details. Copying the ordinary product-page address from your browser won’t credit you for purchases.

Understand Amazon’s purchase window

When a viewer clicks your link and arrives at Amazon.com, a 24-hour window opens. Qualifying items they add to their cart during that window can earn you commission. If they add an item in time but check out later, it can still count if they buy before the cart expires, usually after 90 days.

The window closes sooner if they place an order or follow another affiliate’s link. So a viewer might discover a product through your video and buy it a week later without earning you anything, unless they added it to their cart during the window or returned through your link.

Explain the commission when you recommend the product

Make the relationship clear: you earn money when someone buys through your link. You can put that in your own words; some programs, including Amazon below, also require a specific statement.

US FTC guidance says to disclose the affiliate relationship in the video and near the links in its description. When you both discuss and show a product, say the disclosure aloud and include it as on-screen text. Calling a URL an “affiliate link” alone may not explain that you get paid.

For a video endorsing products you earn commission on, also select YouTube’s Paid promotion option. That adds YouTube’s label; it doesn’t replace explaining your relationship to viewers.

For example, a video demonstrating a microphone could use this description block:

If you buy through this link, I earn a commission.

Microphone used in this video:
[product name]: [your affiliate link]

Replace the placeholders with the product name and the link from your account. For Amazon links, also include its required statement: “As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.”

For a regular video, open YouTube Studio → Content, select the video and edit its Description. Add the product name, affiliate link and the disclosure from the example above, then save.

There’s one YouTube setting to check: external links in regular-video descriptions need advanced features enabled. You can see your status under Settings → Channel → Feature eligibility. This is separate from qualifying for ad revenue. YouTube offers access through sufficient channel history or, where available, identity or video verification after phone verification.

Shorts work differently. YouTube doesn’t make ordinary URLs clickable in Shorts descriptions or comments.

Where you put the link What viewers can do
Regular-video description or comment Click an external link when advanced features are enabled.
Shorts description or comment Read the URL, but not tap it to open the store.
Channel profile Click your profile links.

For a Short, you can direct viewers to a link on your channel profile. Or use YouTube’s related-video feature to send them to a fuller demonstration on your channel, with the product link in that video’s description. YouTube Shopping offers product tags for eligible creators in the YouTube Partner Program; that’s separate from the external links covered here.

Follow the results from click to payment

Open the published video as a viewer and try the link. Does it open the right product at the right store? That catches a broken or misplaced URL. To see whether purchases earn commission, use the affiliate program’s dashboard, rather than YouTube Studio’s ad-revenue reports.

Amazon’s reports, for example, separate clicks, ordered items, shipped items and commission income. Those are different stages:

  • A click means someone followed the link. It doesn’t mean they bought anything.
  • An order means someone made a purchase. With Amazon, commission depends on the qualifying item being shipped; cancellations and returns can remove it.
  • A payout is the money sent to you after the program’s payment schedule and minimum-balance requirements are met.

Amazon US pays approximately 60 days after the end of the month in which commission was earned. Set your payment method and complete the tax interview under Associates Central → Account Settings. Commission earned in November would normally be paid in late January, once you’ve met those requirements and the payment threshold. A reported order today isn’t money arriving in your bank tomorrow.

If you see clicks but no orders, check that the item is in stock and available to your viewers. Then consider whether the video helps someone choose it, or simply mentions it. A handful of clicks is too little to conclude that the product is a poor fit.

For your first attempt, choose a product you can demonstrate in your next video. Join a suitable program, get the link ready, and include the commission disclosure when you film. After publishing, check the link and watch the merchant’s reports. You’ll have one complete recommendation to learn from before adding links across your channel.