Yes, you can include affiliate links in a paid online course when your course platform and affiliate program permit the placement. You also need clear disclosure of the commissions or other benefits connected to your recommendations.
Charging tuition doesn’t remove that responsibility, and students shouldn’t discover unexpected purchases halfway through a lesson. Start by separating permitted placements, disclosure requirements, and the learning experience students already paid for.
Key Takeaways
- Affiliate links can appear in lessons, resource pages, and downloads when the applicable agreements allow them.
- Disclose commissions beside recommendations, including inside videos and downloadable materials.
- Explain required purchases before enrollment, and keep optional recommendations genuinely optional.
Where Course Affiliate Links Can Appear
Affiliate recommendations work best where a product helps students complete the task you’re teaching. A relevant recommendation needs context about its purpose and limitations.
Lesson pages and resource libraries
Lesson text, video descriptions, and resource libraries can contain affiliate links when permitted. Place recommendations beside the activity they support, rather than inserting unrelated offers throughout the curriculum.
A resource library should explain what each tool does and whether students need it. If students can open that library directly, include its disclosure there too.
Workbooks, downloads, and course emails
PDF workbooks, slide decks, and lesson emails are separate placements. A disclosure on your course homepage won’t necessarily reach someone reading a downloaded file.
Merchant restrictions can also differ by format. Our guide to affiliate links in PDFs explains why permission for a website doesn’t automatically cover downloadable materials.
Keep disclosures inside each file containing recommendations, before or beside the relevant links.
How to Disclose Affiliate Relationships Clearly
For US-facing endorsements, the FTC’s endorsement guidance explains when financial relationships and other material connections need disclosure. Affiliate commissions and complimentary product access can affect how students judge a recommendation.
Use wording students immediately understand
For a lesson page or resource list, place wording like this immediately before the recommendations:
“I may earn a commission if you purchase through the links in this lesson.”
If you received complimentary software access, describe that arrangement too:
“The company provided free access to this software. I may also earn a commission if you purchase through my link.”
Use these examples only when they match your arrangement. Don’t add “at no extra cost to you” unless that’s accurate.
Our affiliate disclosure examples offer more wording options. Avoid vague labels such as “partner link,” which don’t explain that you may receive money.
Match placement to how students consume lessons
Use normal-sized text with readable contrast, including on mobile. Keep the notice outside collapsed sections and away from footer-only legal language.
For videos, explain the relationship within the recording. Spoken and visible disclosure reaches students who listen without watching or watch without sound. Also place written disclosure near the accompanying links.
Repeat a short notice near comparison tables or purchase buttons students can reach independently. A welcome-module disclosure won’t reliably inform someone who jumps straight to a later lesson.
Separate Course-Platform Rules From Affiliate-Program Rules
Two agreements can affect the same link: your teaching platform’s rules and the merchant’s affiliate terms. Disclosure addresses transparency, but it doesn’t authorize a prohibited placement.
Treat gated lessons, downloadable files, and email as distinct distribution methods. If an agreement doesn’t authorize a placement, leave the affiliate link out rather than treating silence as permission.
Kajabi’s FTC guidance for partners provides a concrete example: it calls for disclosure before links and both spoken and written disclosure in video promotions.
Also distinguish recommending a platform from recruiting affiliates to sell your course. Teachable’s Affiliate Partner Program rewards referrals to Teachable itself. That’s different from your own arrangement paying people to promote your training.
For platform owners, give instructors clear placement and disclosure requirements. Include resource pages and downloadable files in those requirements.
Protect the Value Students Already Paid For
Make additional costs visible before enrollment
If a paid tool is required to complete assignments, identify it on the sales page before students enroll. Separate that purchase from tuition, and explain any ongoing subscription requirement.
For optional recommendations, say they’re optional. Where a suitable free or lower-cost option exists, explain what students gain or lose by choosing it.
Teach the method without constant sales pressure
Explain why a recommended product fits the lesson, who should skip it, and its relevant limitations. Those details help students make informed decisions.
Don’t claim personal testing, impartiality, or guaranteed results without support. A commission disclosure doesn’t make unsupported earnings or product-performance claims acceptable.
Keep promotional reminders proportionate. Repeated purchase prompts can distract students from the instruction they bought.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does paying for the course remove the need for disclosure?
No. Tuition doesn’t tell students that a merchant may also pay you. Disclose the financial relationship beside the recommendation, even when the lesson sits behind a login.
Is one disclosure at the start of the course enough?
Don’t rely on it alone. Students may skip modules or open resource pages directly. Put disclosures where students encounter recommendations, and include them within downloadable materials that contain affiliate links.
Keep Recommendations Useful and Transparent
Affiliate links can support a paid course when they help students complete relevant tasks. Permission and disclosure remain separate requirements, and both matter.
Make costs clear before enrollment, explain commercial relationships near recommendations, and preserve the value of the instruction. Students should understand what they’re buying and why you’re recommending it.