Adding links to your YouTube videos is an essential strategy for driving traffic to your affiliate offers, website content, social media profiles, and other relevant opportunities.
In this comprehensive guide, we'll cover various techniques for adding links to your YouTube videos, including using link shorteners, adding clickable links, leveraging LinkTree, and more.
Adding Affiliate Links Using Link Shorteners:
- Choose a reputable link shortening service, such as Bitly, TinyURL, Pretty Links or Rebrandly.
- Shorten your affiliate link using the link shortener. This will make the link more manageable and visually appealing (turn any ugly affiliate links or website name into something that sounds good to your current audience, even if it redirects to the old website)
- Insert the shortened affiliate link in your YouTube video description or a pinned comment. Ensure the link is visible and easy to click for your viewers.
For Amazon products, DO NOT use link shortener to cloak any Amazon link. Otherwise you will violate the TOS and have your Amazon Affiliate account closed.
Adding Clickable Links To YouTube Videos:
- Create an end screen or a YouTube card for your video. These features allow you to add clickable links directly within the video.
- Navigate to the YouTube Studio and select the video you want to edit.
- Click on the "Editor" tab in the left-hand menu.
- Choose either "End Screen" or "Cards" from the top-right corner of the video editor.
- Add the desired element (website link, channel promotion, or video/playlist) and follow the on-screen instructions to insert your link.
Note: YouTube only allows clickable links to approved websites, associated websites, or merchandise websites. Make sure you've added your website or affiliated site in the YouTube channel settings.
Using LinkTree Without A Website:
- Sign up for a free Linktree account.
- Customize your Linktree profile with your display name, profile image, and theme.
- Add your affiliate links, social media profile links, and any other relevant links as individual buttons.
- Copy your unique Linktree URL and paste it in your YouTube video description or pinned comment.
LinkTree is basically a website that is prebuilt to host all the links you may already have. If you have some technical skills, you can easily make a website with wordpress to do the same thing with a simple landing page.
Simply, just find a hosting service and get a free domain here, and it's much cheaper than using LinkTree.
Adding Social Media Profile Links:
- Navigate to your YouTube channel's "About" tab.
- Click on "Customize Channel" and then select "Basic Info."
- In the "Links" section, click "Add Link" and input your social media profile URL and the corresponding label (e.g., "Follow me on Instagram").
- You can add multiple links for different social media platforms.
- Once added, the links will appear as icons on your channel banner.
Other Trendy Ways To Share Links:
- Utilize QR codes: Generate QR codes for your links using a QR code generator and add the QR code image to your video or thumbnail. Viewers can scan the QR code with their smartphones to access the link.
- Leverage video timestamps: Include timestamps in your video description to direct viewers to specific sections of your video. This is useful when promoting affiliate products discussed at different points in the video.
- Integrate links in your video content: Mention your links in the video and add them as text overlays or captions to make it easier for viewers to access the content.