How to Auto-Insert Your Affiliate Links Into Emails, Pages, and Posts
Let's talk about affiliate links, because this is one of those things that is quietly costing you money and you probably don't even realize it.
If you're anything like me, you recommend tools all the time. In your emails, on your pages, in your posts. You're constantly pointing people toward the software you actually use and love, and a lot of those companies pay a commission when someone signs up through your link.
The problem is, most of us don't use our affiliate link half the time. Not because we don't want to. Because in the moment, we can't find it:
- It's buried in a welcome email from eight months ago
- Or in a dashboard you haven't logged into in forever
- So you grab the plain link, paste it, and move on
And that's money you earned and gave away for no reason 😅
Affiliate income isn't a promotion problem. It's a "where did I put that link" problem.
You're already doing the recommending. You don't need to do more of it. You need to make sure that when you do recommend something, your link is the one that goes in.
Why I built this
My affiliate links were scattered across old emails and dashboards I never opened, so I'd grab the plain link instead and hand away commissions on tools I was already recommending every week. The effort was happening. The link wasn't.
So I put every affiliate and referral link I have into one table. Just the company name, my affiliate link, a note on the commission, and the plain link as a backup for the tools where I don't have an affiliate program. That table is the single source of truth for every link I use.
Now when I'm writing an email or building a page, I don't go hunting. I point AI at that table and my draft, and it finds every tool I've mentioned that I have a link for and swaps in my affiliate link. It shows me every change before anything goes out, so I'm always in control.
Build the table once. Then mention a tool and the right link shows up, every time.
Here's what I'd push on, because I think the instinct is backwards. When people want more affiliate income, they go looking for more things to promote. More tools, more roundups, more "my favorite stack" posts. That's the hard way.
The easy way is to stop leaking. Go back through what you already send and publish, count the plain links to tools you have a program for, and that's your raise. No new content. No new promotion. Just the income you were already owed 🙌
And it compounds. I don't even update the table by hand anymore; when I get a new link, I tell AI to add the row. The same table powers my public resources page through BlockBuilder, my embeddable block software, so when I update a link once, the page updates itself.
What actually changes
❌ Before
- Plain links pasted everywherecommissions you earned but gave away
- Hunting for your link every timeold emails, forgotten dashboards
- Forgetting which tools you have links forrecommendations that pay nothing
✅ After
- Every affiliate link in one tablea source of truth you control
- The right link dropped in automaticallyno hunting, no forgetting
- Every recommendation earnsthe income you were already owed
Where to start
Start with the table, even if it's tiny. Five rows is enough. This is the whole system, and everything else points at it:
- Company name. Exactly how you'd write it in a sentence, so AI can match it when you mention the tool
- Your affiliate link. And the plain URL in its own column, so there's always a correct link even for tools with no program
- Commission notes. "20% recurring," "$50 per signup," whatever it is, so you know which recommendations are actually worth a sentence
The plain-URL column matters more than it looks. It means AI can spot a plain link in your draft, check whether you have an affiliate version, and swap it. Without the fallback, it can only add links, not fix the ones you pasted wrong.
Here's how to build the table
This is the prompt I'd start with. It sets up the source of truth everything else pulls from. Drop it into whatever AI tool you use.
I recommend a lot of tools in my content and I want to stop pasting plain links when I have affiliate links for them. Help me set up a single table in [Airtable / Google Sheets] to hold all of them.
Ask me which tools I'm an affiliate for, then recommend the columns I should have, like company name, my affiliate link, the plain link, and notes on commission, so this becomes the one place I keep every link.
The goal is a source of truth I can point AI at whenever I create content.
Fill it with the five tools you mention most. You can add the long tail later, and honestly, AI can add it for you.
The takeaway
Stop hunting for links and stop promoting harder. Put every link in one table, point your content at it, and get paid for the recommendations you're already making.
The full breakdown is inside The Shortcut
That prompt builds the table. Members get the part that uses it:
- Prompt 2, which takes any draft, finds every tool you mention, swaps plain links for your affiliate links, and shows each change before it goes out
- How to turn that into a skill so every email you write checks the table automatically
- The scheduled task that scans your inbox for new affiliate links and adds them to the table for you
- How the same table powers a live resources page on your site that updates itself
- My audio walkthrough, tool by tool, including the commission column trick
Let's be real about affiliate links
I know some people feel weird about this. Like recommending something with your link attached makes the recommendation less honest.
Here's where I land. I only put tools in my table that I actually use. If I wouldn't recommend it for free, it doesn't go in, and a commission doesn't change that. What the table changes is whether I get paid for a recommendation I was going to make anyway.
The other thing: always keep the plain link as the fallback and always disclose. The point isn't to sneak links in. It's to stop forgetting the ones you've earned.
Most of us have been leaving this money on the table for years. This is the fix, and it takes an afternoon 👉
Common questions
How do I keep track of all my affiliate links?
Put them in one table with a row per company: company name, your affiliate link, the plain URL as a fallback, and a note on the commission. Keep it in a tool like Airtable or Google Sheets that AI can read, so it becomes the single place every piece of content pulls links from.
Can AI add affiliate links to my emails automatically?
Yes. Give AI your draft and your link table, and ask it to find every tool you mention, swap plain links for your affiliate links, and show you each change to confirm. With a connector or a saved skill, that check can run on every email you write without you asking.
What columns should an affiliate link spreadsheet have?
At minimum: company name, affiliate link, plain URL, and commission notes. Optional extras are the program login, a short description for resource pages, and a category. The plain URL column is what lets AI recognize and replace links you pasted without your tracking code.
Do I have to disclose affiliate links?
Yes. Most regions require a clear disclosure near the link or at the top of the content. Automating the links doesn't change that; add a standard disclosure line to your email template and pages so it's always there.
How do I update an affiliate link everywhere at once?
Change it in the table. Every new piece of content pulls the current link from there, and if your resource pages are built from the same table, they update on their own. Old sent emails can't be changed, but everything going forward uses the new link.
Recommended Resources 🛠️
Some of these are affiliate links. If you buy through one I may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. I only list tools I actually use.
