How do we use affiliate links

We all know that affiliate links are a part of how content creators make a living. They also come with the “your a shill” and “sell-out” cries. At Lodgepole Audio our goal is to help you build your own stories with the most accurate and fair information possible. In that spirit, here are the ways we will use affiliate links.

Manufacturers

Whenever possible, the first link will to be the manufactures direct link. This may be done with a link shortener for clarity. But this link will not have an affiliate link with it. The product should speak for itself. You will have questions that we can not answer. Who better to get information from then the place the product comes from. You will always be able to click a link for a product that does not give an affiliate link. It may come that we will not be able to present on a product if we can not send you to the manufacture directly. That if fine.

Amazon

For an international audience, Amazon has many localizations of its platform. Whether you are in Europe, US, or Japan, there is a version created for you. Each is created to work with the privacy laws of the countries it serves. You can find reviews and ratings that can be added to your decision making process. We would not be able to create links for every market, but we use GeniusLink to create a short link that will take you to your local Amazon site. Part of the system that GeniusLink puts in place is to make sure the links comply with local cookie and tracking laws. This, we hope, will give you the best link for the Amazon site. This is the Geniuslink Affiliate Disclosure.

Audio specific retailers

Because audio gear is a specialty item, sometimes there are not Amazon listings for a product. There are also great audio stores and resources that you may have already had dealings with and enjoyed. Some examples would be Sweetwater, Reverb, AVshop. If we are able to get affiliate links for a specific retailer, that link will be marked for the Retailer. It may be a shortened link for clarity, but clearly marked. If you have a relationship with a retailer, and find our presentation helpful, then we want to get you where you want to be. At this time we do not have any links for this type of retailer. They will be added here if we get any.

The running of the site

There are also some non-audio resources that we use that we may think would interest you. This could include things like web hosting and creator services. We will only link to resources that we use. Some of these may have the ability for us to get an affiliate link. Any link that could be an affiliate link will be clearly marked.

Where you may see affiliate links

There are a few places you may see an affiliate link. Descriptions of videos and social media posts are the most common place one sees these links. Our goal is information, not sales blasting. As we create content, our goal is to also have a page on this site for each video/content. This way we can link to a page here that may have extra information, or follow up posts. We think that there will be a good spot for things like affiliate links, in with those posts. It also allows us a public space to keep track of retailers and services that we use. And if something comes up that we need to change our system because a retailer does not match our values, we have a trackable place to update.

Tracking cookie compliance

We are endeavoring to have any digital tracking cookie on our site follow the privacy laws that you deserve. We use the basic Google Analytics service to let us know if our site is operating well. The downside with linking to other sites is that we can not guarantee that they are 100% compliant.