How to Add An Affiliate Disclaimer to Genesis Via A Widget

Last updated on August 1st, 2018 at 06:22 pm

So you want a piece of the Internet pie dream?

You want to become an affiliate marketer in hopes of making an income online. If you’re using the Genesis theme, this tutorial will walk you through step-by-step on how to add an affiliate disclaimer to Genesis.

If you’re using the Genesis theme, this tutorial will walk you through step-by-step on how to add an affiliate disclaimer to Genesis.

I am NOT a PHP developer, however, I am knowledgable enough to do some things on my own. Thanks to the Internet I am usually able to find the code I need to help me get things done.

So if you’ve been wanting to learn how to add an affiliate disclaimer in Genesis, you’re in the right place.

By the time you’re done reading this blog post, you’ll have an affiliate disclaimer on your blog.

Let’s get started…

How to Add An Affiliate Disclaimer to Genesis Via A Widget

When I first started my blog, I added my affiliate disclaimer at the very bottom of my blog posts. However, I wasn’t happy with it.

I’ve changed the layout of my blog posts and my affiliate disclaimer no longer fits at the bottom of the page.

If you look at my blog posts, you’ll notice that I use the Thrive Leads op-tin box at the bottom of all my posts.

I’ve also added an image that links to my limited WordPress services.

So after spending some time browsing other sites, I saw some blogs that had their affiliate disclaimer at the very top of their blog post headings. In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’ll notice that my affiliate disclaimer now sits at the very top of my blog post heading.

In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’ll notice that my affiliate disclaimer now sits at the very top of my blog post heading.

I searched high and low trying to figure out how to make these changes. As you know, I love customizing my own blog, because it helps me learn and saves me money.

I thought I would share how I did this as well as where I found the code. Hopefully, this helps someone who has been wanting to learn how to add an affiliate disclaimer to Genesis.

Hopefully, this helps someone who has been wanting to learn how to add an affiliate disclaimer to Genesis.

Watch Over My Shoulder

If you would rather watch me do this step-by-step in a video tutorial, you can watch the video below. Let’s get your affiliate disclaimer set up on Genesis so you can start adding affiliate links to your blog.

Every Affiliate Marketer Needs An Affiliate Disclaimer

If you’re an affiliate marketer, you’re going to need an affiliate disclaimer. This tutorial isn’t going to cover how to write one.

Unfortunately, we are just going to be learning how to add an affiliate disclaimer to Genesis.

This article discusses what the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has to say about affiliate marketing, you can read it here. I recommend reading it as it’s important to have a disclaimer on your blog.

How I Setup The Affiliate Disclaimer On Genesis

We won’t be using any type of plugin to make this change. I personally think it’s better to dig into the code to make these one-time changes.

You only have to do it once and you won’t have to worry about adding another plugin to your blog.

Head on over to this site to grab the code that we’ll be using. This is the same code that I’m using on my blog.

Add the Widget Area

The Cre8tive Diva provides us with the code that we’ll be using to create the new affiliate disclaimer widget. Scroll down on her site till you see the “Add the Widget” headline. You’ll see some code on here site.

Click on the view raw link and grab that code.

Access Your WordPress Files Via FTP

Access up your WordPress files via your FTP client, I love using Transmit. If you’re on a PC, you can use something simple like Filezilla.

Access your WordPress files and go to

public_html >> your domain >> WP content >> themes >> Genesis child theme >> functions.php

If you don’t feel comfortable making these changes to your live site, you may want to consider using a site that is set up on your local host. I use Desktop Server to setup a WordPress practice site.

Open Up Your Functions File

Now that you have your functions file open, it’s time to paste the code from Cre8tive Diva’s site.

Save your functions file and upload it back to your server.

Log Into Your Blog

Now you’ll need to log back into your Genesis blog. Go to appearance >> widgets

You should now see a brand new widget that is called Affiliate Disclaimer.

Now it’s time to add a text widget and add the content you want your link to say. Here is a great tutorial that will walk you through on how to work with the Genesis text widget.

What Should My Link Say?

The great thing is that it’s your blog, you can have your affiliate disclosure link say anything you want. If you’ll take a look at mine, it just says:

The main thing is that you want people to know that your blog has affiliate links. You don’t have to be perfect and the great news is that you can always go back into the widget and change the wording of the text.

Final Take Away

If you’re monetizing your blog and using affiliate marketing as a monetization method, you need to have an affiliate disclaimer.

Once you add it to the widget, the disclaimer gets added to all your blog posts. Which means that you won’t have to worry about accidentally forgetting it.

If you take a look at my blog, you’ll notice that the affiliate disclaimer is at the top of all my posts.

I don’t care if the post has affiliate links or not. I just want it at the top of my blog, this ensures that I’ll never forget adding it.

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Hopefully, this helped you learn how to add an affiliate disclaimer to Genesis. Now you can continue writing your blog posts and adding affiliate links, without worrying about manually adding the disclaimer.

How do you add the affiliate disclaimer to your blog posts? Do you add it manually every time you write a new post? Are you using a plugin? Let me know in the comments below.