Affiliation At Natural Flex: What and How?
Natural Flex is a website I started to give beginners and intermediates the information and guidance they need to get the best out of their fitness and natural bodybuilding training. Affiliation is one way that we continue to do this through Natural Flex, and it’s important to use that we’re transparent about the process.
We stand against misinformation and bad advice in all of our articles – and our affiliate work and status is an important part of that. It’s important that you know what we do, how, and why, so you can trust the integrity and honesty of Natural Flex – now and into the future!
What is affiliation?
Affiliation is the process of using links and other forms of referrals to direct readers and coaching clients towards specific products or services that we think are useful for them. This is a process that costs nothing for readers, but may involve us getting a small % on links used in our articles.
This is primarily through services like Amazon, where there are competing products and expressly not a single brand. This means we can retain our honest perspective during reviews and offer you the real information – sorting out the great from the good from the bad from the terrible. All without worrying about owing any brand loyalty or biased reviews.
The goal and idea are simple: if you’re going to spend on home gym equipment, supplements, or training accessories, we want you to get the best for your money. That’s why we use review articles and other forms of information to help you choose right, so you buy something you’re happy with, and don’t waste your money.
We ensure that we only work with partners, brands, and review products that fit that goal. You’ll never see us recommending something that isn’t an honestly good product, service, or deal.
Why do we use affiliation?
Affiliation is a way to maintain the site and re-invest money in the quality of the content we provide. Both the administrative and content writing side of this project are developing over time – affiliation is one way that we can spend more time developing useful information, engaging with what you guys (our audience) want, and keeping this site going.
I started this site as a way to talk about my passion for natural bodybuilding, but it continues to grow and cost more, take up more time, and others. Affiliation ensures that Natural Flex and its ever-growing demands for teams, software, and sheer time are covered.
Simply put, affiliation links and similar are the least biased way to ensure that we can keep bringing you the best content for natural bodybuilding. It’s a way we can compare, contrast, and review honestly – things that are at the core of what natural bodybuilding – and Natural Flex – are about.
How do we use affiliation – and how do we choose affiliate products and services?
We use affiliation in articles that are specifically ‘consumer education’ – reviews, buyer’s guides, and other forms of content around the practical side of buying for fitness. That means home gym equipment reviews, lists of the best products on the market for both training and nutrition.
We knew from the start what we didn’t want to affiliate with: anything that required favourable reviews on bad products, anything that forced us to compromise on honesty, and anything that wouldn’t be worth your time. There are a lot of ‘fluff’ products out there paying for good reviews.
Instead, we like to choose products that offer good value for money, that provide real benefit to your training or lifestyle, and which are smart and honest designs. We stand against proprietary blends (in most cases), bunk supplements, and low-quality home workout equipment being shilled by influencers while offering terrible quality.
We go the other way – products we review positively and which we affiliate with directly are judged for:
- Honesty and transparency
- Brand quality and customer service
- Reliability and generally-good quality assurance standards
- Use for natural bodybuilding – and associated strength training
- Health and performance at top priority (especially when they overlap!)
- Value for money over specific brand names and trends
We’ll always put food before supplements, basics before fluff, and you – our readers – before anything else. If it’s ever in doubt, just refer back to our core values – these guide everything we do and we’ll never stray far from them!
If you’re going to buy supplements or home gym equipment, you might as well get the best option on the market. We want to direct you towards our favourite products on the market, and we can do that while covering our costs for Natural Flex at the same time without compromising quality – which is why we use affiliate links in some of our articles!
On a final note, one of the long term goals is to redistribute some of the website’s money in non-profit associations to help those who need to heal from anabolic steroid side effects consequences.
