I had heard about Benable here and there for a while, but I never really looked into it until recently. I have to say that I really like it, it’s fun, and there’s an unexpected benefit of being able to earn a little money from the things that you recommend on there. This is how it works.
Some of the links in this article are paid ad placements or affiliate links that will pay a small commission if they’re used to purchase something. To see the entire affiliate policy click here. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
What is Benable?
Benable is a site that lets you make lists of things you like, recommend, and use yourself. It doesn’t have to be products, it can also be things like your favorite music, places to go, and things to do in your local area.
People can follow your profile or lists, and you can follow other people, so it’s kind of like Pinterest but with more emphasis on recommendations for other people, not just saving things for yourself.
The thing that makes it different is that Benable is signed up with over 45,000 companies that pay them referral fees, and they pass those along to us. So if you recommend something on one of your lists and people use the link there to buy something, you get an affiliate payment.
You don’t have to be signed up to the individual affiliate programs because Benable is, but you do have to use affiliate disclosures, so you should definitely be aware of that.
To sign up for Benable you need to get a referral code from someone who’s already on it, so here’s mine: https://benable.com/i/KH673
Full disclosure, this is technically an affiliate link. Let’s talk about that now, because it’s a little tricky.
Affiliate disclosures and why you need to use them on Benable.
Affiliate marketing is when someone promotes someone else’s product, then gets a commission if someone buys the product. You’re basically advertising for someone else, and it becomes a problem when people hide that advertising in the form of a personal recommendation.
People have the right to know when they’re being sold to, so if you recommend something then link to it with a link that tracks sales and gives you a commission, you need to tell people you’re doing that. It’s simple enough to do that, just put (affiliate link), (#ad), or (paid link) in an obvious place where people don’t have to search for it. I put (affiliate link) at the end of the descriptions that I write on Benable if the link will take that person to somewhere that I could earn a commission.
I also have a blanket disclosure in my profile on Benable, but the laws about disclosures are pretty clear that you have to let people know clearly without them having to search for a disclosure, and that one overall disclosure might not be enough. I add it to the descriptions to be clear about it.
Benable’s terms of use put the responsibility for doing this on the user, so make sure that you’re adding the disclosure if the Benable auto-affiliate link turns itself on when you post something.
If you’re linking to your own product, and people know that, you don’t have to use an affiliate link. But if there’s a possibility of you earning money from someone else’s product being purchased, you do need to disclose it.
Making money on Benable.
You can make money on Benable two ways…One is to use the affiliate links, and one is to invite people to Benable using your referral code. That’s why I disclosed that my code (https://benable.com/i/KH673 in case you missed it!) is an affiliate link.
When you invite people to join Benable and they make a list, you can earn a gift card for every 20 people you invite, up to 200 people. I can vouch for the fact that they do give these to you, because I’ve earned a few of them.
The other way to earn money on Benable is with the affiliate links, which do seem to work. I’ve made some affiliate sales in just a couple of weeks, and other people who are in my Facebook group say that they have, too.
The catch here is that you have to earn $80 in order to be paid, so that’s probably going to take a while. Regardless, it’s better than zero, and the lists are fun to make, so I think that it’s worth doing. I just wouldn’t go into it thinking that you’re going to get rich!
How I’m using Benable.
I’ve been making lists of things that I use in my business, lists of local attractions for the area I live in, and lists of the Artisan Shopping Directory members. You can see my profile when you join using my referral link, it will automatically have you follow my if you join that way. (I’ll follow you back if you use my link.)
I’m also adding links to my article on this website, and to the shops who are members, because it makes it really easy to go through them to find things. It’s a good visual method of organizing things.
The one thing I’m NOT doing on Benable is blindly following everyone who follows me. Like any other platform, there seem to be a bunch of fake accounts that are just there for the affiliate referrals, and those kinds of accounts tend to be junkier than real people’s accounts.
If someone has an AI profile picture, I’m not following them. If their lists are all things to buy or things I’m not interested in, I’m not following them. I’ll follow people I know, who have lists that look interesting to me, or who are in my area. But I’m not following everyone for no reason.
How to get your lists optimized.
Benable lets you create lists, then if it’s good enough according to whatever criteria they’re using, they’ll feature it on the Benable homepage feed. The next level up is having it optimized, which means that it can be indexed in Google search. That’s what you want if you’re using this to promote your own business, but if you’re just using Benable for fun it’s not as important!
To get a list optimized on Benable, just create a topic that you think is interesting to you, or that you have enough things to refer to make at least 15-20 recommendations. If you don’t have at least 15, keep the list private until you can fill it up. (use the gear icon on the list to hide the list temporarily.)
Make sure to write a good description for the list, and write a description for each card in the list (Where it says “add a note”). If the auto-affiliate button is turned on, make sure to put an affiliate disclosure in the description.
Try not to have every single thing in the list be an affiliate link, but it’s not totally critical. It’s better to mix it up a little, though, and I’ve had the most success getting lists optimized immediately if I don’t only have products on it.
The other thing to do is to change the title that the link pulls into the card. Write a readable title that explains what the thing that you’re recommending is, don’t just leave the automatically-created title.
At this point I can pretty much guarantee that my lists will be optimized about 5 minutes after I finish making them because I follow those guidelines. If they don’t optimize right away, add some more cards to the list, write a better description for the list, and expand the description on the cards in the list.
How to make a Benable list.
Start by going to your profile picture and opening the menu to go to your profile.
On your profile where your lists are showing, click on the + sign to create a new list.
Click on New List.
The new list cover photo will come up.
Click the title to edit it. I’ll make one about rag rug crafting since I’m in the middle of making a braided rag rug right now. Click on the card after you title it to open up the list editor.
In the list editor, you can add a description directly under your profile picture. Write a good description for your list!
You don’t need to add sections to your list unless you’re going to have a bunch of things that you want to keep sorted.
Next, you’ll add some cards to your list.
How to add cards to your Benable list.
Benable calls the things on your lists “cards.” To add a card, open the list page and click the +Add button at the bottom of the list page.
This is where it gets interesting. You can either search for something in general, or add a direct link, and Benable will bring back results that you can choose from. I find that using a direct link is the best way to do it, because it will find things in places that you didn’t intend to get the link from.
For example, in this example I put in the name of my website and “rag rug” because I have an article about that on there. The results it pulled in were right, but they didn’t go to the article!
In this case, it found the pin on Pinterest that led to the article, but I wanted it to go directly to the article instead. You can check to see which link it’s using by scrolling down on the card and looking at the link there. This is also where it will show you if there’s an auto-affiliate link turned on or not.
I went back to the link area at the top of the card editor and put in the url of the article, and it found that directly.
You can see that the link is now going to my website, which is where I want it to go. Also, since my website isn’t a Benable affiliate partner, the message about affiliate links not being available for this site shows up, so I don’t need to worry about affiliate disclosures.
Now that you have the link right, you can choose which photo you want to show on the card by clicking the photos on the right. You can show up to three. Sometimes Benable finds weird photos, so you can upload one yourself by clicking the upload link on the top of the photo section.
Next, click the add a note message and put in the description of the card itself. This is where I add an affiliate disclosure if I need one, and you should put a good description of the card itself here.
Once you’re done with that, the card will show up in the list, and you can add some more.
What the auto-affiliate link looks like.
If Benable sees that a card is linking to a site that’s one of their affiliate partners it will create an auto-affiliate link for the card. You should check to see if that’s happening on each card, because you’ll need an affiliate disclosure if it’s turned on.
I added this link to my list because Lyon Handwovens has strips of fabric that can be used for weaving, and it turned the Etsy auto-affiliate link on since Etsy is one of their partners. You can toggle that off if you don’t want it to be an affiliate link. If you do leave it on, you’ll need to do the disclosures!
To turn the affiliate cashback option off across your entire account, go to your profile, settings, then the cashback settings. There’s a button there that you can turn off that will prevent any affiliate links from being generated, so you won’t have to worry about it.
If you’re only using Benable for your own enjoyment, or if you only want to use it to promote your own products with links that aren’t any type of affiliate links, this is a good option. You won’t have to worry about disclosures if you’re only promoting your own products or just using Etsy Share And Save links. If you’re in Etsy Creator Co or the Awin Affiliate programs, you do need to use disclosures!
Also, if you’re an Amazon associate, you should use the Amazon section on the cashback settings page to put your Associate ID in, then use disclosures. I personally turn off the Benable auto-linking for any Amazon links so that the clicks go through my own account, too.
Can you really earn money through Benable?
The answer is yes, but it’s not a get-rich-quick thing. I’m using this site for traffic to my websites and products, and any cashback that I get through it is a bonus.
After being on Benable for a couple of weeks, I’m seeing traffic coming to my website from there in my stats, so it’s definitely bringing traffic to my sites.
I’ve also earned referral gift cards, and about $25 in cashback from people clicking links on my lists and buying things, so people are definitely using Benable for shopping.
It’s fun to make lists, too, so try it out and have fun! Again, my affiliate/referral link to join is: https://benable.com/i/KH673