How I Use MakerManifest to Earn from My YouTube Gear Lists

Every maker and DIY YouTuber who's been at it for more than a few months ends up with the same problem: a growing list of tools, machines, supplies, and materials that viewers ask about, and no good way to manage it. You paste Amazon links into descriptions manually, you forget to add your affiliate tag, the links expire or change, and you end up with a description full of dead or unmonetized links while leaving money on the table.

MakerManifest (makerManifest.co) is the tool I built to solve this — and I use it for every video I publish. Here's exactly how it works in practice.

The Setup (Do This Once)

Before anything, get your Amazon Associates account set up at affiliate-program.amazon.com. It's free. Once you have your Associate tag (something like yourname-20), enter it once in your MakerManifest account settings. You're done with that step — it auto-applies to every link from that point on.

The Workflow, Step by Step

Create a Gear List for Your Video

In MakerManifest, create a new list for the project or video. Give it a name that matches the video title so you can find it later. One list per video, or one list per recurring category (e.g., "Laser Cutter Essentials" that you reuse across multiple videos).

Paste Product URLs

Copy the Amazon URL of any product you mention in the video and paste it into MakerManifest. The app fetches the product name, image, and price automatically. It also strips the URL down to the clean product link and appends your Amazon Associates tag. No manual tag editing, no ugly tracking URLs.

Generate mkr.ms Short Links

For products you mention verbally in a video — "link in the description for the Kutzall wheel I used" — MakerManifest creates a short mkr.ms link you can actually say out loud: mkr.ms/kutzall. When a viewer types that into their browser, it redirects to the full Amazon URL with your tag already embedded. Every click is tracked.

Export to YouTube Description

When the list is ready, use the YouTube Description Export. MakerManifest generates a formatted block of text — product names, links, and clean layout — that you paste directly into your video description. It looks like the gear lists you see from any professional maker channel, but it took you two minutes instead of twenty.

Why This Matters for Small Channels

On a large channel, even a mediocre Amazon affiliate setup generates passive income because the view counts carry it. On a smaller or mid-size channel, you have to be deliberate. Every link needs to be correct, every product needs to be tagged, and the links need to actually be in the description (not "I'll add those later" — viewers don't wait). MakerManifest removes the friction so you actually do it every time.

The mkr.ms short links also mean you can mention affiliate links verbally in older videos and tell people where to find the link — because mkr.ms/something is memorable and easy to type, while amazon.com/dp/B07XYZABC?tag=yourtag-20 is not.

What You Can Do with the Data

Click tracking on every link means you can see what your viewers actually buy — which products get clicked, which videos drive the most affiliate traffic, and whether the products you mention in the description are actually being clicked or ignored. That data shapes which tools I feature in future videos and how I structure descriptions.

Full feature overview at the VARØ Industries apps page, or go directly to makerManifest.co to try it.