quickest way to set up affiliate links?

for maintainability the main thing is not pasting raw affiliate urls all over posts. use a link cloaking/redirect plugin (or a simple /go/ redirect folder) so every link points at one place you control. when a program changes its url or you swap merchants, you edit it once instead of hunting through 200 posts. then mark them rel="sponsored" (or nofollow), put a disclosure near the top of any page that has them, and keep a spreadsheet of which programs you're in and their cookie terms. that's honestly the whole setup.