Affiliate programs have been on a steady increase, so also affiliate marketers.
It is a business model which brands and individual entrepreneurs have adopted to increase their sales and profits, while the start-up cost for running the program isn’t as much as people think.
If you have the right tools to manage your affiliate program you will enjoy great success from your affiliate program.
This post highlights 9 proven WordPress affiliate plugins to generate more revenue. And they are well suited for companies of many sizes, whether small, medium, or large.
Brief Intro
Affiliate marketing is a business partnership that brings a merchant and marketer together for the purpose of earning money. The system allows the merchant to earn a higher income, while the marketer earns commissions.
A merchant could be involved in the production of physical products, virtual products, or services. Also, merchants can use the affiliate system to sell products of different niches.
The success of the affiliate program lies in the ability to match a merchant’s products with traffic sources. A marketer could be a blogger, influencer, or just a website owner. To qualify for any affiliate, you need to have a publishing platform with followers.
The affiliate products are then promoted to the audience using platforms like blogs, social media, and emails. And each time a marketer refers to a buyer, a commission is earned, which is paid by the merchant.
How it Works
To start earning income as an affiliate, you need to understand how an affiliate system works, which means having a good grasp of the major players that make for an affiliate system.
I – Merchants – They are individuals or companies that provide the products which the affiliates promote. Sometimes referred to as vendors, they are in charge of fixing affiliate earnings and paying them.
Merchants can produce offers for audiences in different niches. Some industries include finance, WordPress, e-commerce, health, and fitness.
II – Marketers – They are owners of different publishing platforms that are used to promote offers. They have to keep creating valuable content to attract the right audience, and in the process offer some affiliate products to this same.
Although fewer affiliates are able to earn great incomes, it is still a viable business option. Affiliate marketing is a great option for students, bloggers, part-time workers, and social media managers.
III – Affiliate Programs – These are systems designed to engage, monitor, and reward affiliates. These programs are mainly set up by merchants, and it enables them to deal directly with the affiliates.
In the next section, we will explore some of the best WordPress affiliate plugins to use.
IV – Affiliate Networks – These are companies designed to help manage the affiliate programs of merchants.
The affiliate networks act as middlemen between the merchant and the affiliates. They manage affiliate programs for merchants while handling the recruitment, tracking, and payment of affiliate earnings.
Some well-known affiliate programs include ShareASale, ClickBank, CJ Affiliate, and FlexOffers.
Benefits
Affiliate marketing, if well run, offers great benefits to merchants and affiliates. Here are some reasons you should consider affiliate marketing as a business model, either as a merchant or a marketer.
Brands can promote their products and services without having to make any upfront payment for ad campaigns. They only pay the marketers after they refer buyers to their products
Marketers can use this business model as a guaranteed flow of income, without much extra effort
Merchant can tap into new markets through the publishing platforms that belong to marketers
The merchant isn’t exposed to any business risk because they only pay after a sale has converted
Merchants have complete control over the managing of their affiliate programs. They can decide who to admit, who to reject, and commissions to pay their affiliates
Affiliate marketing is a great platform for building long-term relationships between merchants and their affiliate marketers.
That said; let’s dive into our top 9 WordPress affiliate plugins you can use to grow your brand.
Top 9 WordPress Affiliates Plugins
1 – Amazon Affiliate WordPress Plugin
This is a WordPress plugin designed for affiliates who are part of the Amazon Associates Program.
It is used by Amazon to manage its affiliate text links. You can also use it to customize product display boxes on your WordPress site.
Using this tool, you can receive recent product info updates on your website. You also enjoy easy access to configure product display and obtain shortcodes.
This plugin also allows you to create new product display templates that match your site’s design. It allows you to integrate lots of different sites, and it costs €99/year. There is a personal license with all the basic features you need, which costs €39.
2 – AffiliateWP
AffiliateWP is a great tool for merchants who like to launch their affiliate programs on WordPress. It includes all the basic features that you need to set up, manage, and reward affiliates.
There is also an easy-to-use dashboard that provides all the tools to promote offers. Affiliates can access their accounts, see their performances, and receive their payments.
The plugin allows admins to view real-time reports and also approve requests from affiliates. You can also generate links, and create referral rates that suit your brand.
The AffiliateWP license starts at $99 per year depending on the chosen plan. If you choose the personal license, you get email support, plugin update, and the core features of the plugin. You will also receive 16 free add-ons to go with your plugin.
Or you could purchase a license with a one-time payment of $499, and access lifetime updates. This license also grants you access to support plus 14 extra add-ons.
3 – Affiliate Royale
Affiliate Royale is a powerful WordPress plugin that allows merchants to manage their programs. The plugin presents an easy-to-use dashboard from which admins can track all that goes on.
Once logged in as the site admin, you can view sales reports and disburse payments. The key features of this plugin include branded referral link and banner creation. Also, you can track payments, create a unique login and sign up pages, and access payment reports.
This plugin will cost you $85 per year for a single site license, while a developer plan costs $165. This plan allows you to install this plugin on multiple client websites.
4 – Ultimate Affiliate Pro
This is a WordPress plugin that is designed to manage all your affiliate needs. You can use the plugin to manage all payments, banners, reports, and many other tasks from your WordPress dashboard.
It also includes social sharing features that allow affiliates to post their links on social media. As the admin, you will receive email alerts on recent activities of affiliates and admins.
This plugin works nicely with WooCommerce, and also with other platforms that support coupon codes. Affiliates can also share their links through QR codes instead of the normal links they use
You can obtain this plugin from CodeCanyon for $59, which includes future updates and 6 months’ support.
5 – Affiliates Pro
This is a WordPress tool best suited for any growing business to manage its affiliate program. It is a much cheaper option than other costly affiliate plugins, yet having the same features.
You can set up and manage all your affiliate affairs within a small budget.
Affiliates Pro can also scale to handle larger affiliate demands and growing businesses, giving you support to manage any number of affiliates, whether they are just 50 or 50,000.
This plugin offers you an admin dashboard to track your affiliates and perform real-time reports. You can also use it to adjust what your affiliates earn in your program.
Other features include the setting up of a page to recruit partners and manage banners, brand visual contents, create unique coupon codes and track referrals.
There are tools to create affiliate sign up and track links.
The free version comes with cool features, but the premium version, costing $29 per year, gives you full features
6 – Amazon Auto Links
All affiliates must have products or services to promote to their audiences. And finding the right products to promote might be a tedious task sometimes.
But you can leverage reliable, high-quality brands that your audience will find useful. If you aren’t able to get the kind of products that your audience loves, you can use the Amazon Auto Link plugin.
What this plugin does is to display hot selling Amazon products on your website. You will have to first specify the particular product categories that you want to display. It saves you time from having to pick the individual products by yourself.
The Amazon Auto Links include features that enable you to generate products that can be displayed using shortcodes. You can set specific criteria that can be used to pick up quality products and customize the offers.
The free plugin lets you display products of 3 categories while the premium gives you much more. The premium version of Amazon Auto Link starts at $57.98 per year.
7 – Amazon Simple Affiliate Pro
The Amazon Simple Affiliate Pro (ASA2) is a tool that helps you update links of Amazon products that you promote. It works through the Product Advertising (PA) Application Programming Interface (API) of Amazon.
Using ASA2, you are able to highlight affiliate products much easier, enabling you to achieve a higher CTR (Click through Rate) for the products on your site.
You can add products using shortcodes, display star ratings for products, and access multiple templates. You can customize the templates as you choose and connect to Amazon’s feeds to display hot selling products.
The license for ASA2 can be purchased for $59 per year, with 30% for renewal.
8 – Refer a Friend for WooCommerce Pro
This plugin isn’t exactly a true WordPress affiliate program, though they have similar features.
It allows you to promote your brand through your customers while giving rewards in exchange. You do not need to pay any commissions, but you can reward them with coupon codes.
Other features on Refer a Friend for WooCommerce Pro admin include analytics tracking and creation of referral links. You can track all members of your site, obtain members’ analytics, and place restrictions on coupons.
To use this plugin, you need to have the free WooCommerce plugin already installed. There is a free version that has some limits, but the premium version starts at $47 per year.
9 – WordPress Affiliate Manager
The WordPress Affiliate Manager was designed with a focus on e-commerce websites. It’s a handy tool for both e-commerce and membership sites who want to start affiliate programs.
Some plugins that work very well with it are WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, and Simple Membership.
You can also include the WordPress Affiliate Manager as part of your strategy for driving traffic and sales.
You will find lots of features that enable you to set up and manage your affiliate program. These features include real-time reporting, choosing between flat and percentage-based commissions, and PayPal mass pay.
All these features on WordPress Affiliate Manager can be accessed for free, but there’s more.
You will need to add a few add-ons (some of which are premium plugins) to enjoy the full features. Affiliate coupon code is also a necessary add-on for WordPress Affiliate Manager.
Though free, the add-ons will add to the overhead cost of using this plugin to drive affiliate sales. Before opting for this plugin, you may want to consider the total cost of all plugins it needs to work with.
Conclusion
Affiliate marketing is a business model with immense rewards for merchants and marketers. While merchants are able to promote their products at a lower cost, affiliates earn extra income from promoting products.
This post highlights 9 top WordPress plugins that can be used to manage and run affiliate programs. You can download any of the plugins that suit you and start using it.
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