WordPress makes it easy to build websites quickly, but can also be used as a powerful platform for building businesses. If you're new to online business or just looking at ways to grow your traffic, there are multiple options out there that will help you get started with affiliate marketing.
However, if you're not familiar with the ins-and-outs of this type of advertising, you might find yourself struggling when trying to promote someone else's product or service. Luckily, we've got some tips and tricks up our sleeves to make sure you succeed -- no matter what kind of site you have built using WordPress!
This one may seem obvious, but let's go over it anyway because it bears repeating. Yes, you absolutely can use WordPress to create an affiliate store page. It doesn't need to be complicated either - most people stick to creating simple landing pages where they offer their own services or products (or both!), so there isn't much more involved than setting up a signup form and collecting payments.
You'll see plenty of examples of Wordpress sites doing exactly this throughout the internet. However, since these aren't necessarily "affiliate" stores per se, they don't qualify for all of the benefits we'll discuss below. That said, even though you won't earn commissions from them directly, you can still leverage existing content to drive traffic back to your main site by promoting other things.
The first step is getting your domain name set up properly. The easiest way to accomplish this is by registering a.com address. Then, you should register a separate hosting account specifically for your blog. You'll then install WordPress on your server and configure its settings to match whatever theme you choose.
After that, you'll need to log into your admin panel and navigate to Appearance & Widgets. Here, you can drag-n-drop widgets onto your sidebar and homepage to display information about your site. For example, you could place a widget displaying recent comments, articles, social media posts and/or images. This helps keep visitors engaged around your primary subject matter while giving them a chance to learn more about your brand.
Another great idea is placing a link to your Facebook Page right above your About Us section. Again, this is a quick and easy way to stay connected with current customers who already know you well.
If you'd like to take it further, consider installing WooCommerce on top of your WP installation. This allows you to start selling digital goods without having to purchase any additional software, which can save you time and money down the line. In fact, many popular plugins such as ClickBank and ShareASale actually work together seamlessly under this setup.
Once you've installed the appropriate plugins, you'll be able to start linking your affiliate offers to specific product categories within your shop. To do this, click Add New Product and select a category. From here, you can browse available items in that particular category and decide whether or not you would like to include them in your list. Once you're ready, click Publish Products and voila! Your newly added item has been published live on your Shopify store.
Now, whenever anyone buys something via your link, you'll receive a portion of the sale price. Since you're only receiving payment after a user completes a transaction, this is called pay-per-performance affiliate marketing.
Since you now understand how to put affiliate links within your WordPress blog, you can start adding real products to your inventory. We recommend sticking to niche markets rather than broad ones. By focusing on one area instead of spreading yourself too thin, you'll generate more targeted leads and therefore higher conversion rates.
As mentioned earlier, we highly suggest choosing a WordPress-based ecommerce solution. These platforms are designed to handle everything related to managing sales and customer accounts, including billing, shipping and returns. One common option is Woocommerce, which works perfectly alongside Woothemes' Genesis Framework.
With these tools, you can easily publish listings for physical goods, downloadable files and subscriptions. All you have to worry about is making sure you provide enough relevant details to attract potential buyers.
For example, you can describe the item itself, detail the features and highlight the benefits. Make sure you give users ample opportunity to read each listing before clicking Buy Now!
Some sellers prefer to allow affiliates to submit their own products for review, but this comes with certain risks. There are plenty of fake reviews floating around the web, so readers must exercise caution when reading testimonials. Also, it's important to note that Google considers blogs as content, so if you write about someone else's product regularly, you may lose credibility among search engines.
Finally, make sure you follow FTC guidelines regarding endorsements. While it's legal to advertise another company's brand and products, it's illegal to endorse those brands without disclosing affiliation.
Yes, although it depends entirely upon your chosen affiliate network. Most networks require you to fill out a few forms and agree to terms and conditions prior to being allowed to post links. As long as you abide by these rules, you can start posting affiliate links almost immediately.
Affiliates will typically request access to your dashboard once you reach a minimum payout threshold. After logging in, you'll usually see two different sections: Promotions and Paid Traffic. Both contain useful stats for tracking performance, so make sure you monitor them closely.
In addition to earning passive income, affiliate programs offer opportunities for advertisers to boost visibility. Sometimes referred to as sponsored posts, they're essentially ads placed by companies hoping to gain exposure and influence. Usually, these appear next to regular organic content and sometimes even compete against it.
While it's possible to insert these types of advertisements manually, we strongly advise against it. Instead, opt for paid placement solutions offered by third-party vendors, such as AdSense and Chitika. They'll often offer better results than manual methods due to automated targeting algorithms.
There's nothing wrong with using these services as part of your overall strategy, but always remember to maintain control of your own content! By following this advice, you can ensure that your site remains effective regardless of changes made elsewhere.
Many publishers turn to WordPress as a full-time job, but it's certainly not necessary. Even bloggers can benefit greatly from learning some basic SEO techniques, especially given the amount of competition today. With just a little bit of effort, you can become a successful affiliate marketer, providing valuable resources to others along the way.
What do you think? Do you currently run an affiliate store on WordPress? Are you interested in learning more about affiliate marketing? Tell us about your experiences in the comments below!
The Internet has become a major part of our lives these days. If we’re talking about ecommerce sites, then it is safe to say that most people use one or more websites on their daily basis. The fact is, if your business isn't online, you are missing out big time. And when it comes to generating income from your website, having an active affiliate program can help a ton.
In this article, we're going to talk about what exactly affiliate programs are, why they are so important, and how you can start building them into your own website using WordPress. We'll also look at some of the best tools available for making money as an affiliate marketer.
Before you can set up any kind of affiliate program, you need to first create your site. This can be done by signing up for a service like Squarespace or Wix (or even just registering a domain), but there are plenty of other options, too. Once you've got your site built, you will need to install software that allows you to connect your affiliate account to your site. There are many different ways to do this, depending on which platform you choose. Some examples include Clickbank, Shareasale, CJ Affiliate, Post Affiliate Pro, Woocommerce, and others. Each of these platforms offers unique features, so check each out to see what works for you. You may find that one of the above doesn't fit your needs, or maybe none of them does. In either case, you should be able to get started with one of the following plugins, however. Each of the below plugins offer similar functionality, though not all allow you to link directly to Amazon.
1) WP Affiliates - A simple Wordpress plugin that requires no setup. Just copy/paste code onto your page to begin earning commissions.
2) WooCommerce Affiliate Plugin – Similar to WP Affiliates, this plugin requires no setup & integrates seamlessly within the WooCommerce shopping cart system. It provides full tracking and reporting capabilities right inside the admin panel.
3) Best Website For Affiliate Marketing - An easy-to-use tool that helps you build links between your site and popular retailers' products. No coding required.
4) WoofyAffiliate-A powerful affiliate management solution designed specifically for Woofly users. It includes everything you need to make money selling digital goods such as video courses, audio books, apps, etc., including automatic email followups, product reviews, pre-written sales letters, social media posts, Facebook ads, and much more.
5) Best Free WordPress Plugin for Affiliate Marketing - Easily integrate affiliate commissions into your existing blog or website without having to worry about programming. Includes auto-followup emails, customizable landing pages, and tons of customizations to suit every style and niche.
6) Easy Commission System - One of the easiest and quickest way to set up a paid membership site. All you need to do is select the number of memberships, set prices, and you're ready to go. Memberships come with unlimited access to resources, videos, lessons, downloads, and support via phone, chat, email, or live webinars.
7) ClickBank Affiliate Program - Offers several affiliate plans based on traffic volume, which makes it suitable for both beginners and experienced marketers alike.
8) ShareAsale Affiliate Network - Another robust affiliate network offering various levels of compensation based on the amount of referrals earned.
9) CJ Affiliate - Provides multiple types of hosting solutions, including cloud services, dedicated servers, CDN, SSL certificates, and more. Also offers numerous payment methods ranging from PayPal to Bitcoin.
10) Post Affiliate Pro - Allows you to easily plug in your affiliates and track stats.
11) Woocommerce Affiliate Plugin - Adds affiliate commissions to your store automatically, allowing you to focus on running your business instead of managing your affiliate accounts.
12) ClickBank Affiliate Network - Offers various affiliate plans based on traffic volume, making it ideal for both beginners and seasoned pros.
13) SiteGround Hosting - A reliable host provider featuring 24/7 customer care and 99% uptime guarantee.
14) Bluehost - An affordable host company providing high quality shared hosting services at reasonable rates.
15) GoDaddy Domain Registration - Affordable domain registration service that lets you register a new.com/.net/.org address quickly and hassle-free.
16) Namecheap Web Hosting - Affordable, fast, secure web hosting service that includes cPanel control panels, 1 GB of storage space, unlimited bandwidth, 99.99 percent server uptime, and unlimited domains.
17) DreamHost - Reliable web hosting service backed by industry leaders Endurance International Group Inc. and Rackspace Hosting.
18) Kinsta Cloud Instance - A scalable infrastructure powered by Google Kubernetes Engine, letting you scale to meet your growing user base while maintaining optimal performance.
19) SiteLock Secure Server - Powerful security suite that protects against malware attacks, brute force login attempts, spam bots, DDOS attacks, hacking threats, and more.
20) ResellWebHosting.com - Excellent reseller hosting service that gives you everything you'd expect from a reputable vendor plus additional benefits.
21) iPage Hosting - Simple yet effective web hosting service that caters to small businesses looking for low cost, simplicity, and reliability.
22) GreenGeeks - Highly recommended managed VPS hosting service with excellent technical support staff.
23) Hepsia Hosting Control Panel - Easy to use and packed with useful features, Hepsia is among the top web hosts around.
24) XOZoo - Premium hosting service that lets you save $50 per year or receive 10GB of disk space for free.
25) Liquidweb Domains - Cheap web hosting service that includes unlimited domains and cPanel control panels.
26) Hostgator - Cheapest web hosting plan offered by one of the biggest names in the industry.
27) OVH Dedicated Servers - High speed virtual private servers perfect for hosting large projects and applications.
28) Linode - Superb Linux VPS hosting service for developers, designers, entrepreneurs, startups, and other tech professionals who require extensive customization options.
29) Softlayer Dedicated Servers - Fast, secure, highly optimized dedicated servers with guaranteed hardware maintenance, power backup, and disaster recovery protection.
30) Scaleway Virtual Private Servers - Cheaper than Linode, but still feature rich, Scaleways provide SSDs, ECC RAM, and enterprise grade data centers.
WordPress itself is completely open source, meaning anyone can view its source code and customize it to their liking. However, this flexibility means that it is often used more as a blogging engine rather than a traditional CMS. While you could theoretically develop a fully functional website without ever touching HTML or CSS, doing so would take quite a bit of time and effort. Instead, many prefer to rely on third party plugins to handle things like content creation, design, SEO, and more. These plugins can range anywhere from free to extremely expensive, so you really don't know until you try them yourself. But regardless of whether you decide to stick with WordPress or switch over to something else entirely, you should definitely consider adding an affiliate program to your website.
There are two main reasons to implement an affiliate program on your website:
To generate extra profit from visitors who buy products after clicking on links placed throughout your site.
To introduce new customers to your brand through targeted advertising.
It goes without saying that you won't be able to successfully run an affiliate program without proper planning and strategy. Here are four tips for getting started with affiliate marketing in WordPress:
Create a clear call-to-action for readers to click. Make sure that those clicks lead to a sale.
Offer incentives to promote your affiliate links. People love discounts, especially if they believe they're helping someone else out.
Use a variety of affiliate partners, including well known companies and smaller brands.
Don't assume that your current audience will trust you enough to purchase a product off your recommendation alone. Offer compelling proof that the item will solve their problems, such as testimonials from satisfied customers or expert reviews written by bloggers or journalists.
When choosing an affiliate program, you must keep in mind that the goal here is to drive traffic back to your site. That being said, you shouldn't discount the importance of promoting the products themselves. After all, you wouldn't want to sell a car only to watch potential buyers head straight to another dealership. When deciding which affiliate program to join, weigh the pros and cons of each option carefully. As mentioned earlier, there are dozens upon dozens of different ones available, and selecting the wrong one might seriously damage your credibility as an authority figure. So before diving into any particular program, ask yourself these questions:
It's no secret that the web has become one of the most powerful tools available for business today. It can help you sell more things than ever before -- from physical goods like shoes or electronics to digital services such as e-books and software subscriptions.
One way to capitalize on these opportunities is by becoming an affiliate marketer. In essence, you promote someone else's product or service without having to pay anything upfront (except your time). You get paid when people buy what you're promoting online. And it doesn't matter if they bought that item at Amazon, Clickbank, eBay, or somewhere else entirely. As long as there are sales happening, you'll be rewarded with commissions based on those transactions. The key to successful affiliate marketing is finding high quality content about topics related to whatever it is you're selling. Then, you need to drive traffic to that content so users will see it. That means creating appealing landing pages, using SEO techniques, writing articles, etc. If done right, you can make money off every single sale.
But all of this requires some kind of platform where you publish your content, but also manage customers who purchase items directly from you rather than from the person whose product you're promoting. This is why many people turn to WordPress. Here we'll show you how to set up an affiliate campaign in WordPress so you can start making money now. We won't go into too much detail here because different platforms have their own methods. But if you'd like to learn more about affiliate marketing with WordPress, check out our article "Best Website For Affiliate Marketing." Or read our guide to affiliate marketing for beginners.
There are two ways to take advantage of WordPress' power for affiliate marketers:
Add an existing site to your network
Create a brand new site specifically designed for affiliates
Let's look at both options below.
Option 1: Add an Existing Site To Your Network
You could simply create a page within your current WordPress installation dedicated to collecting leads and then redirect them to an external merchant account. However, this method isn't ideal since it limits your ability to control everything about the experience. Plus, it's not very user friendly, which might scare away potential buyers.
Instead, let's assume you already run a large website full of great information and resources. Wouldn't it be cool if you got paid whenever somebody clicks through to one of your posts and makes a purchase from another company? With just a few tweaks, you can make that happen.
First, sign up for a hosting provider like Bluehost or Hostgator. Both offer affordable plans perfect for bloggers looking to build passive income streams. After you've signed up, install WordPress onto your server. Next, download the "Affiliates" plugin found in the WordPress repository. Once installed, login to the admin area of your WP dashboard. On the left side, click Plugins. Scroll down until you find the Affiliates section, then activate it. Finally, scroll back up to Settings and enter the URL of your hosted Wordpress site into the appropriate field.
Now comes the fun part: adding links to other websites. Start by going to Posts > All Posts. At the top of each post, click Edit. Select the link option next to Link Text and paste the URL of any webpage where you'd like visitors to land after clicking a specific piece of content. Keep in mind that you must give your visitor enough incentive to click through to your new site. So include a strong call to action message along with a compelling headline. Also, avoid keyword stuffing. Instead, focus on providing valuable content.
To further improve search engine optimization, consider installing Google Analytics and AdSense. These plugins allow you to track visits to your site and display ads relevant to keywords used during searches. When combined together, they provide a comprehensive view of performance across multiple channels that can inform future decisions regarding your campaigns.
Finally, don't forget to add yourself as an author. Doing so gives you access to advanced features like the ability to schedule automatic updates, upload images, and edit drafts.
Option 2: Create A New Site Just For Affiliates
This strategy allows you to completely customize your site to fit your needs. By doing so, you gain complete control over virtually every aspect of its appearance. There's even the possibility of integrating third party apps. For example, you may choose to integrate PayPal payments, or maybe you'd prefer Stripe instead.
Before getting started, you should first decide whether or not you plan to host the entire site yourself or hire a professional web developer. Either route is fine, though depending on your budget you might opt for something in between. Regardless, once you've made your decision, head to the WordPress marketplace. Type in "WordPress Developer," then select the result. From there, browse the listings and pick whichever package seems right for you.
Next, navigate to Appearance & Widgets. Underneath the Dashboard heading, click Add Widget. Enter a title and description for your widget and drag the desired icon from your desktop or browser file system into the box provided. Now, you can customize your widget however you wish. Simply double click on the element you added to add additional settings.
Once finished, click Save Changes. Go to Tools and find Shortcode Generator under Other Tools. Paste the code generated by your widget into Notepad++, save it, then copy the text into your theme files. Open up functions.php, locate the shortcode generator function, and replace it with the following line of code:
Save your changes and refresh your browser window. You'll notice that the widget appears underneath your navigation bar. Double click the image to expand it. Now, you can easily insert affiliate links wherever necessary.
Yes, absolutely. Just keep in mind that you shouldn't try to hide your affiliation. Visitors should always know exactly what you stand to profit from their purchases. Otherwise, they won't trust you. Also remember that you should never incentivize readers to visit only one place. Instead, encourage them to explore similar sites.
Another thing to keep in mind is that you should never recommend a particular product unless you truly believe in it. Readers should feel comfortable buying whatever you're recommending, otherwise you risk losing credibility. Always ensure that you disclose your affiliations.
On the flipside, you should definitely mention competitors. Since competition is fierce, this keeps the reader informed and prevents them from being lured into false advertising. Again, it's important to emphasize that you aren't personally endorsing any competitor's work. Rather, you're sharing useful tips intended to boost conversion rates.
Lastly, don't fall victim to spammy tactics. Don't send emails promising huge rewards or offering special deals in exchange for personal information. People hate unsolicited junk mail and won't hesitate to unsubscribe immediately.
Adding an affiliate program to your website is easy thanks to several excellent plugins. Some of the better ones include the popular WooCommerce and ClickBank extensions. They're both relatively straightforward to configure.
WooCommerce is compatible with almost every major CMS including WordPress, Joomla!, Drupal, and Magento. Its interface is clean and intuitive, allowing anyone familiar with HTML or CSS to quickly grasp the basics. Additionally, it provides support for various payment gateways, shipping providers, tax calculators, and coupon codes.
The downside is that WooCommerce does require a bit of technical knowledge to operate properly. More importantly, it lacks customization capabilities like customizing colors and fonts. While some themes come equipped with built-in compatibility, others require you to manually modify template files. Still, if you're okay with spending a little extra effort, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
For our purposes, let's say that you want to add a link to a certain product. First, log into your website via FTP. Navigate to wp-content/plugins/woocommerce/. Inside, open up the directory containing your active extension. Find the folder named "wc_additional". Within that folder, locate the file called "affiliate_product_links.php". Copy and paste all of the code inside into your theme's files.
That's pretty much it. Whenever someone buys a product through your link, you collect a small fee. Depending on the size of your audience, you could earn thousands per month. Of course, success depends largely on converting visitors into paying clients. If you want to maximize your profits, then it's vital that you optimize your site accordingly. Luckily, WordPress offers plenty of guides and tutorials for optimizing your site.
Want to learn more about building profitable websites? Check out our guide to building a website from scratch.
Just follow our battle-tested guidelines and rake in the profits.