Affiliate marketing is one of the most efficient forms of marketing today. Especially if we take a look at the development of various online marketing strategies. With that in mind, it is not so strange that many companies want to integrate their websites with various tools that make affiliate marketing possible.
WordPress is a platform that allows for this to happen quickly and efficiently. As a CMS platform, WordPress is the most popular one today. Thanks to the wide range of plugins at your disposal, you can make almost anything you can think of. That’s why today, we want to talk about the best affiliate marketing tools and plugins for WordPress. Let’s combine the best out of both worlds and help you grow your profit fast.
What is affiliate marketing?
Before talking more about the best affiliate marketing tools and plugins for WordPress, let’s define affiliate marketing first. In a few simple words, this form of advertising is a strategy that focuses on offering special deals to people that promote your business or make a purchase. For example, if you are in the business of cryptocurrency, you could be selling an advanced tool for tracking market fluctuations and managing a virtual wallet. As a form of affiliate marketing, you can also offer a free guide for understanding the crypto market to anyone who purchases your tool. Furthermore, you can provide the same guide to your followers if they ask their friends to join.
It is pretty clear why affiliate marketing makes a smart strategy for startups. It is an efficient way to get more customers or increase your profit.
Do not mix affiliate marketing with brand ambassadors
Just a word of caution before we proceed. It might seem like affiliate marketing is the same thing as brand ambassadors. However, these two are not the same.
The crucial difference is that brand ambassadors do not receive any commission. When it comes to affiliate marketing, you are required to offer something in return. It is important not to mix these two strategies.
What are the best affiliate marketing tools and plugins for WordPress?
As we mentioned at the beginning, one of the best features of WordPress is a vast range of all sorts of plugins. In just a few clicks, you can add a nifty feature to your website, with no coding required.
As much as this is a good thing, you also need to be careful. Not all plugins work as intended. Also, different plugins offer different options. Finally, there is also the question of price. Some plugins are free of charge. However, some only offer a trial period or limited options unless you pay for the premium package.
Furthermore, it is essential to understand that some plugins can directly help with affiliate marketing. Others are used for research and analytics purposes, as well as tracking customer actions and traffic. You need to see the entire picture if you wish to run a successful affiliate marketing campaign.
1. Pretty Links
A pretty name for a pretty plugin. One of the most popular affiliates link management tools, Pretty Links has a massive base of users. It is used on over 200,000 WordPress websites, which is an impressive number.
The main functionality of the plugin is to add links to posts. With it, you can also create affiliate URLs or cloak affiliate links. The plugin offers many other fantastic features.
One of the features worth mentioning is the option to add auto-linking for listed keywords. That means you can type a keyword, and the plugin will automatically link it to the correct URL.
This feature also allows redirecting customers in case a link is returning a 404 error.
2. AffiliateWP
If you are searching for a full-featured plugin for creating an affiliate program within WordPress, you should check out AffiliateWP. One of the reasons it is so good is that it allows you an unlimited number of affiliates. This substantially improves website promotion and also promoting services and products.
Another great feature is referral tracking. Through it, you can do a complete analysis of all of your referrals.
Furthermore, AffiliateWP easily integrates with other tools, including WPForms, which we will discuss a bit later.
When it comes to affiliate registration, you can either opt to approve it manually or automate the process. The automation saves time both for you and your clients.
A handy link generator helps your affiliates generate referral links. Also, you can easily pay your referrals. The service lets you send the payment either to a bank account or their card.
3. Thirsty Affiliates
The Thirsty Affiliates plugin is perfect for cloaking affiliate links. Affiliate links can be long and clumsy, which does not look good at all. Furthermore, long links are not memorable. Cloaking helps you make those links shorter and more meaningful.
4. RafflePress
There is a reason why RafflePress is the best giveaway plugin on the market today. If you ever wanted to create a viral giveaway contest for your customers and publish it on your website, this is the tool to use. The drag and drop system makes it simple, and you can spend all of your time making giveaways look good. Whether you want to do a seasonal giveaway, an affiliate marketing project, or simply grow your email list, you can do it with RafflePress.
5. WPForms
WPForms is probably the most popular plugin for WordPress websites. Its main functionality is to build powerful forms, like a contact form, for example. There are many awesome things you can do with this plugin, and affiliate marketing is one of them.
You can use it to create contact forms that allow your clients to get in touch with you. Also, you can build surveys to collect information about your clients. It is not possible to create an affiliate marketing program without understanding your clients.
WPForms is a perfect example of a helper tool that provides an array of excellent features to support your affiliate marketing campaign. It can be a great addition to your website.
6. MonsterInsights
The main idea of affiliate marketing is to increase your profit with the help of the affiliate program. If you start looking for practical tips or guides about creating one, everyone will tell you that reporting and analytics are an inseparable part of it. By far, Google Analytics is your best bet. MonsterInsights is here to help integrate the service with your affiliate marketing program.
First, the plugin is compatible with other affiliate plugins. This means that you won’t have to worry about other plugins crashing. Second, with it, you can generate in-depth reports about your earnings and traffic. The dashboard is very intuitive and easy to use, which is especially important for those who have never used Google Analytics before. Finally, for any questions you have, you can contact their customer support.
Another perfect example of a helper plugin to push your affiliate marketing game to the next level.
7. Easy Affiliate
The makers of Pretty Links bring us another fantastic plugin – Easy Affiliate. This is what you want to use if you are a beginner in affiliate marketing.
The setup is quick, and it can be done in a matter of minutes. Furthermore, the plugin has its own graphs and charts feature and shopping cart functionality. If you are looking for a top affiliate marketing strategy to drive your sales, this plugin will help. Not only does it work in conjunction with Pretty Links, but you can also integrate it with MemberPress.
8. MemberPress
This plugin is one of the best to use if you want to manage customer memberships. Every affiliate marketing program needs to support membership access to your website. It also has full and secure credit card payment functionality, and you can use it to sell online courses, digital content, and much more.
One of the best things about it is that you can control who sees what on your website. This is a perfect tool to have if you wish to inspire your users to gain access to the premium content you offer.
9. Constant Contact
Let’s talk about the best way to improve your email marketing service. All affiliate programs use emails to send promotion content and important links. Constant Contact lets you fully manage email campaigns, create newsletters, and much more.
Email builder has an array of pre-generated templates, and it uses a simple drag and drop system. This makes it easy to use for everyone.
Another fantastic thing about this plugin is that it also provides reporting, and you can even use it for A/B testing.
10. AdSanity
No affiliate marketing program is complete without ads. With the help of AdSanity, you can manage all of your affiliate campaigns and ads directly through the WordPress dashboard. You can add banners and ads to widgets, posts, sidebars, or anywhere else.
One important thing to know is that this plugin does not slow down your website. If not done the right way, ads can quickly eat all of your website’s speed and destroy the user experience.
Another danger when using ads is that, if the customer is using an ad blocker, your ads are not doing their purpose. Well, AdSanity informs the user that they need to disable the ad blocker if they wish to access your content. This protects your investment.
11. Sendinblue
Another plugin that works well with emails is Sendinblue. It is a full-featured sales and marketing tool that also has another huge benefit. Besides emails, you can also launch an SMS campaign.
An SMS marketing campaign can be more efficient than an email campaign sometimes. While some people often forget to check their emails for a few days, everyone reads messages.
Another benefit of Sendinblue is that you can use it to set up a live chat option on your website. This is extremely useful if you have needs for customer support. A live chat option is also an excellent way to inform your clients about the products or services you offer. When it comes to affiliate marketing, it pays off to speak with your customers directly.
12. Ahrefs
Ahrefs is a tool mainly used to track competitors. Once you set it up, it can track competitor brands, analyze backlinks, and much more.
An efficient way to improve your affiliate marketing campaign is to find similar brands to yours. This is the first step toward forming solid partnerships. When starting an affiliate marketing program, having partners is also vital. You can also connect with their clients and increase your customer base.
13. EasyAzon
Amazon is, next to eBay, one of the most successful online stores today. If you are planning to make your profit here, EasyAzon is the best plugin to connect your affiliate marketing program with Amazon.
It has visually stunning CTA buttons, made explicitly for Amazon. Another great feature is the geolocation option that quickly discovers where your visitors are coming from. This way, you can present special deals depending on the buyer’s region.
It also supports cloaking links and helps promote your products through an affiliate network. Since it is created for an online store, it heavily relies on images, which is exactly what you want in this scenario. When running an online store, you cannot present the products to your customers in person. That’s why they need as much information about the product as possible.
14. Ultimate Affiliate Pro
Since all of these plugins cost money, finding an affordable tool with premium features is difficult. This is where Ultimate Affiliate Pro steps in. It is a budget version for anyone looking for some fantastic functionalities.
First of all, it easily integrates with WooCommerce, PayPal, Stripe, and other payment methods. Second, it is easy to use. The support will help solve any problem, and if you want to learn more about it, there is extensive online documentation at your disposal. Furthermore, you can also look at tutorial videos to learn how to use the plugin. And finally, if your goal is to work internationally, there is an option to add custom currencies.
15. All in One SEO
In the end, we have to talk about the importance of SEO. Your affiliate marketing program will not be successful unless the customers can find your website easily. Since SEO changes rapidly, you need a tool to manage those changes.
This useful plugin will help you manage all of the technical SEO changes that happen in the background of your website. This is especially important because it will improve your online ranking and increase visibility. No matter what other plugins you decide to get, this one is always a good choice.
When building your affiliate marketing program, you need to think about balancing your budget. Half of it should go to developing marketing strategies, and the other half should help boost your online visibility. If you forget to focus on SEO as well, all of your efforts might be in vain.
A list of the best affiliate marketing tools and plugins for WordPress – delivered
This extensive list of the most awesome plugins will certainly give you something to think about. When we talk about choosing the best tool for your business, it is crucial to consider a couple of different factors:
- the functionalities you need;
- how easy it is to use the tools;
- intuitive environment for the best customer experience;
- the price compared with the features you get;
Even though these are the best of the best affiliate marketing plugins you can find, you don’t need to use all of them. Once you start looking more into the options of these plugins, you will discover that the majority of them provide similar functionalities. What makes them different is their area of expertise. Each of these plugins excels at something when compared to the rest.
Before you make a purchase, think about your affiliate marketing strategy. Define your goal and think about how you can achieve it. There is more than one way to develop your affiliate network.
Once you know what your goal is, take a look at these plugins. Pay special attention to their premium features, and see how they can help you achieve your goal. Try to understand how these features work.
Finally, consider the price of the plugins. You will see that they range from approximately $60 and above. Since you probably have a limited budget, think about the value-to-price ratio. Do not rush with making a decision.
Even though these are the best affiliate marketing tools and plugins for WordPress, they can only get you so far. It is up to you to create a strategy. You should look at these plugins only as a tool to help you reach your goal faster. With that in mind, best of luck making the right choice and growing your business with affiliate marketing!
About the Author
Mark Johnson is a marketing specialist and a WordPress developer working with WP Full Care. In his spare time, Mark runs a blog about WordPress websites. His favorite topic is guides and tutorials that make the overall WordPress experience easier and more efficient.
