Creating an affiliate program on a WordPress eCommerce website is a great way to increase your online presence and boost sales. In fact, according to Influencer Marketing Hub, 59% of companies currently have some sort of affiliate marketing program.
And for good reason.
Affiliate marketing is a rapidly growing industry, with a current global market size of over $17 billion. This constitutes an increase from $13 billion in 2016.
This growth is not limited to just the global market, as the American affiliate marketing industry alone is valued at over $6 billion according to Mhojhos Research.
Keeping this in mind (and with the right tools) you can set up your own affiliate program to promote your store, products or services.
In this article, we’ll provide step-by-step instructions for how to create an affiliate program on a WordPress eCommerce website.
We’ll cover everything from setting up the program to recruiting affiliates and tracking results.
By the end of this article, you’ll have all the information you need to start your own successful affiliate program.
Table Of ContentsWhy creating your own affiliate program is a good ideaPotential drawbacks of starting an affiliate programHow to create affiliate program on an eCommerce websiteStep 1. InstallationStep 2. Setting up your affiliate programStep 3. Tracking referrals and commissionsStep 4. Add custom links and banners for affiliates to useStep 5. Creating banners — even if you lack design skillsDeciding on commission ratesProviding support for affiliatesRecognizing your affiliates’ success6 Tips for setting up a successful affiliate programCreate an affiliate program for your WordPress site and reap the rewardsWhy creating your own affiliate program is a good idea
Creating your own affiliate program is a great way to boost your online presence and draw in new customers.
Here are some advantages of creating an affiliate program you may not be aware of:
Reach a wider audience with minimal effort on your part
One of the main advantages to setting up an affiliate program is that it allows you to reach a wider audience with minimal effort on your part.
Affiliates will do the work for you, helping to promote your products or services to their network of followers.
Creating an affiliate program can cause increased exposure for your brand and more opportunities for sales.
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Increased exposure as more people become aware of your brand
By engaging with affiliates and third-party networks, you increase the chances of reaching potential customers who may not have come across your website or products before.
Increased visibility often leads to more interest in what you are offering and improved brand recognition over time.
Allows you to tap into word-of-mouth marketing
Affiliate marketing is also highly effective because it allows businesses to tap into the power of customer reviews and word-of-mouth recommendations.
In fact, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report, 77% of consumers make purchasing decisions based on reviews.
Affiliates that present products or services in review format will drive greater sales to your business, for certain.
Cost-effective
With an affiliate program, all associated costs are compensated by commissions from each sale made from referrals—you don’t need to pay out anything else upfront.
This makes it cost-effective compared with other forms of marketing where there are fees associated even if no sales result from the campaigns.
So yes, the benefits of starting an affiliate program are numerous. But there are a few challenges to be aware of.
Potential drawbacks of starting an affiliate program
Setting up an affiliate program for your business can be a great way to increase visibility, reach new customers, and drive sales.
However, there are potential drawbacks to consider.
Let’s explore those now.
Time and resources required to set up and maintain the program
Creating an effective affiliate program can take significant time and resources. From setting up a platform, onboarding affiliates, and increasing visibility with third-party networks, there are many steps to be taken in order to create a profitable partnership.
Once established, regular maintenance is also required such as tracking commission payments, resolving disputes and troubleshooting technical issues.
Risk of fraud and abuse
Unfortunately bribery, false leads, fraudulent accounts, stealing of intellectual property, or other unethical practices may occur with some affiliates.
As all commission fees are ultimately paid by you, the business owner, it’s important to monitor activity closely in order to detect any suspicious behavior.
Potential for decreased profitability if not managed properly
If an affiliate program isn’t managed correctly it can lead to decreased profitability or even losses for the business.
This can include ineffective processes for onboarding new affiliates or tracking sales commissions that don’t accurately reflect the true revenue generated from each sale.
To minimize this risk it’s important to set clear expectations for affiliates upfront including commission rates and terms of agreement.
Now that you’ve done your due diligence and know some of the issues that having an affiliate program can cause, we can now get down to the good stuff.
How to create an affiliate program in WordPress.
How to create affiliate program on an eCommerce website
Creating an affiliate program on your eCommerce website is a great way to increase sales and attract new customers.
With AffiliateWP, you can easily set up an affiliate program in just a few minutes. So that’s what we’ll be using today for the tutorial portion of this article.
Step 1. Installation
To start, you’ll need to install the AffiliateWP plugin.
To do this, complete the following steps:
Go to the AffiliateWP website and purchase the plugin.Once purchased, you’ll be prompted to login.Next, go to the Downloads tab in your account view and click the Download AffiliateWP button.Once the plugin is downloaded to your computer as a .zip file, log into your WordPress dashboard and navigate to the Plugins section.Click Upload Plugin then Choose file and select AffiliateWP from your hard drive. Click Install Now.Once installed, click Activate to activate the plugin.Go back to the AffiliateWP website and access your account once more. Click the Licenses tab and copy your license for the plugin.Now back in WordPress, go to Affiliates > Settings in the WordPress dashboard and input your license key.Click Activate License to verify the validity of the license key and to complete the installation process.With installation complete, you can move on to setup.
Step 2. Setting up your affiliate program
Creating an affiliate program is straightforward and just requires a few steps.
Navigate to your WordPress dashboard and go to Affiliates > Settings. From here, you can select the options that best suit your needs for setting up your program such as commission and referral rates.Under General you can customize how affiliates are registered on your site. Choose between manual approval or automatic approval of applications or set up an affiliate registration form.Under Payouts you can configure how often payouts will occur as well as choose which payment gateway you would like to use for processing payments (PayPal, Stripe and others).On the Opt-In Form tab, you can set up the form people will fill out to apply to become an affiliate.Under Emails, you can connect your preferred email marketing platform to WordPress.The Affiliate Area tab allows you to set up how the affiliate area will look for those who sign up. By default, the URL on the user-end is set to https://www.yoursite.com/affiliate-area, but you can customize this under Affiliates > Settings > Misc.You can also create a custom affiliate registration form anywhere you’d like on your site by simply inserting the Affiliate Registration block into a page or post.Step 3. Tracking referrals and commissions
With your affiliates added, you’ll of course want to be able to conveniently and easily track referrals and commissions.
You can add, delete, and edit referrals by going to Affiliates > Referrals in the WordPress dashboard.
You can click Add New to manually add a new referral.
On this form, you can add their name, the amount earned per referral, when it occurred, payment status, and more.
To get a bird’s eye view of referrals made by affiliates on your site, navigate to Affiliates > Reports > Referrals Report in your WordPress dashboard.
You will find detailed information about each referral including date created, amount earned per referral, status of referral (pending/paid/unpaid) and other stats.
You can also add a referral summary report to your dashboard as a widget.
Just go to Screen Options at the top of the dashboard and make sure the box next to AffiliateWP Referral Summary is checked.
Step 4. Add custom links and banners for affiliates to use
Custom links and banners are an important part of any affiliate program. Not only do they help affiliates to promote your products or services on their blogs or social channels, they also allow affiliates to track the performance of their campaigns.
With AffiliateWP, creating custom links and banners for affiliates is easy:
Log into your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Affiliates > Creatives in the sidebar menu.Click Add New at the top of the page to create a new creative asset for affiliates to use in their marketing efforts.Enter a title for your creative asset, as well as a description that will be visible on your website when affiliate link/banner is clicked/viewed by visitors.You can then either upload an image file (if creating a banner) or enter a URL (if creating a text link).Once you have uploaded or entered the appropriate details, click Add Creative at the bottom of the page to save changes made and add it to your list of creatives for affiliates.
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