Plugins are a powerful tool for webmasters and affiliate marketers. By implementing plugins on your WordPress site you can extend the power and reach of your site to accomplish almost anything you can imagine. If you are unfamiliar with the ins and outs of plugins, we’re here to help sort those out and identify the best options for affiliate marketers.
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What are WordPress Plugins?
A plugin is a bit of software that you can upload to your site to extend its functionality. If you use a self-hosted version of WordPress from WordPress.org, then you have the benefit of uploading and using plugins on your site. Examples of popular plugins include links to social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as share functions that all users to disperse content from your site via email or other digital media forums.
Free vs. Premium WordPress Plugins
As you begin to research your plugin options, you’ll find that some of them are free and some have to be paid for in order to be used on your site. We don’t advocate for paid plugins over free plugins, but if you find yourself struggling to decide if it is worth the investment in a plugin, consider the following benefits of paid plugins:
- Paid plugins often come with full-time support from staff and developers that are trained to maintain security patches and compatibility levels of the plugin. This helps keep them working smoothly with your WordPress site.
- Often there are compatibility issues between a plugin’s code and that of your WordPress site or other plugins you use. Paid plugins have fewer code issues, and with that full-time support of customer-service staff you can rest easy knowing any issues that arise can be dealt with quickly.
What are the Best Plugins for Affiliate Marketers?
Ok, now that we’ve explained plugins and offered some benefits of paid plugins, it is time to discuss some of best affiliate marketer plugins. There are a lot of options available to marketers, but not all of them come with the same benefits or even work for all marketers. When you are considering these affiliate marketer plugins, you need to ensure the functionality of the plugin matches the needs of your marketing operations and your WordPress site.
EasyAzon
Amazon affiliate marketers can use EasyAzon to help save time while making more money. The plugin easily creates any type of Amazon affiliate link, such as text, image, info block, or call to action. You can create all of these features right from your WordPress dashboard, saving you time compared to other plugins that make you bounce back and forth between WordPress and Amazon during setup.
EasyAzon also has automatic link localizers that display appropriate affiliate links based upon the location of each visitor. This can mean the difference between normal commissions and extra money in your pocket. Product popups and automatic product additions are just a few of the other benefits available. Pricing on this plugin starts at $47.
WP AdCenter
This is one of the most robust plugins available to affiliate marketers. WP AdCenter is another tool for managing banner ads on your WordPress site or other website. You can use this tool to manage affiliate banners and sell ad spots. WP AdCenter offers full control over the ad zones that you set up, allowing you to track that statistics you need to better pinpoint your marketing efforts. This plugin is available with membership with WPEka at a cost of $27 a month. You can also subscribe to the service on a quarterly basis for $47 or yearly basis for $97. Signing up for the club also offers you access to a total of 21 WordPress themes and 15 plugins.
ManageWP
Most affiliate marketers operate several different websites because it is the best way to generate greater revenue. ManageWP allows you to manage all of your WordPress-based sites from one platform, saving you a lot of time compared to plugins or other platforms that require switching back and forth between dashboards on different sites during setup. ManageWP also provides some of the best analytical features available, such as scheduled backups, client reports, clone wizards, and SEO analysis. Pricing for this plugin is dependent upon the number of sites you plan to use it on. There is a free version if you manage 5 sites or fewer, but paid plans start as low as $2.40 per website per month.
Pretty Link Pro
Pretty Link Pro is one of the most popular plugins currently available to affiliate marketers. It is a feature-rich platform that allows you to create and manage shortened links to your affiliates. Pretty Link Pro offers features such as cloaking re-direction, conversion reports, delayed re-direction, automated keyword replacement, and even Twitter integration. Pricing starts at $37 for a single site. There is a free version of this plugin, Pretty Link Lite, but it comes with fewer features.
Other Plugins to Consider
You’ll find a countless number of affiliate marketer plugins available for use on your WordPress sites. There isn’t a comprehensive list available that covers all of them, and if we tried to cover them here you’d lose interest in this blog post pretty quickly. If you find that the plugins we’ve mentioned don’t work well for your needs, consider checking this list of 25 affiliate marketing plugins or this list of 5 Free WordPress Plugins. When you find the right affiliate marketer plugins, you’ll be able to save time and money managing your advertising campaigns.