Looking for the best WordPress plugins for affiliate marketers?
I know how confusing it can get.
You’re zoning out in front of your computer, staring at an interminable list of plugins.
You have no idea what they are, what they do, or if they’re any good.
Should you just do trial and error?
Waste a ton of time testing this and then that plugin, only to find out they don’t give you the results you need?
My opinion: you shouldn’t go through all that.
That’s why I’ve decided to compile a list of the top 11 superstar WordPress plugins for affiliate marketers.
These plugins are:
- Easy to use
- Feature-packed
- Affordable
- Totally awesome
Ready to learn what they are?
Let’s dive right in!
This post is part of our free series on Affiliate Marketing! If you want to learn everything from A – Z in one place, then check out our course below!
Why Use WordPress Instead of Other Site Builders? (A Word to the Wise)
First things first, though, before we dive into the plugins section.
This blog assumes that you’re using WordPress to build your site.
That’s not because it’s the only choice, of course.
The truth is, there are a ton of other options, some of which include:
But if you haven’t yet started building your site, I recommend you use WordPress.
Why?
- WordPress sites are some of the most SEO-friendly out there. Google loves them. This is because of a special, high-quality code that’s used to create WordPress sites. This means using this website builder will give you a bigger chance to rank highly on the SERPs and get the traffic and prospects you need for a successful affiliate marketing business.
- WordPress sites are easy to customize and beautify. WordPress offers a ton of customizable templates and plugins. This means no matter what outrageous plans you have for your site (not that I recommend the outrageous), you can use WordPress to make them a reality.
- WordPress is free. Need I say more?
When you decide to use WordPress for your site, you’ll be joining a huge crowd of bloggers, business people, marketers, and e-commerce sellers who trust this CMS. .
Just check out these jaw-dropping stats:
- 500+ sites per day are built using WordPress (while only 60-80 sites per day are created with builders such as Shopify).
- 42% of the web is built on WordPress.
- WordPress users create 70 million new posts per month.
- With 2.28 billion results, WordPress dominates Google’s SERPs.
Want more proof?
Check out what WordPress calls themselves.
Source: wordpress.com
Confident much?
That’s right.
I mean, anyone would want to join in and use the world’s most popular website builder, right?
(I thought so.)
Note: If you’re already building your site with some other website builder, it’s time to ditch it and choose WordPress instead.
Just kidding (slightly).
What I meant is, if you’re not using WordPress, this blog isn’t for you.
But if you are, then great!
It’s time to talk about WordPress plugins, what they are, and which ones are the best for your affiliate marketing site.
What Are WordPress Plugins? (+Do You Really Need them for Your Site?)
If you’re a total newbie to the amazing world of website building, you’re probably scratching your head right now.
“What’s a plugin?” you’ll ask. “Do I absolutely need them if I want a great website?”
To answer your questions, a plugin is a component of software that adds customizability to an existing computer program.
“WHAT?” ?
In plain English, it’s something you install on your site to help you customize it.
Imagine it like this.
You’re baking, and you have all the dry ingredients ready. You have your flour, sugar, yeast, baking soda, and baking powder all sitting in one large bowl.
But you can’t do anything with it without liquid.
Your liquids are your plugins.
You can add milk and eggs to make an angel cake. Water to make french bread. Rhum to make fruit cake.
The same is true with plugins.
They help you design your site to your heart’s content, rank higher on the SERPs, speed up loading time, and more.
Now, here’s a big question many people ask:
“Is it impossible to build a site without using plugins?”
The answer: No.
Actually, you can pop your flour into the oven and bake magic cake.
In fact, I created one of my websites, Magic Mentalism, without a single plugin.
Check out how great it looks:
Source: magicmentalism.com
You can also check out this video to see how I built it (without plugins):
But the truth is, even though you don’t need plugins to build a site…
… you can use them to make your site faster, more beautiful, and more effective on the SERPs.
You can also use them to automate tasks, to pull subscribers into your email list, and more.
Trust me, you’ll love them.
Now, are you ready to check out the best WordPress plugins for affiliate marketers?
Here are the ultimate favorites:
11 Best WordPress Plugins for Affiliate Marketers
Not all WordPress plugins for affiliate marketers are created equal.
Here are 11 you’ll love (+why you’ll love them):
Source: thrivethemes.com
Price: $19/month (paid annually)
Thrive Architect is a page builder that I absolutely love.
In fact, it’s the one I use when building most of my sites.
What’s to love about it?
Well, first off, it’s super user-friendly. You can be a total newbie and have no idea how to build a page, and you’ll instantly hit it off with Thrive Architect.
What’s more, it allows you to make your site truly your own.
You can design a blog, sales pages, landing pages, opt-in pages, and more, with this simple, minimalistic page builder.
Plus, you can customize your pages to your heart’s content.
You can add star ratings, testimonials, styled lists, countdown timers, content reveals, guarantee boxes, call-to-action boxes…
…the list runs on.
Take it from me: if you only plan to get one WordPress plugin, get Thrive Architect.
Source: yoast.com
Price: FREE and $89 (premium version)
Question.
What’s one thing that’s better than a well-designed site?
Traffic, of course!
To succeed in your affiliate marketing business, you’ll need a ton of traffic from Google. And to do that, you need to rank well on the SERPs.
This is where Yoast SEO comes in.
Yoast SEO is a plugin that helps you optimize your content, add structured data to your site to make it rank better, set up a solid linking structure, and more.
It helps you keep your meta title and description within the right length, avoid turning your readers off with wordy or tedious sentences, and prevent your visitors from experiencing the annoyance of ending up on dead links.
I have to admit, I’m a tad confused right now.
If you’re planning to use only one WordPress plugin, would I recommend Thrive Architect or Yoast SEO?
I give up: get both.
You won’t regret it.
Source: affiliatewp.com
Pricing: Personal ($149) Plus ($199) Professional ($299)
Now, let’s imagine you’re on the other side of the fence.
You’re not the affiliate marketer, but the person with a product you want affiliates to promote.
If this is you, go for AffiliateWP.
AffiliateWP allows you to create your own affiliate program easily and seamlessly on WordPress.
Yup!
This is the plugin for the organized online business owner, as it allows you to see your top earning affiliates, check out affiliate reports in real-time, take control of your registrations, set your cookie date, and more.
It’s a super easy-to-use plugin, and the tools and features it offers will allow you to earn more money faster.
Source: prettylinks.com
Pricing: Beginner ($79) Marketer ($99) Super Affiliate ($149)
Notice how affiliate links can look messy?
They spiral on and on with dozens of letters, numbers, and symbols that don’t make sense to the human eye.
(Why would they, when they’re robot-speak?)
Enter, Pretty Links.
This plugin is an excellent tool that allows you to turn long, ugly affiliate links into shorter, more memorable and catchy ones.
Plus, this plugin is out to save you a ton of time.
That’s because it automatically places your affiliate links in your existing and new content for you.
Yup!
Pretty Links promises you more revenue from your content…in a much shorter time.
Plus, it’s one of the most beginner-friendly affiliate marketing plugins out there, so you can start using it from the get-go even if you’re still not sure what “plugin” really means.
Source: thirstyaffiliates.com
Pricing: Basic ($49) Plus ($99) Advanced ($149)
Thirsty Affiliates does the same thing Pretty Links does.
It allows you to transform long and ugly affiliate links into more attractive ones.
It also allows you to insert your links into your content quickly and easily by looking out for keywords you use in your writing.
But it does more than that.
It also generates reports packed with useful statistics, automatically updates all your links, prevents affiliate link 404 errors, and more.
If you’re a total newbie, you’ll love how user-friendly and simple this plugin is.
Source: monsterinsights.com
Pricing: Plus ($79) Pro ($159) Agency ($319)
As an affiliate marketer, you can’t just throw your site together, write content, add your links, and hope the odds are in your favor.
Nope!
What you need is strategy.
And to build a good strategy, you need data.
The problem is, Google Analytics is troublesome and complex at best.
This is where Monster Insights can help you.
The plugin is everything you need to find out which of your blog posts are getting the most traffic, who your readers are and where they come from, how your affiliate marketing campaigns are doing, and more.
If you know you need a strategy to succeed in affiliate marketing, you know you need Monster Insights.
Source: constantcontact.com
Pricing: Email ($20) Email Plus ($45)
Here’s a truth you should always keep in mind on your affiliate marketing journey:
Affiliate marketing is no different from other online businesses.
This means that you’ll need things other online businesses need, including an email list.
The truth is, email can do a ton of great things for you.
Since the email marketing ROI is 122%, you can grow your business beyond your expectations through this channel alone.
Now, if you’re looking for a tool to make email marketing a piece of pie, Constant Contact is a great choice.
It allows you to segment your list, automate your emails, build customized campaigns, and more.
With it, you can drive more traffic to your site, sell more affiliate products, and build a lasting relationship with your subscribers.
Source: WPForms
Pricing: Basic ($39.5) Plus ($99.5) Pro ($199.5) Elite $299.5
WP Forms is a plugin that allows you to create all kinds of forms.
From surveys to email opt-ins to registration forms, it’s got your back.
What’s great about WP Forms is that it’s a handy plugin to use whether you’re an affiliate marketer or a business owner with an affiliate program.
In either case, it allows you to create customized forms that’ll help you get to know your audience or affiliates better.
The best part?
It’s drag and drop, meaning you can be a complete beginner and still use it like a pro.
Source: adsanityplugin.com
Pricing: Just the Basics ($49) All-in-One ($149) All-in-One for Life ($489)
As an affiliate marketer, the main place you’ll plant your affiliate links is your blog.
That doesn’t mean, however, that it’s the only place you can put them.
To attract more eyeballs to your affiliate products and earn more money, you can add banner ads around your site.
These can be in your sidebar, footer, or even interspersed within your content.
This is where AdSanity can help you.
With AdSanity, you can easily manage all your ads from one simple platform, plus check up on how well these ads are performing in real-time.
Source: easyaffiliate.com
Pricing: Basic ($99.5) Plus ($149.5) Pro ($199.5)
Easy Affiliate is for people who have an online business or e-commerce store, and would like to create their own affiliate program.
As it mentions on its site, it’s the “all-in-one” affiliate program plugin for WordPress.
This means that when you grab this plugin, you probably don’t need another one to run your affiliate dashboard, view real-time reports, manage your affiliates, automate emails, and more.
Source: affiliate.wpindeed.com
Pricing: $69
Ultimate Affiliate Pro is like Easy Affiliate in that it’s an all-in-one affiliate marketing plugin.
As a business owner or e-commerce seller, you can use it to create and streamline your own affiliate marketing program.
What’s amazing about Ultimate Affiliate Pro is that it integrates easily with a ton of popular tools like MailChimp, Constant Contact, PayPal, and more.
This means you can run your whole affiliate campaign from a single user-friendly dashboard.
Best WordPress Plugins for Affiliate Marketers: Which Is the Best for You?
Whether you’re an affiliate marketer or the owner of an affiliate marketing program…
…you’ll need make a list of the best WordPress plugins for affiliate marketers.
However, I don’t recommend you install all of the plugins I mention in this blog.
That’s because some of their features overlap, and remember, having too many plugins can slow down your site.
So, how do you know which plugins are best for you?
The answer is simple: it depends on you, your strategy, and your goals.
If you’re an affiliate marketer, I recommend you start with Thrive Architect, Yoast SEO, and Monster Insights.
Later, you can go for a link shortening plugin, an email campaign plugin, and AdSanity.
On the other hand, if you’re an affiliate program owner, I suggest you go with one affiliate marketing plugin such as Easy Affiliate or Ultimate Affiliate Pro.
You can also use Thrive Architect to build your site and Yoast SEO to help you rank well on Google.
With this quick guide, you’re more than ready to get out there and start earning more for your business!
This post is part of our free series on Affiliate Marketing! If you want to learn everything from A – Z in one place, then check out our course below!
