We regularly get the question “what is the best Affiliate plugin for WordPress?” The answer is as clear as the question: It is not there! Because the best plugin is the plugin that best fits the e-commerce plugin that you use and also best fits the way you want to set up your affiliate program. But rest assured there are a large number of good affiliate plugins available for WordPress. Now how does affiliate marketing work ?

Clear affiliate conditions

When entering into an affiliate agreement with your affiliates, it is, of course, important that you clearly establish the agreements with regard to the affiliate program. A number of important things are:

How much is paid per referral?

Both you and your affiliate naturally want to earn as much as possible from the sale of your products. To make matters worse, your customer naturally also wants your product to be as cheap as possible. Three wishes that bite each other. You will have to find a balance here yourself. However, to keep it interesting for your affiliate, my advice is to donate at least 20% of the margin on the product for your affiliate. Of course, you do not express this as ‘20% of the margin ‘, because it actually does not concern your affiliate what your margin is at all, but as a percentage of the gross price. Digital products (because the margin here is 100%) can, therefore, have much higher compensation than physical products.

When will payment be made?

A number of factors are important for the time of payment. If there is a term within which the sale can be undone, you naturally only want to pay after this term. Moreover, you do not want to work with your affiliate administration periodically (every month, for example) after every sale. And finally, it is good to agree on a minimum amount for the payment. This prevents you from having to do dozens of money transfers every month for affiliates who know how to sell something very occasionally.

How may your products be promoted?

Another thing you absolutely don’t want is that your product will be spammed in all sorts of conceivable and unthinkable ways. Therefore, ensure that you always clearly state in your terms and conditions that in the event of spam, you have the right to terminate an affiliate agreement and accrued credits expire. In other words: Make spam not worthwhile in advance. Also clearly state what ‘spam’ is, or rather, identify the promotion methods that are permitted and have your affiliate explicitly ask for permission for any other form.

Clearly refer to your affiliate program

If you not only want existing customers as an affiliate but also want to give other people the opportunity to promote your products, make sure that the page with affiliate information is easy to find. Include the page in a menu.

Train your affiliates

Many people have a vague understanding of what affiliate marketing is. Start a separate mailing list for your affiliates and regularly give them tips on how to promote your products. Also, dare to go crazy once in a while: Give a 100% affiliate bonus for digital products temporarily (in other words, give the entire revenue to your affiliate temporarily!). Especially since this is a temporary promotion, your affiliate will temporarily put more energy into the promotion and once he has seen how easy it is to earn with your products, he will continue to make the effort, even if he will soon receive a lower bonus.