How to Get More Affiliates: 13+ Proven Ways to Grow Your Program

Growing my business with affiliate marketing seemed simple at first.

Just join a network, attract affiliates, and watch sales climb. But success depended on much more than sheer numbers. I quickly learned that real growth comes from partnering with the right affiliates, not just any affiliates.

Tempted by networks promising thousands of potential partners, I found that only a select few genuinely drove results for my business. In a crowded and competitive marketplace, standing out and connecting with these high-impact affiliates became my biggest challenge, and the key to unlocking sustainable growth.

Determined to overcome these obstacles, I set out to discover the strategies that would truly move the needle. Here’s the journey I took to attract the affiliates who made a real difference.

Quick Summary:  In this guide, I’ll walk you through proven strategies to attract high-quality affiliates who can drive meaningful growth for your program, optimize your recruitment process, and build lasting partnerships.

How to Get More Affiliates

I came to understand that running an effective affiliate program wasn’t just about accumulating affiliates. Joining a network didn’t automatically equate to success, as only a small fraction of all affiliates could provide significant impact. I needed strategies enabling me to rise above the noise and attract quality affiliates.

It was clear that waiting passively for affiliates to find me wouldn’t suffice. Proactivity became my guiding principle, and I experimented with various strategies to attract and sustain quality affiliates.

Here are the approaches that provided the best results:

13+ Ways to Get More Affiliates

1. Installing AffiliateWP

Finding AffiliateWP was transformative. It allowed me to fully customize my WordPress affiliate program and stand out from the crowd.

With its intuitive setup wizard, I quickly launched a professional, branded signup page targeted specifically to my audience, not lost in a network of thousands of generic offers.

Get AffiliateWP today!

2. Customizing Your Affiliate Signup Page 

I approached my affiliate signup page as an essential conversion point. Ensuring it loaded quickly, appeared professional, and utilized strong calls to action made all the difference.

By adding elements of social proof and clear value propositions, I was also able to motivate more affiliates to commit.

You need to take all the tactics you use to sell products online (or generate leads) and use them to sign up new affiliates.

For example, your affiliate signup page needs to:

• Load quickly
• Be responsive
• Look professional 
• Use calls to action
• Utilize social proof
• Collect leads
• Make a clear value proposition

When you run your affiliate program through a WordPress plugin like AffiliateWP, you have a big advantage because you’re in control.

3. Optimizing Your Affiliate Signup Forms

It’s amazing what a difference a good form can make, which is why AffiliateWP gives you lots of different ways to customize your affiliate registration forms. 

Getting your affiliate registration forms right can be tricky because you’ve got to strike a balance.

On the one hand, you need to collect important information about the potential affiliate; however, you want to make it easy for them to register. 

This is where features like WPForms’ conversational forms and lead forms make a massive difference. They guide people through the forms in a way that maximizes conversions. 

If you’re going to get more affiliates, you need a solid affiliate form, and there’s no better way to do this than with WPForms and AffiliateWP.

4. Be Creative with Your Affiliate Commissions 

To make my program more appealing, I went beyond offering flat commissions.

Introducing tiered rates and recurring referral models incentivized affiliates to perform better without stretching my budget too thin. These adjustments made my program stand out to top affiliates who appreciated these innovative perks.

One of the first things affiliates will look for when they land on your affiliate program page is the commission. Naturally, bigger commissions are going to be more appealing to top affiliates, but there’s more to it than that. 

Think beyond the basic commission to find ways to incentivize and reward affiliates. 

For instance, you can create tiered commission rates so that the more an affiliate sells, the more they earn. Or, if you sell subscription products, you can offer a Recurring Referral so that affiliates get paid every time the customer renews. 

Top affiliates love these little extras because they reward performance, and they allow you to offer a greater incentive without breaking the bank.

5. Showcase Affiliate Success Stories 

People want to know that other affiliates have joined your program and had success.

Make sure you’re using your affiliate success stories as social proof to show what it’s possible to achieve. If you’ve got some high-performing affiliates, then they’ll be more than happy to give you a testimonial if you ask.

If you’re starting a new affiliate program, you can still use social proof!

Affiliates need to know that your products sell and that your customers love them, so customer reviews and testimonials are also useful. 

If you’re looking for an amazing tool to showcase social proof, look at TrustPulse. It gives live sales notifications and can even be set up to show a notification when someone joins your affiliate program. 

When potential affiliates see that other people are signing up for your program, they’ll also have a greater incentive to join.

6. Invest in Your Website

Affiliates are relying on you to make sales. They can do the greatest marketing in the world, but if your website doesn’t convert, they won’t get paid. 

A high-quality affiliate will take a hard look at your website and ask themselves how likely it is to convert. If it doesn’t seem likely to convert, then even a huge commission isn’t seem worthwhile. 

If your sales funnel performs well and your affiliates are getting great conversion rates, then go ahead and highlight it on your signup page. 

7. Go the Extra Mile with Manual Outreach

It’s not that easy to make affiliate sales. You’ve got to have access to the right audience and be a great marketer.

These people are out there but are not necessarily searching for your affiliate program. They might not even be doing affiliate marketing.

But you can still find them!

You understand your industry as well as anyone, so with a bit of manual email outreach, you will find some promising leads.

A personal message to a potential affiliate is your most powerful tool. It’s about creating connections, and that’s where you find the best affiliates.

Open the conversation and then make a great case as to why an affiliate relationship can benefit both of you.

It’s easy to overcomplicate things when thinking about getting affiliates, but sometimes the simplest methods are the best.

8. Convert Your Customers into Affiliates 

One group that often gets forgotten when discussing how to find affiliates is your customers.

Your biggest fans can often be your best salespeople.

Why?

Because they understand your brand, they understand your products, and they love them. Enthusiasm sells, and personal recommendations are one of the most persuasive selling tools.

With software like AffiliateWP, you can automatically enroll your users as affiliates, making this extremely easy. You’ve already got a relationship with these people so it’s just a case of making them aware that they can earn money (or store credit) when they recommend your products.

9. Join Affiliate Communities 

Affiliate marketers can be a close-knit bunch. 

There are lots of places where they go to share tips and discuss their profession. When you join these communities, you’ll learn much more about what affiliates are looking for and how they find new affiliate programs. 

Not only is this an opportunity to create new connections, but it can also inform how you run your program. 

You don’t just want people to sign up for your program; you want them to stick with you and bring in consistent sales. If you’re going to do this, you’ve got to understand how to set up a program that works for its affiliates. 

10. Collect Emails and Leverage Email Marketing

Don’t just focus on the conversion; ensure you generate leads. People might not sign up for your program on their first visit, but you can continue your recruitment if you have their email. 

Treat it like cart abandonment and put potential affiliates into a targeted email series. Not only will this boost your conversion rate, but it will also show that you take your affiliate program seriously, something any affiliate wants to see.

11. Leverage Your Social Media 

Something you’ll often hear about in digital marketing is reaching people where they hang out. 

In today’s world, that means social media for over four billion of us. That is a lot of people, and there will be a lot of affiliate marketers on there. 

If you have an active social media presence, this is a great platform to highlight your affiliate program. It’s one of those things where if people don’t know, they won’t sign up. 

These people have taken the time to follow your business, so there’s a good chance your affiliate program might interest them. 

12. Network within Your Industry

It’s easy to look at the influence of social media in society and think that networking (the physical kind) is dead. 

When talking about how to get affiliates, though, who you know is important. 

As good as digital connections are, there are few things as powerful as a human connection, and it’s certainly true when looking at how to get more affiliates. 

Those people you meet at tradeshows, conferences, and other events are great connections. Generally, these people already have a presence in your industry, so they might be ideal affiliates. You don’t know until you ask, so make sure you build your network and get to know people in your niche. 

13. Use Your Email Signature

If growing your affiliate program is your top priority, then you’ll want to make the most of every marketing opportunity you get. 

Another option is to use your email signature to make people aware of your affiliate program. 

Think about how many emails you send out each day! Some people might see a link to your affiliate program in your email signature and think, “wow, that’s exactly what I’ve been looking for!”

14. Ensure Quick Payments 

Nobody wants to be chasing up payments or waiting months to receive the commission they’re due. 

Plenty of sub-standard affiliate programs are out there, so clearly identify what makes yours different. Detail how you ensure affiliates get regular, prompt payment and follow through with your promises. 

When you use AffiliateWP, you benefit from our integrated payouts service, which helps automate your affiliate payouts. This allows you to make regular payments without the hassle. 

You want affiliates who are going to invest time and energy into marketing your products, and it’s only right they receive prompt payment for their referrals. 

The easier you can make this, the more it will help you get affiliates to sign up.

Now Ensure Your Affiliates Stay in Your Program for Longer

Knowing how to get affiliates into your program is one thing; keeping them there is another! Affiliate marketing is a competitive world and it’s easy for your affiliates to disengage with your offers. 

The easiest way to stop this is by making consistent sales, keeping up communication, and showing you’re always working to improve your program. 

To do this, you’ll need affiliate software with:

•  Innovative marketing features
• The right integrations
• Consistent updates

If your website runs on WordPress,, the best way to do this is with AffiliateWP.

Check out AffiliateWP’s pricing!

FAQs About Getting More Affiliates

Now You Know How to Get More Affiliates

Now you’ve got some great tips on how to get more affiliates; the only thing left to do is put them into practice.

Once you’ve got your processes set up and become consistent, you will get a steady stream of new affiliates.

And when you do, we’ve got even more great resources to help you.

• How to Set Up Affiliate Marketing for Online Courses (WordPress Guide)
• 10+ Best WooCommerce Affiliate Plugins (Compared)
• How to Create an Affiliate Program with PayPal (Guide)
• How EDD Onboards 100+ Affiliates a Year to Supercharge Sales

It’s time to take the first step to get more affiliates.

Set up AffiliateWP today!