How to Create Affiliate Links in WordPress (Simple Guide)

Trying to figure out how to create affiliate links in WordPress?

Then this step-by-step guide is exactly what you need.

Here’s how you can create affiliate links in WordPress and grow your business through affiliate marketing.

Adding Affiliate Link Tracking Capabilities to Your Website

If you’re looking to sell your own products and services through affiliate marketing, then the question is: how can your affiliates create affiliate links on your WordPress website?

To make this happen, you’ve got to add affiliate link tracking capabilities to your site.

Don’t worry!

This is a lot easier than it sounds, and even WordPress beginners will find it an easy process.

In fact, you can sync your products and start your affiliate program in as little as 5 minutes.

Once you do, your affiliates will be able to create affiliate links for your products and start marketing them to their audience.

This can bring limitless growth opportunities to your business and create a passive income, all with very low start-up costs. Perhaps this is the reason over 80% of brands run affiliate programs!

Now’s the time for you to do the same thing, so we’re going to show you how to create an affiliate link in WordPress (and build a comprehensive affiliate program).

How to Create Affiliate Links in WordPress

You can create affiliate links in WordPress by integrating affiliate software through your e-commerce, membership, or form plugins.

This allows you to attract top affiliates and influencers to promote your products and create a new revenue stream.

Here’s a quick overview of how you can do it:

Install AffiliateWP
Complete the setup wizard
Add affiliates to your program
Affiliates create affiliate links for your products

So, let’s get started and show you how to create an affiliate link in WordPress.

If you get stuck at any point in our step-by-step guide, then check out our handy tutorials.

Step 1: Install AffiliateWP

affiliateWP best WooCommerce affiliate plugin

The first step is to install AffiliateWP.

It has integrations with all your favorite plugins like WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, MemberPress, Stripe, PayPal, and many more, and it will even connect with your form builder and email marketing platform.

Even better, it offers the best affiliate tracking for WordPress.

Just head over to our pricing page and choose the plan that best fits your needs.

If you have any problems installing the plugin, then check out our handy guide, and it will walk you through every step.

Step 2: Complete the Setup Wizard

One of the reasons AffiliateWP is the best way to create referral links on WordPress is because it makes it incredibly easy to get started.

Open up the setup wizard by hovering over AffiliateWP in the left-hand sidebar of your WordPress dashboard and click Settings.

Now scroll to the bottom of the page and click Launch Setup Wizard.

A new box will open, and it’s going to walk you through every step of your setup.

First, copy your license key from your confirmation email (you can also find it in your AffiliateWP account), and paste it into the License Key field before hitting Continue.

On the next page, you’ll see a list of integrations to choose from. Select the software you use to sell your products, and click Continue.

Next, choose your commission structure.

Choose your currency, how much you want to pay out for each referral, and the commission type (percentage of total order value, or flat fee). You can always change these later by going to your AffiliateWP settings, and we also allow you to create custom commissions for specific products or affiliates.

Once you’ve chosen your commission options and clicked Save and Continue, you’ll then be asked to choose your affiliate link structure and cookie expiration.

This will decide your basic link structure, but we also give you lots of options to personalize your links, which we will talk about later.

For now, click Save and Continue before finishing the setup wizard by clicking Finish the setup and exit the wizard.

Your affiliate program is now up and running!

Step 3: Sign Up Affiliates

Once you’ve completed the setup wizard, AffiliateWP will create a page on your site called Affiliate Area which is in the pages tab of your WordPress dashboard.

You can choose to use the templates provided, or you can create your own signup page, it’s up to you.

When you’re happy with your registration page, you can send potential affiliates to it so they can sign up and create an account.

Once you’ve approved the affiliate, they’ll then be able to create links and start promoting your affiliate products.

Now, let’s show you how to create affiliate links in WordPress.

Note: You can also manually add all types of affiliates by going to the Affiliates tab in AffiliateWP and clicking Add New. You can also set up automated messaging in your Settings to keep affiliates informed.

Step 4: Affiliates Generate Affiliate Links

As soon as your affiliates have been approved, they can create affiliate links by logging into their Affiliate Area.

To do this, they simply return to the registration page and enter the login details they created in step 3.

When they do this, they’ll be presented with a screen that looks like this.

To create an affiliate link, all they have to do is paste the URL for the page (this could be your home page, product pages, or any page on your site) they want to promote into the box and click Generate.

AffiliateWP will automatically track referrals for this link, allowing your affiliate to be paid when they make a sale.

Step 5: Track Referrals in Your Affiliate Dashboard

You can manage your entire referral program from your affiliate dashboard.

Head to the Overview tab to get an instant snapshot of visits, referrals, total earnings, conversion rates, and more, or click the Reports tab to dig further into the metrics.

Grow course sales with affiliate marketing

This gives you complete control over your affiliate program and helps to maximize your marketing efforts.

You’ll also find we’ve made it extremely easy to pay out your affiliate commissions. All you’ve got to do is head to the Payouts tab, and click Pay Affiliates to pay out on your affiliate sales.

Make Your Affiliate Links Even More Effective

Affiliate links can be a little bit ugly, which is why many affiliates like to customize (and optimize) their affiliate URLs.

AffiliateWP offers tons of ways to do this.

Custom Affiliate Slugs: Allow your affiliates to choose their own affiliate URLs.
Affiliate Landing Pages: Let you build a personalized landing page for affiliates without the need for affiliate links.
Direct Link Tracking: Track referrals without the need for affiliate URLs.
Vanity Coupon Codes: Affiliates can choose their own personalized coupon codes to promote your products.

These features are designed to make affiliate links even more powerful, so they’re well worth exploring!

FAQs: How to Create Affiliate Links in WordPress

How to create affiliate links for free? You can create affiliate links for free by joining an affiliate network, or using free software to create your own affiliate program. The problem with free software is that there are normally limits, and like with affiliate networks, they often take a cut of your revenues. The best way to create affiliate links and build affiliate websites is with high-quality software like AffiliateWP.
How to create affiliate links for influencers? To create affiliate links for influencers (or bloggers) you should integrate your e-commerce website with affiliate marketing software like AffiliateWP. The right software will enable you to set up affiliate management, allowing influencers to create affiliate links and share them on social media – greatly increasing your digital marketing reach.
How to create affiliate links on Instagram? To create affiliate links on Instagram, you need your own affiliate marketing program. The affiliate program will allow you to turn your site into an affiliate site, so influencers can create affiliate links to share on Instagram.
Can you create your own affiliate link? You can create your own affiliate link. All you need is affiliate software to track the referrals and you can add a new marketing strategy to your plan. With AffiliateWP, you can build your own affiliate program, create your own affiliate links, and attract new affiliates right now to grow your online business. Affiliates can alternatively join a program like Amazon Associates and create links to many different retailers’ products.
Do affiliate links help SEO? Affiliate links can help your SEO and improve your rankings in the search engines. By encouraging authoritative websites to link to your site, it can give your website a traffic boost that you can use to bring in new customers and grow your email list.

How to Create Affiliate Links in WordPress and Grow Your Business

Creating affiliate links is just a small part of what you want to achieve.

Ultimately, you want to be able to attract skillful affiliates and manage an affiliate program that grows your small business.

This doesn’t have to be difficult, and with AffiliateWP it isn’t.

It’s the easiest way to build an affiliate program in WordPress and start creating affiliate links.

We’ve even got some extra resources to help you get your affiliate program started.

Now, all that’s left is to get started with AffiliateWP today!