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This article describes the ways to add affiliate links to your WordPress website. We will also go over the benefits of using a plugin to create affiliate links. You can then start getting credit for clicks or sales conversions generated from your site.
Create a Standard Link
When you create affiliate links in WordPress, you can always add it as a standard link. This is the same way you would add any link. It is easy to do but it does not hide the affiliate URL. Here is our guide:
When visitors roll their mouse over the link, it will show them the affiliate key or token. It will often look similar to this:
example.com/sales&affiliates=123456This may cause visitors to question the extra affiliate tracking code in the link. You can fix this by using an affiliate plugin to create affiliate links. These allow you to easily hide the URL of the link, this is also known as masking or cloaking.
Create Hidden Affiliate Links
Want to hide the affiliate code in your links? Use a plugin! There are some popular options and many include tools for tracking clicks. You can then run reports on the information that has been gathered. These analytics can be critical when identifying your target market and building customer personas. We will now go over the most popular WordPress plugins for creating affiliate links.
Shortlinks by Pretty Links
At its core, Shortlinks is a URL shortener similar to bitly. Instead of using a 3rd party website, it uses your domain name. For example, when you use bitly the URL will look similar to this:
https://bit.ly/1a2b3c4Using the Shortlinks plugin on example.com, I can create clean, short URL’s that look similar to this:
https://example.com/testClicking that link can take you anywhere such as:
https://amazon.com.com/product /item&affiliates=123456The Shortlinks plugin collects data on clicks, but you must upgrade to the Pro version to access and run reports. The prices for enabling the Pro features range from $59 to $199 per year depending on the number of sites you are using it on. Here is a link to a comparison chart of Pretty Links pricing plans.
ThirstyAffiliates Affiliate Link Manager
The next most popular plugin for creating affiliate links is ThirstyAffiliates Affiliate Link Manager. While it is similar to the Shortlinks plugin, ThirstyAffiliate does not require a professional license to access their reporting tools. Advanced features such as automatic keyword linking, advanced statistics, and Amazon API importing are available if you purchase the ThirstyAffiliates Pro Add-on. This ranges in price from $49 to $149 per year, depending on how many site licenses you need. See the ThirstyAffiliates pricing and comparison chart for more information.
Easy Affiliate Links
Easy Affiliate Links is another popular plugin for creating and hiding affiliate links. The free version allows you to view some of the basic data that is collected by clicks. You can upgrade to the professional version to get access to detailed charts mapping out clicks and link details. The advanced features for this plugin can be purchased for $29 to $119 per year, depending on how many websites you are using it on. View the advanced features and pricing information on the Easy Affiliate Links download page.
