One of the benefits of using WordPress is that it gives its users the option to add extra functionality to their websites. This is done through the use of plugins that provide functionalities like improving the website's SEO, loading speed, design styles, content layout, and many other features.
The WordPress plugin directory has more than 50 000 plugins listed. Choosing the right plugins is crucial for improving the conversion rate of your affiliate website.
In this article, we are sharing with you the 4 best plugins that are a must-have for all affiliates using WordPress for content marketing and generating traffic for affiliate offers and e-commerce products.
- Thirsty Affiliates (FREE)
ThirstyAffiliates is a link management tool that allows you to optimize and cloak your links. It redirects your affiliate links to your safe pages and also makes the links look much prettier with its inbuilt link shortener. Unlike other plugins that simply redirect affiliate URLs, ThirstyAffiliates gives you the control to create a link once, and reference it over and over again. It lets you categorize your affiliate links and choose redirect types (301, 302, or 307 temporary). And also checks for 404 errors and notifies you in case of broken affiliate links.
The top features include:
- An inbuilt link shortener,
- Automatic keyword linking,
- Link statistics and reports,
- Geolocation redirecting,
- Smart uncloaking,
- Automatic 404 checkers,
- 3rd party link importing, and more.
Its paid version starts at $49.
- WPWS (FREE)
WP Window Shopper is a free WordPress plugin that allows you to easily manage and create fully customizable product boxes without any coding knowledge. Using a shortcode system, you can place them anywhere on your website, including Gutenberg blocks (HTML) and sidebars (HTML widget).
It comes with 3 main features which are:
- a template and box system for creating product boxes;
- a global templates system for making global changes to your product boxes;
- a dashboard that lists all your product boxes and lets you edit and manage them.
"After running tests on a couple of articles for 5 days we gathered data from about 250k impressions (1MM+ by now) and found that the new boxes increased CTR by about 10%-20%, depending on the site. Generally, boxes convert a lot better than buttons or text links for us and we use them for pretty much every product (physical and digital) we advertise. This plugin is the best solution we've found so far. Again, once a website reaches a certain size, having all offers you promote in one place is a huge advantage and will save you a lot of time."
- Shortcodes Ultimate ($39 one-time)
The Shortcodes Ultimate plugin is one of the most popular WordPress plugins. It's very useful for adding code snippets that enhance your content layout and the styling of your pages and posts. It makes your content more eye-catching with a professional look.
With Shortcodes ultimate, you can add a lot of HTML and styling elements including; accordions, spoilers, vertical or horizontal tabbed content, column layouts, video and audio, buttons in different colors, styles, and sizes, animations, QR codes, galleries, carousels, and sliders, tables, quotes, drop caps, and so much more. You can also use it for advanced stuff, like adding shortcodes to A/B test your CTA buttons, and more.
- Amazon Affiliate WordPress Plugin (AAWP) — $43/ year
This is one of the best plugins for anyone who uses the Amazon affiliate program to monetize their site. It’s the one that pro bloggers and top Amazon affiliates use to make more money. It comes with many tools and features that can help boost your affiliate site's performance and to enable you to succeed as an Amazon affiliate.
The plugin comes with important features like text links, product boxes, bestseller lists, new releases lists, data fields, widgets, product comparison tables, geo-targeting, and more. Its price starts at $43/ year and it's worth it. The advantages of using AAWP are that it's fast and efficient, it is built to optimize for conversions, it automatically receives product updates, it is consistent and it allows you to target international viewers.
Conclusion
To have a highly performing WordPress site for affiliate marketing, you must opt for plugins that are fast, secure, and scalable. These recommended plugins meet all the 3 conditions and have been tested and proven to perform well by affiliates. Using these plugins will help you save a lot of money and time in development and testing costs. Affiliates are always recommended to utilize tools and systems that save time and extra costs which helps you focus on generating more revenue for your business.
