WooCommerce Affiliate Marketing - A Complete Guide

With job security becoming increasingly uncertain and inflation rising, affiliate marketing is emerging as a steady source of income. And why not? It’s a great way to earn extra cash without trading all your time for money.

For WooCommerce store owners, it’s a great way to increase sales without spending fortunes on flashy advertisements.

But here’s the catch—it’s not just about throwing some links and collecting affiliates; it’s about having the right strategy and tools.

In this article, we’ll discuss the same.

So, get ready to dive into the rewarding world of affiliate marketing with this comprehensive guide.

What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing refers to promoting someone’s products/services and getting a commission in exchange when a sale is made.

With the right skills, anyone can be a good affiliate marketer!

Pros of being an affiliate marketer

Earn passive income: Forget the 9-to-5 grind! Once you align your marketing efforts in the right direction, you can earn money while you sleep.
Low investment: You can start without the need for any investments. You just need to pick a product that sells.
Flexibility: You can work anytime, anywhere, and focus on niches you enjoy.
No customer support: Sellers handle complaints and queries, leaving you stress-free.
Scalable earnings: Your income grows with your efforts—more sales, more rewards!

These are some benefits of being an affiliate marketer. But what about WooCommerce store owners? How can affiliate marketing benefit them?

You need to set up an affiliate program and hire quality affiliates who can promote your brand.

Pros of having your affiliate program

Increased visibility: Get more exposure and traffic on your dedicated landing pages.
Lower costs: Avoid hefty fees charged by third-party networks.
Complete control: Customize your affiliate program to match your business needs.
Reduced dependency: Eliminate reliance on external platforms for payments or conditions.
24/7 marketing: Expand your reach globally and ensure consistent promotion round the clock.

Affiliate marketing is your chance to turn flexibility, creativity, and smart strategy into a profitable venture. Ready to dive in?

How to start affiliate marketing as an affiliate?

Affiliate marketing can be a rewarding venture when done right.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you kickstart your journey with WooCommerce products:

Choose the right platform

The first step is choosing the right platform. Affiliate marketing thrives on different platforms; email, blogging and YouTube are the best choices.

Email: Run a targeted set of emails covering the product with affiliate links.
Blog: Start a blog to share insights and product reviews (try to add affiliate links naturally). Optimize it for SEO and attract organic traffic.
YouTube: Create engaging videos, optimize for SEO, and add affiliate links in your descriptions.

Pick a niche

Competition is fierce; therefore, you must be specific to carve out a reasonable amount of profit for yourself.

Choose a specific category to promote. For example, instead of “marketing in WooCommerce,” try something more specific, like “marketing with coupons in WooCommerce.”

Join affiliate programs

An affiliate program is an agreement that allows people to become affiliates and earn commissions for referring traffic or sales to you.

There are three types of affiliate programs to choose from:

High-paying, low-volume: These are affiliate programs for niche products with high payouts. Since you’re probably just starting, it’ll be quite challenging to make a meaningful amount of money competing against skilled marketers with deep pockets.
Low-paying, high-volume: These are affiliate programs for products with low payouts but mass appeal.
High-paying, high-volume: These affiliate programs offer both mass appeal and high commissions.

Pick a program based on your niche and audience.

Create quality content

If you want your affiliate site to succeed, you must create high-quality content where your affiliate links fit naturally.

Avoid blindly listing products, instead, focus on making content that solves the visitor’s problem.

For example, if you’re doing reviews, buy and test the product first. A review that sounds natural will have more impact. Moreover, a video review has an increased potential to perform better.

Drive traffic to your content

You’ve created great content. The next step is to get more people to read it so that they will click on your affiliate links.

Paid traffic: Great for high-paying programs but requires a budget and careful planning.
SEO: Improve your ranking by targeting the right keywords and optimizing content.
Email marketing: Build a list by offering lead magnets like ebooks and guides and use them to promote content or send affiliate offers.

Optimize affiliate links

Next, once you are done with other things, try to encourage clicks by:

Placing links wisely: Avoid spamming your audience with multiple WooCommerce affiliate links or hiding them at the bottom. Remember, balance is the key.
Providing context: Make sure each of your links aligns with the topic.
Using callouts: Use buttons, boxes, or tables to make your WooCommerce affiliate links stand out and boost conversions.

Turn clicks into sales

While you control the click, the merchant handles the sale. Choose affiliate programs with high-converting product pages for maximum commissions.

By following these steps, you can build a sustainable affiliate marketing business.

Now that you understand the basics of affiliate marketing, let’s explore how setting up an affiliate program in WooCommerce can aid in affiliate marketing .

How to set up an affiliate program for your WooCommerce store?

If you’re a WooCommerce store owner, affiliate marketing is a powerful way to increase sales without upfront advertising costs.

The best part? Starting your own affiliate marketing is not as hard as you think. With Affiliate for WooCommerce you can set up your own affiliate program in minutes.

Affiliate for WooCommerce plugin dashboard

With Affiliate for WooCommerce, you can recruit the right affiliates, set commissions and marketing campaigns, and allow them to promote your products.

It’s simple, jargon-free, and without complications, unlike other plugins. Trusted by 5500+ users, it’s a hot-selling plugin on WooCommerce.com.

Why Affiliate for WooCommerce?

Supercharge your affiliate game: Provide your affiliates with custom links, banners, and ready-to-go marketing materials to maximize their promotion efforts. This way, they’ll spend less time creating resources and focus more on selling.
Automated commission tracking: Handling commissions manually can be a headache. With Affiliate for WooCommerce, you can automate things and streamline the process.
Seamless payments: Whether you want to pay your affiliates using PayPal, Stripe, or manual methods, Affiliate for WooCommerce makes it happen. Smooth payments = happy affiliates!
Easy setup, big results: You’ll be up and running in no time, and with a few tweaks, you’ll have your network of affiliates helping drive sales and grow your business.

It’s all about making affiliate marketing work for you without the extra stress. Now let’s see how you can set up your own affiliate program.

Setting up your affiliate program with WooCommerce

Here are the detailed steps to kickstart your affiliate marketing journey.

Installing the plugin

First, install and activate the Affiliate for WooCommerce plugin on your WordPress.

After that, go to the WordPress Admin panel and then WooCommerce > Settings > Affiliate.

Affiliate settings

To create a thriving affiliate marketing ecosystem for your WooCommerce store, start by customizing the core settings in the Affiliate for WooCommerce plugin. Here’s how:

General settings

Use this tab to define clear affiliate rules for your store.

Who can become an affiliate?
What approval method will you use – view all submissions or auto-approve?
Which products should be excluded from affiliate promotion?
How long will referral tracking last?

Registration form customization

Use this shortcode [afwc_registration_form] to set up registration forms and allow users to sign up for your program.

Referral tracking

Use this tab to customize tracking parameters, enable personalized affiliate names, and make links look clean. You can also assign coupons to affiliates, launch a multi-tier program, and decide whether the first or last affiliate gets credit.

Commission settings

The next setting is for commissions. Here, you will get three settings, namely:

Referral commission: Set the standard commission rate for your store. Whether it’s 10% or 20%, make it clear.
Lifetime commissions: Use this setting to allow your affiliates to earn commissions for repeat purchases.
Lifetime commissions exclude affiliates: Need to make an exception? Search and select the affiliates you want to exclude from lifetime commissions.

Payout settings

Use this tab to set up different rules for payouts. It can be a waiting period before paying payouts to avoid commissions on refunded orders or defining a minimum payout threshold.

Payout invoices

Use this tab to customize your payout invoice. Here you can allow your affiliate to print invoices from the Payouts tab. And customize it to match your brand identity.

Affiliate’s account

On this tab, you will get three options:

Custom page for affiliate dashboard: Want your affiliates to track their performance? Just copy; and paste this shortcode: [afwc_dashboard] on your web page.
Register as an affiliate: Use this option to show the affiliate registration form to the existing users and allow them to join your affiliate program.

By setting up these key features, you’re not just launching an affiliate program—you’re creating a thriving affiliate marketing ecosystem that boosts your WooCommerce store, attracts customers, and drives consistent sales.

Just don’t forget to hit the Save button once you’re done.

Now that we have basic settings, let’s move on to the important affiliate marketing sections .

Create and assign coupons

Affiliate links are good, but affiliate coupons are one step ahead. They offer unique benefits and elevates your affiliate marketing.

For customers: Coupons are a great way to incentivize your customers to complete their purchases.
For affiliates: Affiliates also feel motivated to promote your store when they have exclusive coupons to offer.
For you: As your affiliate program grows, coupons act as a simple and effective way to reward more affiliates without involving them in a complicated process.

Overall, coupons are a great way to incentivize both the customer and the affiliate by creating a system where everyone wins—customers save, affiliates earn commissions, and you increase sales.

So it’s not just a win-win but a win-win-win.

Note: Affiliates can view their assigned coupons under My Account > Affiliate > Profile.

Set up commission plans for your affiliate

commission rules for WooCommerce affiliate marketing

Affiliate for WooCommerce allows you to set up different commission rates for hundreds of other scenarios. Here are a few examples:

Flat storewide commission: Set a fixed commission rate across your store and ensure that your affiliates earn steadily, no matter what they sell.
Product-based commission: If you have a new product, you can kick start its sales by offering higher commissions than usual rates. This way, you can make your affiliates excited to spread the word.
Category-based commission: Not all products have the same value. If you sell a wide range of goods, from clothes to gadgets, you can set different commissions on each category. For example, you can offer higher commissions on luxury products and electronics than on clothing.
First order-based commission: Reward affiliates with an extra commission for each first purchase their customers make.
Affiliate-specific commission: You can also choose to reward your top performing affiliates with higher commission rates than the rest. This will keep your top performers happy and motivate others to work harder.
Recurring commission: Do you have a subscription-based business? If yes, then don’t stick to the normal commission plan; instead, offer your affiliates recurring benefits every time their referred customer renews their subscription.
Commission based on a referral medium: Want to track which is the right way to promote your good? Set different commission rates for affiliates based on whether they use referral links or coupons. This way, you can compare which one is best for your shop.

Create and manage affiliate campaigns

affiliate marketing campaigns restriction

Have you ever thought about how affiliates promote your brand? Are they just placing links here and there and waiting for sales? Or they are using their time to create promotional materials.

How about skipping this and providing your affiliates pre-made promotional materials? So, your affiliates can save time and invest their full mind into selling the products.

Well, this is known as Affiliate campaigns in the Affiliate for WooCommerce plugin.

It’s a collection of promotional resources and guidelines for affiliate partners. Be it banners, logos, product images, creative descriptions, videos, blogs – share any affiliate marketing assets.

To create campaigns:

First, plan your campaign. Check what materials you want in your campaign and create them. Post that, use Affiliate for WooCommerce to create a campaign.
Go to WooCommerce > Affiliate > Campaigns.
Now click on Add a Campaign to create a new one.
A slide panel will open up. Here, enter details like name, slug, destination link, and a short and full description.
Select ‘Active’ from the drop-down at the top.
And hit the save button.

Your affiliates can find active campaigns under the Account> Affiliate > Campaigns tab.

Automated payouts with Affiliates for WooCommerce

Managing payouts manually can be a headache, but with Affiliate for WooCommerce, you can automate the process and save your time.

First, choose the payment method. Decide whether you want to use PayPal or Stripe for automated payouts. The good news is that the plugin supports both.

To get started with automated payouts, refer to these:

You can also pay manually via PayPal, Stripe and direct bank transfers.

Dedicated affiliate dashboard

Ever wished for a dedicated space to manage and track all your affiliate activities in one place?

Well, Affiliate for WooCommerce provides you with precisely that. You get a store admin dashboard with an overview of each affiliate’s activity.

The dashboard displays important information like total sales, commission payouts, and active affiliates, and the leaderboard shows top performers.

Bonus, your affiliates get a dedicated space to track their activities. This way, your affiliates won’t need to contact you for every detail.

Instead, they could just sign in to their Account and check the affiliate area for everything.

Overall, remember that it’s not just about creating an affiliate program—but building a community of advocates who want to see your brand succeed.

The best part? Let the Affiliate WooCommerce plugin do all the heavy lifting.

Try Affiliate for WooCommerce demo

Top affiliate marketing channels to drive revenue

Now that you have set up your affiliate program, the next step for affiliates is choosing the right platform to promote your product.

So, which channels should they focus on? Let’s break them down for both affiliate marketers and store owners.

Copywriting and SEO

No one will come to your site directly and click on a link. A crisp, interesting, and compelling copywriting powered by SEO will bring potential leads to your site.

For example, “the best tool for, top ten plugins for, honest review, how to achieve…” and similar topics rich with keywords will attract quality traffic to your website.

So try to optimize your website for search and creating valuable content.

Influencers

Influencer marketing continues to be one of the most effective ways to promote products.

Using influencers can also be a great way to gain traction and exposure on social media.

Today, Instagram and YouTube are popular platforms for reaching their audiences.

They already boast an impressive following, so it’s easy for them to direct consumers to the seller’s products through social media posts, blogs, and other interactions with their followers.

Here’s an in-depth guide on using influencers for affiliate marketing.

Bloggers

Blogging is still one of the champions when it comes to promoting products. You can also use focused blogs to write product comparisons, tutorials, and in-depth reviews.

Deal sites

Deal sites are usually a fairground for affiliate marketing. They are hungry for commissions. You can easily send affiliate links or coupons to these people, and they can promote them.

Email list

Email is still and will be the king. Affiliate marketers will have a list of audiences that may be interested in your products. Some may even build a list and then start promoting products to this list. Either way, it is a great way to kickstart promotions.

The best part of all these channels is your brand becomes visible to a broad audience. This also includes people who haven’t heard about your brand ever.

Dos and don’ts for affiliate marketers

Affiliate marketing is a lucrative profession, but to succeed you need proper information. Here are some dos and don’ts to guide you:

Promoting products for money

Amateur marketers are interested in money, not the value the product delivers. Instead, focus on what the audience will gain from using the products you promote.

Also, don’t always fall to sellers offering higher commissions. The product quality may not be excellent. So, think from the customers’ perspective.

Recommending untrustworthy products

You must recommend products you have used and gain your trust as a customer/consumer.

Your hands-on approach will guide you in creating a genuine recommendation that will help your audience by making the right decision.

Wrong product, partner selection

If your audience is inclined toward healthy products, selling other health-related products or organic foods will not work well, and you should refrain from selling electronic products.

Like products, if you select the wrong partners, that can also hamper your affiliate sales.

Ignoring SEO

If you have very comprehensive content but it’s not optimized for search, there is almost no point in it.

Make sure to carry out your SEO research before planning your article list.

Ignoring social media and emails

Go beyond SEO. You can do so with social media, as well as email marketing. Utilize these mediums to promote affiliate products and earn good traction of traffic.

Avoiding split testing

When preparing marketing campaigns such as social media ads, Google ads, or email campaigns, we often have many ideas for delivering the same message, but we usually rely on the first one.

So don’t refrain from trying things out, like running two sets of infographics from the same campaign or using two subject lines for the same email.

This will provide you with the most important learning, which is self-learning. Chances are, it can turn out to be a magical campaign.

Dos and don’ts for WooCommerce store owners

Here are some dos and don’ts for WooCommerce store owners starting their own affiliate marketing:

Competitor analysis

Analyze what your competitors are offering and at what price. It will help you decide on products and set commissions, agreements, and targets.

Maintain the product quality

Successful affiliate marketing WooCommerce is not just about how high the commission or the money. It’s all about having a great converting product with an edge over your competitors.

Remember, a tremendously converting product is the easiest way to make repeat conversions.

Claim a niche market

Don’t try to sell everything to everyone; this might prevent you from reaching the right audience. Instead, select a niche market, identify where your product fits best, and promote it.

Segment your affiliates

You have a list of customers. Identify customers like top spenders, new customers acquired within the first three months, etc., and try to make them affiliates. See what works better, and keep experimenting.

Take care of your partners

Communicate with them by welcoming them to your affiliate program. Send out updates on product additions or changes. Give them tips and advice on successfully marketing your products.

Always pay them on time. Give bonuses to some who give more sales.

Conclusion

Affiliate marketing isn’t just a strategy—it’s your ticket to exponential growth.

You can create a win-win partnership that drives sales with the right tool, trusted affiliates, and a great program.

Ready to kickstart your journey?

Get Affiliate for WooCommerce today

FAQ

Q1. What are the threats to affiliate marketing?
Fraudulent activities are one most prominent threats to affiliate marketing.

Q2. What are the main types of affiliate marketing?
The main types of affiliate marketing are as follows:

Unattached affiliate marketing.
Involved affiliate marketing.
Related affiliate marketing.