How To Start An Affiliate Program

If you are just starting out in Internet Marketing and have created a product to sell, you might find that you want to set up an affiliate program to reward affiliates. You may even want to reward a person for their referral to your business. Fortunately, there is now an easy way to set this up for a fairly low cost without having to go through Clickbank.

You can use a plugin called WP Instant Pay. This little plugin can be installed on your WordPress Website in a matter of minutes. Setting things up however might take a little longer. This is because the makers of this plugin have struck a deal with PayPal so it can be integrated nicely with WordPress.

What this means is that you will need to have a verified PayPal account before you begin use the plugin. You will also need to apply for an API (Advanced Protocol Interface) – in laymans terms an API is a fancy way of making PayPal work with the plugin so that they work together in a secure environment. That’s about as technical as I can bear.

Applying for an API an be a little complex but the makers of this plugin have provided step by step instructions so if you follow their instructions, you should find it simple enough to set up. Once you have your API you will be provided with a series of numbers that you need to input into the plugin settings. The rest is straight forward.

You simply:

1. Input the product details so that the plugin will automatically generate sales pages, thank you pages, affiliate sign up pages and affiliate thank you pages
2. You get to input the pricing, currency and the percent commission you are offering
3. You upload your zipped file directly into the plugin (assuming you have a digital product)
4. You can set up when links will expire and how many days the product will be available for download after purchase
5. You input your aweber list names (yes, this plugin also has the ability to integrate with your Aweber account and capture names on purchase)

What I liked about the plugin?

The plugin has a few security features built in into it which is really nice. The ability to restrict downloads or have links expire is a nice feature if you are concerned about people sharing your download links. Another really great feature is the fact that you can include One Time Offers with products you sell, although I am not sure exactly how this works yet and if it is a true one click one time offer. The Nanacast Shopping Cart system I use has the ability to do one time offers but if you use Paypal it is not a true one click style of one time offer.

Another nice feature is the fact that it integrates with Aweber and Ger Response. This means you can send emails directly through your wordpress account rather than your Aweber account. There is a reports feature so you can see all sales or sales by affiliate or by product.

I love the fact that this plugin is pretty inexpensive and you do not have to pay ongoing monthly fees for support. I use a similar system and pay $97 a month for it. Whilst the system I use is way more powerful because of its reporting functionality and ability to set different commissions for super affiliate, this plugin is a gem and is a great tool for people starting out or who can’t afford the monthly fee.

The plugin also has the ability to split fees between equity partners. What this means is that if two people develop a product and share the profits, the plugin will work out the commission that goes to your affiliate, pay them instantly as well as work out the sales that are to be shared amongst the equity partners. Nice.

A recent addition is that you can now add coupon codes and have unlimited Coupons per product. This is a great feature because you can offer limited time promotions and set the date you want the coupon to expire.

What is missing?

The plugin lacks the all important click through rate reporting function that you get with more sophisticated programs like Nanacast. Products are less secure than if housed in a program like Nanacast but they are not located in any obvious easy to find places either. The other downside is that the plugin does not integrate with other autoresponder programs but I believe the makers of this plugin are working on more options. I expect this will change in the future.

The other downside is that if you have multiple products, affiliates will need to sign up to promote each product individually. This is a bit of a nuisance. However, the developer is working on changing this so you can choose for affiliates to sign up to promote one product or all products.

My final annoyance was that I could not find the automatically generated page for affiliates to sign up. I lodged a support desk ticket and my response was answered almost instantly (ok well within about half an hour). I consider this excellent. The answer was simpler than I expected and very clear. So if any purchases this plugin, follow this tip:

The easiest way to get the affiliate signup URL (which is automatically generated), is to go to:

• Products
• Products List, then
• View Templates.
• From the drop-down list on the editor page, select Affiliate Signup Page and click the Preview button once it loads.
• Then, just copy the URL from your browser address bar 🙂

My Recommendation

There are some fantastic features included in this plugin that make it quite a handy tool for people who are in the start phase of their business and who can’t afford the monthly fees attached with a more powerful system.

If you don’t like to use the default Paypal button you your website and like using larger buttons, you can change this. The plugin has just been updated to accommodate this.

I am not sure whether I like the fact that the plugin instantly pays affiliates though. The automation feature is great but my concern is what happens if or when someone requests a refund. Yes, you can still hit the issue refund button in Paypal (I tested this and it works). Whilst this has not been a problem for me, I can see that this may be a problem for some. I guess a critical thing would be to ensure your product is good quality or put a time limit on how long someone can claim a refund.

I purchased the plugin about a month ago and since that time, the makers have been constantly making improvements to the plugin – Coupon Codes and the Aweber and GetResponse integration are features that have been added after I purchased. This is a good thing as it shows they are committed to their software.

There will also be a number of future versions coming out that will also include:

• Subscriptions/Recurring Payments.
• Integration with a number of popular membership scripts.
• Support for Physical products as well as digital ones!

They will also be releasing an update with new feature (optional) that will allow us to build an Affiliate Product Marketplace. All you will need to do is tick a checkbox if you want to publish your product’s affiliate program with us and 3rd party affiliate programs.

I am totally impressed with the plugin and also the service and support provided by the team.  It’s such a tiny price at $67 when compared to some of the full featured programs that I recommend it.  Really great plugin for those wanting the test the waters and not ready to take the leap for a program like Nanacast. For a short time only, you can get WP Instant Pay for $27 if you use the coupon code SUMMERTIME.

<< You can grab a copy of WP Instant Pay Here >>

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