Affiliate plugin for WP-ecommerce
Posted on July 25, 2010
Since Shayne has spent so much time helping people out in the WP e-Commerce user’s forum, it’s no surprise that we receive a steady stream of requests for people looking to enhance their online store. One of the requests we get the most is from people who would like to pay affiliates to drive traffic to their site. With no real solution available, we did what any enthusiastic development team would do; we built it!
Introducing the Affiliate Plugin for WP e-Commerce
The Affiliate Plugin makes it simple to sign up and manage affiliates for your online store. You can easily set the payout amount (flat rate or % of sale) per affiliate, add custom banners and text links with unique tracking codes, view stats and more.
We didn’t forget about your affiliates. They will have the ability to get their unique tracking links and see their traffic and earnings stats.
Screenshots (click to enlarge)
Display a list of your affiliates
Easily create and edit your creatives.
See which sales your affiliates drive.
The Affiliate plugin is available now. Purchase your copy today.
If you need assistance with the plugin or have a feature request, please let us know!
NICE work guys!!
Does this have the option of assigning a coupon to an affiliate? I need this option and would be willing to pay for it. THANKS!!
Spencer, you can create a coupon in WP eCommerce natively. The plugin doesn't have the ability to link a coupon directly to an affiliate. Can you describe how you'd like it to work? For example, do you want to create a coupon in WPEC and then make that coupon only available if the visitor originated from a specific affiliate's link? Let me know and I'll see if we can work it in.
Fantastic work! I've been waiting a really long time for something like this to come along. It's been one of my main gripes about wp-ecommerce's feature set. Any plans to integrate-this-with / add-support-for third party affiliate networks such as ClickBank, PayDotCom, or even Google AdWords CPA/conversion tracking?
Adam, we are definitely looking at new features for the plugin. We're compiling suggestions and will probably do a poll in a few weeks to see which features the users want most. Thanks for the suggestions!
Sounds good, but do you guys have an example website and its affiliate that we can see as a working example?
Martyn, we are working on a couple options for showing off the plugin. A demo site is one of those. A walk-through video is also in the works. We'll post more on that as soon as it's ready!
What are the types of creatives available? Can affils create their own creatives? Can it link to a specific product? When will the demo be available? Is that too many questions? Thanks guys!
Thanks for the questions, beurre. In order, the answers are: - An affiliate could create their own creatives, but they wouldn't be managed by the system. So they'd need to select an existing created and modify the img src to point to their own creative. - Currently it can link only to the main product page or to main page of the site. However, the ability to link to a specific product is on our list for future enhancements. - A demo will be up shortly. (sorry for the delay) - No, that was not too many questions!
beurre, quick update, the current version will in fact track links going directly to a specific product page. You will have to manually edit the link to do it, but I've tested it and it definitely works.
It's the plugin I've been waiting for ever sine I discovered WP Ecommerce! However, $99 is a steep price tag for something that's presented in 3 screenshots. Is there trial version available somewhere for a quick look, or maybe a demo installation?
Jay, we are working on a walk-though video that will give you a better sense for the product. I'll post about it as soon as it's ready.
OK I went a head and bought it - I have a client who needs this solution so I thought I'd give it a try ;-) I understand this needs to happen for an affiliate to start promoting my site: 1.) Register for the site (via Wordpress) 2.) In a seperate step, register as an affiliate (for those unfamiliar with WP, I wonder will they know how to get out of the back end?) 3.) Wait for the Store Owner to approve the affiliate in principle (could take a day or two) 4.) Log-in and accept the Affiliate Agreement 5.) Wait for the Store Owner to approve this step (could take another day or two) 6.) Finally login again, pick a creative and start promoting In all honesty, I can see even the keenest souls getting lost in this process. It takes just too many steps for somebody to promote my project. This is especially true for non-geeks and non-Wordpressers. Other schemes let you register, pick a creative and start promoting immediately (like PHP Affiliate). Is there a way to switch off the webmaster approvals or make them optional? And is there a way to autimatically become a registered affiliate upon WP registration? For creatives: is there a way to make the ALT Text optional? I really don't see a reason why this should be mandatory. Again it only complicates things for creative creaters. And finally: is there a way to pay affiliates automatically (say once a month if a threshold is reached)? Please don't get me wrong: I'm not having a moan here, it's just too easy to highlight weaknesses in a new product. I believe this is one of the most exciting projects WP and WPEC have ever seen - well done for pulling this off!
Jay, Thank you so much for the comment! You are correct, the signup process right now is a bit onerous. That is #1 on our list for an update. We're wrapping up a project as we speak and will be diving back in to development on the affiliate plugin immediately following. optional alt-text, good call. I'll add that to the list. Automatically paying affiliates via Paypal is also on the list of features, but I'm not sure it will make it in to version 1.1. That may be a little further out, but it is definitely on the list! We are excited about the product and we are committed to make it a long term viable solution. We knew going in to it that getting version 1.0 out the door was an important step in the development process. User feedback is an invaluable part of the process, too. Thank you again for your comments!
I purchased your Affiliate plugin for WP-Ecommerce on getshopped.org, running a local server, fresh install of wordpress, and fresh install of wp ecommerce... your plugin simply does not work. I'm pissed because I paid $99 for something that really has no documentation and doesn't do anything... I get two pages, "store affiliates" and "register". With store affiliates I get a: [contentPlaceHolder] in the body. With register I get nothing. Though looking through pages in my backend I can see the same [contentPlaceHolder], but when going to the page register just shows my header and body saying register and thats it. This is using the default wp-ecommerce theme. Nothing fancy. I haven't changed a thing. I need you to figure this out or refund me.
Hey Jon, I didn't realize you had left a note here as well since we had talked about this via email. For the record, this turned out to be an issue with WordPress 3.0. Jon upgraded to 3.0.1 and that seemed to clear up the issue. I hadn't heard any others having an issue with 3.0, so not sure that was the exact cause, but regardless, he's up and running.
Can this do two-tier affiliate tracking? i.e. Can an affiliate refer another affiliate and get a smaller percentage? This would be critical for us... Thanks.
Multi-tier affiliate tracking is on our list for enhancements to the plugin. We're making a big push over the next 4-6 weeks to a bunch of new functionality in, and that should be one of the features. Keep an eye on the blog for updates.
Hi, some questions about this plugin. First the general website idea, users are providing the content (products) in the community which we put on sale in the webshop part of the website. For each product that is sold the user should get a fee. Like 1/4 of the total price. So my questions: 1) Can this plugin arrange the fee settings if we let each user be an affiliate? if yes: 2) Can the user/affiliate create (and upload) images themselves directly through the affiliate entry? That entry is now in the admin section of wp right? 3) Is it possible to have (similar to categories) kind of a user shop page showing all products linked to the user/affiliate? 4) Is there a way to pay out the user/affiliate fee if they request us to? Via PayPal or Moneybookers? 5) Is there a way that the user/affiliate can buy stuff in the webshop using is earned money? 6) Is there a way to show in the frontend of the website to a user/affiliate what is earnings are? Like meaning in the My Account page of Buddypress an extra tab 'earnings' or something? Guess not but can ask :) Hope this aren't too many questions :)... thanks a lot for your reply! Cheers
How do I add specific products as landing pages for new creatives?
How can I delete Creatives without going straight into the database?
Here's a how to on integrating bit.ly url shortener http://www.kitmobley.com/programming/how-to-add-b...
Quick questions: 1 - Where can I find more information about functionality? From talking with you at Blogworld, I get the impression that there's a lot of functionality present, but haven't found the super secret spy decoder page with all the product details, feature list, FAQ etc. :) 2. Is there an affiliate program to help sell this? If so where do I go to sign up?
Jerzy- yeah, the payment gateway you choose on your installation doesn't affect the Affiliate plugin.
Hello, What do the URLs look like for the affiliate links? Thanks!
Has this plugin been updated recently? Does it work with the most recent version of WP E-Commerce? I used it a long time ago and there were a lot of bugs (javascript conflicts, mostly). But it definitely had promise.
Tim, We're up to version 1.5.1 currently. I've done quite a bit of support over the last year with different clients to work out peculiarities with various themes and our plugin. Most of it related to JavaScript (as you stated). I'd like to help you work through any issues you have with the latest release.
Hi! I just purchased and installed the plugin, and was wondering if there's a way to edit the "Landing Page" options in the "My Creatives" tab. Right now it only allows me to direct traffic to the main page, or the products page, and I'd like to set it up for specific products. Thanks :)
Hello Nicole. There's an explanation on how to do that right here -> http://support.9seeds.com/topic/creating-affiliate-links-to-pages-other-than-blog-index-or-products-page/ Currently that is a manual process, but, we are looking at solving that in a future version.