This guide explains how an affiliate program works in WordPress with Ultimate Affiliate Pro. Partners share a link to your site, the plugin records the visitors they send, and they earn a commission when those visitors buy or sign up. You approve the commissions and pay them.
Ultimate Affiliate Pro runs on your own WordPress site, next to the plugin that takes your orders or signups, such as WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads or Ultimate Membership Pro. Everything stays in your database: affiliates, clicks, referrals and payouts. Check the requirements before you install it, then follow the quick start to launch your program.
The parts of an affiliate program #
Every affiliate program in Ultimate Affiliate Pro is built from the same six pieces. The names below are the ones you see in the plugin menu.
- What
- The partners who promote you. Each one is a WordPress user with an affiliate account.
- Where
- Affiliates
- What
- A page URL with the affiliate’s code, such as
?ref=emma.collins. - Where
- Settings, General Settings
- What
- One record for every visit that arrives through a referral link.
- Where
- Clicks
- What
- A sale or another action credited to an affiliate, with its commission.
- Where
- Referrals
- What
- Commission levels. Each rank has its own rate, for example 20% of the sale.
- Where
- Ranks
- What
- The payments you send affiliates for their approved referrals.
- Where
- Payouts, Pay Affiliates
How an affiliate program works in WordPress, from click to payout #
Here is what happens behind the scenes, from the moment an affiliate joins to the moment they get paid.
- An affiliate joins. They sign up on your registration page, or you add them in Ultimate Affiliate Pro›Affiliates. New affiliates are active right away, or wait for your approval if you give them the Pending role.
- They share their link. The Affiliate Portal gives every affiliate a ready-made referral link and a generator for links to any page of your site.
- A visitor clicks. Ultimate Affiliate Pro records a click and saves the affiliate in a cookie in the visitor’s browser. The cookie lasts 360 days by default.
- The visitor buys. When the order is placed, the plugin creates a referral for the affiliate in the cookie and calculates the commission from the affiliate’s rank. The referral starts as Pending.
- The order is confirmed. With WooCommerce, the referral becomes Approved when the order is completed. Cancelled, failed or refunded orders change it to Rejected.
- You pay the affiliate. In Ultimate Affiliate Pro›Payouts›Pay Affiliates you pay approved referrals by Wire Transfer (bank transfer), PayPal, Stripe or Store Credit. Paid referrals are marked Paid.
- Visitor opens
- yourstore.com/shop/?ref=emma.collins
- Click recorded for
- Emma Collins
- Order total
- $120.00
- Commission (20%)
- $24.00, status Pending
- Order completed
- Referral changes to Approved
- Payout sent
- Referral changes to Paid
Who gets credit for a sale #
A visitor can see links from several affiliates before buying. These rules decide who earns the commission:
By default, the affiliate already saved in the visitor’s cookie keeps the credit until the cookie expires, even if the visitor later opens another affiliate’s link.
Turn on this module in Ultimate Affiliate Pro›Modules to credit the most recent affiliate instead.
Link a coupon code to an affiliate and every order that uses it is credited to that affiliate, with or without a click. See affiliate coupons.
With the LifeTime Commissions module, the affiliate who referred a customer also earns on that customer’s later orders. See commissions on future orders.
Affiliates do not earn commission on orders they place themselves, unless you turn on Allow Self Referrals. See own referrals.
What you see in the dashboard #
Open Ultimate Affiliate Pro›Dashboard to see the state of your program at a glance.
Every affiliate account in your program. Manage them in Affiliates.
The commission from all approved referrals, paid and unpaid.
Every sale or action credited to an affiliate. Open Referrals to see each one with its status.
Approved commission you have not paid yet, and how many referrals are waiting.
Below the cards you find a performance chart, your top affiliates, recent activity and shortcuts such as Add Affiliate and New Payout.
What affiliates see #
Affiliates never need access to your WordPress admin. They log in to the Affiliate Portal, a page on your site where they copy their referral links, download banners from Creatives, follow their clicks and referrals, check their earnings and enter their payout details.
Add more ways to reward affiliates #
Sales commissions work out of the box. Other reward types and tools are modules you turn on in Ultimate Affiliate Pro›Modules:
- Recurring Commissions pay affiliates on every subscription renewal. See recurring commissions.
- SignUp Referrals (CPL) pay for new registrations, and Landing Commissions (CPA) pay for actions such as a form submission.
- Pay Per Click (CPC) and CPM Commission pay for traffic instead of sales.
- Multi-Level Marketing lets affiliates recruit other affiliates and earn from their sales.
- PayPal Payouts, Stripe Payouts and Store Credit add payout methods. See how affiliate payouts work.
Tip
Ask your affiliates to tell their audience that they earn a commission. The US Federal Trade Commission explains why in its Endorsement Guides FAQ. Add this rule to your affiliate terms page.
Frequently asked questions #
Do I need WooCommerce to run an affiliate program?
No. Ultimate Affiliate Pro works with WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, Ultimate Membership Pro and Ultimate Learning Pro, and with many other membership, course, form and booking plugins. You can see the full list in Integrations.
How long does an affiliate get credit after a click?
For 360 days by default, as long as the visitor keeps the cookie. Change it in Cookie Expiration (Days), in Settings, General Settings.
Are commissions paid automatically?
No. You review the referrals and decide when to pay. With the PayPal Payouts or Stripe Payouts module you can send the payments from your WordPress admin; with bank transfer you pay outside WordPress and mark the payout as paid.
Can affiliates promote my site without a link?
Yes. Give them an affiliate coupon code, or turn on modules such as Direct Link Tracking, which credits affiliates for visitors who come from their own website.
Does Ultimate Affiliate Pro work on sites that are not built with WordPress?
No. It is a WordPress plugin and tracks visits and orders on the WordPress site where it is installed. See Requirements and compatibility.
