Direct Link Tracking by AffiliateWP

Direct Link Tracking

The Direct Link Tracking addon by AffiliateWP affiliates to link directly your site from their site without the need for an link. This can help increase the chances of visitors clicking on the link and completing a purchase, as they may be more likely to trust a direct link rather than an affiliate link. To use the add-on, affiliates can enter their website’s domain into their Affiliate Area on your site and then link directly to your site from theirs. When a visitor clicks the link on the affiliate’s website and arrives on your site, the affiliate’s ID is stored in the browser’s cookies. If the customer then completes a purchase or other conversion, a referral will be created for the affiliate.

To install and set up the Direct Link Tracking add-on, you will need a Professional license level or higher for AffiliateWP. After installing and activating AffiliateWP on your WordPress site, you can install and activate the Direct Link Tracking add-on. To enable Direct Link Tracking, navigate to AffiliateWP > Settings > Direct Link and toggle the switch to “Enabled.”

It’s important to note that Direct Link Tracking only works from an affiliate’s own website at this stage. In emails, affiliates can use their referral link or a text link (with different text, but including their referral link) which links to your site. Additionally, Direct Link Tracking shares the same default cookie expiration settings as the main AffiliateWP plugin.

If you have any issues with the Direct Link Tracking add-on, it may be due to a few reasons, such as the visitor not coming to your site directly from the affiliate’s site, your site being HTTP (non-SSL) while the affiliate’s site is HTTPS (SSL), or the visit not being tracked from the affiliate’s site in certain web browsers. To troubleshoot any issues, you can follow the steps outlined in the documentation for testing Direct Link Tracking.

Key features

1. Allows affiliates to link directly to the merchant’s site without the need for an link.
2. Enables accurate affiliate tracking by recognizing the URLs of the referring website and matching them to the domains associated with individual affiliates.
3. Provides a Direct Link Tracking tab in the affiliate dashboard for affiliates to submit their domains for approval.
4. Requires approval for direct link tracking, giving the merchant control over which domains are allowed.
5. Sends notifications to the merchant whenever an affiliate requests a domain for direct link tracking.
6. Automatically tracks an affiliate for all visits from a direct linked domain, even if the visitor came to the merchant’s site via a browser bookmark or by typing the URL directly into their browser.
7. Compatible with SSL (HTTPS) sites, but may not work if the affiliate’s site is HTTPS and the merchant’s site is HTTP due to referrer data not being sent.
8. Works with the Integrated Payouts Service to pay affiliates without leaving WordPress.

These features aim to provide a more seamless experience for affiliates and customers while ensuring accurate tracking and control for the merchant.