Monetizing a website can be overwhelming. There are many different routes you can take to start creating an income from it. However, one of our favorite ways is affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is when you earn money for recommending products. If a person clicks on one of your affiliate links and makes a purchase, you earn a percentage of that purchase! The most frustrating thing about this approach is the amount of time it takes to gather the links from the various affiliate companies. Today we are sharing the ONE plugin you need for WordPress to monetize your website.
Let us introduce you to…Viglink.
Viglink identifies which outgoing links have affiliate programs, and automatically turns them into affiliate links for you. They have established relationships with over 30,000 online merchants so you don’t need to sign up for any additional programs and can do everything in one place.
For example, if you have a fashion blog and you write about clothes and shoes, Viglink will automatically convert those outbound links into affiliate links.
In return, the company keeps 25% of every affiliate sale. However, they are often able to negotiate higher rates making it just as, if not more in some cases, profitable than using your personal affiliate links.
So really, it’s a no brainer to sign up for Viglink (that’s an affiliate link right there)!
How To Install Viglink
1. Head on over to Viglink to sign up for an account.
2. Download the Viglink WordPress Plugin or put the code Viglink provides on your website
3. Start linking to your favorite products in your blog posts.
4. Viglink automatically monetizes the link. They keep 25%, you get 75%
5. Get a monthly paycheck via Paypal.
Tip: Viglink currently only works with self-hosted WordPress blogs. They will not monetize your links if they do not have a relationship with that company, so be sure to do a search beforehand.
How Does Viglink Work?
Viglink works in one of two ways. The first being that you manually create an affiliate link from a url of a product you found with the converter below.
The second way to affiliate your links would be to allow Viglink to automatically convert any product or brand name into a link for you. We personally don’t recommend doing this because it will litter your website with too many links and annoy your readers!
A few options are given to you in the Viglink settings menu to monetize your website.
If you are already an Amazon or Ebay affiliate, Viglink will automatically override your affiliated links. We only recommend doing this if you are about to get dropped from one of the programs.
Lastly, you can change your existing retail links to go to higher earning sites by choosing to “optimize links.”
Viglink Pros and Cons
Pros
- Easy way to monetize your website
- SEO friendly
- Hassle free plugin in set up
- Control over affiliate
- Over 30,000 online merchants available
- Doesn’t violate Google Adsense policies
Cons
- Viglink receives a 25% Commission
- Your brand may not be available
What an interesting post! I’m working this year on further monitizing my blog and this sounds SO easy! I want to look into it further. I’m at The Educational Tourist.
This is a great post, thank you so much for sharing. I had no idea this plugin even existed but I’m off to do some research into it and get started.
Thank you
Dani x | http://www.flourishingfreelancer.com
This is exactly what I was looking for — HASSLE FREE SET UP! lol. I am new to the blogging world, and the techy stuff always gets me. I immediately downloaded onto my blog and crossing my fingers that it works. Thanks very much for the recommendation.
http://www.thriftingdiva.com
You will LOVE it! It’s so easy to use, and gives you complete control over the links without having to log in to a million different affiliates.
Thanks for the info! It does take forever to add all the affiliate links to a post!! This seems much simpler and faster.
This is amazing, and seems so simple. Thank you!! Going to check it out now!
Sounds easy enough! Have never heard of this plugin so will add it to my to do list this month!
Never heard of this – thank you! I’m currently using Amazon Affiliates, but if I go a different route, this looks perfect!
Viglink works with Amazon affiliates. You can either leave your Amazon links the way they are, or convert them on Viglink so they are all in one place :)
this is literally amazing!!! — will it override amazon affiliate links though? I don’t want them to take 25% of those… its all the other affiliate programs I suck at putting links in for haha
You can choose whether or not it will override the Amazon affiliates. If you don’t want it to, it doesn’t have to!
I don’t have many affiliate links yet, but this seems like something I will need in the future! Thanks for sharing!
This sounds like a must-try plug in. Thanks for sharing this!
This is very interesting, I have never heard about it before. It seems like a great way to earn money off your blog. Thank you for all the information.
This is very interesting, I have never heard about it before. It seems like a great way to earn money off your blog. Thank you for all the information.
VigLink is one of my favorites! I completely forgot about it and then got money deposited to my Paypal one morning, and was like “Oh Yeah!” It’s insanely easy!
That’s AWESOME!
VigLink is one of my favorites! I completely forgot about it and then got money deposited to my Paypal one morning, and was like “Oh Yeah!” It’s insanely easy!
That’s AWESOME!
I am so adding this plugin! Thanks for sharing with the rest of struggling bloggers:)
I am so adding this plugin! Thanks for sharing with the rest of struggling bloggers:)
How have I never heard of this before! I’m gonna have to check this out, for sure. thank you for sharing! :)
How have I never heard of this before! I’m gonna have to check this out, for sure. thank you for sharing! :)
What a great resource! I’ll have to give this a try!
What a great resource! I’ll have to give this a try!
So I have vigilink, and I have it installed… I’ve never really seen anything from it… But I’m still not 100% familiar with it I guess.
Do you monetize your affiliate links with it?
Im in the same boat and I am trying the anywhere links but im confused on if I can literally use any link or if I have to search for the merchant first to see if it even is one that works with viglink.
You have to check to see if they support that merchant. There is a search feature on their website :)
I haven’t heard of this one before. I do like the idea of “working” with a wider range of brand through one platform. Thanks for sharing. Going to check it out :)
I haven’t heard of this one before. I do like the idea of “working” with a wider range of brand through one platform. Thanks for sharing. Going to check it out :)
So I currently use Amazon affiliate links in every single post. Does this mean that I can’t use Viglink in additional to Amazon links? I guess I’m confused on how the two work together.
You can absolutely use Viglinks in addition to Amazon ! They give you two options: let them override the Amazon links with theirs, or leave them in place and use viglinks for other merchants.
So I currently use Amazon affiliate links in every single post. Does this mean that I can’t use Viglink in additional to Amazon links? I guess I’m confused on how the two work together.
You can absolutely use Viglinks in addition to Amazon ! They give you two options: let them override the Amazon links with theirs, or leave them in place and use viglinks for other merchants.
Thanks for sharing this!!
Thanks for sharing this!!
Awesome! I’ve never heard of this plugin before, so I am definitely going to check it out. :-)
Awesome! I’ve never heard of this plugin before, so I am definitely going to check it out. :-)
I use RewardStyle for affiliates for my lifestyle blog and use each different sites affiliate service for my biz blog. It would be nice to consolidate on my biz blog.
That sounds like a no-brainer…I’m going to give this plug-in a look. Thanks for the tip.
That sounds like a no-brainer…I’m going to give this plug-in a look. Thanks for the tip.
I am looking in to monetizing my blog now and it is so overwhelming! This looks like a a great place to start. Thanks for sharing!
I am looking in to monetizing my blog now and it is so overwhelming! This looks like a a great place to start. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing, I’ll definitely be checking this plugin out! :)
Thanks for sharing, I’ll definitely be checking this plugin out! :)
I definitely need to get on it when it comes to monetizing!
I definitely need to get on it when it comes to monetizing!
This is the first time I’ve heard of this and it sounds great, especially for me who feels very intimated by the Affiliate set-up.
This is the first time I’ve heard of this and it sounds great, especially for me who feels very intimated by the Affiliate set-up.
I’ve never heard of this but I’m definitely looking into it! Thanks!
I’ve never heard of this but I’m definitely looking into it! Thanks!
This is really interesting, I’m going to have to look more in to it!
This is really interesting, I’m going to have to look more in to it!
Wow! This is fantastic. I have never heard of it before, but will definitely look into it now. Thanks!
Wow! This is fantastic. I have never heard of it before, but will definitely look into it now. Thanks!
This is the first time I’ve heard of this and it sounds great, especially for me who feels very intimated by the Affiliate set-up.
This is the first time I’ve heard of this and it sounds great, especially for me who feels very intimated by the Affiliate set-up.