General Affiliate Link
Let’s set up a destination URL for affiliate links. The URL for general affiliate link is defined in Configuration > Tracking Settings > Main Site URL field. Affiliates can copy their general affiliate link from the affiliate panel once they log in.
Link Styles
Select link style for affiliate links. The link style defines format and appearance of affiliate and banner links displayed in the affiliate panel.
Anchor links
https://example.com/#a_aid=refid
Short anchor links*
https://example.com/#refid
New style links
https://example.com/?a_aid=refid
Mod Rewrite links
https://example.com/ref/refid
DirectLink style
https://example.com/
Redirect links
https://example.postaffiliatepro.com/scripts/click.php?a_aid=refid&a_bid=73d672s1
*Enabling the Support Short Anchor linking option is an excellent way to create shorter and more visually appealing affiliate links.
(Message about anchor links not working on instagram?)
Cookie Lifetime and Attribution
Define cookie lifetime in Configuration > Cookies and in each campaign details. For example, if you specify 14 days, affiliate will get commissions for all sales done in the next 14 days after the visitor clicked an affiliate link. Default value is 60 days.
Set up attribution to first or last affiliate in Configuration > Cookies > Overwrite cookie checkbox. When a visitor clicks on an affiliate's banner, the information about it is saved into a cookie. If the visitor later clicks on the banner of another affiliate, the system can overwrite the previous cookie or not. If the cookie is overwritten, then the last affiliate whose link was clicked by the customer receives the commission. If it is not overwritten, the initial affiliate will receive commission, and later referrals are not registered. By default Overwrite cookie is disabled.
Affiliate Approval
By default when a new affiliate signs up they will be created with status Pending, and then you would manually approve or decline the affiliate. If you want to create new affiliates already approved, you can change it in Configuration > Affiliate signup > Affiliate approval - Automatic approval.
Custom Domain
You can install your own subdomain for the affiliate program in Configuration > Domain settings, replacing example.postaffiliatepro.com domain and enhancing your brand recognition and credibility while providing a professional appearance of your affiliate program.
Custom domain can also help against ad blockers, therefore increasing the tracking accuracy.
Suggested subdomains are partners.yourdomain.com or network.yourdomain.com. We don’t recommend affiliate.yourdomain.com or affiliates.yourdomain.com as scripts with this subdomain are usually blocked by ad blockers.
Campaign setup
Campaigns are used to specify different types and levels of commissions, or per product commissions. You can manage the campaigns in your merchant panel in Campaigns > Campaigns manager, where you can view/edit/add/delete campaigns.
Your Post Affiliate Pro account already has one default campaign named “First campaign”. Feel free to rename it or add a new campaign.
When you create a new campaign or edit an existing campaign, you can define its details like name, description and logo in the Edit details tab.
Commission structure is configured in Commission settings tab. You can set up the following commission types:
Per Click - you can reward your affiliates every time someone clicks an affiliate's link or banner. It is possible to assign commissions only for unique, or also for repeated clicks the visitor makes.
Per Sale - most common commission type. This commission type will reward your affiliate for referring orders/sales. The commission can be either a flat commission (e.g. $10) or a percentage commission (e.g. 5%) that will be calculated from the value of the order.
Per Lead (can be defined as Per Action commission) - is a special case of Per Action or Per Sale commission type. It is almost the same thing as a Per Sale commission, although here you don't pay for a sale, but for a lead, where a lead can be for example when a visitor fills in a form on your site with his information, or joins your membership site.
Per Action - this is a special commission type. It allows you to create commission for anything: sale, filling a form, downloading something from your site, or ending up at a particular page. It means that you can reward your affiliates whenever a visitor referred by them performs some defined action. Option to add action commissions will become available after Action commissions feature is activated in Configuration > Features.
CPM (cost per mille) commissions - reward affiliates with a commission every time their banners are viewed 1000 times. It means that when an affiliate's banner gets displayed 1000 times on an affiliate's page, the affiliate will get a fixed commission. You have to activate CPM feature to use this type of commission.
Different commission rates for a certain affiliate or a group of affiliates can be defined with Commission groups feature. If the feature is active in Configuration > Features, you will see another tab called Commission groups. This feature allows you to create multiple commission groups and assign affiliates to them. For example, the default per sale commission in your campaign can be 20%, but your VIP affiliates will get 30% in the same campaign.