ThirstyAffiliates

As the creator of a WordPress website, I know one of the best and easiest ways to earn an income is through affiliate links.

Affiliate links are a way to earn commission by providing a link to a product. 

So I use a plugin for WordPress called ThirstyAffiliates to help me manage affiliate links and organize them in a way that makes sense to me.

And it’s a game changer.

What Is ThirstyAffiliates?

ThirstyAffiliates is an affiliate link management tool that is a way to keep your links organized and easily identifiable.

That way, when you need to add a link to your blog or another affiliate website, ThirstyAffiliates helps you monetize your site and makes it a breeze to earn passive income.

What Is ThirstyAffiliates Used For?

ThirstyAffiliates is a WordPress plugin tool that allows a website owner to include, manage, and then insert affiliate links into their website.

It is a huge timesaver and enables the organization and storage of your links in a single place, attached to WordPress.

Easy right?

How ThirstyAffiliates Works

This plugin is easy to install and use.

Just go to your dashboard in WordPress and find the ThirstyAffiliates plugin option to add.

You can also find it on their website. 

Once the plugin installs, you can add links to the dashboard.

Then when you are ready to insert a link, just select your text, click the plugin, and find the desired link.

And you’re good to go.

There are also a lot of other features that make managing your affiliate links easier than you can imagine.

For example, you can optimize the plugin to help with affiliate link concerns. 

There is automatic keyword linking, link cloaking, and geolocation tags, and it even sends information to Google Analytics to break down your traffic flow.

Pretty great, right?

Notable Features of ThirstyAffiliates

ThirstyAffiliates offers great services for affiliate tracking on a WordPress website.

With a variety of options and choices that you can customize, this plugin is a necessity for a lot of WordPress users. 

Branded URL (Link Cloaking)

You might call it URL cloaking or link masking, but link cloaking is integral to using affiliate links on your WordPress website. 

ThirstyAffiliates allows the shortening and customization of links and link masking to make links appear on your site.

This customization is a way to optimize affiliate links.

Link Cloaking helps establish trust between you and your consumers.

People are much more likely to click on a link if they believe they know where the link is leading them. 

These links also look more professional, help to track clicks on the link, and can beat an ad blocker.

All are useful tools to increase click-through rate (CTR), and all of these are strategies to maximize earnings.

Google Analytics

ThirstyAffiliates helps you know exactly where the clicks generating sales come from.

Another piece of this is the ability to visually assess your traffic using Google Analytics. 

Analytics is the tool most site owners use to see their traffic and also analyze it.

Google Analytics is where ThirstyAffiliates can work its magic. 

Whenever you create a link using the plugin, the link performance sends data to Google Analytics.

And that’s it.

There’s nothing else that you need to do to watch the link and track performance. 

Without ThirstyAffiliates, you must create tracking tags to achieve the same result and create a new one for each new link.

Instead of being time-consuming, ThirstyAffiliates streamlines and simplifies it all for you. 

Link Management

This organizational tool is one of the better features of ThirstyAffiliates.

You can put all your links in a single, centralized location.

You can create categories and name each of your links to sort them and organize them in a way that makes sense to you. 

You can find everything you need in the dashboard when you need it.

Search for a keyword and watch your lists pop up.

Automatic Linking and Disclosure

A nice feature of ThirstyAffiliates is how it automatically performs specific tasks, so you don’t need to. 

When you are linking to dozens of affiliates, it can sometimes get a bit much to handle.

With ThirstyAffiliates, you can create a list of keywords for each affiliate link.

Then, when you use a relevant keyword, the link automatically generates.

It’s also essential and required by law to disclose the affiliate links that your pages contain.

You can create a disclosure that is ready to go, inserting it for you on each post, making things much less taxing since you only have to do it once for everything.

Prevention of Commission Theft

A trend with affiliate linking is that some will try to commit commission theft, meaning that somehow malware ends up on your browser to allow a thief to change the link to one of their own and take your commissions. 

ThirstyAffiliates link customization and cloaking will prevent this from happening.

Cloaking redirects have an intermediary that’ll foil wrong-doing. 

The redirects are the critical thing here.

The intermediary redirect prevents the wrong commission ID or username associated, as the links of commission thieves won’t be able to follow the link to earn the commissions.

Are There Any Minimum Requirements Necessary to Use ThirstyAffiliates?

ThirstyAffiliates does have a few requirements for you to use it properly.

You will at least need to have:

• WordPress v4.3
• PHP v5.6
• Apache, Ngnix, or any other system with the capacity to run WordPress
• MySQL5.5

These plugins and applications allow WordPress and ThirstyAffiliates to accurately communicate the user’s needs between them. 

Apache and Nginx are open source office suites of products; free and comparable to Microsoft Office. 

PHP is a changelog that keeps your site updated and in sync with your web browser. 

MySQL is a standard query language, managing how the sources and their data relate to each other and your website.

How Much Does ThirstyAffiliates Cost?

ThirstyAffiliates is available as a free plugin.

The free version has some of the features, but not nearly as many, as the ThirstyAffiliates PRO paid versions of the plugin.

Several versions of the paid product have the same available features, varying with the number of websites the plugin will operate on.  

Free Plan

With the free version, you can access link cloaking, link manager, affiliate link categories, and affiliate disclosure features of ThirstyAffiliates.

The free version of the plugin is available to everyone, and the link cloaking feature that helps prevent commission theft is included.

Basic Plan

The Basic Plan is for use on a single WordPress website.

On their site, ThirstyAffiliates has the original price listed as $99 per year, renewable annually.

It has a suite of features that’ll help your website and maximize monetization.

Plus Plan

Plus plans are a step up from the Basic plan due to the ability to use the plugin on up to 5 websites.

This plan has a price of $149 and is also an annual renewal.

The only difference is the number of sites; every other feature is the same as the other paid versions.

Advanced Plan

The Advanced ThirstyAffiliates PRO plan has all the same capabilities as the Basic and the Plus versions.

It will renew annually for $199, with the ability to use it on up to 10 websites.

All PRO plans will include the same suite of services in the plugin.

These include:

• Keyword auto-linking
• Google Analytics tracking
• Geolocation links
• Un-cloaking (for use with Amazon)
• Proactive link checker and fixer
• CSV Import/export tools

All this and more comes for that single once-a-year price tag, and you get support from ThirstyAffiliates and all their information on how to best use their plugin.

ThirstyAffiliates Promotions & Savings

Here are a few related questions regarding promotions or savings for ThirstyAffiliates. 

Does ThirstyAffiliates Have a Free Trial? 

ThirstyAffiliates doesn’t offer a free trial due to the availability of the free version, which acts as a free trial of sorts.

However, the company offers a fourteen-day money-back guarantee if you’re unsatisfied with the PRO version.

Does ThirstyAffiliates Offer Coupon Codes? 

Plus, the first time you purchase, you get $50 off the plan of your choice.

However, $49 a year is a pretty sweet deal if you have a single website.

Does ThirstyAffiliates Have a Lifetime Deal?

ThirstyAffiliates does not have a lifetime deal.

Who Are ThirstyAffiliates Main Alternatives?

The following are a few alternatives to use in place of ThirstyAffiliates. 

PrettyLinks

• Link cloaking
• Link management
• Three pricing plans; $79, $99, $149
• Easy to install

The major drawback is that the three plans can’t actively track as many websites as ThirstyAffiliates, with the most expensive plan only allowing up to 5 websites.

LinkTrackr

• Pricing is based on the number of links and clicks per month.
• Four plans 
• Annual renewal with prices at $7, $17, $27, and $47
• Prevents commission theft

This plugin has a different pricing structure.

It uses the number of links you have and how much traffic you create as the basis of the package you get.

Suitable for a starter but unable to use on multiple sites.

Easy Affiliate Links

• Free version
• Upgrade to the premium version
• Link tracking tools
• Link cloaking and management

This plugin is still under active development, so things may change daily and make no sense.

It also makes it challenging to figure out how to use it when it constantly changes.

It will track your traffic but doesn’t provide all the statistical data.

How Does ThirstyAffiliates Differentiate Itself From Competitors?

This plugin is by far the most used WordPress plugin by website owners.

It’s easy to use and install and cheaper than other comparable options. 

ThirstyAffiliates also runs with apps and programs that are free.

This fact means you don’t have to keep shelling out for other products to enable the use of this plugin to make money from your affiliate website.

Who is ThirstyAffiliates Best For?

ThirstyAffiliates applies best when you are the owner of a WordPress site, usually a blog that uses affiliate links to market products that the owner receives a commission.

The most useful functions for these sorts of websites are how it tracks traffic, manages links, inserts those links, and prevents commission theft.

Is ThirstyAffiliates Easy to Use?

Yes, ThirstyAffiliates is a plugin easy for users to master and apply to their website’s affiliate linking.

It is also a plugin that won’t cause the site to become slow, making it easier for your audience to use.

What Features Do Some Users Love?

Users are big fans of this site, with few complaints.

Users love how it cleans up links, making them more attractive to drive traffic. 

Users also like the affordability of ThirstyAffiliates and the lack of pay-per-click style pricing.

The easy link management and insertion are among the best of any similar product.

What Features Do Some Users Find Frustrating?

The only drawback anyone can find is the difference between the free version and the PRO.

Reviewers state that there are a lot of features ThirstyAffiliates promotes that only come on the paid version.

However, ThirstyAffiliates is still one of WordPress’s best plugins for affiliate linking.

Wrapping it Up

So, what does everything mean when narrowed down?

Is ThirstyAffiliates all it’s cracked up to be?

The answer is a resonant yes. ThirstyAffiliates has to be the best plugin on the market today with its huge, dedicated following.

Affordable, easy to use, and helpful in many different, all-encompassing ways.

ThirstyAffiliates gets top marks from both the developer community and from the community of people who swear by this tool.

People are all saying ThirstyAffiliates is what you need to make the most money from your website.