readme.txt

=== Affiliates ===
Contributors: itthinx, proaktion
Donate link: https://www.itthinx.com/shop/
Tags: affiliate, affiliates, affiliate marketing, referral, growth marketing, ads, AddToAny, AddThis, advertising, affiliate plugin, affiliate tool, contact form, contact form 7, downloads, e-commerce, Ecwid, Events Manager, Jigoshop, lead, link, marketing, money, partner, Pay per Click, PayPal, PPC, referral links, referrer, sales, shopping cart, track, transaction, WooCommerce
Requires at least: 6.2
Tested up to: 6.6
Requires PHP: 7.4
Stable tag: 4.20.0
License: GPLv3

The Affiliates system provides the most powerful growth-oriented tools to run a successful Affiliate Marketing Program.

== Description ==

The Affiliates system allows you to run a successful Affiliate Marketing Program.

It comprises a set of the most **powerful growth-oriented tools**.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OPuMJeMAog

= Designed for Growth =

A fresh and intuitive dashboard helps your partners to spread the word about your site, products and services easily.

Affiliates can share links to any page on the website, using simple tools that are built into its dashboard.

Designed to deliver an intuitive experience out of the box, it is ready for virtually any theme, even without customizations.

Yet you can refine the design and facilities provided for your affiliates even further, with its flexible template-based dashboard sections.

> You will find extensive information and detailed instructions in the [Documentation](https://docs.itthinx.com/document/affiliates/).

Important features include an intuitive affiliate dashboard, automated affiliate registration and unlimited affiliate management sections. Affiliates can integrate with virtually any platform, including e-commerce, memberships, forms, lead generation, lead tracking and many more.

Commissions on referred users are built-in, free and premium integrations with today's most popular e-commerce and other systems are available.

The Affiliates plugin provides an affiliate system for sellers, shops, distributors, blogs, membership sites, microsites for product launches and many more. It allows to quickstart your affiliate program and start growing fast.

It also provides a solid framework for developers, who wish to build customized solutions based on a sound data model.

With unlimited affiliate program management tools available on the back end, its flexible affiliate dashboard templates, blocks and shortcodes, you can provide your affiliates with a really intuitive experience. Partners get the tools and information about their earnings and performance on the front end. There is everything you need to start an affiliate and growth marketing program.

To manage an **Affiliate Marketing** or **Partner Referral Program** and **track visits to your site** with **affiliate links**, the _Affiliates_ system is the most powerful free solution.

The system is used to manage affiliates, create referrals and track visits to your site through affiliate links. Referrals are stored and attributed to an affiliate, for example if clients place orders on your site and you need to credit your affiliates.

### Free Integrations and Extensions

- [Affiliates Import](https://wordpress.org/plugins/affiliates-import) : Allows to import affiliate accounts in bulk from a text file. This is also useful to migrate to [Affiliates](https://wordpress.org/plugins/affiliates/), [Affiliates Pro](https://www.itthinx.com/shop/affiliates-pro/) or [Affiliates Enterprise](https://www.itthinx.com/shop/affiliates-enterprise/).
- [Affiliates WooCommerce Light](https://wordpress.org/plugins/affiliates-woocommerce-light) : Run your affiliate program with [WooCommerce](https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce/), referrals are created automatically for your affiliates when they refer sales.
- [Affiliates Events Manager](https://wordpress.org/plugins/affiliates-events-manager/) : Grant commissions to affiliates for referred bookings with [Events Manager](https://wordpress.org/plugins/events-manager/), supports referrals based on coupons, records essential booking data for referred bookings.
- [Affiliates Ninja Forms](https://wordpress.org/plugins/affiliates-ninja-forms) : Affiliates can register through [Ninja Forms](https://wordpress.org/plugins/ninja-forms/) forms and form submissions can grant commissions and record referrals.
- [Affiliates Formidable](https://wordpress.org/plugins/affiliates-formidable/) : Affiliates can register through [Formidable Forms](https://wordpress.org/plugins/formidable/) forms and form submissions can grant commissions and record referrals.
- [Affiliates Contact Form 7](https://wordpress.org/plugins/affiliates-contact-form-7) : Lead tracking and store data from submitted [Contact Form 7](https://wordpress.org/plugins/contact-form-7/) forms. Tracks form submissions to the referring affiliate and allows to record referrals and commissions.
- [Affiliates BuddyPress](https://wordpress.org/plugins/affiliates-buddypress) : Display affiliate content in the [BuddyPress](https://wordpress.org/plugins/buddypress/) user profile.
- [Affiliates reCAPTCHA](https://wordpress.org/plugins/affiliates-recaptcha) : This integrates [reCAPTCHA](https://www.google.com/recaptcha/) with the affiliate registration form.

Additional resources can be found on [GitHub](https://github.com/itthinx).

### Premium Integrations and Extensions included with Affiliates Pro and Affiliates Enterprise

- [Affiliates Pro](https://www.itthinx.com/shop/affiliates-pro/) provides all features available in the free _Affiliates_ system, a more detailed Dashboard with additional Dashboard Sections, additional features like referral Rates (supports formula-based rates), Banner Management, advanced Notifications, additional Dashboard sections and Shortcodes, advanced commission Rates, affiliate export features, advanced Totals with mass payment files and exports, more integrations and advanced integration features.
- [Affiliates Enterprise](https://www.itthinx.com/shop/affiliates-enterprise) provides all features and integrations available in _Affiliates Pro_ and also supports mulitple tiers, campaigns and pixel tracking with image and iframe tracking pixels among other features as well as additional Dashboard sections, blocks and shortcodes.

[Affiliates Pro](https://www.itthinx.com/shop/affiliates-pro/) and [Affiliates Enterprise](https://www.itthinx.com/shop/affiliates-enterprise/) come with additional features, extensions and integrations. Among these are:

E-Commerce and Events

- [Affiliates WooCommerce](https://www.itthinx.com/plugins/affiliates-woocommerce/) : Our advanced integration for [WooCommerce](https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce/) includes automated status synchronization, recurring referrals and product rates.
- [Affiliates Events Manager](https://www.itthinx.com/plugins/affiliates-events-manager/) The integration records referrals and essential booking data for referred bookings. It allows to grant commissions on bookings with [Events Manager](https://wordpress.org/plugins/events-manager/).

Social Sharing Platforms ... make it even easier for affiliates to share their links

- [Affiliates AddThis](https://www.itthinx.com/plugins/affiliates-addthis) : This integration with [AddThis](https://www.addthis.com) converts URLs to share into affiliate links automatically for affiliates who are logged in.
- [Affiliates AddToAny](https://www.itthinx.com/plugins/affiliates-addtoany) : This integration with [AddToAny](https://www.addtoany.com) converts URLs to share into affiliate links automatically for affiliates who are logged in.

Advertising

- [Affiliates Pay per Click](https://www.itthinx.com/plugins/affiliates-ppc/) : Pay affiliate commissions based on clicks or visits to affiliate links.

Forms

- [Affiliates Ninja Forms](https://wordpress.org/plugins/affiliates-ninja-forms/) : Affiliates can register through [Ninja Forms](https://wordpress.org/plugins/ninja-forms/) forms and form submissions can grant commissions and record referrals. Used with [Affiliates Pro](https://www.itthinx.com/shop/affiliates-pro/) or [Affiliates Enterprise](https://www.itthinx.com/shop/affiliates-enterprise/), this integration opens up additional features and integrates seemlessly with our premium versions.
- [Affiliates Formidable](https://www.itthinx.com/plugins/affiliates-formidable/) : Affiliates can register through forms handled with [Formidable Forms](https://wordpress.org/plugins/formidable/), record and track form submissions to pay affiliate partners commissions on leads or successful purchases. Used with [Affiliates Pro](https://www.itthinx.com/shop/affiliates-pro/) or [Affiliates Enterprise](https://www.itthinx.com/shop/affiliates-enterprise/), this integration opens up additional features and integrates seemlessly with our premium versions.
- [Affiliates Gravity Forms](https://www.itthinx.com/plugins/affiliates-gravityforms/) : This extension allows to record referrals for form submissions and to create affiliate accounts for new users based on [Gravity Forms](https://www.gravityforms.com).
- [Affiliates Contact Form 7](https://wordpress.org/plugins/affiliates-contact-form-7) : Lead tracking and store data from submitted [Contact Form 7](https://wordpress.org/plugins/contact-form-7/) forms. Tracks form submissions to the referring affiliate and allows to record referrals and commissions. Used with [Affiliates Pro](https://www.itthinx.com/shop/affiliates-pro/) or [Affiliates Enterprise](https://www.itthinx.com/shop/affiliates-enterprise/) it unlocks advanced features.

### Premium Extensions available separately

- [Affiliates Coupons](https://www.itthinx.com/shop/affiliates-coupons/) to create WooCommerce coupons for affiliates automatically and in bulk.
- [Affiliates Users](https://www.itthinx.com/shop/affiliates-users/) to automatically create affiliate accounts for new users
- [Affiliates by Username](https://www.itthinx.com/shop/affiliates-by-username/) which allows affiliate links to indicate usernames in addition to the affiliate IDs
- [Affiliates Permanent](https://www.itthinx.com/shop/affiliates-permanent/) : This extension is useful if you want to grant your affiliates commissions on all purchases made by customers they refer.
- [Affiliates Products](https://www.itthinx.com/shop/affiliates-products/) which handles WooCommerce product commissions for product partners and affiliates on product sales

### Features

* Affiliates Dashboard

    Fully integrates affiliate login, registration, statistictal overview, affiliate links and profile in a setup-free dashboard. Available as block and shortcode and highly customizable using templates. Individual dashboard sections are also available as blocks and shortcodes and can be customized using templates.

* Real-time reporting

    Referrals and affiliate link statistics are recorded and available instantly, as transactions are processed. Integration with virtually any E-Commerce platform.

* Traffic Statistics

    Records browseable traffic statistics with source and landing page, user agent and related referrals per affiliate.

* Unlimited Affiliates

    Simply have as many affiliates as you can get.

* Easy affiliate recruitment

    Affiliates can sign up automatically and can also be added manually with or without user accounts.

* Affiliate approval and notifications

    Affiliates can be approved manually or automatically and notifications are sent that inform them and the administrator of their status.

* API

    Affiliates provides an API which makes it easily integratable with virtually any E-Commerce and Membership system.

* Quick & Easy Installation

    Upload/install and activate the plugin from your WordPress Dashboard.

* Feedback is welcome

    Do you have feature requests or want to provide feedback? Please get in touch, the Affiliates plugins evolve with your needs.

* Free or Premium

    The Affiliates plugin is free and Open Source. If you want to use it, simply install it from your WordPress Dashboard or download it from WordPress.org.

    [Affiliates Pro](https://www.itthinx.com/shop/affiliates-pro/) and [Affiliates Enterprise](https://www.itthinx.com/shop/affiliates-enterprise/) are premium releases with additional features.

    Your support of our work helps to make all versions even more awesome.

    Thank you!

### Documentation

You will find extensive information and detailed instructions on the [Documentation](https://docs.itthinx.com/document/affiliates/) pages.

### Social

Please follow [@itthinx](https://twitter.com/itthinx) on Twitter for updates on this and other plugins.

### Support

- For more immediate and preferential support, we kindly ask you to obtain [Affiliates Pro](https://www.itthinx.com/shop/affiliates-pro/) or [Affiliates Enterprise](https://www.itthinx.com/shop/affiliates-enterprise/).
- If you need help or want to ask a question about the free version, please leave a comment on the [Affiliates](https://www.itthinx.com/plugins/affiliates/) plugin page on our site, or post a topic in the [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/affiliates) section.
- __Feedback__ is welcome!
- If you need help, have problems, want to leave feedback or want to provide _constructive criticism_, please leave a comment on the [Affiliates](https://www.itthinx.com/plugins/affiliates) plugin page.
Please work with us to try to solve problems before you rate this plugin less than 5 stars or say it doesn't work. There goes a _lot_ of work into providing you with free quality plugins! We appreciate your feedback and are happy to help. Thanks!

#### What this plugin is not

It is not intended to keep track of links to other sites that you as a member of an affiliate program may have. We suggest you have a look at the [Affiliate](https://wordpress.org/plugins/affiliate/) plugin if you're interested in that.

### Translations

If you want to add a translation, please review [Affiliates Translations](https://github.com/itthinx/affiliates-translations).

Many thanks to those who have contributed translations:

French by Johan Walter from [Massage Factory](http://www.massagefactory.eu),
Hebrew by Yair from [temoni.org](http://www.temoni.org/),
Italian by Alessandro Bergamin from [VoglioClienti.it](http://www.voglioclienti.it/) and Roberto Castaldo from [InArte](http://www.inarte.it),
Indonesian by Ganis Irawan from [Bisnis Internet 101](http://www.bisnisin.com/),
Lithuanian by Vincent G from [Host1Free](http://www.host1free.com/),
Polish by [BizExpert](http://4business4you.com),
Portuguese by Carlos Gouveia from [iNovve](http://www.inovve.com/),
Slovak by Cr3o from [životné poistenie](http://www.zivotnepoistenie24.sk/),
Spanish by David Perez from [Closemarketing](http://www.closemarketing.es/),
Ukranian by Michael Yunat from [GetVoIP](http://getvoip.com)

== Installation ==

More detailed instructions are available on the [Documentation](https://docs.itthinx.com/document/affiliates/) pages.

1. Upload or extract the `affiliates` folder to your site's `/wp-content/plugins/` directory. Or you could use the *Add new* option found in the *Plugins* menu in WordPress.
2. Enable the plugin from the *Plugins* menu in WordPress.
3. A new *Affiliates* menu will appear in WordPress, this is where you manage your affiliates and keep track of visits and referrals.
4. Go to _Affiliates > Settings > Pages_ and click the *Generate* button. This will add a new page to your site with a default Affiliate Area that you can then edit if needed.
5. Now you can let your affiliates sign up directly from the Affiliate Area or start adding affiliates manually and provide them with affiliate links to your site.
6. Go to _Affiliates > Settings > Integrations_ and review the available integrations.

Please make sure to review the [Documentation](https://docs.itthinx.com/document/affiliates/).

== Frequently Asked Questions ==

The information provided in this section is by no means exhaustive. Please make sure to refer to the [Documentation](https://docs.itthinx.com/document/affiliates/) as your preferred source of information.

= Is there an option to create an Affiliate Area? =

You can let the tool generate an Affiliate Area for you. This will create a new page that contains the Affiliates Dashboard. You can later customize the page and add additional pages as needed.
Go to *Affiliates > Settings > Pages* and press the *Generate* button.
You will find a new page titled _Affiliate Area_ on your site which includes the Affiliated Dashboard, providing several Dashboard Sections that streamline the process from partners signing up to providing them their affiliate links and earnings information.
You can edit this page and adjust it according to your preferences. The dashboard and its sections can be further customized using templates.

= How can I show affiliates their affiliate link? =

Note: You can create a page and embed a shortcode manually, or you can create an Affiliate Area as outlined above.

For example, embed this shortcode on a page:

`[affiliates_url]`

This will render a link to your site with the affiliate's ID appended.

If you want to link to a certain page, you can use this shortcode:

`[affiliates_url]http://www.example.com/somepage[/affiliates_url]`

If you want to show how a link would look like, you can use the shortcode within HTML as well, for example:

`<a href="[affiliates_url]">[affiliates_url]</a>`

Remember to use HTML entities for `<` and `>` as shown above.

= How can I show affiliates information about their performance? =

Information about an affiliate's performance is provided via the Affiliates Dashboard and other facilities.

Detailed information on this is available on the [Documentation](https://docs.itthinx.com/document/affiliates/) pages.

= Is it possible to show content for affiliates or non-affiliates only? =

* Embed the content that you want to show to affiliates like this:

    `[affiliates_is_affiliate]
This is visible to affiliates who are logged in only.
[/affiliates_is_affiliate]`

* For content to show to non-affiliates use this:

    `[affiliates_is_not_affiliate]
You can see this if you are not logged in as an affiliate.
[/affiliates_is_not_affiliate]`

= Can we generate affiliate links for our partners? =

Yes.

Affiliate links are available for registered affiliates and they can see
them in the Affiliate Area. You can also customize these and let them
link to any page on your site.

= Can we track visits to our site through our partners' sites? =

Yes.

The Affiliates system tracks visits via affiliate links to any page on
your site. It also allows to track referred user registrations and order,
while recording related commissions through referrals and transaction data.

= Can we register commissions manually? =

Yes.

Commissions are registered manually via the Referrals section in the
Affiliates menu.

= Can we grant commissions when affiliates refer new users? =

Yes.

The built-in user registration integration allows to grant commissions
for new user sign-ups.

= Can we record referrals automatically when, for example, an order is placed? =

Yes. See the documentation on [Affiliates](https://docs.itthinx.com/document/affiliates/) for details on supported integrations.

See the documentation on [Affiliates Pro](https://docs.itthinx.com/document/affiliates-pro/) and [Affiliates Enterprise](https://docs.itthinx.com/document/affiliates-enterprise/)
for additional supported premium integrations and advanced integration features.

= I am an affiliate of ACME and they provided me with an affiliate link. Is this plugin for me? =

No it isn't.

This plugin is for sites that need to manage *their* affiliates.

Please have a look at the [Affiliate](https://wordpress.org/plugins/affiliate) plugin for this purpose instead.

= Can I automatically store additional referral and transaction data? =

Yes you can do that through the plugin's API functions.

= I need to keep track of all transactions, including those that have not been initiated via an affiliate. Is this possible? =

Yes!

Referrals that are not attributable to an affiliate can be stored along with arbitrary transaction data and associated with the site owner.
There is a dedicated entry for that, called *Direct* in the affiliates list, representing the site owner.

= What about timezones? =

The plugin provides timezone-independent recording and retrieval of hits, visits and referrals.
Data is stored with reference to the server's settings and shown adjusted to the timezone settings in your WordPress site.

= How flexible is data recording and retrieval for referrals? =

You can store any information you need along with referrals.

= Is it possible to create affiliate links to any page on my site? =

Yes.

= Is it possible to have affiliate links to specific posts? =

Yes.

= How fine-grained are permissions? =

The plugin provides role-based permissions to access gathered affiliate data, administer affiliates and administer options.

= Can I change the content of the email that new affiliates receive? =

[Affiliates Pro](https://www.itthinx.com/shop/affiliates-pro/) and [Affiliates Enterprise](https://www.itthinx.com/shop/affiliates-enterprise/) come with advanced notification features.

= After login, I want to keep users on the same page or redirect users to another page instead of the WordPress login. How can I do that? =

Use the `[affiliates_login_redirect]` shortcode.

== Screenshots ==

See the [Documentation](https://docs.itthinx.com/document/affiliates/) for more details.

1. Affiliates Dashboard Overview - Front end affiliate dashboard section showing graphical statistics on clicks and earnings and the affiliate link tool.
2. Affiliates Dashboard Overview - Front end affiliate dashboard section viewing the commission graph.
3. Affiliates Dashboard Overview - From the front end affiliate dashboard, a close look at the recent referrals graph.
4. Affiliates Dashboard Earnings - Shows affiliates their monthly earnings on the front end in the dashboard section.
5. Affiliates Dashboard Profile - The affiliate's profile is part of the dashboard.
6. Affiliates Dashboard Login - The dashboard section allows affiliates to log in.
7. Affiliates Dashboard Registration - The registration dashboard section allows new affiliates to sign up.
8. Affiliates Dashboard Blocks - An overview of available dashboard blocks that can be placed conveniently to compose affiliate areas.
9. Affiliates Overview - Shows summarized information based on current and historic data to the Affiliate Manager.
10. Manage Affiliates - Affiliate Manager's administrative section on the back end, where the site's partners are maintained.
11. Visits & Referrals - Per-day view for the Affiliate Manager, provides information about visits and referrals generated through affiliate links.
12. Affiliates & Referrals - Per-affiliate view for the Affiliate Manager, provides information about visits and referrals generated through affiliate links.
13. Traffic - The Affiliate Manager's view on traffic generated through affiliate links.
14. Referrals - The Affiliate Manager's overview on information about referrals with filters and optional details.
15. Totals - The accumulated totals per affiliate as presented to the Affiliate Manager, provides the information needed to process affiliate payments.
16. Settings > Registration - Customizable affiliate registration.

== Changelog ==

The full changelog is available at [changelog.txt](https://github.com/itthinx/affiliates/blob/master/changelog.txt).

== Upgrade Notice ==

Version 4 is a major new release with exciting new features!
It introduces a new Affiliates Dashboard and Sections also available as blocks,
new customizable dashboard templates and many more improvements.

As usual and following good practice, please make sure to BACK UP your site and database before upgrading!
It is also recommended to upgrade during low traffic hours to minimize the impact of changes to the database.