WPBeginner Solution Center: Premium WordPress Product Reviews https://www.wpbeginner.com Beginner's Guide for WordPress Fri, 01 Dec 2023 14:00:05 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.2 Uncanny Automator https://www.wpbeginner.com/solutions/uncanny-automator/ https://www.wpbeginner.com/solutions/uncanny-automator/#comments Fri, 01 Dec 2023 14:00:00 +0000 https://www.wpbeginner.com/?post_type=solution&p=232323 Uncanny Automator is one of the best automation plugins for WordPress. It allows you to create unlimited automated workflows in a user-friendly editor.

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Are you looking for an Uncanny Automator review to help you decide whether it’s worth it?

With this plugin, you can create powerful automation workflows without writing a single line of code. Uncanny Automator supports hundreds of email marketing services, apps, social media platforms, and plugins so you can create all kinds of automation recipes.

In this Uncanny Automator review, we’ll see whether it’s the right automation plugin for your WordPress website.

Is Uncanny Automator the right automation plugin for your WordPress website?

What is Uncanny Automator?

Many website owners spend a lot of time doing the same tasks over and over. For example, you might tweet your latest WordPress blog posts or send customers a coupon after they leave a product review.

With Uncanny Automator, you can automate these tasks by creating recipes. These recipes act as a bridge so you can get different WordPress plugins, apps, and services talking to each other. This can save you a ton of time and effort, so you can focus on other areas.

The Uncanny Automator drag and drop visual editor

Even better, Uncanny Automator lets you create these powerful automation recipes in a user-friendly editor.

Uncanny Automator even works with Zapier, so you can integrate WordPress with over 5,000 external apps, including Google Drive, Asana, Slack, Twitter, Instagram, and more.

Connecting Uncanny Automator to hundreds of apps and services using Zapier

You can even connect multiple WordPress websites. For example, you might sell products in your online store and then manage customer accounts on your membership website. With Uncanny Automator, you can share data between multiple WordPress sites so they work together seamlessly.

If you’re just getting started or have a limited budget, then you can download a lite version of Uncanny Automator from the official WordPress repository.

The free Uncanny Automator WordPress plugin

This free plugin comes with over 350 automation triggers and actions. It also supports many must-have WordPress plugins and popular services.

However, the premium plugin has over 1,000 triggers and actions. You can also delay and schedule recipes, create different workflows for visitors and logged-in users, and more.

Uncanny Automator Review: Is It the Right WordPress Automation Plugin for You?

Creating automated workflows for repetitive, manual tasks can save you a lot of time and effort. This leaves you free to focus on other tasks, such as growing your online business, getting more conversions, and increasing your blog traffic.

With that in mind, let’s look at Uncanny Automator’s features, support, and pricing to see whether it’s the right automation plugin for you.

1. Easy to Use

Uncanny Automator is built with ease of use in mind. Instead of writing code or creating complicated workflows, you can build automation recipes using a visual editor.

The Uncanny Automator user-friendly editor

Inside this editor, you can simply select the apps, services, social media platforms, or anything else you want to use in the workflow.

To make things even easier, Uncanny Automator will scan your WordPress blog or website and highlight the integrations that you can use in the recipe.

Choosing a trigger for an automation workflow in WordPress

It will also suggest actions and triggers based on the information you’ve already entered. In this way, you can avoid wasting time by scrolling through options that you can’t currently use.

When you’re happy with how the automation recipe is set up, you can make it live simply by clicking a slider.

Making an automation recipe live on your website or blog

With that done, the automation workflow is now running on your WordPress website.

2. Unique Recipes for Visitors and Logged-in Users

Uncanny Automator lets you create ‘Logged-in’ and ‘Everyone’ recipes.

Choosing between logged-in and everyone recipes for your WordPress blog or website

Logged-in recipes can only be triggered by logged-in users, but anyone can trigger ‘Everyone’ recipes.

This allows you to create automated workflows that target different groups of users. For example, if you want to share logins between multiple WordPress sites, then you’ll want to run this workflow for logged-in users only.

Similarly, you can choose to run each recipe on new users, or existing users. For example, imagine you want to register users automatically when they submit a form. In this case, you’ll want to run the recipe for new users only, so you don’t create duplicate accounts.

Creating new user accounts using an automation workflow in WordPress

Uncanny Automator can even check whether a user already exists on your website.

If it finds an account for this person, then it can either apply the recipe’s actions to the existing user account, or stop the recipe.

Creating user accounts automatically using Uncanny Automator

3. Over 1,000 Triggers and Actions

Uncanny Automator has more than 1,000 triggers and actions that you can use in your automation recipes.

How to automate common tasks in WordPress

A trigger is any event that starts the workflow, such as a visitor completing your contact form. Actions are the tasks the recipe will perform, such as creating an account for that person.

When creating a recipe, Uncanny Automator will automatically detect all the integrations that are available for your WordPress website, such as WPForms, WooCommerce, or OptinMonster.

Detecting available integrations on your website, blog, or online marketplace

After choosing an integration, Uncanny Automator will show all the different triggers that you can use with that integration.

This makes it easy to browse through all the available triggers, and find the one you want to use in the recipe.

Save time by creating automated WordPress workflows

After that, it’s time to select an action. Once again, Uncanny Automator helps you out by showing all the integrations available on your site.

Just choose the integration you want to use, and Uncanny Automator will show all the available actions in a dropdown menu.  For example, you might create a workflow that automatically posts to Facebook from WordPress.

How to post to social media automatically using Uncanny Automator

4. Create Detailed Conditions

With Uncanny Automator, you can add conditions to your workflows. This gives you greater control over when and where each recipe runs, even if the base conditions are met.

Let’s look at an example. Imagine you want to use automated coupons to win back customers.

Rather than telling Uncanny Automator to send the same coupon to all visitors, you can create a workflow that only runs when the visitor has the ‘customer’ role.

Running an automation workflow based on the user's role

Even if the recipe gets triggered, it won’t perform the action if the visitor has any other user role. In this way, you can avoid performing actions under less-than-ideal conditions.

Alternatively, you might wait until this person visits the same WooCommerce product page 3 times. This suggests the customer is interested in this specific product, which means they’re more likely to use the coupon.

Adding conditions to an automation workflow

As you can see, these conditions allow you to create very specific recipes that are more likely to achieve your goal.

5. Share Data via Webhooks

Uncanny Automator has a webhook trigger that you can use to process incoming webhook requests from other websites. It also has a webhook action that you can use to send webhook requests to other sites.

This feature is particularly useful if you want to connect multiple sites without having to set up a WordPress multisite network.  

Connecting multiple WordPress websites using webhooks

For example, you might have a WordPress blog and a website where you sell online courses. If a user purchases a course from your blog, then you can automatically add them to the site that has the learning management system (LMS). This person can then log into the LMS without having to create a new account.

After selecting ‘Webhook’ as the recipe action, you can select the data you want to send to the webhook.

Using webhooks in your automation recipes and workflows

After that, just log into the website, blog, or WooCommerce store that will receive the data.

You can then create a second recipe, but this time choose to receive the data rather than send it.

Receiving data from a webhook using automation

You can then set up the recipe to act on the incoming data, such as creating an account using the email address and password received via the webhook.

6. Add a Delay or Schedule

When a recipe gets triggered, you may not want to perform its action immediately. For example, if you’re trying to get more reviews on your online marketplace then you might send an email asking for a review, 7 days after the customer makes a purchase.

This gives them a chance to use the item, which means they’ll be more likely to post a review when prompted.

With Uncanny Automator, you can add a delay to any recipe.

Scheduling automation workflows and adding a delay

Another option is scheduling the recipe to run at a specific date and time. In this way, you can schedule your promotions, campaigns, and other events in advance. For example, you might create a recipe that posts your newest blog to Twitter at 9AM every Monday.

This scheduling feature can also help you target people in different time zones. You can schedule a recipe to run at any time of the day or night, including times when you’re not present at your computer.

7. Integrates With Popular Plugins, Apps, and Services

Uncanny Automator integrates with over 140 apps, social media platforms, and services you may already be using.

You can set up many of these integrations simply by following the onscreen instructions.

Integrating your WordPress website with third-party apps, services, social media platforms, and more

Uncanny Automator can even integrate with OpenAPI so you can automatically submit prompts to ChatGPT.

This integration is particularly useful for generating blog post ideas. For example, you might collect visitor feedback and suggestions using a form, and then ask ChatGPT to create blog titles using that input.

Connecting WordPress to OpenAI and ChatGPT using Uncanny Automator

Another option is to combine ChatGPT with Uncanny Automator to automatically generate social media posts with effective hashtags and titles.

Uncanny Automator can even post these summaries directly to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and more using its social media integrations.

Posting to social media sites automatically

8. Supports the Top Email Marketing Platforms

Whether you have an online store, a membership site, or a small business website, chances are you rely on emails to keep users engaged and grow your business.

Uncanny Automator easily connects with popular email marketing services such as MailchimpHubSpot, and many others, making it easy to automate your email.

To start, simply select your email service provider when building your recipe.

Connecting your online store, website, or blog to the top email service providers

Uncanny Automator will then walk you through the process of connecting the provider to your WordPress website.

You can then set up your campaign as normal by selecting a trigger, action, and any other settings you want to use.

Sending emails automatically from your WordPress website

9. Built-in Automation Logs

After adding recipes to your site, it’s important to check that they’re working as expected, and identify any triggers or actions that aren’t completing.

Uncanny Automator logs each recipe, trigger, and action so you can see a complete record of everything that’s happening on your site.

If it encounters any issues, then Uncanny Automator will highlight the problem so you can easily spot it in the reporting dashboard. It also adds helpful notes to help you understand and fix the error as quickly as possible.

Viewing automation logs in the WordPress dashboard

You can learn more about a specific recipe run, by opening its Details window.

This shows the overall progress of that specific recipe run, including all its triggers and actions. This is particularly useful for identifying exactly what caused a recipe to fail.

Viewing an automation error log in WordPress

10. Professional and Community Support

With Uncanny Automator, you can create powerful automation workflows without having to write a single line of code. However, sometimes you may need some extra help, or have questions about how to automate common tasks.

If you prefer to research yourself, then Uncanny Automator has a detailed knowledge base and FAQ.

The Uncanny Automator online documentation

There’s also the Uncanny Automator blog.

Here, you’ll find detailed step-by-step tutorials, plus advice on general topics such as how to use automation to increase sales.

The Uncanny Automator blog

You’ll get unlimited access to all these resources no matter whether you download the free Uncanny Automator plugin, or upgrade to a premium license.

If you buy a premium license, then you’ll get access to professional support. Simply raise a support request in your account, and a member of the Uncanny Automator team will respond as soon as possible.

Uncanny Automator Pricing Plans

If you’re looking for a free plugin, then you can download the lite version of Uncanny Automator from the official WordPress repository. This plugin has over 350 automation triggers and actions, and supports many of the best email marketing services, social media platforms, and apps.

However, the premium plugin has over 1,000 triggers and actions, so you can create more powerful recipes. You can even connect multiple sites, and control exactly when your workflows run by adding delays or setting a schedule.

The Uncanny Automator pricing plans

If you upgrade to the premium plugin, then you can choose between 3 plans:

  • Pro. For $149 per year, this plan gives you access to over 1,000 triggers and actions. You can create as many recipes as you want, including workflows that connect your WordPress forms to Google Sheets. You can also add delays and set schedules for your automated workflows, and use webhooks to share data. With that said, Pro is a great plan for all kinds of blogs, stores, and small business websites.
  • Business. Priced at $249 annually, you can use Uncanny Automator Business on up to 10 websites. This makes it a great choice if you own a portfolio of websites. It also supports WordPress multisite so you can send data and automate workflows between completely separate websites.
  • Agency. If you run a WordPress development agency or manage multiple client websites, then the Agency plan is a great option. For $399, you can use Uncanny Automator on up to 50 client sites. This allows you to automate countless common WordPress tasks and provide a better client experience, while saving yourself a ton of time and effort.

Conclusion: Is Uncanny Automator the Right WordPress Automation Plugin for You?

After taking a closer look at Uncanny Automator, we’re confident that it’s one of the best WordPress automation tools. It has a huge library of triggers and actions, and supports many of the plugins, apps, services, email providers, and other software you may already be using.

All the Uncanny Automator premium plans give you access to over 1,000 triggers and actions, so you can create all kinds of automation recipes.

If you want to use Uncanny Automator on a single website, then Pro is a great choice.

However, if you own multiple sites or run a WordPress multisite network, then we recommend upgrading to Uncanny Automator Business. With this plan, you can use Uncanny Automator on up to 10 websites.

Finally, if you’re a WordPress developer, agency, or you work with many different client sites, then we recommend an Agency plan. With this plan, you can use Uncanny Automator on up to 50 sites. This means you can build powerful automation workflows for all your clients, or even use the plugin to automate your day-to-day tasks and save yourself a ton of time.

We hoped this Uncanny Automator review helped you decide whether it’s the right automation plugin for your WordPress website. You may also want to learn how to track website visitors, or see our expert pick of the best analytics solutions for WordPress users.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

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Pretty Links https://www.wpbeginner.com/solutions/pretty-links/ https://www.wpbeginner.com/solutions/pretty-links/#comments Wed, 29 Nov 2023 14:00:00 +0000 https://www.wpbeginner.com/?post_type=solution&p=234271 Pretty Links is the best URL shortener plugin. It allows you to manage and maintain all your affiliate URLs from a single location inside the WordPress dashboard.

The post Pretty Links first appeared on WPBeginner.

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Are you looking for a Pretty Links review to see whether it’s the right WordPress URL shortener for you?

Pretty Links is a popular all-in-one affiliate link management plugin that can turn long, ugly affiliate URLs into shorter links. It also provides a central location where you can monitor and manage all your URLs, so you can identify 404 errors before you lose out on sales.

In this Pretty Links review, we’ll see whether it really is the right URL shortener for your WordPress website.

Is Pretty Links the right link management plugin for your affiliate website?

What is Pretty Links?

Pretty Links is a popular affiliate link management plugin for WordPress. It allows you to replace long, complex affiliate URLs with shorter links that have your own branding.

Cloaking links using Pretty Links

These links are easier to share on social media, podcasts, forums, and any other platform where you promote your links. You can even create links that originate from your domain name, so they look more trustworthy.

However, it’s not enough to simply cloak your links. To get as many sales as possible, you’ll need to show those URLs to the right people, at the right time, and monitor them carefully.

In addition to link cloaking, Pretty Links is a complete affiliate link marketing tool that has tons of advanced features including customized checkout links, multiple redirect options, built-in affiliate reports, and a link health checker.

Pretty Links can even scan your WordPress website for specific keywords and phrases, and then convert them into affiliate links automatically. 

Automatically inserting affiliate URLs using Pretty Links

This means you’ll never miss an opportunity to insert a relevant affiliate link. If you’ve already published some content, then this is also an easy way to earn money from your existing blogs and articles.

If you’re just getting started or have a limited budget, then you can download the lite version of Pretty Links from the official WordPress repository.

The free Pretty Links WordPress plugin

This free plugin allow you to create simple, shareable URLs that redirect to any destination. It supports 307, 302, and 301 redirects, and automatically records the total clicks and unique clicks for each link.

However, if you want to insert affiliate links automatically using keywords, scan for 404 errors, create product displays, and unlock other powerful features, then you’ll need to upgrade to the premium plugin.

Pretty Links Review: Is It The Right URL Shortener Plugin for You?

Running a successful affiliate business can take a lot of work, especially when so many people try to avoid clicking affiliate URLs.

That’s why smart website owners use a plugin to create shorter, branded URLs that redirect to the affiliate destination. With that said, let’s see whether Pretty Links is the right affiliate link shorter and management plugin for your WordPress blog or website.

1. Manage Your Links With Ease

If you don’t manage your links effectively, then you may end up promoting outdated or broken URLs. This will hurt the visitor experience, and may stop you from making money online blogging with WordPress.

However, maintaining affiliate links can take a lot of time and effort, especially if you’re a small team or even a solo blogger. To help you out, Pretty Links provides a single location where you can manage all your affiliate links.

Managing your affiliate links in the WordPress dashboard

This can save a ton of time if you ever need to update these URLs.

If an affiliate partner changes a link, then you can simply edit the URL once in the WordPress dashboard. Pretty Links will then automatically redirect to the new URL across your entire online store, blog, or website.

How to set up an affiliate redirect using Pretty Links

With Pretty Links, you can add categories and tags to your affiliate URLs.

This is a great way to organize your links, especially if you work with lots of different affiliate partners and URLs.

Organizing your affiliate links using Pretty Links

When adding a link, you can also type some information into the ‘Notes’ section. This is perfect for leaving yourself reminders or creating a To-Do list.

You can even write notes for guest bloggers, co-workers, or anyone else who shares the WordPress dashboard with you.

Adding notes to an affiliate link using Pretty Links

2. Use FOMO to Get More Conversions

Many website owners use FOMO to increase conversions. With Pretty Links, you can apply this technique to your affiliate URLs by setting your links to expire on a specific date or after a certain number of clicks.

Adding an expiration date to your affiliate URLs

You can then let visitors know about this deadline or limitation. For example, you might display a WordPress popup or add the information to a landing page where you’re promoting the affiliate URL. This will encourage visitors to click your link and buy the product, right now.

When the link expires, you can redirect the shopper to a new location. For example, you might use a page builder plugin to design a custom Sorry page, or you can forward them to an alternative product they may want to buy instead.

3. Cloak and Brand Your Affiliate Links

Some people actively try to avoid clicking affiliate URLs, which means you may struggle to get clicks and conversions.

That’s where URL cloaking comes in.

This feature replaces complicated affiliate URLs with user-friendly links that have your own branding. Instantly, your affiliate URLs seem more trustworthy, so shoppers are more likely to click them.

You can also make your cloaked links shorter, so they’re also easier to share on social media. In addition, link cloaking hides your affiliate ID, so it’s more difficult for malicious third parties to hijack your links and steal your commissions.

When adding a link, simply choose ‘Cloaked’ as the redirection type.

Cloaking your affiliate URLs using Pretty Links

Pretty Links will then hide the target URL, so visitors only see the cloaked link.

For example, in the following image we’re cloaking a long, complicated URL and replacing it with the following: www.example.com/refer/bluetooth-speakers.

Adding a cloaked link to your WordPress affiliate site

4. Support for Multiple Redirection Types

With Pretty Links, you can choose between multiple redirection types, including 301 redirects, 307, and JavaScript redirection.

However, you can also set up redirects based on various conditions. For example, if you’re promoting a mobile app then you can redirect to the Android or iOS version, based on the user’s device.

Setting up dynamic redirects on your website

This can boost your conversion rates, since the customer immediately sees the right product for them.

You can also send visitors to different pages based on their geographical location and the time of day. In this way, you can optimize the customer journey.

Setting up redirects based on time, location, and more

Finally, you may want to choose the target URL at random. This dynamic content is perfect when you have a catalog of similar links, or a limited amount of space.

You can even create ‘Product of the Day’ or ‘Deal of the Day’ promotions, without having to update the link manually.

Simply add the link as normal, but choose ‘Rotation’ as the dynamic rotation type. You can then type in all the URLs you want to use.

Adding dynamic redirects to your website, blog, or online store

Every time someone clicks this link, Pretty Links will choose one of the target URLs at random.

5. Automatic Keyword Linking

To grow a successful online business, you’ll want to take every opportunity to insert a relevant affiliate URL.

To help you out, Pretty Links can scan your site for specific keywords and phrases and then convert them into affiliate links automatically. In this way, you’ll never miss a chance to add a URL, get engagement, and generate commissions.

Pretty Links will even add affiliate URLs to your older articles when it finds a matching keyword. This is perfect if you’ve already published some posts and pages.

When you add a new URL, just type in the keywords or phrases you want to auto-link.

Automatically adding affiliate links to your WordPress website using Pretty Links

When it finds this keyword on your site, Pretty Links will insert the affiliate URL automatically.

However, lots of links in a small amount of space can distract your visitors, and hurt the user experience. This is especially true if you’re showing the exact same link, over and over.

With that in mind, you can limit how many URLs Pretty Links adds to a single page or post.

Limiting the number of affiliate URLs on a single WordPress page or post

Affiliate disclosures are another potential issue with auto-linking. If you fail to disclose your affiliate URLs, then you might get into legal trouble.

Once again, Pretty Links has a setting that solves this problem. Simply check the box next to ‘Disclosure Notice’ and enter some information about your affiliate disclosure. Pretty Links will then add this information to every page where it auto-links a keyword or phrase.

Automatically adding an affiliate link disclosure

For example, imagine you add ‘MacBook Pro’ as a keyword and then use that phrase in a new blog post.

Pretty Links will automatically turn ‘MacBook Pro’ into an affiliate URL while also adding a link to your disclosure notice.

An example of an affiliate disclosure, created using Pretty Links

In this way, Pretty Links can help you earn extra income without risking any fines or damaging your reputation.

6. Easily Add Affiliate Links to Posts and Pages

It can be difficult to remember all your affiliate links, especially if you work with many different partners. Pretty Links gives you a few different ways to browse available links and then add them to your posts and pages.

To start, you can see an overview of all your URLs by going to Pretty Links » Pretty Links. When you find a URL you want to use, simply click its ‘Copy’ button.

Managing your affiliate links in the Pretty Links dashboard

You can then paste the link into any page, post, or widget-ready area.

Another option is searching for affiliate URLs inside the WordPress content editor. Simply click on the new ‘Pretty Links’ icon in the toolbar.

Adding affiliate URLs to your WordPress blog or website

In the popup that appears, start typing in the link you want to use.

When the right URL appears, just click to add it to the page or post.

Finding affiliate URLs in the WordPress content editor

7. Find and Fix Broken Affiliate URLs

Broken links are bad news for any website, but 404 errors cost affiliate marketers money.

When a visitor clicks an affiliate link, it typically means they’re thinking about buying the product. If they get a 404 error, then you may have just missed out on a conversion, and some affiliate commission.

The good news is that Pretty Links comes with a built-in Link Health feature that scans your site for broken links.

Enabling Pretty Links' link health checker

Even better, Pretty Links prioritizes the links that get the most conversions, by scanning your best-performing links first. This is particularly useful for large sites that have hundreds or even thousands of affiliate URLs.

After that, Pretty Links will create a weekly report so you can find and fix broken links quickly. You can see this weekly Link Health report in the WordPress dashboard.

Pretty Links can also alert you to broken links via email. By default, it sends these notifications to your WordPress admin email, but you can change this in the plugin’s settings.

Send the affiliate link health report to any email address

8. Create Custom QR Codes

If you do some affiliate marketing offline, then Pretty Links can create a QR code for each of your URLs. These QR codes are perfect for adding to print ads, business cards, swag items, and merchandise.

After enabling the QR feature in Pretty Links’ settings, you can download a QR code for each affiliate link.

Creating QR codes using Pretty Links

Pretty Links delivers this code as a .png file, ready to use in your campaigns.

9. Affiliate Marketing Reports

After adding affiliate links to your site, you’ll want to track how they’re performing. This allows you to see what’s working and not working, so you can adjust your affiliate marketing activities to get better results.

With Pretty Links, you can generate custom reports by selecting the links you want to analyze. You can start by generating standard reports, which show the total clicks and unique clicks on each affiliate link.

Creating link tracking reports

Pretty Links also has an auto-trim clicks feature that automatically filters known robots and unidentifiable browser clients from your click data, stats, and reports. This means you’re working with more accurate information, which will help you make better decisions when optimizing your affiliate marketing activities.

If you want more detailed information, then Pretty Links integrates with MonsterInsights. This allows you to take the built-in Pretty Links reports to the next level.

MonsterInsights will even send real-time data to Google Analytics, so you can track clicks as they’re happening. For more information, please see our guide on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress.

10. Eye-Catching Affiliate Product Displays

An affiliate product display allows you to showcase and promote specific products in an eye-catching way. Sometimes also known as affiliate product boxes, these displays typically contain a product title, image, description, and a call to action (CTA).

An example of an affiliate product box

To create a display, simply open the ‘Product Display’ tab and then choose from several ready-made themes.

With that done, upload the image you want to use in the product box. If you don’t already have an image, then you can create one using web design software such as Canva.

Creating a product display for your affiliate website

Next, type in a description and set the price.

You can also add a badge at the top of the product affiliate box. For example, if the item is currently on sale, then you might add a special ‘15% off’ badge to get more clicks.

Creating an affiliate product display on your WordPress blog or website

That done, enter a CTA for the affiliate product. Pretty Links will show this text inside the product display, and add the affiliate link automatically.

Many affiliate marketers publish product reviews, to help readers learn more about an item. If you’ve written a review for this particular product, then you can add it in the ‘Review URL’ box.

When you’re happy with how the product display is set up, you can add it to any page or post using the ready-made PL Product Display block.

Adding a product display box to WordPress

11. Customized Payment Links

PrettyPay allows you to create customized payment links that integrate seamlessly with Stripe. When someone clicks the link, Pretty Links will redirect them to the payment page for that specific Stripe product.

In this way, you can start the payment process from any social media post, email newsletter, blog post, forum, or any other location where you post your links. This removes friction from the purchasing process, which will often improve your conversion rates.

Since PrettyPay integrates with Stripe, all customer and payment data is processed by Stripe. This helps keep the customer’s information safe, while also making your site a less attractive target for hackers. This is great for WordPress security.

It’s easy to get started with this feature, as there’s a setup wizard that shows you exactly how to connect Pretty Links to your Stripe Business account.

Connecting your Stripe account to WordPress using Pretty Links

PrettyPay also comes with a built-in Thank You page that customers will see after making a purchase using your PrettyPay link.

If you prefer, then you can edit this default page in the WordPress block editor or even replace it with a completely unique page. For example, you might create a custom thank you page using a plugin such as SeedProd.

Redirecting to a custom thank you page using PrettyPay

Similarly, Pretty Links allows you to customize Stripe’s Customer Portal, where customers can review and update their payment details, invoices, and subscriptions. 

Once the set up is complete, you’ll get access to a new ‘Product’ option when you can create the checkout link for your various Stripe products.

12. Professional and Community Support

With Pretty Links, you can easily replace long and complicated affiliate URLs with cleaner, more memorable alternatives.

In addition to link cloaking, Pretty Links is a complete affiliate link management tool that’s designed with ease of use in mind. However, sometimes you may need some extra help.

If you prefer to research yourself, then you’ll find online documentation at the official Pretty Links website.

The Pretty Links blog also has a ton of step-by-step guides covering everything from how to use the plugin’s specific features, right through to general advice on how to build an Amazon affiliate store, how to find affiliate partners, and how to make money online.

Even better, you can access all these resources no matter whether you download the free Pretty Links plugin, or buy a premium license.

The Pretty Links affiliate marketing blog

If you upgrade to premium, then you can submit a ticket and get one-on-one support.

According to the website, you can typically expect a response within 1-2 business days.

Requesting support in the Pretty Links dashboard

Pretty Links Pricing and Plans

If you’re just getting started with affiliate marketing and want to test whether it’s right for you, then you can download the lite version of Pretty Links.

This plugin has essential features that allow you to create shareable URLs that redirect to any other destination. It also supports 301, 302, and 307 redirects, and provides a central location where you can manage all your links.

However, if you want to turn your website or blog into a low cost online business, then we recommend upgrading to the premium plugin.

The Pretty Links pricing plans

If you decide to invest in a premium license, then there are 3 plans to choose from:

  • Beginner. For $99.60, you’ll get access to advanced features that can help grow your affiliate business. This includes the ability to auto-link keywords, rotate redirects, and target visitors based on location. You can only use Pretty Links Beginner on a single website, so it’s a good option for online bloggers, startups, and anyone who wants to experiment with affiliate links.
  • Marketer. Priced at $130.90, this plan allows you to use Pretty Links on up to 3 websites. With that said, it’s a good option if you own a few different online marketplaces, websites, or blogs. You’ll also get access to priority support, so you can be confident you’ll get your questions answered, fast.
  • Super Affiliate. Do you want to create beautiful product displays? Super Affiliate has everything you need to design eye-catching affiliate product boxes with ease. Priced at $149.50, you can also use Pretty Links on up to 5 websites. That said, this plan is perfect for quickly turning multiple websites into a profitable affiliate business.

Conclusion: Is Pretty Links the Right URL Shortener Plugin for You?

After looking at the features, pricing, and support options, we’re confident that Pretty Links is one of the best link management solutions for WordPress.

If you’re a solo blogger or startup, then Beginner is a great place to start. We particularly recommend this plan if you want to see whether affiliate marketing is right for you.

It has powerful affiliate marketing features, including the ability to auto-link keywords. With that in mind, Beginner is also a good choice if you already have a catalog of content, such as blog posts and articles. Simply add keywords for each affiliate link, and Pretty Links will scan your existing content and add these links automatically.

Do you own multiple websites? You can use Pretty Links Marketer on up to 3 websites, and also get access to priority support. In this way, you can monetize multiple websites, while getting access to all the WordPress support you need to keep those sites running smoothly.

Meanwhile, if you own more than 3 websites then you’ll need to upgrade to Super Affiliate. With this advanced plan, you can use Pretty Links on up to 5 websites. It also comes with the product display feature, so you can create affiliate product boxes, and get even more clicks and conversions.

We hope this Pretty Links review helped you decide whether it’s the right URL shortener plugin for your affiliate site. You may also want to learn how to increase your blog traffic, or see our expert pick of the best email marketing services for small businesses.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

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MemberPress https://www.wpbeginner.com/solutions/memberpress/ https://www.wpbeginner.com/solutions/memberpress/#comments Mon, 27 Nov 2023 14:00:00 +0000 https://www.wpbeginner.com/?post_type=solution&p=230753 MemberPress is a popular all-in-one WordPress membership plugin. It allows you to sell plans and subscriptions, and create exclusive members-only content.

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Are you looking for a MemberPress review to see whether it’s the right membership plugin for your WordPress website?

With MemberPress, it’s easy to add membership features to your WordPress website. You can sell membership plans and subscriptions, and then restrict access to your content based on the person’s membership plan.

In this MemberPress review, we’ll see whether it really is the best membership plugin for your WordPress website.

Is MemberPress the right membership plugin for your WordPress website?

What is MemberPress?

MemberPress is an all-in-one membership plugin that has everything you need to create, sell, and manage all kinds of memberships.

Adding membership levels to your WordPress website

You can create as many membership levels as you want and then restrict access to your site’s content based on those levels.

In fact, MemberPress makes it easy to restrict any kind of content including posts, pages, custom post types, categories, tags, files, and even online courses.

Restricting content with MemberPress

To keep users engaged with your site over the long term, MemberPress supports content dripping, and integrates with all the best email service providers including AWeber, Mailchimp, and GetResponse.

If you want to make money by selling memberships, then MemberPress supports PayPal and Stripe so you can easily accept credit card payments in WordPress.

How to sell memberships online with MemberPress

To help grow your business, MemberPress allows companies and organizations to purchase your memberships in bulk. People can even re-sell your memberships, so you can potentially partner with freelancers, agencies, and resellers.

With that in mind, there’s lots of ways to make money online with MemberPress.

MemberPress Review: The Right Membership Plugin for You?

There are plenty of membership plugins on the market. However, not every plugin has the features you need to turn WordPress into a successful membership platform.

With that said, let’s see whether MemberPress is the right membership plugin for your WordPress website.

1. Ready-Made Account Pages

With MemberPress, you can create all the important membership pages, simply by clicking a button. This includes a login page and an account page, so members can edit their own profile and settings.

The default membership pages, created using MemberPress

These pages are designed to fit perfectly with your WordPress theme so they’ll look great on any website.

As you can see in the following image, the Account page has the exact same style and colors as the site’s ThemeIsle Hestia Pro theme.

An example of an Accounts page, created using MemberPress

These pages look great out-of-the-box, but you can also edit them using the standard WordPress content editor.

Another option is using a page builder plugin to create a completely custom design. In fact, MemberPress integrates seamlessly with SeedProd, so you can open any of the default membership pages in SeedProd’s drag and drop editor.

Customizing membership pages using SeedProd

You can add more tabs to the default Account page using the MemberPress Nav Tabs add-on.

For example, if you’re creating a client portal then you might create a ‘Support’ tab for customer service software such as HelpDesk.com so clients can easily contact your support team.

Adding custom tabs to the member Accounts page

You can also show different content to different users. For example, you might add a personalized greeting to the Account page, to make your members feel more valued.

You can update this message at any time, so it’s a great way to share resources the client might find helpful, such as documentation for a WooCommerce product they recently bought.

Showing custom welcome messages to members

2. Unlimited Membership Levels

With MemberPress, you can create as many membership levels as you want.

Creating multiple membership levels in WordPress

Each plan can have its own unique content, features, and pricing.

This allows you to create memberships that appeal to different groups of people, which should get you more signups and sales.

Restricting content based on membership level

You can also choose what happens when a visitor joins a membership plan.

For example, you can create a custom thank you message or a custom welcome email for each membership level.

Showing a custom thank you message to new users

3. Built-in Login and Registration Forms

MemberPress can generate a login page for you, but you may also want to add a login form to different parts of your site.

MemberPress comes with built-in Login and Registration widgets that you can add to any page, post, or widget-ready area.

This improves the user experience by allowing members to log in from other areas of your WordPress blog or website. For example, you may want to add the Login widget to the sidebar or similar section, so members can access their account from any page.

Adding a login form to any page, post, or widget-ready area

Meanwhile, the Registration block is perfect for getting more signups and conversions. For example, you might add a registration form to the landing page or sales page you’ve created to promote your membership plans.

4. Supports Major Payment Gateways

Selling memberships is a popular way to make money online. With that in mind, MemberPress supports popular payment gateways including PayPal (Standard, Express, and Pro), Stripe, and Authorize.net.

Adding payments gateways to a membership site

People are more likely to make a purchase if they can use their preferred payment gateway. To help you get as many members as possible, MemberPress lets you add multiple payment methods to your site.

5. Collect One-Time or Recurring Payments

MemberPress lets you offer lifetime memberships, charge a one-time fee, or even collect recurring payments.

One-time payments don’t renew automatically, which can put new users at ease and make them more likely to sign up.

Meanwhile, accepting recurring payments automates the billing process. This can save you a ton of time and generally leads to fewer payment delays and errors, which will improve the membership experience. It also means you don’t have to send invoices manually.

If you do select recurring payments, then you can choose from monthly, yearly, weekly, quarterly, or set a custom interval. For example, in the following image we’re charging members $100 every 6 months.

Setting up recurring payments for a membership site

If you select ‘One-Time,’ then you can choose ‘Lifetime’ or set an expiration date.

You can either choose a calendar date or a length of time, such as one month since the person purchased their membership.

Setting a membership to expire automatically

In addition to choosing a billing type, you may also want to offer a free trial subscription.

By default MemberPress only offers one free trial to each customer. However, you can remove this restriction and offer unlimited free trials to every member, simply by unchecking a box.

Offering unlimited free trials in MemberPress

6. Detailed Content Restriction Rules

You’ll typically want to restrict your content based on the user’s membership level.

You can do this by creating MemberPress rules, which allow you to select different conditions and them associate them with a membership plan. For example, you might restrict access to all content that has the ‘premium’ category or tag.

Restricting access to content on a membership site

You can also restrict access to a single post or page, child pages, or a particular URL. You can even use MemberPress to make your WordPress website completely private.

You may also want to change the user’s role when they buy a membership plan. This is an easy way to give new members multiple permissions, since each user role in WordPress comes with its own permissions.

Changing a member's user role automatically in WordPress

You can use any of the default WordPress user roles, or create a custom role for each membership plan.

When a non-member tries to access restricted content, MemberPress will show a basic error message. We recommend customizing this message so visitors know the content is members-only rather than simply unavailable. You can also add a link in case the visitor wants to buy a membership and unlock the content.

Showing a custom message to logged-out users and members

Another option is to show an excerpt of the locked content.

In this way, you can catch the visitor’s attention and make them want to read more, which is great for getting new members.

Creating a custom unauthorized access message for your membership site

7. Built-in Reports

To create a successful membership website, you’ll need to find out what’s working, and what isn’t. To help you make decisions based on real data, MemberPress comes with detailed built-in reports.

MemberPress' built-in membership reports

Here, you’ll see the total number of active, inactive, free, paid, and total members. These reports also show the average member’s lifetime value.

Sometimes you may need to share this information with people who don’t have access to the WordPress dashboard. We don’t recommend creating new accounts just to show people your MemberPress reports, as this isn’t good for WordPress security.

Instead, you can export all your MemberPress data as a CVS file, simply by clicking a button.

Exporting member data from your online marketplace, store, or website

This is also a good way to import data into other programs, such as your customer relationship software or a database you’re using to track your membership site.

8. Custom Pricing Tables

If you want to sell membership levels, then you’ll need a pricing page where potential customers can compare all the different plans.

MemberPress makes it easy to add a pricing table in WordPress.

An example of a pricing page, created using MemberPress

In the plugin’s settings, simply add all the plans you want to show on your pricing page. You can also choose from a few different themes, or even add add custom CSS to completely customize your pricing table.

In addition, MemberPress can automatically redirect people to the pricing page if they try to access restricted content. This can get you some extra signups, and help grow your membership site.

Redirecting visitors to your membership site's pricing page

9. Sell Subscription-Based Products

If you have a library of content such as videos, ebooks, webinars, and other content, then you may want to sell subscriptions. For example, you might create a pay-per-view site, or sell a yearly subscription to your audiobook collection.

Creating a pay-per-view site in WordPress

In this way, you can set up a recurring revenue stream and continue to earn money from the content you’ve already created.

10. Create a Content Paywall

Paywalls usually ask the visitor to buy an ongoing subscription so they’re a great way to make money over the long term.

However, not all paywalls ask for payment. They’re also a great way to grow their email list by asking users to sign up for a free account.

To create a paywall, you simply need to show a post excerpt when non-members try to access your restricted content.

Showing a post excerpt to non-members

If you do create a paywall, then you may want to let non-members see a certain amount of content for free.

To do this, enable the paywall checkbox in the MemberPress settings and then type in how many pages a visitor can access without a subscription.

Adding a paywall to your online store, blog, or website

11. Automatic Content Dripping

Content dripping allows you to gradually release content to members instead of giving it away all at once.

MemberPress has full support for content dripping so you can keep members engaged over a longer period of time.

How to drip content to your members

By releasing content slowly, you can also make old material seem new and exciting, particularly if you let members know about these ‘new’ releases using automated drip notifications or personalized email marketing.

MemberPress also allows you to add an expiration data to your content.

Adding an expiration date to a content dripping campaign

In this way, you can use FOMO to increase conversions since the content is only available for a limited time. This can also encourage more people to buy memberships so they don’t miss out on the time-restricted content.

12. Customizable Member Emails

MemberPress comes with built-in emails that it will send to your members, including a welcome message and a payment receipt notice.

The built-in membership emails

These emails can make your members feel more valued, keep them informed about important events, and encourage them to visit your site.

MemberPress has a user-friendly editor where you can customize these emails with your own messaging, custom logo, and branding.

Customizing the default membership emails in WordPress

There are also smart tags that you can use to insert the individual member’s name, membership level, and more. By adding this personalized content to your messages, you can often boost open and click through rates.

Pro Tip: You’ll want to make sure your emails arrive safely in the member’s inbox and not in the spam folder. To make sure that happens, we recommend using an SMTP service provider to improve your email deliverability rates and fix the problem with WordPress not sending emails properly.

13. Sell Group Memberships

Businesses may want to buy memberships for multiple people at once, such as an entire team or department.

Volunteer groups and nonprofit organizations, church groups, or even families may also find it easier to buy a group membership rather than multiple individual subscriptions.

With that said, you might want to sell group memberships using the Corporate Accounts add-on. When someone purchases a corporate membership subscription, they’ll see a ‘Sub Accounts’ link in their account.

Selling group memberships in WordPress

They can click the link to see how many sub-accounts they have left.

To add people to their group account, they just need to type in some information such as the person’s first name, last name, and email address.

Creating sub-accounts in WordPress

To start selling memberships, simply check the following box: ‘Subscribers to this Membership are Corporate Accounts.’

By default, corporate account owners can create an unlimited number of sub-accounts, but you can also set a limit. This can stop people from abusing their corporate accounts.

How to sell corporate memberships in WordPress

14. Sell Downloadable Files

MemberPress makes it easy to restrict access to your posts, pages, and other content. However, sometimes you may also want to offer members-only downloadable files such as ebooks, videos, or digital art and graphics.

With the MemberPress Downloads add-on you can easily upload all kinds of files to your membership site.

Uploading files to a MemberPress website or blog

You can then control exactly who has access to these files, just like any other content on your WordPress website.

For example, you might restrict all files that have the ‘paid-members’ tag.

Restricting access to downloadable files on a membership site

You can then add these files to any page, post, or widget-ready area using a shortcode that MemberPress creates automatically.

For more information on how to place shortcodes, please see our guide on how to add a shortcode in WordPress.

An example of a file download page, created using MemberPress

15. Create and Sell Online Courses

MemberPress is also one of the best WordPress LMS plugins.

It comes with a MemberPress course builder that’s based on the WordPress block editor. This means you can add lessons, topics, categories, videos, images, and more using the WordPress tools you’re already familiar with.

Creating online training using MemberPress

MemberPress also includes a virtual classroom that takes care of styling and works with all WordPress themes. With that said, you don’t need to spend time changing how the course looks, to make sure it fits with the rest of your website.

This virtual classroom is also designed to be distraction-free, which should improve your course completion rates and the learner experience.

An example of an online course, created using MemberPress

By creating courses inside MemberPress, you’ll also get access to all the standard MemberPress features. This means you can sell unlimited courses with different pricing options and membership plans.

You can also release lessons across a scheduled training period, using MemberPress’ drip content features. This can stop students from feeling overwhelmed, which will improve the experience and encourage them to buy more courses from you in the future.

Unlike some other learning management systems, MemberPress gives you the freedom to set your own prices, choose between one-time and recurring payments, create multiple membership levels, and more.

Since you’re creating and selling courses directly on your WordPress site, you also don’t need to pay a percentage of your income to a third-party provider or training platform.

Finally, MemberPress integrates seamlessly with all the best email marketing services so you can automatically add new students to your email list.

16. Thousands of Integrations

MemberPress works with many of the email marketing services you may already be using on your site, including BrevoConstant Contact, and Drip. This makes it easy to keep in touch with your members and promote products and services they may be interested in buying.

If you want to create a referral program for your membership site, then MemberPress also integrates with AffiliateWP.

Do you run an online store? Then MemberPress is fully compatible with WooCommerce. This means you can restrict access to individual WooCommerce products, products with specific categories and tags, and more. 

Restricting access to WooCommerce products using MemberPress

In this way, you can offer VIP WooCommerce products, special discounts, or exclusive early access to registered members.

You can even make your shop completely private and charge a fee for accessing your members-only WooCommerce store.

Creating a private WooCommerce store

Finally, you can connect MemberPress with even more apps and services, using its Zapier and Uncanny Automator integrations.

17. Community and Professional Support

MemberPress is designed to be easy to use. In fact, it can create all the pages you need to run a successful membership site, with just a few clicks. However, sometimes you may need some extra information, or help.

If you prefer to research yourself, then MemberPress has a detailed user manual.

The MemberPress online user manual

In your MemberPress account, you’ll also find an in-depth video course showing how to set up and use your new membership plugin.

There’s also the MemberPress blog where you’ll find detailed, step-by-step guides on how to use the plugin. It also has tips, advice and best practices including a guide to the best WordPress themes for membership sites.

The MemberPress WordPress blog

All the MemberPress plans include professional support, so you can submit an email ticket at any time and get one-on-one help directly from the MemberPress team.

MemberPress Pricing and Plans

Choosing the right plan is just as important as choosing the right plugin. With that being said, MemberPress has 3 pricing plans that you can choose from.

The MemberPress pricing plans
  • Basic. For $179.50 per year, you can have as many members as you want, with no transaction fees. MemberPress Basic also integrates with Stripe and PayPal so you can sell memberships and subscriptions. That said, Basic has everything that beginners need to create a membership site.
  • Plus. Priced at $299.50 annually, this plan is perfect for getting more engagement on your membership site. Using this plan, you can create forums, quizzes, and certificates. With these extra features, Plus is a good option for small businesses and entrepreneurs who want to make money online.
  • Pro. Do you want to sell to businesses, organizations, and other large groups? For $399.50, this plan comes with the Corporate Accounts addon, so customers can buy your memberships in bulk. Members can even re-sell these memberships to their own clients and customers. In addition, Pro comes with 3 months access to OptinMonster and TrustPulse, making it the perfect package for advanced membership sites that want big results.
  • Elite. Do you want to offer coaching through your membership site? This powerful plan integrates with CoachKit by MemberPress so you can offer a more personalized experience to your members.

Conclusion: Is MemberPress the Right Membership Plugin for You?

After looking at the features and support, we’re confident that MemberPress is a great membership plugin.

With MemberPress, you can create as many levels as you want and then restrict your content in lots of different ways. You can create paywalls, offer free trials, set up recurring subscriptions, and more.

If you’re just getting started or have a limited budget, then Basic has all the essential features you need to create a membership site. You can register as many members as you want, and then collect payments using Stripe or PayPal without paying transaction fees.

If you run a small business, then we recommend upgrading to the Plus plan as it integrates with many marketing tools and services. This includes many of the tools you may already be using such as ActiveCampaign and ConvertKit.

Meanwhile, if you want to grow your membership business quickly, then we recommend Pro.

With this plan, users can buy memberships and gift them to other people, or buy memberships in bulk. This can make your business more appealing to corporations, schools, agencies, non-profits, and any other organizations that needs to buy memberships for groups of people.

Finally, if you want to offer coaching on your membership website then Elite integrates with CoachKit by MemberPress. With this add-on, you can add unlimited coaches to your site and turn your membership site into an all-in-one coaching platform.

We hope this MemberPress review helped you decide whether it’s the right membership plugin for you. Next, you may want to see our guide on how to track website visitors, or check out our expert pick of the best live chat software for small businesses.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

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