Wix Affiliate Program Review
You might have heard of Wix before if you’ve ever built a portfolio page or a simple website with virtually no web design or web development skills. It is one of the most popular services in this field alongside Squarespace and other such companies.
But did you know that Wix actually has an affiliate program and that by promoting the brand’s plans, you can increase your side income every month?
In this post, we’re looking at everything you should know about it — from the commissions you can expect to what you can suggest to your readers, if there are any cons, and what other options you have available.
Wix Affiliate Program Review
What is Wix?
Wix has been around for more than 15 years now. In just about 4 years, the company is going to celebrate its 20th birthday, so it goes without saying that it’s not new in the game of building sites or affiliate marketing, for that matter.
The only aspect that can be a little problematic and that we would like to note from the beginning is that Wix is not the best platform for serious things like eCommerce or affiliate marketing itself.
That means that if you create an affiliate site with Wix, you will have a bit of a hard time managing everything just because it’s not as easy to work with compared to WordPress, for example.
There aren’t nearly as many plugins that exist for this platform as there are for similar content management systems and website builders. For this reason, SEO and organic search can be a little challenging for Wix site owners.
Even so, you can definitely promote Wix to your audience if it is composed of individuals who’d like to create online portfolios or just blogs.
Becoming a Wix affiliate
Affiliate marketing with Wix can be a little challenging right from the start because you actually have to go on the company’s website and submit an application there.
By contrast, some of the other programs that we have looked at in the past use separate networks for everything regarding their affiliate marketing, which makes things easy for everyone involved — both the affiliate managers and the affiliates themselves.
Joining the Wix.com affiliate program can be done by filling out a form. Don’t expect anything out of the ordinary in terms of the information you will be asked to provide. The company just wants to know that you’re a real person with a real address and everything else.
Your site’s name and URL are also necessary to get your application approved. You can create an affiliate username if you want and also resubmit an application if you used to be an affiliate Wix and you somehow ended up being booted out of the program by accident or because you went against the rules unknowingly.
Needless to say, you are not allowed to promote your Wix affiliate links on any spammy or shady websites and you’re also not allowed to have content relating to niches like adult, coupons, or anything else in this sense.
Although we didn’t find this bit of info in the list of rules, you probably aren’t allowed to use PPC marketing where you specify the name of the Wix brand in your ads, either.
Wix affiliate marketing – What services can you promote?
The first and most obvious service that you can recommend to your readers consists of the website builder, which is very easy to work with and eliminates the guesswork that might show up during the process, even for someone who has no previous experience building sites.
There are more than 800 templates that folks can opt for and advanced web developed through an open dev platform is available, in case your audience might be interested in that.
Read more: Kartra Affiliate Program
Wix also has a mobile app and comes with a variety of other features and services such as a custom logo maker, an SEO toolset (which definitely comes in handy since you can’t use the same plugins as you could with WordPress), domain names, hosting, and everything else in this sense.
Wix affiliate commission, cookie, and payment
This is the part that you’ve probably been looking for and you’re interested in the most. So, how much can you make when using Wix for affiliate marketing?
While guessing a specific amount of money per month would be impossible for us since we don’t know your traffic and conversion possibilities, we will note that this is a pretty decent option in terms of affiliate programs.
For every referral that gets a Premium package after clicking on your affiliate link, you will be paid a flat commission of $100. Do take into consideration the fact that this rate is only available for situations where folks don’t cancel their plan after trying the service for 14 days, for example.
Another detail that we have to note (and one that we will add in the con section of this article) is that you need to make at least 3 commissions amounting to $300 dollars per month in order for the platform to pay you. This can be a significant drawback, especially for affiliate marketers who are just starting out and whose blogs or sites might not have that much traffic right now.
The cookie also lasts for 30 days, which is not worth writing home about. We’ve seen cookie durations of 120 days or even a year with other programs. Still, this is the industry standard, so there’s no surprise in this sense.
You might also like: Podia Affiliate Program Review
In terms of payment methods, we didn’t even have to use the plural since there is only one available — you can only get your earnings through a bank transfer. Wix uses a Net45 period, which means that you have to wait for that amount of time before your commissions are approved. To get paid, you also need to send the platform an invoice.
Pros and cons to being a Wix affiliate
As you might know by now if you’ve previously used affiliate marketing for increasing your income, there are both advantages and disadvantages to using any program out there.
As you may have been able to tell, Wix does have a pretty decent affiliate program in terms of commission rate. Everything else, however, is not that great.
The hassle of you having to send out an invoice to get your commissions to hit your bank account and the fact that the bank transfer might actually cost you a huge chunk of your income because maybe you don’t live in the U.S. or any other such country, so fees are to be expected — can make being an affiliate for Wix less beneficial for you.
Besides, the commission isn’t even recurring, which is something that you can get with similar programs. And even if the commission rate you could get with competitors is maybe lower, they have different thresholds and you can actually make more money in the long run compared to what you’d be able to make with Wix.
Finally, the biggest drawback is that even though the website builder works and comes with plenty of perks, WordPress websites are still the best for SEO and organic search — so seasoned website owners in your audience might be reluctant to try Wix services.
You might also like: Thrive Themes Affiliate Program Review
What if Wix is not the right option? Alternative to the Wix affiliate program
If, for any particular reason, you decide that becoming a Wix affiliate doesn’t make sense for you (especially given the cons that we have mentioned in one of the sections below), here are some other options.
WordPress
This is one of the most effective and popular platforms that people now use to manage their content across pages, posts, and even landing pages. But WordPress also has various plans for blogs, business, or enterprise owners, so that is what you will be promoting to your audience.
One of the neatest things about this program is that after submitting your application, you will get a reply in under a day — WP has lots and lots of employers across the globe and an affiliate team also exists, so that’s why the response is quick.
On the downside, the commission rate of this program isn’t all that worth writing home about since it stands at 20%. Even so, if you get someone to sign up for the offer for the Business plan, billed at approximately $500 for a period of two years, that 20% share is going to be worth a bit.
The commission is recurring, so if someone gets the monthly plan before opting for a yearly one, you’ll earn something each time they pay for their subscription. Besides the plans, you’ll get a rate for WooCommerce and WP Job Manager, as well as any JetPack product.
Weebly
This is another pretty decent option that you can choose especially since everything in terms of affiliate marketing is managed by ShareASale. If you’re a seasoned affiliate marketer, you probably know that this is one of the largest affiliate networks out there and that everything works pretty smoothly with it.
The Weebly affiliate program pays you a commission rate of 30% out of every order placed through your links, which is an advantage without a doubt. The nicest thing is that the cookie lasts for 120 days so it is considerably longer compared to what other companies have to offer.
Unfortunately, the commission isn’t a recurring one, so don’t expect to gain anything when someone renews their subscription.
Read more: ActiveCampaign Affiliate Program Review
Squarespace
This brand uses Impact Radius for its affiliate marketing, which is another platform you might have already heard of.
The only issue with this one is that the commission rate clearly noted on Impact Radius is $100 to $200 but there should be some rules that you abide by. The monthly plans are quite budget-friendly, which is why we expect for the higher commissions to be paid for the yearly or even two-year plans.
For all new customers, you will receive a $100 commission. The cookie lasts for just one month and a half, so it is considerably lower than what other companies have to offer. You also have to wait for a month before having your commissions approved, but that is to be expected with most other affiliate programs, regardless of their niches.
HubSpot
As one of the most expensive Wix alternatives that we will showcase here, HubSpot isn’t just a website builder complete with all the tools you need for the job. It’s more complex and can be considered a CRM rather than anything else.
There are two models that HubSpot uses when it comes to affiliate marketing. You can either opt for the one where you receive the value of the entire revenue for the first month of your referral or you can benefit from a 15% recurring commission for the whole duration of the subscription’s lifetime.
Technically, you’re supposed to make more than $250 per month even with a minimum number of referrals if you opt for this second model. In terms of payment methods, you can get your earnings through bank transfer or PayPal with this one.
HostGator
The HostGator affiliate program is quite unique when compared to some of those that we have previously mentioned and the reason we’re saying that is that the brand doesn’t pay a percentage of anything — the rate is fixed at $65 per referral but can be increased to $75 and even $100 depending on the number of individuals you convince to sign up.
When you reach more than 21 referrals per month, your commission will become $125 per purchase made through your affiliate links. On the upside, the brand uses Impact Radius for everything regarding their affiliate marketing, so you have everything in a single place.
The best thing about HostGator is probably the fact that you do not have to limit yourself to recommending the website builder only – they have plenty of other tools and add-ons that you can promote.
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Craig Campbell
I am a Glasgow based SEO expert who has been doing SEO for 22 years.
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