You spend hours writing amazing blog posts, only to clutter them with long, ugly affiliate links. Worse, if an affiliate program changes or a link breaks, you have to dig through every old post to fix it. Sounds familiar? This was definitely the case for me years ago. And as it turns out, there is a better way to manage your outbound links, most often your affiliate links. Check it out.
If you’re a blogger, you know how messy affiliate links can get. Especially when an advertiser moves to another affiliate network or decides to set up their own affiliate system. When I started blogging, I always thought that I would stick to one or two major affiliate networks and that would be it. These advertisers are the one that were a good match with my blogs so no reason to move. Why would I move?
Why manage all affiliate links (outbound links) centrally?
Well as it turns out, it's the advertisers that move – and keep moving. Before I knew it I was dealing with dozens of affiliate networks or individual affiliate programs. But that isn't the hard part. The most annoying part of this was hunting down affiliate links on my blogs and update them. Impossible to keep track of. So that needed to change. A central dashboard or management system for all these affiliate links was needed.
Managing all links centrally was easier than expected
Back then there was a really simple and effective WordPress plug-in called the Simple URLs plugin, from the people of the Genesis Framework & StudioPress Themes, now part of WPengine. That simple plugin made my life a lot easier. Until the plug-in was abandoned. Now, there is a new plug-in with the same name but I have no idea whether it has the same functionality as the classic Simple URLs plug-in.
For me, my new go-to plug-in for managing affiliate URLs on WordPress became Pretty Links. Pretty Links lets you:
- Create short, clean URLs, like yoursite . com / out / advertiser for all your affiliate links
- Manage all links in one dashboard, so no more digging through old posts to find and update broken or outdated links.
- Track clicks and see which links perform best.
- Keep your links working even if you change affiliate programs.
- Place links automatically in relevant content, based on the rules you set. If you have older blog posts that could need extra affiliate TLC of a new advertiser program you joined, just let the system place these links strategically.
And the best part? It’s so easy, even total beginners can set it up in minutes.
How to migrate from another URL plug-in to Pretty Links
Pretty Links supports exporting and importing of links, so it is easy to move to Pretty Links from any other plugin, but it is also easy to migrate when you're not happy with Pretty Links – although I can't imagine the latter to happen.
Option 1: Manual Migration (best for blogs with a small amount of links)
- Get Pretty Links at a discounted price with 14-Day Money Back Guarantee and install the plug-in
- Copy your URLs data (name, slug, destination URL)
- Paste each link into Pretty Links as a new entry
Option 2: Automated Migration (best for blogs with dozens of links, saves hours of work)
- Get Pretty Links at a discounted price with 14-Day Money Back Guarantee and install the plug-in
- Export your Simple URLs data (via WordPress export to Excel or LibreCalc)
- Clean up the data (remove extra columns, fix slugs). Pro Tip: Use Excel’s Find & Replace to clean up slugs
- Upload the CSV file to Pretty Links.
If you're interested in a more detailed article about how to migrate from Simple URLs to Pretty Links, check out my blog post about this particular link migration process.
Why you need a link management plug-in
My experiences with link management on WordPress probably said it all, but to be sure, let's list all reasons why a link management plug-in will save you time and money.
- Affiliate links break. Programs change, networks shut down, and URLs expire. Without a system, you risk losing clicks and money.
- Long links look spammy. Readers trust clean, branded URLs more than messy affiliate links
- Updating links manually is a nightmare. Imagine changing a single affiliate link across 50 posts, one by one. Nobody has time for that. You can better spend your time on creating fresh content for your blog.
When you manage all outbound links on WordPress via a central link management system like Pretty Links, you only have to update a link once and don't have to worry about where you have used the link. It's all done in one go. Easy as. You'll have more time to create new articles for your blog. No need to waste time on updating your outbound links.
Ready to switch to a better way to manage affiliate links?
Pretty Links makes affiliate link management effortless, even if you’re not tech-savvy. No need to code or do complicated things. Migrate today and keep your links working smoothly! Have questions? Drop a comment below, I’m happy to answer your questions or share more tips.
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