pretty links

Everybody has a hobby that they hold dear. While some prefer bullets and footballs, others want their voice to be heard. Blogging as a hobby has become a popular alternative for people who need to blow off some steam but don’t take pleasure in mundane activities.

But when blogging becomes more than a hobby, for most bloggers, the natural step forward would be a career. ThirstyAffiliates vs Pretty Links—taking blogging to a new level.

Brand recognition is becoming a more and more vehiculated term. A strong brand automatically indicates higher quality products, so investing in brand recognition is a very smart choice for bloggers everywhere.

For those who have a steady-growing following, actual monetization is slowly becoming a real thing, but bloggers must have access to proper tools and services in order to make the most out of their investments.

Building on Your Blog

There are a lot of ways through which one can monetize their recent and previously-written content. Nowadays, search engines can be manipulated with ease to bring bloggers more traffic, especially for niche blogging.

Google ads can’t possibly generate enough revenues for a mediocre blogger to earn a living, so what are the alternatives? Affiliate links! The prize of every niche and mainstream blogger or vlogger.

Affiliate links are tools used by content creators to earn money off of their audience in a fair way. If they’ve spent time reviewing a product which turns out to be good, then users can purchase the mentioned product via an affiliate link, directing a percentage of the sale to the content creator.

This is a win-win-win scenario. The manufacturer of the product receives cheap advertising, the content creator can earn a considerable amount of money off of this sale, and the user receives valuable information regarding a product.

Changing the Game

Third-party services can bring a lot of extra features that would aid the content creator in maximizing their earnings. For instance, affiliate links sometimes require a special type of format due to stricter affiliate policy imposed by the retailer.

In these cases, special services must be used to generate a link that will comply with the retailer’s requirements.

API or Application Program Interface is an important tool to have when blogging since it allows two different applications to communicate via code. This means that a webpage can gain more functionality through more applications such as shopping carts, weather plug-ins, and currency exchange updates.

Once a blogger becomes an affiliate, it’s important to have access to proper tools. These plug-ins provide a lot of utility to the content creator and are very easy and intuitive to use.

There are plenty of options out there, but let’s take a look at some of the best affiliate WordPress plug-ins that are easily-accessible by bloggers. ThirstyAffiliates vs Pretty Link—which one is better?

ThirstyAffiliates vs Pretty Link: Complete Breakdown

With so many similar features, it’s hard at times to distinguish between the two services. While they’re often identical in functionality, upon taking a closer look, it’s clear that they’re quite different. ThirstyAffiliates is clearly a complete solution since it offers the same features as Pretty Link and more.

Free Versions

They both feature:

• Destination Cloaking
• Link categorization
• Several Redirecting options
• WP Affiliate link tool (Pretty link features a more stripped down version)
• Stat Tracking
• Insert Link Options
• Quick Link add function

Thirsty Affiliates’ additional features:

• Uncloak option, allowing the blogger to stay in compliance with certain terms of agreement
• RESTful API compatibility, allowing the blogger to integrate more apps
• A highly customizable design
• Proactive link fixer

On the pro versions, the story stays about the same. They both share many features that are actually present in the free versions, but there are some key differences that make the ThirstyAffiliates option more appealing. In addition to Pretty Link’s features, it also provides:

• Amazon Application Program Interface Importing
• URL Shortening
• Feature that checks for link’s health
• Legacy support for Google Analytics Click Event Pushing

The other changes are rather uninteresting and probably won’t affect anyone, so they’re not worth mentioning.

While both programs are fairly similar, there’s no case to be made. ThirstyAffiliates is the better WordPress affiliate plugin. Amazon is one of the biggest retailers in the world, so an affiliate link for a popular product is a gold mine for a blogger.

Being in compliance with Amazon’s strict affiliate program is essential for those that want to keep living off their passion. Because of this, having an uncloaking option is absolutely essential.

Furthermore, URL shortening is great for building a strong brand. Making the most out of valuable Twitter real estate is a big deal, and long links translate into shorter, less complete tweets, potentially losing interested readers.

The proactive link fixer is another element that makes the ThirstyAffiliates choice superior. Older content can actually degrade but still remain relevant in essence, tackling topics that are still worthy of readers or reviewing products that are still “hot items” on marketplaces. Because of this, a proactive link fixer is a smart investment as earnings will be further increased.

It’s important for content creators to stick to the TOA’s of their affiliate programs. Both of these tools will prove to be great assets for people who are looking to earn money off of their content. Whether or not someone will benefit from the extra features, that’s for them to decide.

Verdict

Blogging is a very enjoyable way of combining a bit of passion with entrepreneurship. Since the printed press is slowly becoming extinct, people migrate towards online articles for information regarding current affairs, innovations and buying guides.

Blogs are a great way to offer the first-hand experience of products and services, and proper exposure enables content creators to use product affiliate links to support their passion.

ThirstyAffiliates, as the name suggests, is a great blog and link management tool. In the right hands, it can contribute to substantial revenues, error-free articles, and quicker article processing.

To conclude, both the free and premium versions (which come at a slightly lower cost) are superior to the Perfect Links alternative due to their bigger feature set.