Affiliate Program FAQ

An affiliate program is a partnership that allows individuals or brands (affiliates) to earn commissions by promoting another company’s products or services. Becoming an affiliate is an excellent option for anyone interested in making money part-time or full-time online through promotion, including bloggers, influencers, and business owners. 

Automattic is unique as a brand partner because, once approved, affiliates can promote ALL eligible Automattic brands under a single program, including WordPress.com, Pressable, Jetpack, WooCommerce, and more.

The Impact platform is your best resource for all information regarding your Automattic Affiliate Program account. Once approved and accepted into the Automattic Affiliate Program, you can see all your basic account information on the Impact dashboard and under the Settings tab. See more below in the “Impact FAQ” subheading.

Navigate to the Automattic Affiliate Program homepage and sign up in minutes. Our team of experts will verify your account. Once approved, you can start creating affiliate campaigns across all of Automattic’s products from one dashboard. All traffic you send to any Automattic brands like WordPress.com, Pressable.com, WooCommerce.com, and more, will show up in your dashboard reports. You earn commissions on any sales you refer, paid through the Impact network.

With the Automattic Affiliate Program, you can promote multiple brands, including WordPress.com hosting, WordPress.com domain registration, WooCommerce Marketplace Extensions and Themes, Jetpack, Sensei, and more. It’s easy to spin up affiliate campaigns across the full range of participating Automattic products and manage all of your campaigns from a single dashboard in Impact. Automattic brands are recognizable, open source, and trustworthy, resulting in higher conversion rates for you!

Our Setting Up Your Impact Account article walks new affiliates through signing up on the Impact Platform and discusses how to create accurate links to any Automattic product or brand.

You don’t need a WordPress website to be an Automattic affiliate, nor does your website need to be hosted on WordPress.com or Pressable. However, we do recommend having at least one website hosted on WordPress.com or Pressable. Not only is WordPress a powerful tool for showcasing your affiliate content and links, but by using the products you’re promoting, you can make more authentic and meaningful recommendations to your audience.

The Automattic Affiliate Program provides an opportunity for content creators, influencers, educators, businesses, or anyone with an audience to earn additional income by promoting Automattic products, including WordPress.com, WooCommerce Marketplace, Pressable, Sensei, WP Job Manager, Jetpack, and more. The program is designed for those creating content to easily generate commissions and earn one-time, lump-sum payments for every referral.

Automattic for Agencies, on the other hand, is designed for agencies that sell custom, 1:1 solutions based on a client’s unique needs. This would typically involve recommending, implementing, and managing Automattic products—including WordPress.com, WooCommerce, WordPress VIP, Pressable, and Jetpack—on behalf of agency clients. The program has been set up to offer a suite of tools and services that streamline the website management process for multi-user teams and expand revenue opportunities through profit sharing and bulk discounts.

It’s certainly possible to join both programs, taking advantage of the benefits of each one to target different audiences, but members will need to make sure they’re following the respective guidelines. Agencies, in particular, should note that if they’re hosting a client’s site through their Automattic for Agencies account, they can’t simultaneously receive affiliate commissions for that same client. We recommend taking a look at the terms of service for more details.

Getting started is simple! Sign up on the Automattic Affiliate Program Homepage, and you’ll be verified by our experts. Once accepted, you’ll get access to your own personal affiliate dashboard and your unique referral link. 

Impact is a leading affiliate marketing platform that Automattic works with to manage its affiliate program. It connects affiliates with brands and advertisers and provides a user-friendly interface for tracking and optimizing affiliate marketing efforts.

Yes. By signing up for the Automattic Affiliate Program you will automatically be signed up for an account in Impact as well. Automattic uses Impact’s tracking to properly credit affiliates for their sales/referrals, and payments are made through Impact’s payment process. However, joining the Impact Marketplace is not required. This separate approval process gives you visibility to other brands beyond Automattic.

After logging in to your Impact account, search for Automattic under “Search Brands” on the Impact interface and apply directly to the program there.

Impact offers robust tracking and reporting features that allow affiliates to monitor their performance metrics, track clicks, and keep track of their conversions and earnings in real time. There are several reports available in the Impact interface that allow you to view your performance and earnings. Actions are locked six weeks after they go through (i.e. after a sale is made via one of your tracking links), and payouts occur about two weeks after the transaction has locked. “Locking” refers to when a transaction is fully accepted by the Impact platform and set for payout.

Automattic provides a range of promotional materials such as banners, text links, and social media assets to help promote our products. These materials are designed to help affiliates drive traffic and conversions. To find them, head to the Automattic Brand Assets page, where you can browse dozens of links, banners, and discount codes for the different Automattic brands. Check out our article, How to Create Links to Promote Any Automattic Product in Impact, for more. 

The commission structure for the Automattic Affiliate Program varies by product but typically includes a commission for each successful referral or sale generated through the affiliate’s unique tracking link. Please refer to our Affiliates Payouts and Commissions article for payout details and commission structures for all Automattic brands.

To optimize your affiliate marketing efforts, we recommend regularly analyzing your performance reports, testing different promotional strategies, and leveraging the available resources to drive targeted traffic and maximize conversions. Research other successful publishers promoting Automattic’s brands to see what has worked in the past and what you have to offer that’s new, fresh, and relevant to your audience. 

The specific Impact payout threshold may vary and will follow your financial settings in Impact. The minimum threshold you can set in Impact is $10. There are no direct minimums tied to sales of Automattic products. Any Automattic earnings apply to your overall Impact balance. We recommend enabling autopay, but this is your choice.

Impact provides support resources like training materials and regular communication to help affiliates maximize their performance and earnings. See Getting to Know the Impact Platform and Impact’s Tour for Partners video. If you have questions about any Impact features, you can consult their extensive knowledge base or contact the Impact support team at the Help Desk. You can also contact the Automattic Affiliate Program manager for questions specifically about the Automattic Affiliate Program at affiliates@automattic.com.

Payment options depend on the country you’re in and the payment methods supported by Impact. Impact handles all financial transactions, including fund transfers and tax-related documentation. Please note the financial relationship is between the publisher (affiliate) and Impact, not directly with Automattic. A few things to consider:

• Impact supports EFT payments to many countries listed on the Impact interface. This list changes over time, so take a look at the Impact Help Center’s page on Payments, Withdrawals, and Balance for the latest information. 
• PayPal is another option, depending on your country and currency.
• In some cases, affiliates can receive payments via an intermediary bank in another country.

To explore your specific payment options, you can create a free account on Impact and view the available banking details for your region. If you have specific questions about payment methods or need assistance, please reach out to Impact directly at impact.com/contact/support.

All Automattic Affiliate Program financials are operated through the Impact network. Our Knowledge Base article on Signing Up For Impact walks you through getting set up on Impact. Impact handles all payments to affiliates as well as tax-related forms and filings. Automattic has no involvement or access to publisher accounts and cannot update or advise on tax-related issues. Any inquiries should be directed to Impact support at https://impact.com/contact/support.

The Impact network handles all payments to affiliates and is responsible for handling any tax-related forms and filings. Automattic has no access to publisher accounts and cannot advise on any tax-related issues. Any inquiries should be directed to Impact support and your accounting professional. 

We don’t offer a general-use discount code for affiliates. Custom codes are occasionally provided to select partners who demonstrate meaningful value beyond simply sharing coupons — for example, by creating original content, generating qualified traffic, or running product-focused promotions. If you believe you qualify, please contact the Automattic Affiliate Team at affiliates@automattic.com.

From time to time, we may make a temporary discount available. If one is active, it will appear in the Assets section of the Impact platform under the Automattic brand.

Affiliates are encouraged to create unique and authentic content when promoting and discussing any Automattic brand. Please ensure your content represents the brand fairly and accurately and does not violate any of the terms of the Affiliate Contract. There are many banners available for your use in the Assets section for various Automattic brands in Impact. We also have several promotional guides, style guides, and other informational materials for affiliates in the Automattic Affiliate Program Knowledge Base. 

Generally, it can take an hour or two after the click or purchase event for it to appear in the Impact platform.

If you decide to discontinue the Automattic Affiliate Program, you may cancel your contract with Automattic in Impact. If you want to discontinue using the Impact network entirely, contact Impact directly for assistance.

After you set up your payment information, you’ll automatically receive payments at regular intervals based on the performance of your campaigns. You can track your success with any of the products you’re promoting from a single dashboard, so you’ll never be in the dark as to what to expect. 

Actions like sales of an Automattic brand through an affiliate link are tracked in the Impact network automatically. There can be up to a two-hour delay between the time an action occurs and the sale appears in Impact. Read more on Impact’s article, Why Was My Order Not Tracked?

Your earnings will depend on which and how many Automattic brands you choose to affiliate for and how much affiliate traffic you drive each month. See a full breakdown of the payouts in our Affiliate Payouts and Commissions article. 

Sales are tracked through your unique affiliate links and cookies. When someone clicks on your tracking link, a cookie is placed in their browser to identify them as your referred user, ensuring you get credit for the referral. Our cookie period is 30 days, which means you can earn commissions that extend beyond immediate purchases.

As soon as you start making sales via your affiliate link(s)! The specific Impact payout threshold can vary and will be impacted by the financial settings you have in Impact. The minimum threshold you can set in Impact is $10, meaning you will have to earn a minimum of $10 in commissions before receiving a payout.

Yes. Please write to affiliates@automattic.com with the email address of the account, date, and a brief description of your issue. Our dedicated affiliate management team will respond as soon as possible.

Commissions are awarded for first-time customer purchases only for the initial product purchased. Upgrades are not eligible for commissions. For example, if someone purchases a WordPress.com Business Plan and later upgrades to the Commerce Plan, no additional commission is awarded.

Yes. It is not against the terms of the Automattic Affiliate Program for affiliates to use their own affiliate link for purchases of services for their own use.

Yes. If you are an agency or developer setting up a WordPress.com or Pressable account for a client, you may use your own affiliate link to purchase on their behalf and still earn commissions on the sale. Just be sure to make the purchase using your own affiliate link to ensure the sale is tracked properly.

The Automattic Affiliate Program allows you to use search engine marketing to promote your website and content. However, you may not bid on any of our trademarks, such as WordPress, Pressable, Automattic, etc, or misspellings of our trademarks. This includes the use of the terms by themselves, called trademark bidding, or in a phrase with other terms, such as “Wordpress.com coupon”, which is also referred to as “trademark+bidding.” Additionally, you may not link directly from any search engine to any of our sites using your affiliate link.

Affiliates can link to any active URL of any participating Automattic brand. Linking to a page other than the homepage is called deep linking, and all brands in the Automattic program support it. In the Assets section of Impact, there are optimized landing pages set up for each brand that are generally the best links to use. However, you may want to link to a specific page, depending on the context of your link. For example, you may be talking about a problem that’s solved by a specific WooCommerce plugin and want to link to that page specifically. Make sure to put careful thought into where to send people who click on your links. After all, you want to reduce the friction as much as possible between the intention to purchase and the actual sale. Read more at our article, How to Create Links to Promote Any Automattic Product in Impact.

You can place affiliate links on any web property you own, such as your blog, YouTube channel (for example, in video descriptions), social media accounts, content platforms such as Medium, and opt-in emails. Wherever you post your affiliate links, be sure to disclose your affiliate relationship with Automattic properly. See the article Navigating FTC Disclosures as an Automattic Affiliate for more information about properly disclosing your affiliate partnership. You should not publish your affiliate links on web properties that aren’t under your control, like in comments on other people’s content.

Automattic has a dedicated affiliate management team to help affiliates navigate the promotion of any and all brands under Automattic. You can reach them anytime at affiliates@automattic.com.