Your affiliate marketing business requires a number of key elements to become successful, and one of the most important is your website. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to know exactly what kind of site to create for your business, much less how to find the perfect theme to get you started.
Fortunately, creating a unique WordPress website that supports your affiliate marketing efforts has never been easier. There are a wide variety of themes available with affiliate marketing features and functionality, so all you have to do choose the best one for your specific needs.
In this post, we’ll initially look at why you may need a dedicated affiliate marketing theme, then introduce you to 11 suitable WordPress themes that are completely free.
We’ll take a close look at each theme, its key features, and the benefits you’ll receive by using it on your site. Let’s get started!
Why You Need an Affiliate Marketing Theme (And How to Choose One)
The Wirecutter is a popular site that makes use of several theme-specific affiliate marketing features.
As an affiliate marketer, you likely have a unique set of needs when it comes to creating a website. Not only do you want to promote key products and services, you’ll also benefit from featuring high-quality content, boosting customer engagement, and creating a pleasant viewing experience for visitors.
With all this in mind, it’s easy to see why you need a theme with supportive and flexible affiliate marketing features.
Of course, finding such a theme can be tricky. However, if you know what you’re looking for the search becomes a lot simpler.
A few things to keep an eye out for when choosing any theme include positive reviews, recent updates, and reliable support.
However, in this case you’ll also want to look for a theme that offers certain key features:
- Flexibility and customization options. You’ll want to be able to design your site and the individual products you’re promoting, so they stand out and grab your visitors’ attention.
- An easy way to feature products. At the least, you’ll need to be able to include product details, images, and a description for each item or service.
- Review functionality. It’s a smart idea to look for themes that have built-in features (or plugins) that make it simple to create full product reviews.
- Additional features that support affiliate marketing. The specific functionality you’ll require may vary by your particular niche, but some useful options include affiliate linking tools, product comparison features, and a way to easily add testimonials.
Keep this list of crucial elements in mind as you begin to look for a theme that’s well suited to your affiliate marketing business.
11 Free WordPress Themes for Your Affiliate Website
Creating a functional affiliate website can be difficult, especially if you want your site to be as attractive as it is functional. With this in mind, we’ve collected 11 free WordPress themes with a variety of affiliate marketing features.
Some are specifically created with affiliate sites in mind, while others are multipurpose by nature.
However, they’ll each offer you the basic functionality you need to run a successful affiliate website, and incorporate some or all of the features we listed in the previous section. Let’s take a look!
1. Alpha Store
Alpha Store is a WordPress theme with a full range of customization options that will help your affiliate site stand out. Though it’s designed with e-commerce in mind, it’s a solid choice because it ensures you can create the best site possible for your customers’ needs.
One of this theme’s main benefits is the featured products slider located at the top of the home page.
You can use this space to highlight your business’s most popular affiliate products, or you can display your most recent reviews.
Some more advanced features include the drag-and-drop page builder, and bootstrap grid layout capabilities.
2. Eleganto
Eleganto is a one-page multipurpose WordPress theme, and is a unique addition to our list that helps you easily bring your products to life.
One-page themes are a growing trend, and they’re excellent for affiliate marketers because they’re clean, easy to navigate, and mobile-friendly.
Eleganto is no exception, and offers an array of other features geared towards affiliate sites. These include a featured content or products slider, a testimonials carousel, and social links.
3. Book Rev Lite
Book Rev Lite is a simple WordPress theme with a plethora of features that support affiliate marketing.
This theme stands out in particular due to its built-in review feature, which is perfect for review-heavy affiliate sites.
There’s plenty of demo content catered towards popular niches such as technology, fashion, and style. What’s more, this theme offers full support and a number of advanced features (including Google Fonts, AdSense ads, and custom product sliders).
4. Lighthouse
Lighthouse is a blog-style theme with a minimalist look. Its standard home page includes a three-column features section, and it also contains a full-size header image and simple website menu.
This theme is a good way to keep the focus on your website’s content, without drawing the eye too far from your featured affiliate products.
Further affiliate-friendly features include a layout that’s flexible enough to create product landing pages, and mobile responsiveness.
This is an excellent choice for those who need a beginner-friendly interface, but still want control over design and layout.
5. Kale
Kale is a beautifully-designed theme with a full and feature-focused front page that’s ideal for displaying your best content and affiliate products.
Some of the features that lend themselves to affiliate marketing include a header-based slider (to feature any ‘best-of’ content), a social media menu (to expand your reach), and a full-width image display (to exhibit your very best products).
Kale is a great option for marketers who take their content seriously, but who also want the ability to cohesively add products into the mix.
6. MH Magazine Lite
MH Magazine Lite may be an unconventional affiliate marketing theme (as it has a magazine-style layout), but it fits the bill because it focuses heavily on site content and its display.
This theme provides a variety of options for displaying affiliate products, reviews, ‘pillar posts’, and more. You can easily use the theme as it was intended by adding a category-based menu bar at the top of the website.
Alternatively, you can experiment and combine a mixture of featured products, content pieces, and more. This is a solid theme option for marketers looking to keep the focus on their content, but who are also interested in experimenting with product display methods.
7. Responsive
Responsive is a WordPress theme that offers much to mobile users in particular, and is perhaps the most versatile theme offered on our list.
With nine page templates, six template layouts, and 11 widget areas, you can easily craft an affiliate website that’s like no other. This is an especially great choice for marketers with heavy mobile traffic.
If you’re looking to get more out of the theme, you can even sign up for a theme-specific email list and enjoy weekly tips and tricks.
According to active theme users, the combination of customization abilities and responsiveness makes this one of the best free WordPress themes available.
8. ColorMag
ColorMag is a magazine-style WordPress theme, and offers you the ability to integrate affiliate products with content and other site elements.
When it comes to affiliate marketing, content is your cornerstone. This makes a magazine-style theme such as ColorMag a smart choice.
With this theme, you can add category pages (such as reviews and recommendations) to the top of your website to make it simple for users to navigate between products.
In addition, you can incorporate display ads (in the header, sidebar, and other key areas of your site), which makes it easy to benefit from multiple sources of income at once.
9. Nikkon
Nikkon is primarily a photography theme, yet offers you a creative way to display your affiliate products and market your website’s content.
This theme incorporates SiteOrigin’s drag-and-drop page builder, which enables you to create custom pages for your site. This means you can craft sales-driving landing pages or product comparisons pages with a few clicks of the mouse.
Furthermore, Nikkon pairs nicely with a number of free WordPress plugins, including Contact Form 7 and WooCommerce – both of which are great additions to any affiliate site.
10. Nirvana
Nirvana is a fully-customizable theme that includes eight pre-made page templates, 12 widget areas, and a presentation page with editable sliders and columns.
With more than 30,000+ active installs, Nirvana is one of the most popular themes on our list. This may have something to do with its flexibility and user-friendly interface, both of which make it easy for marketing customization.
If you want your affiliate site to stand out and draw in visitors, this theme can make that goal achievable.
11. StoreVilla
StoreVilla is a classic e-commerce option, but one that offers versatility, functionality, and full design customization to affiliate marketers as well.
As a marketer, you know you’re up against competition. However, StoreVilla enables you to stand out among the crowd. This is because you can create a professional affiliate site with its advanced product search and multiple category display options.
There’s a separate store section that enables you to add all of your affiliate products to one place. In addition, these store-based products can then be featured throughout your site. To top it off, this theme comes with excellent support and an active theme forum.
Contact Us
All the themes we’ve covered can get you off to a great start with your affiliate marketing website. However, there’s a lot more to building a site than choosing a theme, and the entire process can take a lot of work. Fortunately, you can find quality, professional help along every step of the way. If you find yourself in need of assistance, drop us a line and we’ll discuss the best way to reach your goals!
Conclusion
There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all affiliate marketing theme. Your website should be as unique as your business, and that all starts with the theme you choose. At the same time, most affiliate sites can benefit from certain key features, such as product reviews and comparison functionality.
As demonstrated by the above list, themes with incorporated affiliate marketing features are widely available on the WordPress directory. Key standouts include Book Rev Lite, Nirvana, and Kale. There’s a wide variety of styles and niches to choose from, so you can create a targeted and successful website for your marketing business.
Which features are a must-have for your website when picking an affiliate marketing theme? Let us know in the comments section below!
