The AffiliateWP Leaderboard Addon is a powerful extension for the AffiliateWP plugin that adds a leaderboard feature to your affiliate program. This feature allows you to display the top-performing affiliates on your website based on specific metrics, such as total referrals, commissions earned, or the number of sales generated. Leaderboards are an excellent way to motivate affiliates by introducing a bit of friendly competition and recognition. Affiliates will be able to see where they stand in relation to others, encouraging them to work harder to improve their ranking and earn more commissions.

Key Features of the AffiliateWP Leaderboard Addon:

1. Display Top Affiliates Based on Key Metrics:
   • The Leaderboard Addon lets you showcase the top affiliates based on a variety of performance metrics. You can choose from metrics such as:
     • Total Referrals: The number of successful referrals (sales) generated by the affiliate.
     • Total Earnings: The total commission earned by the affiliate.
     • Referral Amount: The total monetary value of all the referrals the affiliate has brought in.
     • Referral Count: The number of clicks or leads the affiliate has generated, depending on your affiliate program setup.
2. Customizable Leaderboard Settings:
   • The addon allows you to customize the leaderboard display to suit your needs:
     • Number of Affiliates to Display: You can set how many affiliates you want to show on the leaderboard, e.g., the top 10, top 5, or even top 20.
     • Sorting Options: You can control how affiliates are ranked, either by referrals, earnings, or sales amount. You can choose the metric that best suits your affiliate program goals.
     • Leaderboard Filters: You can apply filters to the leaderboard to only show active affiliates, or show affiliates from a specific period, or within a specific sales range.
3. Encourage Friendly Competition:
   • By showing the top-performing affiliates on the leaderboard, you create a sense of friendly competition. Affiliates who are striving to increase their earnings or referrals will have a visible and motivational target to aim for.
   • Leaderboards also help recognize affiliates for their hard work, which can lead to higher engagement and more effort in promoting your products.
4. Public or Private Display:
   • You have the option to either make the leaderboard public on your website or restrict it to certain affiliates (e.g., only showing the leaderboard to logged-in affiliates).
   • Public leaderboards motivate affiliates to compete for the top spots, while private leaderboards can be used for internal tracking or for affiliates to check their progress against others in a more private manner.
5. Customization of Appearance:
   • The Leaderboard Addon integrates seamlessly with your site’s theme and allows you to customize the design of the leaderboard to fit your branding and aesthetic preferences.
   • You can modify colors, fonts, and layout to make the leaderboard fit within your site’s design, making it an attractive and engaging feature for affiliates to view.
6. Incentives for Top Affiliates:
   • The leaderboard can be tied to prizes or incentives for the top affiliates. For example, you could run periodic promotions or contests where the top affiliates in the leaderboard earn a special prize or bonus, such as:
     • Cash bonuses
     • Gift cards
     • Exclusive product bundles
     • Higher commission rates
   • This helps increase affiliate motivation and encourages them to push for higher performance.
7. Multiple Display Options:
   • You can choose where to display the leaderboard on your website:
     • Dedicated Page: You can create a page just for the leaderboard, which can be linked in your affiliate dashboard or main navigation.
     • Sidebar Widget: Display the leaderboard in the sidebar of your website to keep it visible while affiliates are browsing other pages.
     • Shortcodes: Use shortcodes to display the leaderboard on any page, post, or widget area of your site. For example, [affiliate_wp_leaderboard] can be used to embed the leaderboard anywhere you like.
8. Motivates New Affiliates:
   • While the leaderboard is focused on top affiliates, it also motivates new affiliates by showing them what is possible. Seeing the success of top performers can inspire newer affiliates to take action and improve their own performance.
9. Leaderboard for Specific Time Periods:
   • You can display leaderboards for specific time periods (e.g., monthly, quarterly, or yearly) to encourage competition over different time frames. This can be particularly useful if you want to run periodic promotions or challenges.
   • For example, you could show the top affiliates for the past month, or display the yearly leaderboard for the top earners.
10. Affiliate Recognition:

• Being featured on the leaderboard offers public recognition for affiliates, making them feel appreciated for their efforts.
• It’s also an excellent way to build loyalty among your most active and successful affiliates, as they’ll feel more valued and incentivized to continue promoting your products.

Benefits of the AffiliateWP Leaderboard Addon:

1. Increases Affiliate Engagement:
   • By providing affiliates with visible rankings, you increase engagement in your affiliate program. Affiliates will be motivated to climb the leaderboard and improve their performance, leading to more promotions, sales, and referrals.
2. Boosts Affiliate Motivation:
   • Leaderboards create friendly competition, encouraging affiliates to work harder to secure top spots. This motivation often leads to higher sales and increased marketing efforts.
3. Promotes Transparency:
   • The leaderboard fosters transparency by showing affiliates exactly where they stand in relation to others. It removes any guesswork about how well they’re performing and encourages healthy competition.
4. Drives More Referrals and Sales:
   • Affiliates who see themselves falling behind or who want to secure the top spots will push harder to generate more referrals and sales, resulting in more growth for your business.
5. Flexible and Customizable:
   • The ability to customize the leaderboard display and choose different sorting metrics means you can tailor it to suit your affiliate program's needs. You can focus on revenue generation, referral volume, or affiliate activity.
6. Recognition of Top Affiliates:
   • Publicly recognizing top-performing affiliates on the leaderboard helps show them that their efforts are valued. It also allows them to share their success with their audiences, potentially attracting more affiliates to join your program.
7. Seasonal and Promotional Incentives:
   • Use the leaderboard to support seasonal campaigns or special promotions, where you offer bonuses to the top affiliates during specific periods. This encourages affiliates to focus on driving sales during key promotional times.
8. Easy to Integrate:
   • The addon integrates seamlessly into your existing AffiliateWP system and works well with popular eCommerce plugins like WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads. It’s simple to implement and doesn't require much technical expertise.

How to Use the AffiliateWP Leaderboard Addon:

1. Install and Activate:
   • First, you’ll need to have AffiliateWP installed and activated on your WordPress site. Then, you can install the Leaderboard Addon from the AffiliateWP Addons page or download it from the AffiliateWP website.
2. Configure the Leaderboard:
   • After activating the addon, go to the AffiliateWP settings and navigate to the Leaderboard settings.
   • Choose which metrics you want to display (e.g., total referrals, total earnings, etc.), and decide how many affiliates you want to show at a time.
   • You can also adjust the display options, including whether to show the leaderboard on a dedicated page, sidebar, or as a widget.
3. Create a Leaderboard Page:
   • You can create a custom page on your website dedicated to the leaderboard. Simply create a new page and use the Leaderboard shortcode [affiliate_wp_leaderboard] to display the leaderboard.
   • Customize the page’s content, appearance, and layout to fit your site’s design.
4. Monitor Affiliate Progress:
   • The leaderboard will automatically update in real time as affiliates generate referrals, make sales, and earn commissions. You can monitor the progress of your affiliates through the AffiliateWP admin dashboard.
5. Promote the Leaderboard:
   • Encourage your affiliates to check the leaderboard regularly to track their performance and compare it with others. You can also highlight leaderboard positions in your newsletters, affiliate communications, and promotional campaigns.

Compatibility:

• WooCommerce: Fully compatible with WooCommerce, making it ideal for WooCommerce store owners who want to show off their top-performing affiliates.
• Easy Digital Downloads: The addon also works well with Easy Digital Downloads for affiliates promoting digital products.
• AffiliateWP Add-ons: The Leaderboard Addon integrates smoothly with other AffiliateWP extensions, such as Recurring Referrals, Affiliate Coupons, Referral Rate by Product, and more.

Conclusion:

The AffiliateWP Leaderboard Addon is a fantastic tool to boost affiliate engagement, motivate affiliates, and increase the visibility of top performers in your affiliate program. By introducing a leaderboard, you create a sense of competition and reward affiliates for their hard work, leading to improved performance and better results for your business. With customizable display options, sorting metrics, and the ability to create seasonal challenges or incentives, the leaderboard becomes a versatile tool that can help take your