Do you want to create a coupon website with WordPress and earn money from it?
Now, people shop online more than ever. Plus, big marketplaces like Amazon, AliExpress, eBay and other online stores offer coupons to attract more customers.
The best part is that people can share these coupons as affiliates and earn commissions too.
If you want to make money from your own coupon website, you have landed at the right place!
We’ll show you how to create a coupon site quickly and with minimum effort.
First, we’ll define what a coupon website is.
Then, we’ll show you three methods of making a coupon website – One is by using a coupon plugin, another is by using a coupon website theme, and the other is by using a premium coupon block using the WordPress block editor.
Next, we’ll be dishing out a few tips to boost your coupon website.
By the end of this article, you’ll have a complete landing page for onboarding coupons for your audience. You can accomplish a very simple coupon page like the one below.
But this is just a glimpse. You can make more amazing designs with your landing.
Let’s dig deeper.
What is a coupon website?
A coupon website is an online platform that offers its users discounts, deals, and promotional offers from various retailers and brands. These websites fetch coupons from different sources, including stores, manufacturers and affiliate networks.
The coupons are gracefully organized so shoppers can browse and redeem them quickly. Most coupons on a coupon website are linked to the site owner’s affiliate account. So, any purchase made through coupons helps the site owner earn a certain commission, all while providing discounts for the customers.
Coupon websites can be a good source of passive income for you. Once set up, you can generate revenue on autopilot even while you’re sleeping.
Take RetailMeNot as an example. This is one of the best coupon websites currently ranking on Google. The site offers coupons from a large variety of vendors, including Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Ray-Ban, Bio Ionic, etc. (they are making tons of cash)
However, a coupon site requires consistent updates, promotion, and optimization to attract and retain users and maximize earnings.
The popularity of coupons is undeniable. Millions of shoppers worldwide actively seek discounts and deals for Amazon, AliExpress, etc. The rise of e-commerce and increased competition also make coupons a desired marketing tool.
And a coupon website makes it easier for customers to find coupons easily and get benefits from their purchases. At the same time, you can earn a little commission bonus on every redemption and sale. That’s how a coupon website works.
Now, let’s dig into the technical part of a coupon website.
How to create a coupon website in WordPress
Making a coupon website feels easier than easy if you’re using WordPress.
And because WordPress has many themes and plugins for specialized tasks, you can build a coupon site on this platform with minimal effort.
Now, not all themes and plugins are built with the same quality and requirements in mind. They differ, of course.
That’s why this article not only guides you in building a coupon website but also helps you pick the necessary tools. By the end of the blog, you’ll be able to build a coupon website successfully.
Now, let’s explore three easy ways to build your coupon site.
Three methods to build a coupon website
- Using a coupon site plugin
- Using a WordPress coupon theme
- Using a Gutenberg Block Editor plugin
Now, you can follow any of the three methods to build your coupon website.
While a coupon plugin is more accessible, a coupon theme might require more attention. However, the block plugin might offer only a few customizations with limited benefits.
But as a WordPress enthusiast, we recommend creating a coupon site with a full-fledged plugin. This way, the whole process becomes much easier to perform and maintain in the long run.
Now, let’s dive into the tutorials individually to create a coupon online.
1. Create a coupon website using a plugin
Unlike themes, plugins provide more freedom and flexibility when it comes to customization and personalization.
Moving forward, a good number of coupon plugins are available for WordPress. Some have better compatibility, some offer more features, and the rest come up with only a bare minimum. So, choosing the most suitable one is a bit tricky.
But let’s save the breath. Here are three of the best coupon plugins that are worth grabbing. We have selected them after carefully inspecting their features, compatibility, and scalability.
Recommended coupon plugins:
- WP Coupons and Deals
- WP Coupons
- Coupon Creator
All three plugins offer a quick way to set up and run your coupon site. They don’t require any special technical skill to set up.
However, for this tutorial, we’re going to use WP Coupons and Deals to create a coupon website.
Step 1: Installing the WP Coupons and Deals plugin
To install the plugin, navigate to the WordPress Admin Dashboard and then go to the Plugins > Add New section.
Select the Search field in the top right position and leave the option to Keyword.
Now, search for the keyword “wp coupons and deals”.
Hit the Install Now button.
Finally, click on the Activate button.
Step 2: Creating and configuring a coupon
The plugin will create a new menu called Coupons on the dashboard. You can click on the Coupons menu and then hit the Add New Coupon option to add coupon details.
To add a new coupon, start with the title and then select the type.
Inside the dropdown menu, you’ll see three options:
- Coupon
- Deal
- Image
The coupon and deal types are mostly text-based content with a featured image option. The image type prioritizes content over an image.
The screenshot below points to the coupon title (1), code (2), and category (3) simultaneously. You’ll also get options like – a link, discount amount, description, expiration date, etc. Feel free to customize it to your needs.
Also, you can choose a template (1) for the coupon, live preview (2), add a coupon vendor (3), and add a featured image (4).
Step 3: Publish the coupon
Then, you can publish the coupon by simply copying and pasting the coupon shortcode to display the content on any page.
For instance, the screenshot below has three coupons in the display using shortcodes over the block columns. The template used here is the default coupon template from the WP Coupons and Deals plugin.
This whole process takes less than 5 minutes to set up. And that’s how you can start building your coupon site with a reliable coupon WordPress plugin.
However, this method also comes with pros and cons. While the plugin lets you show personalized coupons, you can design the rest of the site separately.
Alright, let’s have a quick look at the pros and cons of the plugin.
Pros of WP Coupons and Deals:
- Easy to set up and perform maintenance.
- A dedicated dashboard to manage, organize and maintain coupons.
- Does not require technical skills.
- If the plugin crashes or faces any error, only the coupons will be affected; the site will remain unaffected.
Cons of WP Coupons and Deals:
- Only selective customizations are provided by the plugin.
- Compatibility issues may arise if the plugin is not maintained and updated regularly.
Step 4: Designing the coupon landing
You have learned how to onboard a single coupon. Now, let’s see how to design the landing for your audience.
Let’s start by adding a new page. To do so, go to the dashboard and then select Pages > Add New menu.
You can name your landing page anything you want. You can also hide the page title so it doesn’t appear on the front end.
At the bottom, you’ll see the checkbox to hide the page title. Go ahead and click it.
After that, add a column under the title to start editing the landing.
You can go with any column layout. For instance, you can create a title, description, and image layout side by side for the hero section. So, let’s choose the 66/33 column.
Next, click on the left side column and add a heading block there. You can use the Advanced Heading block by Ultimate Blocks as it offers more customizations.
After adding a paragraph below the heading, you can add an image block on the right side column. This will be your hero page image. So, you better choose something engaging and relevant to your coupon site.
Right next, you can add a second heading block below. For this though, you can edit the appearance by changing the text color and background color. With this change, you will be able to seek user attention better.
You can also edit the padding of the heading under the dimension settings. You can skip this in case your design fits without extended padding.
After that, let’s add another column and choose a 25/50/25 layout for this.
But do this, make the two small columns even smaller by editing the width value. Let’s make them 15% for now.
And at the same time, make the middle column 70% in size.
Now comes the last part. Insert a shortcode block into the middle column.
Now open your WordPress dashboard in a new tab and go inside the Coupons menu for the WP Coupons Deals plugin.
Then just copy the shortcodes for the coupons you have created.
And paste it inside the shortcode block. With that, you are basically done with the preparation. Now go ahead and add more coupons to this part.
Finally, you will end up with a landing page like this.
Again, this is the very basic customization for a landing page. But you can create awesome designs anytime you want.
Now that you can create your coupon site in WordPress with a plugin, let’s explore the next method.
2. Create a coupon Website using a WordPress coupon theme
Choosing a coupon theme for your WordPress website can be a smart move. These themes are specially designed to showcase deals effectively and make your site easy to use.
With features like coupon submission forms and deal filtering options, they help you display the correct coupons on the correct pages. You can also customize your site appearance for a personalized experience.
Some themes even come with built-in SEO optimizations. That ensures better visibility and ranking opportunities in the SERP (Search Engine Result Pages). And, of course, you can still integrate additional plugins to add more performance, customizations, and optimizations.
Based on the performance, popularity, and rating, we found these three coupon themes to be at the top of the league. Feel free to explore them.
Recommended themes:
For this tutorial, we’ll choose the Couponis theme to create a coupon website.
The theme is entirely hassle-free to set up. Meaning you can simply load the theme and start adding your coupons.
The theme lets you showcase coupons based on their categories. So, using the different categories of the Couponis theme, you can quickly build a multi-niche coupon directory.
Also, this coupon theme lets you show coupons in several content styles. This includes a featured image, number of usages, expiry date, comments, likes, and shareable links.
This theme also lets you show coupons in categories and tabs based on filters such as latest, popular, and soon ending. On top of that, it provides you with enough flexibility to personalize your website according to your branding preferences.
Pros of Couponis:
- Takes less time to set up a coupon website.
- Easy coupon listing experience.
- Site personalization.
Cons of Couponis:
- Entirely dependent on the theme (That means your site could stop functioning if anything goes wrong with the theme (bugs/crashes/update errors).
- Limited features to add more content.
- Limited personalization capabilities.
If you’re starting as a beginner and enjoy autopilot mode, picking a coupon theme for your site can be a good choice.
3. Create a coupon website using a Gutenberg coupon plugin
This last method is also dependent on a plugin. The exciting part is that you can get the most out of the WordPress block editor’s lightning-fast website performance and other site-building components.
For this tutorial, we’ll be using a plugin called Ultimate Blocks. This plugin brings an exceptional package that enhances the WordPress block editing experience.
If you have the Ultimate Blocks plugin in your hands you can literally build your coupon site within a few minutes. The steps include:
- Designing landing page.
- Adding coupons.
- Customizing styles.
Let’s dive into the steps.
Step 1: Install Ultimate Blocks plugin
First, you need to install Ultimate Blocks on your WordPress site. To do that, go to your WordPress dashboard and click on the Add New Plugin option under the Plugins tab.
After that, use the Search Bar to find Ultimate Blocks.
Now click on the Install Now button on the Ultimate Blocks plugin info.
Finally, click on the Activate button to enable the plugin to use it.
Now you can move to the next steps.
Step 2: Design your coupon site’s landing page
You can design your coupon site’s landing page using the range of features of Ultimate Blocks.
Usually, you’ll need a menu, a catchy heading, CTA buttons, social share buttons, and customer reviews for the landing page design. You may add additional content with tabs, sliders, grids, or accordion features per your needs.
Luckily, Ultimate Blocks packs nearly all the required features you’ll need. The plugin adds more options and customizations to the existing Gutenberg ecosystem, making your job easier.
There are lots of cool designs you can create using this block plugin. There’s even a YouTube playlist showing you how to personalize your designs faster.
Step 3: Add coupons
Once you finish designing your landing page, you can finally add coupons. To add your coupons, just drag and drop the Coupon block from the menu. Once you see the red icon, you’ll know it’s from Ultimate Blocks.
Inserting the block will load the default appearance, including a title, discount banner, coupon code reveal box, description, and expiration date. You can customize and fill out each item to create a coupon.
But also get this: the coupon block is a single column block. If you try to display it within a multi-column layout, the layout will break. What’s reassuring is that you can expect more updates from the developers behind Ultimate Blocks to get a multi-column layout feature in the coming days.
Step 4: Customize coupon styles
The last part is more fun. You can customize the coupon block to change the appearance of your content.
The options let you change the colors of text, background, code, add borders, change radius, and more.
The only limitation is, again, sticking with a single column layout before getting future updates for a multi-column layout.
Now, let’s go ahead and play around with the coupon styles.
Also, there are more advantages to choosing a block plugin for your coupon site:
Pros:
- Site optimization: Reduce the total number of themes and plugins.
- Personalized content: More customizations for a subjective experience.
- Better brand value: Can add more brand value with the help of block features.
- Beginner friendliness: It doesn’t take a lot of expertise to master Ultimate Addons but a design sense is enough.
- Template availability: You can use ready block patterns to set up your landing page almost instantly.
While the pros are clear, it doesn’t mean there are no cons. Here are a few of them:
Cons:
- You’re still dependent on a plugin that can crash or face errors, though the chances are pretty low.
- Secondly, the coupon feature itself doesn’t come for free. Meaning, the Ultimate Blocks’ coupon block is available on the pro version.
But rest assured, as you’ll get a bunch of other necessary elements to customize your website’s appearance and functionalities. Also, the price is quite reasonable and doesn’t strain your budget when you consider the other benefits.
So, you can choose Ultimate Blocks to design your coupon site thoroughly.
Bonus: Tips for boosting your coupon site
Congrats on making your very first coupon affiliate site and start earning passively.
But that’s not all. You can step up your game even further by following some expert tweaks.
Those are:
- Research both your target audience and products carefully to get the best results.
- Seasons choice coupons work best. Unless it’s not the right season, skip and stick to best-seller items.
- Track your conversions regularly to apply best practices.
- Marketing helps your coupon site thrive. So, wisely invest in marketing campaigns in seasons.
- Engage in social channels to promote coupons and pull more audience towards you.
Additionally, you can always get help from social groups to learn about the latest best-selling products and sign up for their coupons.
Over to you
Have you decided how to build your coupon website in WordPress?
No matter which method you choose, you can always get the best results by optimizing your coupon business’ business strategies. Make sure to follow the tips mentioned above to maximize your results.
If you’re already using any of these methods to create your coupon website, don’t forget to share your experience in the comment section below.
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