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For most affiliates, Amazon is the first affiliate program to start your business with, it’s the most recognized and best converting platform. But getting those links to look good is impossible without help; and secondly, just composing the links is a laborious effort.
I love the way thewirecutter.com uses showcase boxes to highlight products and multicolored tables to compare products that are mobile friendly too.
I wanted to create something similar like above, but without help I haven’t found a solution.
Fortunately, AAWP provides that exact function and it’s also as simple as grabbing the ASIN link and plugging it into a shortcode.
As you can see above, the product boxes are clean and look inviting to click on. You have the option to include more features like price, star rating and reviews which I have omitted. Mainly to keep it uncluttered.
Check out plans and pricing for AAWP here
When to buy AAWP
As my website has steadily improved its traffic and income, I have made sure to also maintain my commitment to continually reinvesting back into the website.
The next step I’ve decided is to improve the links and product image/descriptions to make them more attractive and in doing so improve conversions. Before AAWP my links and tables weren’t terrible as I was generating income, but they left much to be desired.
I’ve decided on the AAWP plugin from Getaawp.com which I think is pronounced “awwp” if I’m not mistaken.
My website can now budget for more investment, and I believe AAWP is the next best step. The links now look great.
Before you buy AAWP
The first step before you make a purchase is to see if you can create your own API keys and then plug that into AAWP’s API test here to see if you could use AAWP.
First go to your Amazon affiliate account, then click on Tools. From the dropdown menu select Product Advertising API. In the Manage You Credentials section you can create new credentials here. Remember to save your API key and API secret. If you forget them, you will need to create new keys.
Go here to enter in your API key to AAWP’s API checker. Bear in mind APIs take up to two days to work, so it may not work right away.
When your APIs work you’ll get a successful message at which point you can then go and create new API keys for your actual account, deleting your old API key.
Good practice is to update new API keys often, maybe once a month.
What AAWP does
AAWP is a plugin which connects to your Amazon Associates account by creating API keys, which you can create after making three sales.
I have heard that even if you do qualify to make sales, if you don’t make enough you may still not be able to create an API.
The first step is to see if you can create your own API keys and then plug that into AAWP’s API test here to see if you could use AAWP.
Once you have successfully created an account and installed the plugin all you need to do is either go to Amazon and grab the ASIN number or use the search product tool within the plugin to find the right product.
You can create multiple types of ways to link your products, like product boxes, comparison tables, grids, new arrivals etc.
It’s so quick to implement. I first go to Amazon.com and find the product, then I press CTRL+f and search for ‘ASIN’. I just copy that number and plug it onto the simple wordpress shortcode in your editor using this format:
[Amazon= “B08GGFCZPW”]
For a grid you just add more ASIN numbers and alter the shortcode slightly:
[Amazon= “B08GGFCZPW,B08GGFCZPW” grid=”2”]
The comparison tables are one of my favorite tools. The tables look professional and are mobile friendly.
You can also create tables, best seller lists, new release lists, data fields using these short codes respectively:
The tables follow a vertical structure for data fields, it would be good to see a table with horizontal fields. Hopefully this feature will be available in future releases.
AAWP Alternatives
There are lots of great alternatives, but I’m going to touch on the two that I considered before settling on AAWP.
Amalinks Pro
The other plugin that is usually considered alongside AAWP is Amalinks Pro.
Amalinks Pro’s main advantage over AAWP is that it doesn’t require access to the API.
Recall that I said even if you have made the three qualifying sales you may still not make enough regular sales to qualify to create API keys.
It’s a bit of the egg and chicken, you might want AAWP to improve clicks to your Amazon links, but you can’t use AAWP until you have links being clicked on.
Amalinks Pro is also fairly similar in price with the current sale. But its normal price is a fair bit more. Check their plans out here.
You can customize your showcase/product boxes much more with Amalinks Pro, but for me the deciding factor was the design is just not my cup of tea. I don’t like it.
AAWP looks like it’s design is straight out of Amazon. Whereas Amalinks Pro looks entirely different.
Lasso
I actually haven’t seen a lot of coverage on this plugin to be honest, but it seemed to pop up whenever I was researching Amazon affiliate plugins.
The thing that really got me intrigued to go for Lasso was the design of its boxes, particularly the product boxes.
They look almost exactly like Wirecutter.com’s boxes, which is the design I was wanting to emulate in the first place.
I think they also know this is a design many affiliates would like to incorporate into their own websites as Lasso even has a theme called ‘Cutter’.
Another win for Lasso is that like Amalinks Pro you don’t need to have access to the Amazon API.
To be honest the only factor against Lasso is the price. It’s far too expensive compared to the AAWP or Amalinks Pro. The cost of two months with Lasso would pay for the entire year with AAWP.
For me this is a dealbreaker. Design, while important, the boxes play a small role in the overall design scheme and I can’t justify the cost of Lasso.
Final Verdict
It has so far been a effortless process to convert all my links to AAWP’s product boxes. The product boxes and tables look slick and professional and I’m satisfied with the design.
Cost wise the outlay is about $1 a week. I think that’s an acceptable cost for better links.
If the product boxes with up to date information straight from Amazon and the spot light design better highlights the product that should increase my conversions. I will report back in this article after more long term usage.
Links
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