Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank
The Amazon Associates affiliate program is among the many ways to make money from a blog. This is where you make a commission off of products sold through links on your website. And depending on who you talk to, it can be a very lucrative platform. So, how do we add it to WordPress?
It’s actually relatively easy. And today, I’ll show you how to do it without API calls or product embeds. Although those methods also work, I’m going to show you a plugin that can be used across any affiliate platform or link you wish people to click.
In fact, the plugin comes with several blocks that can make your content pop!
Adding Amazon Affiliate Links to WordPress
The whole purpose of this post is to show you how to add links without embedding or using Amazon’s API. The reason is that third-party calls for data will impact your site’s performance.
Instead of just showing the items, embedding or API calls rely on contacting websites outside of your own. Then, your site has to wait for that data to come back.
Today, I’ll show you how to use AffiliateX. This lets you highlight any product while using your affiliate link. The only drawback is that you’ll have to get your own images for products on Amazon.
NOTE: You’ll need an active Amazon Associates affiliate account to make money from your website.
Step 1: Add AffiliateX
First, we’ll start by adding the AffiliateX plugin. This tool comes with several blocks that make adding your Amazon Associates affiliate link easy. Plus, it works exceptionally well for anything you wish to highlight, link, or share.
For this tutorial, I’m going to add it to my Crossing Colorado blog.
Go to “Plugins” and click, “Add new.”
Search for the AffiliateX plugin from the WordPress plugin repository.
Install and activate the plugin for use.
Upon activation, you’ll be taken back to your Plugins page in WordPress.
As it stands, you can immediately start using the Gutenberg blocks when creating content. However, let’s take a look at some of the customization options for AffiliateX.
It can help you customize the appearance of how you show Amazon products for the affiliate program.
Step 2: Customize the Settings for AffiliateX
From the left panel of WordPress, click the “AffiliateX” option.
On the Home page of the plugin, you’ll see links for documentation, feature requests, support, and a blurb about upgrading the plugin. Now, you can pay for the premium version of AffiliateX if you wish. Though, what I’ll show you today is easy from the free version.
Customizing Font and Buttons
Click the “Customization” option next to Home.
On this next screen, you can choose the font family of the text, button colors, the width of the editor for adding blocks, and whether you want to disable FontAwesome icons.
This is completely up to you and how you want the blocks to show on your website.
Personally, I’m just going to change the button colors to better match my blog’s layout. I’m also disabling FontAwesome as I’ve had issues with it in the past for this particular website.
Once you’re done, just click the “Save Changes” button. A faint success message will appear on the top right once your settings are saved.
Select What Blocks Are Available
Next, we’re going to enable the blocks we want to show in the WordPress block editor. Click the “Blocks” option to the right of Customization.
On this next page, you can toggle any blocks you want or don’t want by clicking its switch. This is so you can keep your block section clean if you have no intention of using specific blocks.
Personally, I’ll keep them all on just in case I want to try something new with content later on. But this is completely up to you.
Once you’ve decided which ones to enable and disable, click the “Save Changes” button. On this page, the confirmation message may be across the bottom after saving.
Recommended Themes and Changelog
The last two options for the AffiliateX settings are just a couple of things of interest. At the time of this article, there is only one recommended theme, which is Rishi. I’ve never used it before, but it looks interesting.
The Changelog option merely shows you the progress of the developers with each new version of the plugin. As you can see, it’s a relatively newer plugin, so, there’s probably a chance the developers will add more recommended themes in the future.
Step 3: Add Amazon Affiliate Blocks to WordPress
AffiliateX lets you add Amazon and other affiliate blocks to posts, pages, and widgets. So, if you have a sidebar in your theme, you can easily add a block to advertise a certain product or service.
The details are virtually identical, so, I’m going to show you how to set it up from a post.
Create a new post or open an existing one. I suggest creating a new post that you can delete afterward so you can add all of the blocks and see what they do.
It’s a great way to get ideas of how you want to use the plugin.
Click the button to add a new block.
The AffiliateX blocks are highlighted by a blue outline compared to other blocks in WordPress. In every instance of installing the plugin, mine have been near the top of the list. Probably because it was the most recent plugin I installed.
In any case, choose the block you want to add. You can also use the search field at the top to find something specific.
As I am using this plugin for links to my Amazon Associates affiliate account, I’m going to select the “AffiliateX Single Product.”
The block will be added to WordPress with some default, placeholder text. From here, you can make necessary adjustments to your product, such as adding images, changing the “Buy Now” button text, and the description.
Every block from AffiliateX can be customized in this fashion. However, there are also a lot of other customization options on the right.
By clicking the AffiliateX block, you’ll see block options available.
Now, I’m not going to dive into each one, as there are simply too many for this simple tutorial. But I suggest you go through each one and experiment.
This is why I suggested creating a new post. You can just delete it when you’re done exploring the block’s options.
Step 4: Adding the Amazon Affiliate Link
When you’re an Amazon Associates affiliate, your toolbar for using the platform lets you grab Text, Image, and Text + Image links. This toolbar lets you create embeds and grab affiliate links for most products on the website.
In this case, all you want is the “Text” link. This is what you’ll place in the AffiliateX block. Just go to the product and click “Text” under the “Get Link” area of the Amazon Associates SiteStripe toolbar.
Copy the Text link of the product you’re selling from your website.
Go back to your WordPress block.
Now, each block is slightly different for the button link. Some will let you place it directly on the post or page while others have a completely separate block settings option.
In the case of a Single Product block, you have to click the “Buy Now” button.
(Optional)
In some instances, you’ll be able to simply add the Amazon affiliate link immediately. In the particular block I’m using, more customization options are available on the right toolbar for this specific button.
Click the “Button Settings” option in this case.
Paste the URL you copied from Amazon. You’ll also want to make adjustments as to how the links work. For Amazon Associates, I suggest using the “nofollow” class and to open the link in a new window.
You can also choose to customize the button even further if you’d like. There are quite a few options that will help your button stand out more for your audience.
In my case, I used an extra-bold italic setting and changed the text color to black.
Step 5: Update or Publish Your Post
Once all of the customization is done and you’ve added the Amazon link, you can Save Draft, Publish, or Update your post or page.
Of course, you want to make sure you have an image for the product, relevant information for the block you’re using, and anything else that will make the block informative in your content.
Heh…just noticed I spelled “Cooies” in the sample image.
Make sure you spellcheck before publishing anything.
Getting More Sales with Amazon Affiliate Links
The key to making money with any affiliate platform is traffic. It all comes down to getting people to visit your site and make a purchase. This means coming up with content potential buyers want to read.
Don’t assume that just because you’re slapping your affiliate link on your site that you’ll start pulling in that bag.
It’ll take a lot of traffic to start generating a great deal of money through the Amazon affiliate program. And that traffic will only come if you’re writing about things important to potential buyers.
So, how do you get more visits and sales?
Adding Listicles
Listicles, or list articles, are among the most effective types of content for virtually any website. Things like the “top 10” of anything usually attracts a lot of visitors simply because it gives them options for their needs.
For instance, I’m currently working on a list of the top 7 writing apps for authors. Though, I try every product I promote because I’m not the type of person to call anything the “best” if I haven’t used it.
Comparison Articles
Content that compares one item and another helps buyers make up their minds. For instance, Buy Me a Coffee vs Ko-fi is among my top 10 articles on this site. This shows people what to expect by using either platform.
Thanks to AffiliateX, you can compare a lot of products on a single page. So, it really comes down to what kind of products your target audience wants to see compared.
Of course, these kinds of articles usually take much longer to write because of the detail involved. Still, they are highly effective when you cover each product well.
Writing Reviews
Out of all the types of content I’ve created for my own sites as well as clients, writing reviews is probably one of the best. This is mostly because the majority of buyers trust online reviews of a product over direct advertising.
People want to know what to expect from any given product or service. And when you’re completely thorough in showing the good with the bad, you develop a trustworthy presence.
Case in point, my review of Buy Me a Coffee was my #1 visited blog post last week. It accounted for 12.59% of all traffic to this site. In fact, three of the top 10 most visited articles were reviews while one was the comparison I mentioned earlier.
Items Specific to Your Site’s Niche
When using something like the Amazon affiliate program, stick to items that center around your niche. People are visiting your website for a reason, and having the products tailored to their wants improves the likelihood of a sale.
Take this website, for example. You’ll never see a review for weight loss or fitness products at WriterSanctuary.com. People come here looking for blogging, self-publishing, or freelancing information.
Showing products or services that are unrelated have a far lower chance of getting clicks, let alone purchases.
Be Unique with the Content
Lastly, it’s imperative that you be unique when creating your content. Google recently started pushing out changes in its algorithm that are centric on individuality and helpfulness.
This means you don’t want to rehash the same information that is currently available.
So, if you’re creating a list of the best products, you don’t necessarily want to use the lists that are already out there. You need to give your content something different if you want Google to see it as “better.”
This is one of the reasons why I prefer testing things out for myself. Then, I’m able to deliver information based on my personal experiences. It helps deliver a unique point of view, even if the market is saturated with the same lists.
Remember, Success All Comes Down to Traffic
If you want to drive those awesome sales you see “experts” on YouTube share, then you’re going to need a lot of traffic. The list above can do wonders for driving that traffic, but you still need to know how to engage your target audience.
The Amazon Associates affiliate program doesn’t have the highest payout when it comes to commissions. So, you’ll need quite a few sales to make a decent amount of money.
How do you get more traffic to your website?
- Research products relevant to your site with a high search volume.
- See what kind of “vs” articles are performing well in your niche.
- Don’t regurgitate the same information that is already available.
- Keep a routine publishing schedule.
- Share your posts on social media.
- Keep an eye on analytics to see what kind of content works best for you.
The bottom line is that everyone’s audience is going to be unique. What works for one may not work that well for another. This is why keeping an eye on your site’s data is vital to success.
You may find people like the way you write certain types of articles over others.
The Amazon Affiliate Program Isn’t the Only One Out There
Although a lot of people generate a decent income from the Amazon affiliate program, it’s not the only one. You can sign up with a bunch of other sites such as CJ.com or ShareASale.com.
You could also sign up directly with your favorite brands through other means. A good way to find them is by putting a product you want followed by “affiliate program” in Google.
The bottom line is that there are all kinds of affiliate programs out there. And AffiliateX works great with any one of them.
The hardest part is coming up with the content people want to read. Since AffiliateX helps you deliver some great, customizable layouts, all you’ll need is to give the audience a reason to check out your website.
How Do You Add Amazon Affiliate Links to WordPress?
Currently, I have a lot of Amazon affiliate links spread across my sites. These are mostly embedded or using the API system. However, I’m currently working to replace a lot of those with the AffiliateX plugin.
Especially since the add-on has the Pros and Cons block for Gutenberg. I can’t tell you how long I’ve been looking for one of these.
What kind of tools do you use in WordPress to add the Amazon affiliate link to your content? Do you find Amazon to be worthwhile for making money from your blog?
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