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The AAWP Plugin Review: Should You Use This WordPress Plugin For Amazon Affiliates? 🤔

Are you a member of the  Amazon Affiliate program? I bet that yes! But how do you add Amazon products to your niche websites?

Don’t tell me you are still using the links you got from the Amazon Associates SiteStripe toolbar 🤦‍♀️🙈

Today, I would like to recommend a great WordPress plugin that adds Amazon products to your website: the AAWP plugin.

I have been using it since 2017, and so far, I have been very happy with it 😊 It is my default plugin to use for Amazon Affiliate links.

What is the AAWP plugin?

AAWP stands for Amazon Affiliate WordPress Plugin.

The plugin was developed in 2015 by a German-based company and has since gained a lot of praise and acclaim in the world of Amazon affiliate marketing.

It is a customizable plugin that is developed with conversion in mind so that you can maximize the commissions.

The plugin allows you to create all sorts of widgets to make your visitors click on the products: comparison tables, boxes with detailed info, boxes with minimal info, just product images.

Apart from customization, the plugin developers aimed to solve an important problem Amazon affiliates may face: Being banned from the program due to improper representation of Amazon products on their websites.

The AAWP developers actually went to Amazon (the EU division) and asked them to clarify all the rules in regard to presenting Amazon products on web pages. As a consequence, Amazon.eu not just endorsed the plugin but even recommended it in the Amazon Associates blog.

For me, this is one of the most important advantages of using this plugin. I do not want to be banned by Amazon – and I am sure you don’t either!

Get 10% off AAWP with the code SAVE10
(applicable to new licenses only)

Amazon Affiliate WordPress plugin features

Since the plugin has tons of features, it is easy to get lost at the beginning.

Here, I will talk about the main features that you will probably be using all the time.

Comparison tables

AAWP allows you to create highly convertible and customizable comparison tables.

To find out how to set them up, watch a video in this post

I never did any experiments to understand exactly how well the tables convert but just judging by their look, I am pretty sure they convert well!

Keep in mind that the maximum number of products per comparison table is 6.

aawp_comparison_table

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Product boxes

Product boxes are great when you need to show some details of your Amazon products.

Here’s how you set them up.

I use the boxes when I need to showcase one product or max up to three products.

If you use it for too many products, you may end up with a cluttered view that is hard to navigate through.

One of the cool features of the product box is that it can show if a product is on sale and for how much exactly the price is reduced. All this you can set up in the AAWP Output settings.

aawp_product_box

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Text links

And of course, being able to use product text links is as important as anything else! You don’t always want to shuffle a product right into the face of your reader. Sometimes, you want to be more subtle about the fact you are selling something and this is when you need the product text links in the text.

It’s very easy to create and insert them – read the documentation about how to do it.

Geo-targeting

Geo-targeting is a super useful feature that allows you to capture customers who cannot use the main Amazon store you sell on. It allows you to redirect your website visitors – when clicking on Amazon affiliate links – to the Amazon shop that is nearest to their location.

For example, in my case, geo-targeting works well for my Canadian readers who cannot use Amazon.us, which is the primary marketplace on my niche websites.

How it works and how to set it up in the AAWP plugin, read this article.

Click tracking

AAWP plugin has a functionality that allows you to track clicks on Amazon affiliate links created by the plugin.

This is one of my most favorite features of the plugin!

Why?

Because it allows you to optimize your conversion rate. it ‘s upsetting, right, when you send all this traffic you worked so hard to get only to see how your readers fail to convert 😭😭😭

In order to activate it, you need to go to the General tab and change the Click Tracking from Disabled to some other option.

Here, you have a choice of using an ASIN or product title. This will change the label of the events AAWP will send to Google Analytics. Choose the one that’s more convenient for you.

AAWP click tracking settings

In Google Analytics, you can find these events under Behavior / Events / Overview with the Event Category specified as amazon-link:

AAWP click tracking events in GA

Based on these vents, you can set up Google Analytics goals and track your Amazon affiliate conversion! 🎉

I think it’s awesome. I already used it to optimize the color of the Amazon buttons and I still want to optimize other things 😅

More features

The plugin has even more features than the ones we discussed above.

Best Sellers lists, regular tables, product images… I don’t want to turn this post into a copy of the AAWP documentation!

Just go ahead and read about all other features on the AAWP website!


Get 10% off AAWP with the code SAVE10
(applicable to new licenses only)

Fixing problems with AAWP

It happens that once in a while, you get problems with plugins installed on your site. AAWP is not an exception and their customer support team is great at helping you to solve the problems (I use their help a few times 🆘)

But it’s always nice to be able to solve problems on your own right away.

That’s why I decided to include a few fixes I used myself over the years when I encountered certain problems with AAWP.

Comparison table thumbnails don’t show when the Jetpack option “Speed up image load times” is on

It turns out that lazy loading plugins are unable to handle and interpret the way AAWP loads its images.

But it is totally possible to have lazy loading and fully functioning comparison tables.

In order to fix it, just add this CSS:

.aawp-tb-product-data-thumb img {
    opacity: 0;
}

to the Custom CSS field in the Output tab:

AAWP custom CSS

While editing comparison tables, the field “Highlight Product” does not show

This may happen when you are creating an AAWP comparison table and you want to highlight some of the products as “Our Choice” or “Best”:

AAWP comparison table - highlight product

So if the field does not show, just add this CSS:

.aawp-product__ribbon–bestseller { 
    display: none; 
}

to the Custom CSS field in the Output tab:

AAWP custom CSS


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How to insert an AAWP shortcode using Thrive Architect

I am using Thrive Architect on three of my websites and on all of them, I use the AAWP plugin.

It’s actually very easy to insert an AAWP shortcode with Thrive Architect.

There are two ways.

Firstly, you can just add it in the Text element as any other shortcode. I use it when I need to insert a text link shortcode.

Secondly, you can use the WordPress Content element. In this case, you add the AAWP shortcode in it and once you close it, you will see your AAWP shortcode rendered on the page you are editing. 

aawp_insert_with_Thrive_Architect_1

I like the second approach the best since it immediately gives me the rendered widget and I can see right away how it fits the overall page. I use it when I insert shortcodes for product boxes, tables, etc.

aawp_insert_with_Thrive_Architect_2

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AAWP vs EasyAzon

Well… Comparing EazyAzon with AAWP is like… comparing Windows 95 to Windows 10 😆

Or, similar to comparing an old cell phone to a smartphone 😂

AAWP is much more modern, customizable, conversion-optimized than EasyAzon.

Apart from that, apparently, the UI elements generated by EasyAzon get detected by ad blockers as ads. This causes the images, buttons, and text disappear if an ad blocker is active on the page. You can imagine how “good” it is for conversion 😱

With AAWP, it is not a problem; none of the UI elements it renders gets blocked as an ad.

Also, the way how you can customize the EasyAzon elements is very limited – if there are any options at all.

I also could not make EasyAzon to work with the WordPress Gutenberg editor let alone Thrive Architect.

On the plus side, EasyAzon is probably easier to use than AAWP. 

Overall, I think the EasyAzon developers really need to re-do the whole plugin if they want to stay competitive in the modern WP landscape.

This is how the EasyAzon product boxes look like 👇👇👇🤦‍♀️


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AAWP plugin cons

We have already talked a lot about how awesome the AAWP plugin is. But no tool is ideal and the AWP plugin is not an exception.

It does have its cons. But if you ask me, I’d say these cons are not very important. However, it’s just my opinion and your opinion may differ.

Need access to Amazon API

First of all, in order to use this plugin, you need to have access to the Amazon API. This might not be the case if you do not make any sales

true for any Amazon plugin that uses API

No product search

The plugin does not have a product search embedded. You need to know the ASIN of the products in advance. This is minor but for some, it might be inconvenient.

Meanwhile, EasyAzon has a product search.

Documentation structure

The plugin documentation is a bit confusing, at least for me. Every time when I need to find something specific, I actually Google for it because it’s faster for me to find answers this way. That’s why, above, I provided links to the exact articles.

AAWP pricing

The plugin has three progressive tiers of pricing: for 1 website, 3 websites, then for 10 and 25 websites.

The tiers differ only by the number of sites you can use the plugin on. All the features are the same on all the tiers.

License renewals come with a 50% discount on the regular price of the license you are using.

I have the Plus license since I use the plugin on 3 websites.

Also, the plugin provides a 30 Day Money Back Guarantee.


aawp_pricing


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My history with the AAWP plugin

I have been using the plugin for a few years already 🙈

Before, I used to use EasyAzon. While I did not like its UI and ugly CTAs, I was not considering switching since it was easy to use it.

Then, I heard the rumors that Amazon started frowning upon its affiliates who was downloading and storing Amazon product images locally on their websites.

The Amazon TOC has always had a clause about it but before, Amazon did not pay much attention to it.

EasyAzon was doing exactly that and it made me panic.

I was not the only one who was concerned. In the Facebook group by Authority Hacker, many niche webmasters were expressing similar worries.

And then, somebody there suggested using AAWP.

I open their website… read the documentation… and got hooked immediately! 

At first, I bought the cheapest license for one website only. Then, 3 weeks later, I bought the Plus license and installed it on all my websites.

Since then, I use it everywhere and I am very happy with it!


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(applicable to new licenses only)


Should you get this plugin for your Amazon affiliate website?

Well, of course! 😆 Of course, if you don’t use any other Amazon Affiliate plugin or are using EasyAzon.

For me, switching to it was really a no-brainer.

This is the best Amazon Affiliate plugin for WordPress endorsed by its majesty Amazon itself (the EU division).

It’s highly customizable and optimized for conversions.

You can get it via my affiliate link (and I will get a small cut from the sale). use the coupon SAVE10 to get 10% off the purchase

I think it’s a good deal. I myself bought it when it was on sale.


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(applicable to new licenses only)


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