AAWP Review: The Best Plugin For Amazon Affiliates?

The Amazon Associates program is one of the best affiliate networks to get started with as a beginner. The first sale is often the hardest, and I received my first with their program.
But the Amazon Associates Central isn’t always the easiest to use. The product search is still a little clunky, even in 2019.

Get AAWP Here

Copying and pasting affiliate links from Amazon is extremely frustrating. Having multiple tabs open and continuously switching between pages to add links from the Site Stripe or your affiliate dashboard is not conducive to our workflow as affiliates.
AAWP is here to save the day.

Overview of AAWP (Amazon Affiliate WordPress Plugin)

AAWP is known as the Amazon Affiliate WordPress Plugin. The software creates product boxes and tables with ease allowing affiliates to increase their click-through-rates and conversions on Amazon.
I was turned on to the plugin when I saw users commenting in a live chat during one of Doug Cunnington’s broadcasts. Someone asked if the plugin was a good option, and I was intrigued to check it out.

How AAWP Works

The plugin connects to your Associates account using the Product Advertising API. The only issue, however, is you need to be sending Amazon a certain amount of sales each month to be able to use their API.
Amazon recently updated its rates policy to limit accounts that aren’t driving significant revenue. In other words, you may not be able to use the plugin right off the bat.
But if you manage to qualify to use the Product Advertising API, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

The Functions of AAWP

The Amazon Affiliate WordPress Plugin features product boxes, text links, comparison tables, bestseller lists, widgets, and more.
While I don’t use all of the features, some are invaluable if you decide to use the plugin.

Product Boxes

AAWP Product Box
Adding product boxes is as easy as finding the ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Numbers) and using a simple shortcode to display them.
Now, my product boxes look a little bit different, as I’ve added some custom CSS to style them.
Here’s an example of how the shortcode looks:
[amazon box=”B01DFKBG54″ /]
Even though you still have to cycle between two tabs in a browser window, it’s far faster than using the Site Stripe toolbar.

Text Links

I’ve never actively used text links with AAWP, but I assume they could be useful. I instead paste the links myself, and it does take a little more time. You can use the plugin for this feature if you’d like.

Comparison Tables

AAWP Product Table
The comparison tables included with AAWP are arguably the most significant selling feature. Adding a table to listicles or buyer intent articles can dramatically increase your CTR and conversion rate.
When I implemented AAWP tables on my top articles, I saw a massive increase in my Amazon affiliate earnings across the board.
You can easily add features, images, star ratings and price, and any custom text you’d like. AAWP is compliant with the Amazon Associates Terms of Service, so there’s no risk of getting banned from their program (except for one exception, so read on).
My biggest complaint with the tables is the lack of the ability to make them horizontal, something you can do with my custom Content Egg template.
Horizontal tables seem to be converting better. But don’t take my word for it. Kurt Philip from Convertica.org included horizontal tables in his 12-Step Checklist for Perfecting Your CRO article.
Despite me saying the plugin is Amazon compliant, whatever you do, DO NOT use Amazon’s logo with your buttons. That’s a surefire way to get yourself banned as an affiliate.

Bestseller and New Releases Lists

I haven’t personally used bestseller or new releases lists, but I can see lots of affiliates using it on specific posts.
Best seller and new release lists are perfect for utilizing these two features. The plugin crawls data from Amazon and pulls top products in every niche.

Data Fields

AAWP features a more complex feature known as Data Fields. You can pull specific information from a product like the title, description, or price.
I’ve never found data fields useful, but I’m sure someone out there does. I like to write my content (and encourage you to do so as well), instead of pulling it from an Amazon product description.

Wrapping Up

I love the Amazon Affiliate WordPress Plugin. I’ve had it active on my website for over a year now. I’ve moved away from their tables, but still continue to use product boxes, due to their ease of use.

Alternatives to AAWP — If you want to save some cash, check out Content Egg. It’s a free plugin that operates in a similar fashion to the Amazon Affiliate WordPress Plugin. I even created a free table template you can download for free at this link, though it’s recommended that you use the Pro version with my template.

Despite some of its quirkiness, AAWP is by far one of the best WordPress plugins for Amazon affiliates.
What do you think of the Amazon Associates WordPress Plugin? Have you used it before? We’d love to hear from you down below in the comments.
Thanks for reading, once again!

Article source: https://www.articlecity.com/blog/aawp-review-the-best-plugin-for-amazon-affiliates/

How To Make a WordPress Website - 2019 - For Beginners

Blogger Or WordPress - How They Compare

Bloggers: Should You Use Blogger.com or WordPress?

Blogger.com (also known as Blogspot) and WordPress are the two most commonly used blogging platforms today. Blogger.com was a pioneer in the blogging industry, allowing users to set up accounts and blog for free beginning in 1999. Blogger.com was purchased by Google in 2003, which enabled it to grow using Google's resources. Today, Blogger.com has an undisclosed number of millions of users blogging on their system.

WordPress began in 2003 as the successor to another (now relatively unknown) blogging system. It has since become the blog platform of choice for most blogging professionals. There are currently over two million people who are active users of WordPress.com, and there are millions of others who have downloaded various versions of the WordPress code.

Using the Blogger setup mandates that your blog be hosted on their servers. In comparison, blogs running on WordPress' platform can be hosted at WordPress.com, or the WordPress software can be downloaded and used on your choice of web hosts. Below are some of the key features of Blogger.com versus the two versions of WordPress setups.

Blogger.com Features

Free hosting for up to 1 GB worth of space

Blog content is maintained on Blogger.com web servers

Ability to choose and customize templates (limited flexibility)

Easy to get started; easy to use

Upload and store image files and video files

WordPress.com Features

Free hosting for up to 3GB worth of space

Blog content is maintained on WordPress.com web servers

Ability to choose and customize templates (limited flexibility)

Easy to get started; easy to use

Upload and store image, video, and other (limited) file formats

WordPress Self-Hosted Features

Blog content is maintained on user's preferred web host

Nearly unlimited ability to choose and customize templates and widgets

Takes some technical ability to setup and configure

Files support limited only by web server, which likely means virtually unlimited

Who Uses Which

A quick perusal of a few the various blogs running on the Blogspot.com domain versus those that use one of the WordPress setups (accounts on WordPress.com and self-hosted blogs using WordPress software) indicates that Blogspot.com is more commonly used for people who blog about their families, pets, and other personal kinds of topics. Compared to WordPress users, Blogger.com users are typically not "professional" bloggers, although there are plenty of Common Joe bloggers who monetize their Blogspot blogs and make a living doing it.

Self-hosted WordPress blogs lean more toward professional entities who have an IT person or department who handles their maintenance. They are often more formal. Because WordPress.com is similar in its functionality to Blogger.com, blogs using WordPress.com are similar to Blogger blogs in content, naturally more casual or personal than self-hosted WordPress blogs.

Cost

Blogspot accounts are free. So are accounts on WordPress.com. However, if you want to do any significant customization of your WordPress.com-hosted blog, you'll have to pay to upgrade to their Custom CSS membership, which costs $14.97 per year. WordPress.com accounts can be upgraded to give you additional disk space($19.97/year for 5GB up to $89.97/year for 25GB), unlimited user accounts for your blog($29.97/year), and the ability to add videos (Blogger.com naturally has this support built in.) to your blog ($59.97/year). If your blog runs on the WordPress platform downloadable from WordPress.org, your costs are dependent upon your hosting account, which could cost as little as $5.00 per month or as much as hundreds of dollars monthly.

Flexibility

Because WordPress is open source software, it gives experienced bloggers much more flexibility when it comes to customizing a blog. When you download and install WordPress, you have full access to the database and the PHP, CSS, and image files that comprise the WordPress blogging platform. In contrast to Blogger's platform, having development access to the entire system allows users to be as creative as they want to be. This flexibility does not exist to nearly the extent with accounts that are hosted on WordPress.com. One bonus that WordPress.com does provide is the ability to host files other than simply images. MS PowerPoint files, Word (.doc) and Open Office (.odt) word processing files, and PDF files can be uploaded and stored for use on a WordPress.com account.

Although Blogger allows and encourages users of their setup to customize their blogs adding Google gadgets and changing layouts, I've found that there is a lot of guesswork involved when trying to figure out how to manipulate their XML schema, which is used to customize templates beyond adding gadgets and changing layouts. When I customize blogs hosted on Blogger's system, I often feel like I'm abstracted from their lower level setup. Some of Blogger's XML tags are documented, but that documentation is sparse. When I'm customizing a Blogspot blog, it's as if I'm throwing my work over a wall, and then checking to see what I get back. This interface can be frustrating.

A comparison that is noteworthy between each of these blog platforms is the ability to categorize posts. Greater flexibility exists with both WordPress.com-hosted blogs and self-hosted ones using the WordPress software than with Blogger.com. Categories are created using Labels on Blogger.com blogs. This setup does not allow for sub-categories on Blogger account. Sub-categories are a natural part of both WordPress.com and self-hosted WordPress blogs.

Ease of Use

For the layman blogger, getting started with blogging on Blogger's platform is the simplest of tasks. You simply create an account, choose a template, and start writing away. The interface is very straight forward for users of Blogger. WordPress.com are similar, slightly more complicated. WordPress self-hosted blogs require a user to download the software, upload it to a server, configure database settings, and run the installation program included with the software. This process is pretty straightforward for someone with IT experience, but for most other people it is a little intimidating.

Once a blog is setup with any of these platforms, using it is simple enough regardless of which one you choose. However, of all the interfaces, Blogger.com is probably the easiest to understand and navigate.

Security and Updates

WordPress has had a history of vulnerability to hacks. To minimize that risk, it is recommended that users of WordPress be vigilant about maintaining their sites. Specifically, WordPress blog owners hosting their own blogs are encouraged to keep up with current updates.

Blogger users can essentially allow the Blogger development team to worry about hacks. Because the blog data is kept on Blogger's servers, there is much less likelihood that Blogger sites can be hacked.

Which One's Best for Me

If your intentions are simply to publish your information to the world without hassling with intense customization and continuing updates, Blogger.com is the way to go. Because most run-of-the-mill bloggers fit into this category, Blogger has the largest number (although nobody knows how many that is) of blogs in the Internet today.

If you have the resources and desire to be more sophisticated in your blogging habits, WordPress is what you should use. Accessibility to the inner workings of WordPress allows it to be used for much more than just a simple online journal. I recently talked to someone who told me his company uses WordPress software as a content management system, performing many of the functions of a CMS such as Joomla.

Richard Robbins is one of the founders of WebsiteTemplateDatabase.com, a resource for blogger templates and website templates.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2781959

Why Creating Great Content Is The Only Online Marketing Strategy You Need To Follow

When you hear the words "online marketing", what comes to your mind? Social Media? Facebook? Search engine optimization? Blogging? WordPress? Or maybe you think about online advertising, pay-per-clicks, and search engine marketing. I believe there is one word that everyone thinks about when they hear the term "online marketing", and that word is "difficult." Online marketing is difficult.

Have you ever talked to a marketing guru about online marketing? Don't they all give the same, vague, generalized advice when it comes to online marketing? First, they tell you to hire a SEO firm, then they tell you to blog, then they tell you to use social media, and after you've done all of this, they tell you that you'll start receiving traffic to your website. Every marketing guru says the exact same thing, and the advice is always vague. Even the in-depth advice about online marketing is vague. Have you ever read an article about online marketing? Try this when you have some free time. Research "online marketing strategies" on Google and click on and read some of the articles. You don't have to look past the first page on Google. Just read some of the top articles that Google returns. This is a compare and contrast exercise. Once you complete this, you'll realize that all these articles sound the same. The first paragraph gives you a brief overview of what online marketing is and why it is so important. Then the list starts. Now after you've completed this exercise, you probably realize that the titles of the article all have something in common; they're all formatted as a top-ten list. They all look like this: "7 Online Marketing Facebook Strategies to Increase your Fan Base." Now, this isn't problem. I like the top-ten list format. It makes the article more appealing to the reader. What I don't like about majority of these articles is that almost everyone's top-ten list is the same. They all give the same online marketing strategies and advice. I mean c'mon; these are the experts! These are professional writers, writing for some of the biggest companies in the world. Why do majority of the articles sound the same? Because again, online marketing is difficult! No one likes to be wrong or give bad advice. The writers are just writing the same vague, generalized advice that the marketing gurus say. I could go on-and-on, especially when it comes to online marketing workshops, but I'm not going to; I think you've gotten the point by now.

In this article, I'm going to attempt to do something that's rarely done. I'm going to attempt to give you original and effective advice about online marketing. I'm going to be completely honest. I will not give you outdated strategies that do not work just to make my article longer. These strategies will work. How do I know? Because, I run a company and they're currently working for me. I have experience in this area and I've made many mistakes in online marketing, so I know what works and what doesn't work. So, without further ado, here are my online marketing strategies that will definitely help your business gain more exposure online.

Online marketing is all about the kind of content you're creating. First of all, the best online marketing strategy is creating content. Hands down! Sure, Facebook likes, retweets and social media shares on other popular social media sites like Pinterest, Instagram, and Reddit are cool, but do they really increase profits for a business? Think about it, how many times do you patronize a business because you liked their Facebook post? Exactly. I believe social media is very powerful but only works if you have great content. Content can be anything. It can be from a very nicely written article to a fashionable t-shirt with a clever phrase on the front. Content can really be anything. I believe majority of the businesses out there think that just posting a catchy post on Facebook along-side an eye-catching photo will increase their consumer base and ultimately their profits. This just isn't true. If online marketing were that easy, everyone, including the average person would be an expert at online marketing. Anything in this world worth having takes hard work and time; the results from an effective online marketing campaign are no different. Creating great content isn't easy; however, when you do create great content, there are so many resources at your disposal that could potentially help that content become viral. Have you ever saw a video on Facebook or YouTube that has hundreds of shares and thousands of likes? The reason that video went viral is because of the content. The average person isn't a marketing guru and doesn't have a social media budget; all they have is their imagination. That's all you need to create great content.

So, now that we've established that creating great content is the best online marketing strategy, I'm going to show you how to create great content. As I stated earlier, creating great, viral worthy content isn't easy. However, there are so many resources to help that content go viral; creating the content is really the only hard part. Creating great content requires research. You have to think about what's trending in the world. Too many marketing gurus think that the only thing that can go viral is a funny YouTube video and that's just not true. If you're not funny, don't try to be funny. You don't have to be funny. Play to your strengths. You just have to be creative, persistent, and use your imagination. There are a lot of things that are trending in the world. Pick one. Create content about a subject that's important to you. The more important it is to you, more than likely, the better the content will be. The next step is to create the content using a media that's popular. There is a reason why videos are more likely to go viral than an article. A great article can go viral, but it will definitely take longer. People enjoy videos more; there's no reading involved in watching a video. Your video doesn't have to be aesthetically appealing and you don't have to be an expert in video editing; it just has to be interesting. And don't worry, you can always learn about video editing and special effects while making the video; it's not exactly rocket science, it just takes a little practice. The next step in creating great, viral worthy content is relating that content back to your business. This might be the hardest part, but, if done correctly, is a game-changer. The ultimate goal is conversions, however, why do you need to convert people through the content? That's the mistake that many marketing gurus make. Great content may not raise your profits right away, but it's not supposed to. The purpose of content marketing is to raise awareness of your business. The profit gains will come in the future, not immediately. As long as the content relates back to your business (in some kind of way), you're good. The next step in writing great content is your content has to solve a problem. Consumers have problems, even if that problem is ignorance, meaning, not knowing enough about a particular subject. Great content solves problems and enlightens consumers. That's why great content goes viral. Consumers share things that they've recently learned because everyone has the inner-urge to help someone else in need.

So, let's recap. The best online marketing strategy is creating great content. There are five steps to creating great content:

1. Pick a topic that's trending
2. Use a popular medium to create the content (i.e. WordPress)
3. Relate the content back to your business
4. Make sure the content solves a problem or enlightens consumers about a particular subject.
5. The last and easiest step in this process is to share the content, everywhere.

When sharing the content, use every avenue you can think of. Social Media, Blog, YouTube, PR, press releases, etc. Don't be stingy. Great content is meant to be shared with the world. See, I told you I'd give you advice that actually works. Stop worrying about all that other stuff, like building backlinks using automated software. Google hates that anyway, but that's another subject for another day. Take care!

Allen Screen

-Content Creator and Online Marketing Director for PayPanther.com

If you're looking for an all-in-one business solution, then you're looking for PayPanther. CRM, Project Management, Time Tracking, Invoicing, Billing, and Task Management for any professional in any industry.

http://www.paypanther.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8508953