AAWP Plugin Review: What Can This Affiliate Marketing Tool Do for You?

Listen Money Matters is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. How we make money.
Simply Put: While AAWP is a decent tool for adding product displays and tables to your Amazon affiliate website, there are better options out there. AAWP hasn’t been updated in a long time, the displays look dated, and it only works with Amazon. Lasso delivers much better results, works with any program, and saves me a lot of valuable time.

Pros:

  • Flexible shortcodes
  • Substantial support documentation
  • Updated product listings

Cons:

  • Outdated product displays
  • Only works with Amazon, no other affiliate programs
  • License key issues

AAWP is a WordPress affiliate marketing plugin for Amazon Associates. It helps you to create displays and tables for Amazon products, as well as track your conversions with Google Analytics.

While AAWP is a fine option if you only use Amazon, it doesn’t support any other affiliate networks. If you want to promote a product from a different brand, you’ll need to find another option, like Lasso. 

In this post, I’m going to explain how to get started with AAWP, what the biggest wins are, and why I ultimately think Lasso is a far superior product.

If you’re ready to earn more money from your affiliate content, then let’s get started.

Getting Started with AAWP

To download the plugin, head to AAWP’s website and click “Get Started.”

aawp plugin home page

#1. Choose Your Plan

After clicking “Get Started”, you’ll land on their pricing page where you’ll select your plan. You can choose from four different pricing tiers based on the number of sites you have (more on that later).

Once you select your plan, you’ll enter your payment information and billing details then click “Purchase.”

Sidenote: Before purchasing, you must confirm you have valid API keys otherwise you’ll be unable to use the plugin.

purchasing page for aawp plugin

To get your API keys, head to your Amazon Associates account Tools > Product Advertising API:

amazon associates where to find api keys for aawp plugin

Then, scroll down to “Manage Your Credentials” to get your API keys (or to add credentials):

manage your credntials section in amazon associates page for api keys

#2. Download the AAWP Plugin

Once you download the plugin, head to your WordPress dashboard Plugins > Add New:

installing aawp plugin in wordpress

Then, click “Upload Plugin” (This will be the aawp.zip file you already downloaded).

uploading aawp plugin inside wordpress

Next, select “Choose File” to upload from your computer then click “Install Now.”

choosing file and clicking install now for aawp plugin

#3. Activate

Once you’ve installed the plugin, click the “Activate” link. If you don’t see it, return to Plugins and activate it there (since mine is already activated, it gave me the option to “Deactivate” the plugin):

activating aawp plugin inside wordpress

Configuring Your AAWP Plugin

Once you’ve activated the plugin, you’ll need to configure it under “Settings.” You should now see AAWP in your side menu bar inside the WordPress dashboard. Go ahead and click “AAWP.”

configuring aawp plugin

#4. Enter Your AAWP License

Here’s where you’ll enter the license key issued to you by AAWP upon purchasing. Enter it into the field, then click “Verify”:

entering aawp license inside wordpress

#5. Connect to the Amazon Product Advertising API

Enter your API keys in this area. You’ll need four things to complete this section:

  1. Your Amazon Associate tracking ID
  2. Your API key
  3. The Secret key
  4. The country associated with your Amazon affiliate account
connecting aawp to amazon api inside wordpress

Then, scroll down and click “Save Changes.”

Sidenote: If you get traffic from other than the U.S., tick the “Multiple Stores” box beneath where you entered your tracking ID. This will let you earn from AAWP’s geo-targeting feature.

Tick the box:

adding foreign country amazon tracking ids inside aawp in wordpress

Once you’ve entered tracking IDs from your other countries, enable the geo-targeting functionality in your Functions tab:

finding where to add multiple tracking ids using the functions tab

This will bring you to your Functions tab. Now, check the box to activate it.

ticking the box to enable geo-targeting inside aawp plugin for wordpress

You’ll need to sign up again for any additional country you have an affiliate tracking ID for.

Sidenote: Amazon’s standalone tool, OneLink, handles sending foreign visitors to their local Amazon store. You don’t need to do anything for this to work except sign up for each country’s Associates program for each country you get traffic from.

You can find this information in Google Analytics by heading to Audience > Geo > Location:

google analytics seeing which countries your visitors come from

Then sign up for the programs where it makes sense.

AAWP

If your site relies on Amazon commissions, AAWP is an affiliate marketing WordPress plugin built for the Associates program. Get up-to-date product info, flexible shortcodes, and customizable designs. Fully equipped with a 30-day money-back guarantee and direct contact through email or live chat.

#6. Specify Your General Settings

Here you can further customize your AAWP plugin, including enabling or adjusting your site’s:

  • Shortcode display (i.e., amazon or aawp)
  • Cache duration
  • Click tracking
  • Affiliate disclaimer
aawp general settings

#7. Customize Your Outputs

This section lets you get even more detailed with how your displays appear to your website visitors, including:

  • Product titles
  • Thumbnail sizing and configuration
  • Star ratings
  • Advertised price
  • Call-to-action (CTA) button
  • Custom CSS
customizing outputs

#8. Specify Your Functions Settings

You can choose things to customize here including:

  • Text links (e.g., displaying the Amazon icon or cart icons after single links. You can also enable Visitor Notices and Geotargeting)
  • Product box styles and templates
  • Best Seller and New Releases styles templates
  • Access the Table Builder
configuring functions tab

Using the Amazon Affiliate WordPress Plugin (Features)

A few handy ways you can use AAWP to spruce up your product displays and promote your affiliate offers.

Creating Comparison Tables

One of the most popular features with affiliate marketers is comparison tables. Here’s a primer on a basic setup with AAWP.

First, head to AAWP > Tables > Add New:

creating comparison tables

Once inside, you’ll see three things you can do:

  • Title your table
  • Add select number of rows
  • Add products (you can either add by ASIN or search Amazon for products in AAWP)
adding a title

After giving your table a title, you’ll add rows. Here’s where you’ll decide what info to include in your comparison table. Try starting with basic customization of a:

  • Thumbnail
  • Title
  • Price
  • “Buy Now” button

To customize your table rows, click the caret:

accessing dropdown menu

Then, select from the dropdown menu:

customizing specific parts of table

Here’s what it’ll look like on the backend:

how aawp tables look on the backend of wordpress

To add your products, either search by ASIN or click “Search for Products”:

searching for products by ASIN

Clicking “Search for Products” takes you to Amazon’s website where you can find whichever affiliate product you need:

For example, if you were creating a table featuring three investing books, and wanted to include one about Warren Buffett, enter “Warren Buffett” into the search box:

aawp product search

Having the ability to search products directly inside Amazon without having to leave your WordPress dashboard is a HUGE help here.

Finally, choose your three books, confirm your selections and you’ll be set:

how rows appear in backend

Once you’re done, copy the shortcode into your WordPress draft:

copying shortcode

Here’s how it’ll appear inside your post:

shortcode how it appears in your wordpress draft

And here’s what your readers will see:

shortcode how readers will see your display

That’s a basic comparison table setup. There is lots more you can do. For further info on how you can customize your tables and overwrite specific elements, head here.

Sidenote: To locate the ASIN, scroll down the page until you come across “product information.”

finding asins on amazon in product information section

Adding Text Links

Using those same three books from above, let’s add a text link to our post. To do this, we’ll still need to add shortcode to our WordPress draft.

AAWP has a few shortcode snippets you can use. For a standard text link, the formula looks like this:

  • [   amazon link  =  ASIN  /]

So, using the Warren Buffett book example from above, you’d enter the ASIN for that book along with the shortcode directly into your WordPress draft:

adding text links using aawp shortcode

But, that doesn’t help you determine which link that is in your draft. To make it easier to identify your affiliate links inside your posts, AAWP lets you add another attribute so your links are apparent to you.

You can add the “title= “” attribute and then type your product title.

So, [   amazon link   = ASIN  title= product name /  ] would like this in your post:

adding a title to your link to find it easier

Here’s what that looks like on the frontend:

how shortcode appears to readers

You can also head to Settings > Functions > Links  to add things like the Amazon icon displaying after your text links:

using shortcode to include amazon icon after text links

There’s a suite of extended functionality in the “Functions” tab to explore. Here’s how that Amazon icon appears in your post:

how amazon icon shortcode displays to readers

Read this detailed breakdown from AAWP about all the ways you can use text links.

Adding all of this shortcode for a text link felt a bit clunky. An easier way could be to add links the way you normally would inside WordPress.

Product Boxes

Inserting product boxes requires this unique shortcode snippet:

  • [   Amazon box= “ASIN”  ]

So, if you wanted to showcase a product that way, you’d enter this into your text editor:

shortcode for product boxes using aawp

Then, AAWP pulls the data from the Amazon API and adds it to the product box letting it display like this to your readers:

how it displays with all information from amazon api

If you want to add multiple product boxes, you’ll include multiple ASINs. So, your shortcode formula would look like this: [  amazon box = “ASIN 1, ASIN 2”  ]

Here’s how two single product boxes display:

displaying multiple boxes

You can do loads of customization in the “Functions” and “Output” tabs. For example, you can change the background color from light to dark:

altering the background color to product boxes in the functions tab templates section

Or things like hiding the Amazon Prime logo or change button colors in the “Outputs” tab.

One drawback I encountered was being unable to search for products inside the plugin the way you can when creating a table. It appears you have to search Amazon’s site to do this.

Head here for more details on the different ways you can customize your product boxes.

Bestsellers and New Releases

You can also create Bestseller lists and New Releases lists. Say you wanted to showcase the top three best-selling kitchen scales in the “Kitchen and Dining” category.

You’d use the shortcode formula:

  • [    amazon bestseller  =  kitchen scale   items =3   ]

So, in your post it’d be:

using bestseller list shortcode in your wordpress draft

And here’s how it’ll display:

how bestseller lists shortocde displays to your readers

You can read more about creating and customizing bestsellers and new releases here.

Tip: If you want to display products horizontally, be sure to tick the “List” template:

ticking the list box to have bestsellers display as horizontal rows

AAWP also has four templates to choose from when creating product boxes which you can see here:

  • Single product boxes
  • Grids
  • Tables
  • Lists

Widgets

You can choose to include widgets in your site’s footer or sidebar. Head to Appearance > Widgets in your dashboard.

using aawp widgets and where you can find them in wordpress dashboard

Then, select the one you want with a user-friendly drag and drop feature to either the footer or sidebar area.

AAWP Pricing

You can find the plugin’s pricing by clicking “Pricing” on the home page. There are four different plans to choose from, including:

  • Personal €49 (includes 1 site)
  • Plus €129 (includes 3 sites)
  • Pro €249 (includes 10 sites)
  • Ultimate €399 (25 sites)
aawp pricing page

Its website lists prices in Euros so it runs from 58 USD to 473 USD. All plans include free customer support, plugin updates, and bill annually.

AAWP Resources

There is a substantial amount of material to help you get started using the plugin for your Amazon affiliate website.

Education and Help Docs

You can find documentation from inside your AAWP plugin under “Support.” Head to the right side of your screen and click “Documentation” to access their extensive catalog.

where to find aawp help docs inside the plugin on right side bar

To find questions on their website, type your query into the search field. Try the term “starting with aawp.”

aawp search function on website for finding help docs

You can also access their chat feature or email them with questions.

contacting aawp for help using link at footer of website

AAWP Drawbacks

While AAWP has some useful features, it also has several shortcomings that make it less appealing to bloggers and content creators. 

Here are some of the main areas where AAWP falls behind:

Limited Customization Options 

AAWP offers some customization options, but they are relatively limited. You’re going to have a hard time getting AAWP displays to match your site’s branding.

This is a huge problem for me. When displays don’t match your site’s branding at all, they start to look like display ads. Which isn’t helped by AAWP’s design choices.

Outdated, Boring Displays

AAWP’s displays and tables are designed to look similar to the content on Amazon sales pages.

This would be fine if your site looks like Amazon, but chances are it doesn’t.

What’s worse, their displays haven’t been updated in years. The internet is a constantly changing landscape, and there’s no excuse to not keep up with modern style trends.

I’ve found that people have begun to scroll past AAWP product boxes as they’ve gotten used to them, and see them almost like display ads now. 

As I’m sure you know, today’s readers have ad fatigue. That’s why ads don’t convert well. And affiliate offers that look like ads don’t convert well either. 

That’s why I switched to Lasso, because I got a range of different display options that all stuck out more and gained more clicks

Confusing User Experience

AAWP’s user interface can be overwhelming for beginners, which can make it challenging to get started with the platform. 

Bloggers have to navigate multiple tabs and menus to set up their affiliate links, and the process can be confusing and time-consuming.

When your business’ success is tied to your output, a tedious workflow like this is a serious problem. 

Only Works With Amazon

If you’ve read anything I’ve written on the subject in the past few years, you know that Amazon is the worst affiliate program, while also the best affiliate program.

Amazon cuts affiliate commissions on a whim, offers an incredibly short cookie duration, and just doesn’t support its affiliates at all.

But it just converts so damn well.

What I’m saying is the best way to become a successful affiliate marketer is to start with Amazon, learn the ropes, then diversify with other affiliate programs.

You can’t do that with AAWP.

AAWP only works with Amazon, so if you want to test a product from a different brand, you’re on your own. You can buy an additional plugin or build your own displays. 

On top of that, AAWP has limited link management features, is reliant on Google Analytics for tracking, and hasn’t seen significant updates in years.

If none of that bothers you, then AAWP may fit your needs. However, there are better options available.

The Best AAWP Alternative

If you’re not sold on AAWP, in my opinion, the top AAWP alternative is Lasso. 👇

What is Lasso?

Lasso is a WordPress plugin created by affiliate marketers for affiliate marketers. However, unlike AAWP, it works with every affiliate program, not just Amazon.

Why?

Because some of my affiliate sites (including this one) have products that extend beyond Amazon’s scope. For example, you can’t find M1 Finance’s affiliate program on Amazon.

Why is Lasso Better Than AAWP?

Better Displays = Increased Conversions

With Lasso you can create beautiful Displays, Tables, Grids, and Lists that have been a/b tested and proven to convert.

Better yet, they are all available with multiple themes and are fully customizable. That means displays that match your site’s branding.

Lasso

We built this to monetize Listen Money Matters and now we're sharing it with you. If you want to make money online, you need this tool. It's the best plugin you'll ever use, if we do say so ourselves.

Let’s be real. 👆 This looks much better than anything you can do with AAWP.

Learn more about Lasso Displays.

Link Management Features

This is where Lasso really leaves AAWP in the dust. At its core, Lasso is a truly incredible link management tool.

Lasso gives you a centralized dashboard for all of your affiliate links. 

 

lasso dashboard gif moving from broken link alerts to out of stock product alerts to opportunties

This way, you can insert a link on as many pages as you need. Then, if you need to change that link, you can do it once in your dashboard. Lasso will update every instance of that link across your site. 

You can also organize your links into Groups. Then you can use those groups to easily create product Tables, Grids, and Lists.

Lasso even lets you create affiliate links by keyword. You can enter a keyword in the Opportunities page, and Lasso will find everywhere it appears on your site. Choose which locations you want to add your link to, and flip the switch.

With AAWP, you’ll have to search for the product every time or paste in the ASIN. The more time you spend searching for links, the less time you have to create awesome content. 

Broken Link / Out-Of-Stock Product Alerts

If you are an AAWP customer, what do you do when a product is out of stock, or a link is broken?

That’s a trick question, because you’d have no way of knowing it happened.

With Lasso, you’ll get an alert as soon as something is wrong with your affiliate link. That way you can swap the link or replace the product.

Remember, you can’t make money if your affiliate links aren’t working.

No API Keys Required

If you’re an Amazon Associate, you don’t need API keys to use Lasso. Just copy and paste any URL into Lasso’s dashboard and it pulls the product title, image, and price automatically.

Learn more about Lasso’s Amazon integration.

Next Level Analytics With Performance

Lasso was built by affiliate marketers who needed a plugin that offered more than what was out there.

Now they’re doing the same thing with analytics.

Performance is an analytics platform built just for affiliate marketers. It makes it easy to aggregate your revenue data from all your affiliate programs, so you can compare brands, pages, and even individual products. 

Lasso integrates seamlessly with Performance, giving you valuable click and view tracking from day one. It allows you to get up and running with Performance right away.

Of course, you can still use Performance with AAWP (we wouldn’t shut anybody out), but you’ll have to install a JavaScript snippet to get the same insights. And, of course, you wouldn’t be able to test other affiliate programs. 

Since you’re looking for a product display plugin anyway, you may as well choose the one that is designed to work alongside Performance

AAWP FAQs

Is the AAWP Plugin Free?

No, but AAWP offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Can the Plugin Be Used with Any Theme?

Yes, AAWP should work with any WordPress theme (free or paid). They also have their own custom theme called NicheWP, designed specifically for Amazon affiliate sites.

How Long Is A License Key Valid for?

License keys are valid for one year starting on your purchase date.

Does AAWP Support Google Accelerated Mobile Pages?

Yes, you will find AMP support for the official AMP plugin, which you can download for free. This can help reduce bounce rates, accelerate your loading times, and improve SEO performance.

Is AAWP Right for You?

If you’re using the Amazon affiliate program to monetize your website, AAWP can help.

If you want to use any other affiliate program, it’s not the right choice for you.

Here’s a quick recap of what I experienced while testing the plugin with my site.

What’s to Like?

  • Automatic affiliate link creation: Once you enter your Amazon tracking ID into AAWP’s plugin, it creates every affiliate link for you once you add the ASIN.
  • Flexible shortcodes: You can customize things like item numbers, rows, product titles, and descriptions with AAWP’s shortcode functionality. 
  • Updated listings: AAWP grabs all product details from Amazon’s API which means your listings are current with the most recent prices, images, and descriptions.
  • Substantial support documentation: Getting started with a new plugin usually means there will be a learning curve. Without proper documentation, that can be a deal-breaker for many new users (myself included). I did appreciate all of the support pages I found inside the plugin as well as timely replies from their support team.

What’s Not to Like?

  • License key issues: Some instances where entering the license key failed to activate AAWP on a person’s site. Usually resulting in cURL error notifications. I know our founder experienced this while testing AAWP himself.
  • Need API credits: You can’t use AAWP unless you have API keys from Amazon. If you’re a new Amazon affiliate with no qualifying sales, you can’t use this plugin.
  • No affiliate dashboard: I saw no localized dashboard where I could view links in a single location.
  • Adding links: It felt a bit clunky having to add shortcode and search for ASINs (especially when adding text links). While you can search for products when creating a comparison table, you can’t do it anyplace else which didn’t make for the best user experience.
  • Amazon exclusive: AAWP is a workable option for Amazon Associates, but most successful affiliate marketers agree that it’s better to diversify with multiple affiliate programs. AAWP doesn’t give you that option. 
  • Outdated displays: the primary function of this product is to easily create product boxes and tables. The problem is those displays look like they’re outdated by 10-15 years.

Last Words

AAWP is a pretty good WordPress plugin for Amazon Associates. It has the features you need to monetize your site and will drive way more conversions than plain text links.

However, there are some serious shortfalls with this plugin; ones that drove our team to build a better option.

The biggest drawback for me is that it only works to promote Amazon products. Putting all your eggs in one basket is no way to build a successful business.

The interface feels a bit dated, searching for ASINs gets very tedious, and I just don’t like the displays very much. 

If there were no other option, I think AAWP would get you by. However, there is a better option.

Lasso delivers everything AAWP doesn’t. It handles your product displays , link management, and has the best customer support in the industry (check TrustPilot if you don’t believe me.

If you’re looking for the right plugin to build your business around, Lasso is the clear choice.

Click here to learn more about Lasso.

Get our best strategies, tools, and support sent straight to your inbox.

Sean Brison - Senior Editor Sean Brison is a personal finance writer based in Los Angeles, California. After spending the better part of his early forties educating himself on the subject and turning around his financial situation, he’s logged thousands of hours researching and writing on matters revolving around budgeting, investing, and retirement. He’s passionate about teaching others what he’s learned and has been a contributor to Listen Money Matters for over a year.
learn courses podcast popular toolbox