Some months ago I wrote a post related to How to earn (few) money with a WordPress site through advertising. It was mainly about using WordAds, the WordPress embedded advertising program available for the site owner. I just updated that post with a P.S. that adds some further consideration after about 8 months, since I was considered eligible for that kind of advertising. As you could see from the graphs I inserted there, with a traffic of about 15000 views per month, 150000 advertising shown per month, the monthly gain is about 10$ per month, … therefore not so much but sufficient to recover the money paid to have a Personal subscription in WordPress, as I supposed since the beginning when I wrote that post!

In this post, I will show you how you can try to possibly earn a little more, adding some Amazon advertising too. Note that this is something more you can add and is not an alternative to having WordAds activated.

For the time being, I just added some advertising of that kind some days ago, so I cannot still give you any conclusion, but only tell you what I did … Possibly I’ll add a p.s. in a few weeks!
Moreover, I have to say, right away, that the capabilities allowed by a WordPress Personal plan, the one I currently have, are limited and you should move to Business or eCommerce plan to be able to add some plug-in that gives you more features even for advertising … but they cost 25€ or 45€ per month! (see amazon-associates-link-builder, WordPress plugin browser).

Therefore, what I will write in this post are the capabilities allowed with the limitations applied to Free, Personal and Premium plans.
With those much cheaper plans, for security reasons (they say) you can use only the allowed HTML tags listed on this page [IT: this page] while others can be used only adding some specific plug-in (available only with a top plan). Note that iframe tag does not fall under that allowed tags and that it is the one needed to add any Amazon banner to your page/site.
If you go in the WordPress help page related to affiliate linking you can read: “You can add affiliate links to your WordPress.com content as long as the primary purpose of your blog is to create original content, and as long as the code for the ad is supported. When blogging about books you’re reading, music you love, clothes that strike your fancy, gadgets you’re drooling over, or whatever interests you and your readers, feel free to post relevant affiliate links using either text or images.“.

_______________

But let us start from the beginning and proceed step by step to add some kind of Amazon advertising in your WordPress blog/site.

First of all, you need to head to Amazon.com Associates Central and sign up for an Amazon Associates account. The Amazon affiliate program site has possible different links depending on the country [IT: Programma affiliazione Amazon]. If you already have a Amazon.com account [IT: Amazon.it account], you can sign up with that and save yourself a little time. Therefore, you can use the same credentials you already use to login in to the Amazon shop.

Then you have to follow some steps where you are asked to confirm several options, among all the ways you’ll want to be paid: one possibility is to get some credit to buy something on Amazon … and that is, in my opinion, one possible best choice!

You can sign up to the affiliate program even in more countries if you like, in order to create links/banner related to every specific national Amazon site version.

After this registration phase, every time you accede to the site related to one of the countries you have subscribed, you will see a home page like the following one, that is related to an Italian registration:

The second menu item is related to the creation of link to product/pages or of banner [IT: Creazione link prodotti]. The best way to add some Amazon advertising would be to add a banner handled by Amazon itself, so choosing the second Banner choice. However, as already stressed, you will notice that this requires adding to your site some html that contains the iframe tag … and this is not allowed for cheaper WordPress plans. In fact, if you try to copy one of the suggested codes in one of your posts when you save it, all that code is automatically deleted because considered not valid!

Therefore, as a non-business WordPress client, the only way you have to create some Amazon affiliate program code is to go in the other sections of that menu item: Product links, Any page link to Amazon.xx [IT: Link prodotti, Link a qualsiasi pagina su Amazon.it].

From Product links [IT: Link prodotti] page you can create a link to a specific product choosing it from a category and a description:

When you find the product you want to promote, you have to click on the Get link [IT: Ottieni link] button or click on its arrow to get only that product URL:

Because the text & image HTML contains the iframe tag that is not allowed for lower WordPress plans, you must select the Only text [IT: Solo testo] tab where you can get the link even already with the HTML associated with a text or a short link:

An analogous result could be reached even using in the Get link [IT: Ottieni link] button the right arrow, even though it is not available a short link too in this way either:

Therefore you can use that link whatever in any post you want … possibly one that speaks about the product or a context where it could be useful. I know it is not like an Amazon banner that possibly shows just the product that Internet surfer has searched on their site some time ago … but it can be a possible link that people reading your post could click if the use of that product seems to be useful to them too in the context of your post.

For example, I added a link to a link to the Metal Camp spray in my post related to How to protect a metal object from oxidation. I created, from the Amazon affiliate site a link to that product I bought and used, then I created a link when I described how I used it, taking in mind to click in the options link in order to check the Open it in a new tab [IT: Apri in una nuova scheda] checkbox:

As you can notice, going in the Text [IT: Testo] tab of the WordPress editor, the link is now created with the target=”_blank” that make it open in a new tab:

Note: even though I set a link to Amazon product page, I also said in that post that, if you want to buy more than one of that product, it is better to search it in eBay because you can find a vendor there where the transport price is disjointed from that of the object! This to be honest … 🙂

But let’s try to add something more and have a look to the further tab, Any page link to Amazon.xx [IT: Link prodotti, Link a qualsiasi pagina su Amazon.it], that allows getting a link to whatever page of a country Amazon site, so even a category or the home page too. This link could be more useful if you find a way to insert it in every page of your WordPress blog/site because it is not related to a topic of a specific post.

There are several tabs but the best one is to create a general link in the Links to any page on Amazon.xx [IT: Link a qualsiasi pagina su Amazon.it] the tab where you can get the link, for example to the Amazon homepage, modified to include your reference, so any further purchase in that session will be associated with your affiliate program.

A possible good place to use the link stressed in blue is, for example, the menu of your blog or a widget of useful links if made available in your theme.
Note that, in that case, you have to copy only the URL (the part I stressed in blue in the previous screenshot and to do that you have to copu&past all the code generated in the Amazon affiliate site into ad editor and then select only that URL to be inserted in the URL related to the new menu item (e.g. Support this blog [IT: Sostieni questo blog])

In this way, when someone clicks that Support this blog [IT: Sostieni questo blog] menu item it will be redirected to the Amazon homepage:

It is not nice that it is not possible to open the Amazon page in a new window/tab if used in a menu item, because the code is generated and not editable by hand while if you could get the whole code generated in the Amazon affiliate site, that HTML has a link with the target=”_blank” that make the page open in a new browser tab …
However you have to find another place to put it that is not the menu one and, at least with the theme I chose, it seems to me to be only another possibility: a widget with a custom HTML. In this link you can have the target=”_blank” so a new page is opened when clicked.

Therefore now every page of my blog now I have two references to the Amazon homepage that can be used for the affiliate program, one in the menu and another one in the right widgets, and this is in addition to links to specific products that I could add in any specific post, if the case.

I know that it is mainly a link for relatives, friends and people that really want to explicitly support your blog but it is what I find possible till now with my Personal WordPress subscription. Much better should be a banner with an Amazon targeted product for the user that is reading your post … but, again, this requires a business plan and that is not my case e possibly yours!

If you want to know something more, for example how much Amazon pay and when you can go to the following help pages some from WordPress and some from Amazon:

• Step-by-step guide to add Amazon affiliate links to your WordPress site (Italian translation)
• Programma di affiliazione Amazon (Home page)
• https://www.wpsitecare.com/amazon-affiliate-wordpress/
• https://wordpress.com/support/monetize-your-site/#advertising

Moreover, you can have a look to StyleSnap Amazon program. As stated its help page, “StyleSnap is a new shopping feature that makes it easy for your followers to shop your social posts by taking a screenshot and uploading the photo in the Amazon app, and you earn on qualifying sales you inspire!“

That’s all folks! 

By now I can say that yesterday on embedded WordAds, with 9000 advertising views (a lucky day), they paid me 0.30 euros:

In the meanwhile, on the new Amazon I just joined because of a product purchased through my link I received 0.46:

I must stress that Amazon remuneration depends on how that product is reached, that is with a direct link to that product from your blog or after navigation from that page (so a different product even though the customer reached the Amazon site from your blog link): see Amazon  Commissions help page.

 

______________

P.S. After about a month and a half, without much effort (i.e. putting some links to some products I used/configured and described in a few posts) I had the following results, visible from the details page of the affiliate program site:

See also my post Amazon affiliate program: how to easily get a product link that contains your partner ID.

_________

Useful links

• Guadagnare con Amazon: verità e leggende: Il vantaggio delle affiliazioni, in opposizione ai banner pubblicitari PPC (Pay Per Click) o PPI (Pay Per Impression), è che le percentuali sono abbastanza alte, quindi permettono di guadagnare qualcosa anche se il Sito/Blog non riceve un gran numero di visite.
  Per quanto riguarda l’affiliazione Amazon, in Italia, le commissioni variano tra il 3% e il 12% del prezzo del venduto (esclusi i costi di spedizione e gestione), dipendentemente dalla categoria merceologica del prodotto. Le commissioni vengono riconosciute non soltanto sul prodotto a cui porta il link affiliato ma anche su altri prodotti eventualmente acquistati all’interno della stessa sessione (messi nel carrello durante la stessa sessione e fino all’invio dell’ordine): una volta inserito il prodotto nel carrello, le commissioni saranno riconosciute anche se il visitatore paga nei giorni seguenti, ammesso che l’ordine venga inviato prima del termine di validità del carrello (generalmente 90 giorni). Lo svantaggio è che l’affiliato guadagna soltanto se il visitatore acquista il prodotto (non basta il click per prendere la commissione). C’è una soglia minima per ricevere il pagamento che, se si riscuote tramite bonifico o buono regalo, è di 25 € e sale a 50 € se si sceglie il pagamento tramite assegno. Questo vuol dire che, se un mese il totale delle tue commissioni non supera queste soglie, il pagamento sarà sospeso e sommato al successivo.
• https://programma-affiliazione.amazon.it/home
• Accordo Operativo del Programma di Affiliazione
• F.A.Q.
• Gestione fiscale: guadagnareconunblog.com; fiscomania.com

_______________

Da una risposta ricevuta interpellando il servizio clienti,  alla mia domanda relativa al fatto se, chi compra l’articolo promosso dal link affiliato è l’affiliato stesso, tale acquisto rientri tra quelli ammessi dal programma, per cui viene applicata la percentuale associata:

Tutti gli ordini inviati da te o per tuo conto devono essere inviati tramite http://www.amazon.it con sessioni non associate al tuo account di affiliato.

Tra i Requisiti di Partecipazione al Programma di Affiliazione si legge:

6. Contenuti sul tuo Sito. Sarai responsabile in via esclusiva per i contenuti sul tuo Sito e assicuri che:

(u) Non acquisterai direttamente o indirettamente alcun(i) Prodotto(i) o intraprenderai azioni di un Evento Ricompensa attraverso Link Speciali, a prescindere che sia per il tuo uso o per l’uso di un’altra persona fisica o giuridica, e non permetterai, richiederai o incoraggerai alcuno dei tuoi amici, parenti, impiegati, contraenti, o contatti di lavoro ad acquistare direttamente o indirettamente alcun Prodotto o ad intraprendere azioni di un Evento Ricompensa attraverso Link Speciali, a prescindere che sia per il loro uso, il tuo uso o l’uso di qualsiasi altra persona fisica o giuridica. Inoltre, non acquisterai alcun Prodotto attraverso Link Speciali o intraprenderai azioni di Eventi Ricompensa per rivendita o uso commerciale (di qualsiasi tipo) o offrirai qualsiasi Prodotto sul tuo Sito per rivendita o uso commerciale di qualsiasi tipo.

______