The Amazon AAWP Affiliate Plugin is probably one of my favorite WordPress plugins (just behind the Thrive Suite plugins, which are also awesome)
Not only because it helps me monetize my websites, but because it helps me work faster.
You will see this in this guide, where I will show you how to create Amazon product comparison tables thanks to this plugin.
AAWP Requirements
Before starting with the tutorial, you should know that to work with AAWP, besides buying the plugin (which costs around $50 for one website, or $129 for three), you will need the Amazon Affiliate API.
In order to get an Amazon API, you will need to generate 3 sales in the first 180 days since you join the Amazon Associates Program, so if you haven’t done it yet, it’s not the right time to buy AAWP.
If you already have an API, you will find it on your Amazon Associates Account (Tools > Product Advertising API), you just need to enter your KEY and Secret within the Amazon API settings of the plugin.
For simplicity, I will avoid the classic steps on how to buy/install this plugin, if you already have a website ready to monetize, you will have no problem with it. But if you have any problems, just let me know in the comments below.
What a comparison table created with AAWP looks like?
A comparison table generated with this plugin looks like the one you will see below.
Please note that this is a static image, real tables will be clickable.
As you can see, the products will be displayed in columns, while the features will be listed in rows.
The nice thing about these tables is that they are responsive, if you view them from a smartphone, each column will be displayed independently next to its features.
How to create Amazon comparison tables with AAWP in just 4 steps
These comparison tables are not created from the WordPress Editor but from a sub-section of the plugin called “Tables”.
The process is very similar to creating a page or an article on your blog.
In fact, you’ll find that the AAWP Table builder is very similar to the editor you are used to writing on.
Step 1: Add the table Title
The first thing you will need to do to set up your table is to add a title.
This title is only used internally.
It’s for you to differentiate which table is which, so you don’t need to bother writing something that catches the user’s attention, or Google’s (with this I mean, table titles don’t affect SEO).
Anyway, you’ll probably use some good keywords, like Best USB-C monitors.
Step 2: Define and customize table parameters
The customizations and configuration tab is the most important part of the table, as it’s the place where you’ll add the “features” you want to show.
Each feature will be placed in one row, and there are 2 elements that compose it:
- Label, or Title/Label of the row: for example “Price”.
- Content of the row: following the previous example, the content could be “$50”.
Labels
Why am I explaining this?
Because as you can see in the previous image, before adding the rows, you’ll have to choose a Label Style.
This is just to define if you want these titles to be displayed or not (and how):
- Standard: the label (not the content) will be shown or not, depending on the global preferences of the plugin.
- Show: always shows the label of the rows.
- Hide: always hide the labels.
- Hide on mobile devices only: hide the labels in the mobile version, in order to have a cleaner interface.
- Show on mobile devices only: show the labels only on mobile devices.
The option you choose here may depend on the type of product you want to compare.
If it’s a product with very specific features, it is probably not necessary to put for example that “$50” refers to the price, or that the SSD you are talking about has 128 GB capacity, thos things are implicit.
Personally in the global settings (which you can access from the WordPress menu > AAWP > Settings > Functions) I have specified to always show the labels, as everything will be much clearer, and you will get a couple of more keywords in your article.
Rows
Once you have decided on this little detail you will have to start adding rows by pressing the “+ Add new row” button.
Remember that the rows will be the different features or specs you want to show about the products: price, size, photo, purchase link…
You can add as many as you want, change their position with the position arrows, or disable some of them with the selector if you no longer want them to be displayed in the final table.
You can do this for instance if you are testing if showing the price will affect conversions or not, without having to delete the whole row and add it again in the future.
Note regarding row labels
If you notice, in each row you can decide whether not to enter a label (“Enter a label or leave empty…” box)
This is compatible with the general setting we talked about before.
This is, you can tell the plugin to always show all the labels of your table, but, you can leave those labels empty 🙂
And of course, you can write anything you want there, for instance, instead of price you could write “how much?”
For simplicity, I usually leave empty those rows in which it’s obvious what the feature is, like the buy button or the Prime status…
What content can you add to an AAWP table?
In addition to the label, you must select in the second box what feature you want the row to display.
This is where AAWP shines, as it allows you to choose from a wide variety of parameters, parameters that the plugin will read directly from Amazon, hence why you need the API.
- Product data: the data in this section is automatically generated through the Amazon API, you will not have to write anything extra, so you will save a lot of time.
- Title: the product’s name as it appears on Amazon, which is usually too long and cumbersome, I’d rather prefer to write my own.
- Thumbnail: photo of the product
- Price
- Prime Status will add the Prime logo (if available on the product)
- Star Ratings will show the average rating of the product on Amazon
- Reviews: number of reviews of the product.
- Buy Now Button: link to Amazon with your affiliate tag included
- Elements: there is only one parameter here:
- Yes/No, a row that will allow you to add the classic “Yes”/ “No” to the feature you are talking about.
- Custom Output: here you can add your own elements to the table:
- Shortcode: in case you want to add one, for example, generated by another plugin.
- Custom button: for example, to create a button for a more detailed product review that you have published elsewhere in your blog.
- Custom text: so you can write whatever you need freely, like the name of the product in a simpler way.
- Custom HTML: This will give you almost endless possibilities since you will be able to add code in order to show whatever you need.
Highlights and links
If you notice, each row, in addition to the trash can button to delete the row, has two additional icons:
- A brush
- And a Link
The link will allow you to add your affiliate link to any of the parameters.
For instance, you can add it to the picture of the product and its price, which will probably increase the click rate in comparison with adding the link just to the “buy now button”.
The brush, on the other hand, is used to highlight an entire row.
This is often used for example to clearly show a feature that you know your readers are looking for in your comparison table, such as the efficiency while comparing monitors.
You’ll have to pick a background and a font color from the global settings of the plugin (WordPress menu > AAWP > Settings > Functions > Table Builder)
So far, there is no way of using different color combinations on different tables.
- Tip: highlighted rows can be a good element to add a link, as they will attract more attention.
Step 3: Add Products
At this point, you should already have the structure of your table ready.
But it’s empty.
You have the rows (features), but you need to add the columns (products)
Luckily for you, this is really easy, and it’s something you’ll do from the “product” box.
There are two ways of doing that:
- Enter the ASIN Code
- Searching for products
Adding products with the ASIN product code
The ASIN is like the bar code of Amazon Products.
You’ll find it on the URL of the product, inside the Amazon website, they all look very similar.
If you have trouble finding it, use a tool like https://pickasin.com, an extension for picking ASINs quickly.
Adding products searching for them
If you want, you can click on “search for products” and use the searcher included in the plugin, which has the advantage of allowing you to add more than one product at the same time.
Important: finishing touches!
Remember that you may have added rows that you have to complete manually (like a custom text field), so you will have to fill those details on those rows on each product.
In the monitor’s example, this could be the inches, if it’s a curved monitor or not, or the energy efficiency of it.
- Note: parameters loaded from Amazon (such as the price) cannot be written or modified unless you overwrite the content type, more on this below.
You can also overwrite rows independently for each product, this is, change the content that the particular row is showing.
For instance:
- You could have a “custom button” label and parameter for your table, in order to link to specific reviews of the product you are comparing.
- If one product doesn’t have a review (yet!), you can overwrite the “custom button” parameter, and change it for a “Yes/No” (adding a NO in that particular case)
This tip will allow you to create richer tables.
Before publishing the table, remember that you can also highlight products!
This is similar to the row highlighting, but in this case, you’ll drive attention to one specific column.
This is very useful for your users, as you could quickly show them the Best Choice, or the Best Price (or whatever label you want to add)
- Note: if you don’t see this option, click the “show more options” link.
Step 4: Publish
You’re almost ready to go!
Remember that you have to publish the table in order for it to work.
If you use the shortcode while the table is still a draft, it won’t be shown on your articles/pages.
And that’s all, use the “shortcode block” on your WordPress Editor, and you’ll get a nice table you’ll be able to easily update any time:
AAWP tables FAQs and tips
As you have seen, Amazon AAWP Affiliate Plugin is a powerful tool that will allow you to work faster and earn more money.
- Will AAWP tables work with… (Thrive Architect, Elementor, Divi Builder…)? – As long as those landing page builders are plugins of WordPress and let you add shortcodes, there is no problem, you’ll be able to use AAWP with them (I do!)
- More questions? Let me know in the comments below!
Here are some extra tips:
- Building the “structure” of a table is a bit time-consuming. I suggest that you create a table template with some basis rows you always use (the thumbnail, Prime benefits, review Button, Buy now button…) and then use a plugin like Duplicate Page, as it works with AAWP tables too!
- As an extra trick, you should know that you can use the AAWP plugin to create comparison tables for non-Amazon products.
- You just have to add random ASINs (each one different from the previous one) and create the tables with custom parameters so you add there whatever you want (like your own “buy buttons”. For instance, here’s a table that compares EmailOctopus vs. Mailchimp, two non-Amazon Products!
As you can see, a little trick that makes buying AAWP that much more worthwhile.
If you enjoyed this review, please consider doing so through my affiliate link below, which has no extra cost for you!
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