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Recently, Amazon announced their new program Amazon Associates for Blogger, a direct integration between Amazon Associates, their affiliate program, and Blogger. This new collaboration makes it easier for bloggers to monetize their content by adding relevant Amazon product links to blog posts without interrupting the blog editing process.
Amazon Associates for Blogger is now available on the Associates Central webpage.
Sign Up Is Easy
If you already have an Amazon Associates affiliate account, you can use your current Associates ID. If you’re new to Amazon Associates, you can sign up and get your ID right away.
The sign-up process for current associates takes less than a minute and is instantly added to your Blogger blog under the Monetize tab. You also have the ability to turn the Amazon Product Finder off if you don’t like it for some reason. If you’re new to the Amazon Associates program (and yes, it’s worth signing up even if you only make a few dollars a month), you’ll need to give them contact and banking information.
How to Use Amazon Associates for Blogger in Your Posts
The new tool allows you to easily to add Amazon affiliate links and images to you blog posts in just two easy steps:
1. Just type and highlight the relevant text into your blog post. The Amazon Product Finder, which shows up in your posting screen, searches Amazon’s millions of products and recommends the ones that are most closely associated with the text you highlighted.
2. You can then insert a link or image (or both in a badge type ad) to that product, which will include you Associates ID. (When you add an image to your post, there will be a blue lined box around it. However, this will not show up when you post.)
If you use a blog editor such as LiveWriter, you may want to write your post first in that program, then post it draft in your Blogger blog and use the Amazon Product Finder to add Amazon affiliate links and pictures.
Amazon Associates for Blogger Sidebar Widgets
Signing up Amazon Associates for Blogger also enables you to show dynamic content in your blog sidebar using a new set of integrated sidebar gadgets, such as gadgets for MP3 clips from the Amazon DRM-free music store, an Amazon Deals gadget, and an Amazon Search box. Just go to Layout, click on Add a Gadget and type in "Amazon" to find all their gadgets.
Warning: Some bloggers find that adding Amazon sidebar gadgets to their blogs slows down page/site load time. I’ve had the problem where their gadgets goofed up the code of other sidebar widgets. Also, I noticed that my readers seldom click on Amazon side bar gadgets, so I don’t use them. No point in letting them take up precious real estate on my blog.
I love how the Amazon Associates for Blogger feature helps you save a lot of time when trying to monetize your content. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Amazon is considering adding similar functionality to TypePad and WordPress blogs.
Anne-Marie Nichols is the managing editor for Mom Central Blogger University, Mom Central Food and Mom Central Goes Green.
