I'd come across a recent thread in the Amazon Associates support forum where the writer mentioned that Amazon had told them that the buy button they were using on their affiliate marketing site needed to mention the word Amazon on it and that he was in violation of the Amazon Associates terms
of service until that was done.
This was unusual - I had not heard that requirement before so I earmarked it to check it out.
Not a few days later a person on my email list received the same information directly from the Amazon Associates support desk. They explained that while, yes, we can create our own buttons the
button MUST say "Amazon" on it.
It took me a bit but I think I finally understand why this is so important. There's a clause in the Amazon Associates
Program Policies that mentions we must not cloak links in a way that doesn't make it clear that we're linking to an Amazon site.
On laptops and desktops, a
visitor hovering over the buy button would be able to see that the link leads to Amazon.
However, on mobile devices, that is not so
obvious. If the buy button says "Amazon" on it, then the visitor has an expectation of landing on the Amazon site when they click the button and the requirement is met.
Therefore, I think it's worth changing any buy buttons you're using on your sites where the word "Amazon" is not on the buy button image. The new button could say "See Amazon" or "Buy from Amazon" or "Check Price at Amazon", for example.
That plugin will allow you to replace any file or image on your site without changing the URL. This means you can swap out any current buy button images for a new buy button image but keep the same URL for those previous images. Any posts or pages that show the old button URL will immediately show the new button image without you having to edit every post.
To use the plugin, go to your Media Library in WordPress, click on your current buy button image, click the Upload a New File button, browse on your computer to find the image you want to use instead and complete the upload.
Once the upload is done, refresh the page and you'll see that the image now shows your new buy button image. Check a few posts on your site to make sure the new buy button image is showing up and
you're done.
Sincerely,
Erica Stone
erica@extremereviewer.com
