Words submitted by Lasso

** This post contains some affiliate links. This means at no extra cost to you, I earn some commission if you purchase a product through my link. All thoughts are my own, though, as always. If you want to find out more, visit my affiliate disclosure page **

If you’re trying to grow a blog, chances are you’re monetising with affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is when you send your site visitors to a retailer like Amazon in exchange for a commission. 

When you are an affiliate marketer, you have to worry about a lot of things at once. Link management, display boxes, conversion rate, out-of-stock items; it all can start to pile up. Luckily, there is a new WordPress plugin designed to help you with all of it.

What is Lasso?

Lasso is an all-in-one WordPress plugin that lets you create custom product displays while tracking and managing all of your affiliate links from a single dashboard.

In addition to creating great displays for your affiliate offers, Lasso allows you to:

  • Track clicks with Google Analytics
  • Easily replace unavailable products with other offers
  • Find new income opportunities

We’ll get into all of that in a little bit, but first, let’s look at how to use Lasso.

How to use the Lasso WordPress plugin

Get started

The first thing you’ll need to do is create an account on the Lasso website. Once you’ve signed up, you can download the plugin from your account page.

Once you’ve downloaded the plugin, go to your WordPress dashboard and click Plugin > Add New > Upload Plugin.

Choose the zip file you downloaded from your account page, and click Install Now. Once the page loads, click Activate Plugin.

Once your plugin activates, go to the Lasso plugin settings (located in your WordPress sidebar). Paste the license key from your Lasso Account Details page, click Activate, and you’re ready to go!

Configure settings

After you’ve installed Lasso, you’ll need to spend some time getting the settings the way you want. 

From the general settings page, you can input a Tracking-ID for Google Analytics, and set up your link-cloaking preferences. 

Then go to the Amazon tab and input your affiliate ID and API credentials. You can get those credentials from your Amazon Associate account. API credentials are important because they allow you to pull product images and prices automatically.

Finally, go to the display settings and design your product boxes. This is the part where you get to have fun and be creative. 

Import existing affiliate links

If you’re already using an affiliate plugin, you’ll probably want to import your existing links. Click on the Lasso tab in the sidebar of your WordPress dashboard, then select Import from the dropdown menu. 

In case you’re just giving the plugin a try, you can import links one at a time. That way if you don’t like the plugin you can just switch back.

Once you’re ready to switch completely, you can do a bulk import of all the affiliate links on your site.

Add new affiliate links

To add new affiliate links, you just go to your Lasso dashboard and click Add New Link. Then paste any affiliate link or Amazon link, and the plugin will take care of the rest. You can customise your display, and when you’re satisfied just copy the shortcode and paste it into your posts. 

Lasso Plugin Features

Multiple Display Themes

Lasso has multiple display themes that have been A/B tested against millions of impressions. There are themes available with multiple buttons or pros and cons lists. 

You can explore the various themes from within your display settings, so you can see which looks best with your branding. 

Simple Link Management

The Lasso dashboard has all of your affiliate link information in one place. It shows the total number of links on your site, as well as any notifications you may have. These include broken links, unavailable products, and new link opportunities.

If you ever need to change product information or replace a product, you can change it once in your Lasso dashboard, and it will update across your entire site.

Multiple Product Display Types

Lasso currently offers single displays, buttons, images, grids, lists, and galleries for your product displays. Tables are on the way. Once that is done, you’ll be able to display your affiliate products any way you could want.

Click Tracking with Google Analytics

Connecting Lasso to Google Analytics makes it much easier to track which of your links are converting and which are not.

When you are an Amazon Associate, you have a limited number of tags to give your affiliate links. It’s just unrealistic to track performance this way.

After you connect Lasso to your Google Analytics account, Google will monitor how many clicks each of your links gets. Then, you just go to your analytics dashboard and click Behavior>Events>Top Events/Pages to see how your affiliate links are performing.

Lasso WordPress Plugin FAQs

Will Lasso slow down my site?

No, Lasso will not slow down your site. Lasso is a very lightweight plugin. It is around 10 megabytes in size, doesn’t load any external scripts, and it runs on its own servers. That means it won’t take any of your resources to run the plugin.

Will Lasso affect my rankings?

At the very least, Lasso won’t negatively affect your rankings in search engines. It doesn’t affect Google’s Core Web Vitals scores, and it doesn’t affect page speed.

Lasso’s display boxes could increase time on page, which could result in increased rankings, but results may vary.

Can I use Lasso with any WordPress theme?

Yes, Lasso works with any WordPress theme, and you can customise it to fit your site’s overall design.

Which affiliate programs does Lasso work with?

Lasso works with every affiliate program on the planet. At the time of writing, Lasso will automatically pull product information from Amazon, Walmart, Chewy, and Wayfair, with many more programs to follow.

Is Lasso Amazon compliant?

Yes, Lasso is Amazon-compliant. It was designed to follow all of Amazon Associates Terms of Service.

Tips for making money with Lasso

Use badges

Badges on the top of your display boxes tell your audience that you endorse a product. Especially in a list, badges tell your readers which products you think are best.

Track clicks

The ability to analyse your clicks gives you control over your site’s click data. The information you gain from Google Analytics click reports will be invaluable to optimizing your overall conversion rate.

Use a Domain Report to find more affiliate programs to join

Amazon Associates is a popular affiliate program because it converts well, but it has a reputation for slashing fees and working against content creators.

Lasso’s Domain Report tool recommends additional affiliate programs related to the content on your site. Signing up for additional affiliate programs will diversify your income so you aren’t wholly reliant on Amazon.

Also, the display boxes allow you to include 2 buy buttons. So you can give your readers the option to choose which retailer they purchase from. 

Access the Keyword Tool to find more income opportunities

Lasso’s keyword tool will automatically scan the existing content on your website and let you know where you have opportunities to add additional links. Adding more links to relevant content just increases the likelihood of a reader clicking a link. 

Create a resource page

Resource pages are a great way for your readers to quickly see which tools you recommend, and Lasso makes it easy. These pages convert exceptionally well because readers go there looking for things to buy.

Is Lasso right for you?

Pros

  • Customisable displays
  • Easy click tracking
  • 14-day free trial
  • Amazon integration
  • Easy Link import
  • Affiliate link management dashboard

Cons

  • Price
  • No multi-tier pricing
  • No tables… yet

Bottom Line

Lasso is a great tool for boosting affiliate income on your website.

Its price is higher than most of its competitors. It offers more features than its competitors, but the monthly or yearly cost creates a high barrier to entry.

If you’ve just started your site, you’re working on writing some cool content, and you haven’t done much monetisation yet, Lasso probably isn’t for you. You’ll need to get your site out of the sandbox first. 

If you’ve got an affiliate site that has just started making money, or if you’d just like to boost your conversion rate, then Lasso would be a great fit for your site. It can help you manage your links and increase your affiliate income at the same time.

Sarah Sarsby is the owner of A Woman's Confidence. With over 6 years' experience of writing in the fields of beauty and lifestyle, Sarah is passionate about all things content, makeup, skincare, wellness, and lifestyle. She has oily skin, is obsessed with lip gloss, and loves cookie dough.