Lasso Affiliate Marketing WordPress Plugin Review

Managing affiliate links on a website can be a lot of work. If you have multiple affiliates you deal with, you will have several logins and platforms to learn. Managing all this info can be overwhelming and time consuming. This is why so many bloggers sign up for the Amazon Affiliates program. They can link to thousands of products easily and nothing converts like Amazon.

While I have not tried every affiliate marketing software on the market, my experience with the Lasso Affiliate Plugin was a positive one and the software is impressive. If you are serious about your niche affiliate websites and plan to grow them, this will be exactly what you're looking for.

It features several display ad options, a dashboard to manage links, built-in Amazon Associates integration, link cloaking for non-Amazon links, link tracking, alerts for when products are out-of-stock, and much more.

Before we go any further, I must mention I no longer use the Lasso Affiliate Marketing Plugin. Not because I am using a different plugin. I have chosen to go a different route with my websites, plug I got banned from the Amazon Affiliate Program. I used Lasso for almost a full year and the experience was a good one. If I plan to use display ads and manage tons of affiliate text links in the future, it will be a no brainer to sign up for Lasso again.

The best advice I can give anyone looking to start an affiliate website is to be honest and transparent with your audience from the start. Especially if you are thinking long term and want to establish trust with your audience. The internet is littered with junk websites that link to affiliate products that many of the reviewers have never used.

Don’t try to get rich quick. It doesn’t exist. Build something slowly over time and as time goes on, your audience will go as well as your ability to write good articles. Like everything good in life, it takes time.

Squarespace vs WordPress for Affiliate Marketing

I spent years using Squarespace to manage websites with affiliate links. I have no real gripes about Squarespace. It is a great, reliable managed platform. Everything is included like domains, hosting, security, updates, etc. There is not much to manage when it comes to the back end other than creating great content.

The problem you will run into when using Squarespace is with managing affiliate links. They have a great “Amazon block” that allows you to use the built-in API to search for Amazon products. I used it for several years and it works very well as it also pulls in the image from Amazon. You start to run into issues when your site starts to grow.

The very reason I switched from the Squarespace platform to Wordpress was so I could have a better way to manage photos, articles, and affiliate links. At the time of writing this, Squarespace did not have a media library to manage photos or plugins to help with managing affiliate links.

Many times the affiliate links on my websites would be linking to products that are “out of stock” or no longer available. Constantly monitoring each blog post to check to make sure the links are good is par for the course when you have an affiliate website. Especially if you’re linking a lot to Amazon.com.

Products on Amazon will often go out-of-stock and you're left with a bad link and no way of making money. Not to mention you have to manually update all your links in every individual article if you ever make a change to which product you are referring. It can take a whole Saturday to update affiliate links on your website and it's very tedious. Enter Lasso, the All-in-one WordPress Plugin for Affiliate Marketing.

I was a huge fan of Squarespace and still am. Hosting a website on their platform is much easier than installing Wordpress on your own domain and managing everything yourself.

However, as you write more articles, things can start to get unwieldy on Squarespace because there is no great way to manage content. Wordpress is a Content Management System that is way more robust. The problem with Wordpress is it can be like the Wild Wild West. It’s hard to know which direction to go in and every developer under the sun is trying to pull you their way. It never ends.

Lasso: Your Affiliate Link Dashboard

Most people who have affiliate websites also have day jobs. Instead of spending your evenings fixing bad links, you should be creating content. Lasso Affiliate Plugin for WordPress will manage all your links in an easy-to-use dashboard.

Managing affiliate links can be very time-consuming so you will need something that can change all your links with the click of a button. The dashboard on the backend is where you save your affiliate links. As you build out your website, you could have an affiliate link in 30-40 different blog posts.

The affiliate link details section allows you to name your link, set the primary destination URL, change the button text, option for opening in new tab, no-index/no-follow attributes, and it allows a second button if you are linking to another affiliate or a review you did for the product.

Dashboard Manages Links in One Place

Gone are the days of using a spreadsheet to manage all your affiliate links. With Lasso, you manage all your links in one area in your dashboard. This is where the true power comes in. You enter your affiliate link into the dashboard and make a few tweaks to the settings and you're done. That’s it.

You never have to think about where the link is or how to find a display ad. As you build out your WordPress posts, Lasso is built right into the Gutenberg editor which will allow you to choose from a single, button, image, grid, list, or gallery display ad. That is many options to choose from.

Custom Affiliate Link Display Ads

This is where the Lasso Affiliate Marketing plugin really shines. Their display ad options will turn your bland, non-professional looking website into the Wirecutter of your niche. Create beautiful link display ads for any product you can think of that will convert like crazy.

Lasso allows you to choose from six different display ad styles, and they are beautiful. They feature a title, price, description, two custom buttons, image, and a banner. The banner allows you to label the add with something like “Our Top Pick”.

If you have ever seen how wirecutter.com does their display ads, this is very similar. These professional looking display ads give your website credibility and a professional look otherwise not found in Amazon image links. Really nice touch!

Affiliate Link Opportunities

Lasso Affiliate Marketing Plugin allows you to discover new link opportunities right in the dashboard. This allows you to quickly monetize existing content on your website so you can capture more clicks. You could be sitting on a gold mine of un-monetized links. You can convert any keyword into an affiliate link right in the dashboard without having to manually go into each blog post. Genius!

Lasso also shows you the best affiliate programs to join. They list affiliates based on category and go into detail about commission structure and cookie windows. These opportunities could work great on your niche website.

Amazon Affiliate Exclusive Features

Put your Amazon Affiliate website on autopilot. Lasso Affiliate Marketing plugin allows you to earn more money from Amazon Associates with eye-catching display boxes updated every 24 hours. It's as simple as pasting a link and Lasso will handle the rest. Lasso uses the Amazon Associate API to pull in product titles, images, and price automatically and the information is updated every 24 hours. API keys are required to update the price.

Lasso does not cloak Amazon links you paste into your dashboard. This is done on purpose so your affiliate website stays in compliance with the Amazon Associates terms of service.

Looking to earn more commissions from Amazon International traffic? Lasso has you covered. Lasso will automatically send an International visitor to their country’s local Amazon online store when they click one of your links. Now that is convenience. Awesome!

Amazon Out-of-Stock Detection

This is so important, I dedicated a section to it.

The Lasso Affiliate Marketing Plugin alerts you when a product you are linking to is out-of-stock on Amazon. There is nothing more frustrating than writing a 7,000-word article about a product only to find out your affiliate link was useless as the product has been out-of-stock for a month. Ugh!

With Lasso Amazon Integration, you’ll be alerted when a product is out-of-stock and this allows you to replace it with something that is in stock. The broken link checker runs every 24 hours and Lasso uses their web servers for this so your website is not slowed down. Gone are the days of missing commissions due to not being able to manage out-of-stock links.

Out-of-Stock Link Alerts

Broken affiliate links can break the bank. Don’t be that website that is full of links to nowhere. The Lasso Affiliate Marketing Plugin has a built-in broken link checker that automatically checks all your affiliate links to make sure they are earning money.

This will help make sure your visitors don't end up on 404 pages. Instead, take them right where they want to go so you can be more profitable and move forward in your venture.

Affiliate Link Groups

Affiliate link groups in the Lasso dashboard are really cool. This allows you to organize your links into groups so you can feature them in the right place at the right time. With this feature, you can display “whole groups” of affiliate links as a grid or list of links.

Let's say you have affiliate links for the best keyboard for a Mac computer. You can group these affiliate links and call the group “Mac Keyboards”. The next time you are talking about or referring to the keyboard, you can display the whole group with the click of a button without having to insert every ad manually. Genius!

Unlimited Affiliate Links

With Lasso there is no limit to the number of affiliate links you can manage in your dashboard. You can add as many as your cold little heart desires. Gitty up cowboy!

Click Tracks with Google Analytics

Click tracking integration with Google Analytics allows you to learn what affiliate links are making money. Lasso allows you to integrate with Google Analytics so you can get a clear idea of how your website is performing.

Why is this important?

By understanding which affiliate links are getting clicked, you will start to learn what works and what doesn’t work. This will teach you how visitors are engaging with your content so you can improve your monetization strategies as you move forward. As Lasso says on their website, “What Gets Measured Gets Managed”. Amen!

Lasso Compared to Other Plugins

Lasso has done a great job on their website comparing their plugin to other competitors on the market. Here are some of the competing products they compare their service too. Keep in mind Lasso obviously has some bias in writing these comparisons. I have not used any of these other services so I can’t comment on their effectiveness. Here are some of the comparisons they have done.

• Lasso vs. Pretty Links
• Lasso vs. EasyAzon
• Lasso vs. AmaLinks Pro
• Lasso vs. Simple URL’s
• Lasso vs. AAWP
• Lasso vs. Geniuslink
• Lasso vs. Thirst Affiliates

As you can see, Lasso has done some pretty good comparisons. But, don't take their word for it. You can sign up for their 14-Day Free Trial to see how it will transform the way you manage your affiliate links. It is truly game changing for anyone who has an affiliate marketing website.

Import Affiliate Links from Other Popular Plugins

If you are already using another affiliate marketing plugin to manage your links, you can import your affiliate links automatically from some of the most popular developers. Lasso imports affiliate links from Pretty Links, Thirsty Affiliate, AAWP, and Simple URL in under 5 minutes. Of course, this depends on the size of your website.

The old, dingy text links you were using with your previous plugin can now be turned into high converting display ads. Lasso even allows you to revert those links back to your old plugin if it's not the best fit for you. This is nice so you are not locked in.

NoFollow/NoIndex Links Option

Lasso allows you to easily choose whether you would like your affiliate links to be indexed or open in a new tab. This is done on the backend with a click of a button. Gone are the days of having to go through every individual link and enable “open in new tab”. So 2000s!

Lasso Affiliate Program

The Lasso Affiliate Program pays out a generous one-time fee for every person you refer to them with a 30-day cookie. As you use the product, you can turn on “Brag Mode” which puts a little Lasso icon in the bottom of your display ads.

When someone clicks this link and signs up, you get a commission. This is a great way to get Lasso to pay for itself.

Great Lasso Articles to Get You Started

Lasso has invested a lot of time in their blog. They have many articles on affiliate marketing that will help any beginner get started. One thing to keep in mind is Lasso want’s you to sign up for their affiliate marketing plugin.

Just keep that in mind when reading the articles so you take them with a grain a salt. Their Epic Guide on Affiliate Marketing for Beginners is one of the most extensive articles you will find on the internet related to affiliate marketing.

Lasso Pricing

Lasso is expensive software. There is no two ways about it. If you have an established website with good traffic that can benefit from it, then I say sign up and enjoy the benefits. If you don’t have established traffic on your blog, you need to wait. The last thing a new blog needs is more expenses in the beginning. What you need is more quality content. Focus on that first and you can monetize later.

Lasso Affiliate Marketing Plugin offers month to month or yearly pricing. At the time of writing this article, they offer you two months free if you sign up for the whole year. If you are serious about affiliate marketing, that is a great option to go with as you will save a little of 15%.

Signing up for a whole year will force you to work on your affiliate websites. By committing to that investment, you will work harder at creating content so you can move your websites forward so you can get closer to achieving that dream of freedom.

That is freedom from working behind a desk or in a cubicle for the rest of your life. Freedom to work where you want, when you want. Take that step today if it encourages you to focus and get serious about your affiliate marketing goals.

Lasso Support

Lasso support was very good. I used it on several occasions talking back and forth with Andrew. The support is not always instant on their homepage in the chat window, but they do respond and follow up which is all you can ask for.

They are constantly adding new helpful features to the product which is in continuous development. They listen to their users and take much of the feedback that is given to them and implement it into their upcoming software releases.

Should I Do Affiliate Marketing on My Website?

That is totally up to you. It can be a great way to make money, but you need to make sure you are referring products and services you actually use and believe in. If you set up a website that links out to products you barely have any experience with, your audience will smell the BS a mile away.

Plus, many of these websites never last because the content is so thin. You might be able to get away with it for a while, but one day you will wake up and realize you have become that website online that provides no real value to society.

I No Longer Use the Lasso Affiliate Plugin

I have been using Lasso for almost a year now. I have since changed the way I write and link out to affiliates on my websites. I no longer put affiliate links and display ads in every article I write. I have reserved affiliate links for a few major review articles I have written.

Our tools & resources page consists of regular outgoing links and affiliate links. I naturally link out to products we trust, recommend, and use. If we don’t personally use the product, I state that next to the link.

Many of the links are not affiliate links because some of the products we recommend don’t have programs. If I need an affiliate link manager in the future, I would sign back up with Lasso in a heartbeat.

Free 14-Day Trial

Here is the best part of it all. Lasso offers a 14-Day Free Trial so you can try the best affiliate marketing plugin for WordPress for two weeks on your very own website.

Get inside the dashboard and get your hands dirty. Create some links and display ads right away and see how they convert. If you are as impressed as I was, you will be on your way to making more money from your existing content in no time at all.

Make sure you do this when you have two weeks to get deep into the software and really give it a try. Get inside the dashboard and get your hands dirty. Create some links and display ads right away and see how they convert. If you are as impressed as I was, you will be on your way to making more money from your existing content in no time at all.

What you will find with Lasso is a very innovative small company that is changing the way the website owners display products and affiliate links. Lasso can turn a plain blog into a display rich, high converting website that will turn heads.