How to Use the Amazon Capsule in Hubpages: a step-by-step guide

The Amazon capsule in Hubpages makes it possible for you to feature products on your hub that readers may want to buy. When a reader orders a featured item via your hubpage, you get a percentage of the item's price; so you'll need to have an Amazon Affiliate ID before you get started.

Here we'll go through how to use the Amazon capsule step by step. This capsule is fairly self-explanatory so computer-savvy users may prefer to try it out on their own. However, if you'd like some extra guidance complete with illustrations, you've come to the right place!

Step 1. (This step only needs to be done once, ever). If you haven't already, create an Amazon Affiliate account and link your affiliate ID to your Hubpages account. That whole process is already explained in detail here on the Hubpages FAQ.

Step 2. Go in to edit your hub, and add a new Amazon capsule to it as shown in the picture on the right.

Step 3. Then go to the Amazon capsule you just made, click 'edit' and you'll come up with a screen that tells you to choose one of two possible ways to use it: specific products or keywords (shown in picture below). Each option has its own pros and cons. First I'll explain how to do it via the keyword option, then I'll explain how to do the specific products option.

Step 4 Option A. Using Keywords: Select the 'choose keywords' button and you will get a screen that looks like the one in the picture below.

Then just type in the keywords for products you want it to come up with, select number of products you want it to show and then hit 'Preview Amazon Results'. It's as simple as that! When you're done playing around with your keywords, just hit 'save' and your capsule will appear in your hub.

Below is the finished example in real Amazon capsule form.  Note: the actual capsule auto-updates over time, so the two products you see here might be different from the original ones seen above when the capsule was first created.

Step 4 Option B: Using Specific Products. If you'd like more control over the exact products that get featured than you can get with keyword method, then this is the way to go. First, open your Amazon capsule and hit the 'choose specific products' button. It will look like the picture below.

Then, open a separate web browser window and go to the Amazon website and look for the products you want. For each product you found in Amazon, just copy the URL from the top of the Amazon browser window and paste it into one of the spaces provided in your Amazon capsule. Then hit 'Preview Amazon Results'. Voila! When you're done with your capsule, just hit 'save'.

Below is the finished example in real Amazon capsule form:

The Amazon capsule is a lot faster and easier than it sounds! Beginners shouldn't agonize too much over how to do it. Refer to the text or the examples here if need be, but otherwise just play around on your own with the capsule. Remember, if something goes wrong you can always delete the capsule and then start over with a fresh one. Remember also that you can be creative and re-arrange your Amazon capsule where you want it on your hubpage, just like any other capsule.

Have fun selecting your Amazon keywords or products - you'll soon find that working with the Amazon capsule is one of the most enjoyable parts of hubbing!

© 2011 Giselle Maine