What I learned can I think help make the site look a little more professional and a little less cooky cutter WP Blog style affiliate.
I am using a plugin called Conversion Phoenix, which makes the affiliate link pop only when the person is on the page scrolling down. It gives an added movement that is less aggressive than the flashing 'banner' type I have seen promoted in some IM classes. Although it is not visible when you hit the page, hopefully it is more effective because the person has already started reading by the time they get to it and 'trigger' the appearance.
The call to action, keyword, and any text can be used as a link. It is very easy to use if you have the same link vocab for every page. It's more complicated if you have a different one for every page though, as you have to make a new link every time. So far I have 20....with 10 articles more to go.
Check it out at www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvnBhjuiX2w
Hope this helps make your WP blog look great.
SMS