What I've learned after $60k in Amazon Associates Commissions in 12 months

[ChrisGuthrie]

Hey All,

I am new to this forum and had mentioned these tips elsewhere (like on my blog) so I thought I'd roll out the welcome mat by sharing my tips on how to earn more money with Amazon's Associates program and how not to. I just ran a report the other day to see updated numbers and I have earned over $60k from Amazon Associates in the past 12 months.

My earnings come from a variation of different blogs, websites, forums etc. etc. that I have hosted over a couple dedicated servers, some shared hosting accounts and a class C IP hosting account (trying out interlinking stuff for SEO these days). During my course of using Amazon Associates I've used various tracking codes to help measure what were the most effective strategies to earn money and what worked the worst.

Best Tactics to Make Money (income percentages based on 09 numbers)

1. Use in content linking as users are more likely to click links from within your blog posts or web pages (just simple HTML) than banner ads etc. - 45% of my earnings this way
2. Write bestseller list posts (i.e. Bestselling LaserJet Printers) - 15% of my earnings this way
3. Make any/all images clickable affiliate links to the Amazon product. I'm surprised how many people will get point #1 right but not make the image a clickable affiliate link. - 13.8% of earnings this way
4. Use buy now buttons in the content - 5% of my earnings
5. Focus heavily on shopping periods. HEAVILY. (I earned close to 9k in November and 13k in December 09). People want to be told about the best deals and if you take the time to write a great list pertaining to your niche people are grateful not annoyed by your consistent deal content during these times of the year. I also send out numerous emails via my newsletters on all the various websites during Black Friday / Cyber Monday - again people like getting this information so hit your lists hard.

Worst Tactics to Make Money

1. Don't bother using Amazon's banner ads. They convert poorly. People rarely click them in almost every niche I've tried and you could use that space to sell direct ad space or *gasp* simply display nothing.
2. Don't bother with Amazon stores - they convert terribly. If you can even get a visitor to click a store link congrats. If you get them to actually buy something congrats again you got lucky.
3. Don't promote products that aren't related to your niche (should be obvious, but again I still see this when I'm roaming the web).
4. Don't use Amazon Associates if it doesn't fit with the type of visitor coming to your website (i.e. are they just looking for general information? If so Adsense will probably work better. Or are they looking to buy something? Amazon will work better)

These are tips I confirmed based on data gathered over the course of the year with the help of tons of tracking codes and I genuinely believe it should help you refocus your efforts into the areas that matter or to abandon Amazon Associates if it doesn't fit your visitor profile.

Important: Remember the tracking cookie lasts only 24 hours. Target potential buyers not lookers.

Feel free to post your questions or comments. No I won't post sample URL's of the websites I run for obvious reasons (many earning sites are low competition and I prefer to keep it that way). Just do keyword research, build a good website, link build and rinse repeat.

Income Picture: (to show proof)



What do you think? Please feel free to post questions in this thread instead of PM'ing me I like to offer my advice for all to see / comment on.

[Engage]

Thanks for your report Chris.

For some reason, I've never become involved with Amazon at all, and your post and blog are opening new horizons.

I understand why you'd rather not share your URL's, that's a wise plan.

Can you describe your sites in a general way? What kinds of articles? Product reviews? Product comparisons? Something else?

Where would you put your writing style on a pre-sell vs. hard sell scale?

Are you buying advertising?

Or is your traffic all SEO?

Are your income figures net or gross?

Those are the first questions that come to mind, will look forward to reading more from you.

[constance]

Great tips. Thanks, Chris. One thing that would concern me in getting so involved with Amazon (I am somewhat involved) is what to do if the Amazon tax hit your state and Amazon dropped it's affiliates? Do you have a backup plan?

[ChrisGuthrie]

Thanks for your report Chris.

For some reason, I've never become involved with Amazon at all, and your post and blog are opening new horizons.

I understand why you'd rather not share your URL's, that's a wise plan.

Can you describe your sites in a general way? What kinds of articles? Product reviews? Product comparisons? Something else?

Where would you put your writing style on a pre-sell vs. hard sell scale?

Are you buying advertising?

Or is your traffic all SEO?

Are your income figures net or gross?

Those are the first questions that come to mind, will look forward to reading more from you.

I do a little of everything, general info, reviews etc. I don't really try to sell people on a product I just give the info I know I would need to make a purchase decision and go from there.

No PPC yet although I may start. 60% traffic is probably from SEO other stuff would be referring sites, email, etc. (I use Aweber a lot)

The numbers above are take home pay type numbers since I don't pay for traffic. I do set aside some for taxes though of course.

Great tips. Thanks, Chris. One thing that would concern me in getting so involved with Amazon (I am somewhat involved) is what to do if the Amazon tax hit your state and Amazon dropped it's affiliates? Do you have a backup plan?

Meh, in this business you have to be able to adapt to change because what works right now might not work a few years from now anyway. Besides, that's half of what makes it fun and that's also why you can buy info products from people giving away their secrets when in actuality they are just giving away tips that don't work anymore. I would just find a way to move my business out of state.

I live in WA and since Amazon is based in WA I hope they have enough politicians in their pocket to prevent it from happening. (I could see them threatening to move jobs out of state in protest).

Other backup plan is to just sell the websites to someone that's in a state that isn't affected and move onto the next thing on my list. At any one time I have hundreds of ideas, just not enough time to do them all.

[Engage]

Another option for any of us might be to shift our focus to another business model once the central part of our business has reached an income goal.

Chris, another question. I'm curious, what is your relationship with the topics you write about? Are they topics that naturally interest you, or did you pick them more tactically, based primarily on their income potential?

I ask because that's always been an issue for me. I can write like a relentless typoholic maniac on topics that interest me, but if I pick a topic based on some other criteria, I morph in to a pathetic lazy slug. Everybody is different of course.

Perhaps this is an issue for many of us. We are attracted to online marketing because of the lifestyle, but when it gets right down to it, the truth is we have little real sincere interest in the art of selling, which is what affiliate marketing is.

I suspect that many who are struggling are going around in frustrating circles within that dynamic.

[kowshik]

Great tips. Thanks, . One thing that would i want me in getting so involved with Amazon (I am somewhat gathered) is what to do if the Amazon tax hit your status and Amazon dropped it's affiliates,.. Its really great

[ChrisGuthrie]

Another option for any of us might be to shift our focus to another business model once the central part of our business has reached an income goal.

Chris, another question. I'm curious, what is your relationship with the topics you write about? Are they topics that naturally interest you, or did you pick them more tactically, based primarily on their income potential?

I ask because that's always been an issue for me. I can write like a relentless typoholic maniac on topics that interest me, but if I pick a topic based on some other criteria, I morph in to a pathetic lazy slug. Everybody is different of course.

Perhaps this is an issue for many of us. We are attracted to online marketing because of the lifestyle, but when it gets right down to it, the truth is we have little real sincere interest in the art of selling, which is what affiliate marketing is.

I suspect that many who are struggling are going around in frustrating circles within that dynamic.

I try to combine things that interest me and that are also profitable.

Example: I really like playing video games. Back when I was in college I had a very successful video game forum that was generating half a million page views per month. I was very passionate about it and spent a couple hours a day running it.

Problem? It only earned $500 a month from Adsense

You just need to do the gut check and ask yourself:

a. does this interest me?
b. can this make money?

People say you only need the first thing and to those people I say they are idealists. In a perfect world you could make money on anything as long as you were passionate, but in the real world I believe it takes a combination of passion and potential market.

That's partly why I don't like Gary V's book Crush it!

[constance]

I'm moving to Washington!

[StephenT]

I have used all the tips you suggest and would have to say that my results are not stellar, $40 over the last year, but my problem is one of traffic or the lack thereof

[ChrisGuthrie]

I have used all the tips you suggest and would have to say that my results are not stellar, $40 over the last year, but my problem is one of traffic or the lack thereof

The niche your website is in plays a very huge role. If the website in question is the one in your signature I wouldn't even run Amazon ads on a blog like that.

You need to be more creative with monetization for that or refocus on paid activities that you cover on the blog and talk about how other people should do them as well. Then use aff links for people that want to sign up and try them as well.