A peek inside my $8000 a month Associates Account - My Love Hate affair with Amazon

[nichemarketninja]

Hey,

Check out this video if you are interested in, or use the Amazon associates program. I talk about and show you some of the results of a great campaign my wife ran on one of her Niche websites.

Also towards the end of the video I mention a great way to find hot new Niche Markets to target. Only works if you are already selling on Amazon though.

YouTube - A peek inside my $8000 a month...

Enjoy

[Michael Nguyen]

Hello Nick

Thank you for the video. You have a very good tip there we all can use as it shows what other things people are buying which could potentially be another decent niche.
$8000 per month, is big money and best of all its passive.
Looking forward to the next video!

Michael

[william.jack38]

Hey buddy, you and your wife have done a great job. $8000 in a month, its really good. Very hard work done.
I have just follow the tips that you have posted at the end of the video.
Lets wait for my success.

[JayXtreme]

Great share Nick...

I have to add.. your contribution to this industry is nothing short of spectacular...

When creating my own product(s), I struggle on a personal level with sharing specific niches and examples.. I do share, but only limited stuff. I get crazy protective over my stuff like that. You really do some great layout..

Peace

Jay

[Mark Riddle]

Nick,

How will your amazon business be effected when they no longer offer data feeds?

Mark

[JustaWizard]

Hi Nick, that's a helpful video for me because you address the topic of the affiliate cookie expiration - I was wondering what your thoughts were about that just yesterday, and today there's your video on the topic... what, do you have a camera in my house? ;-) Also, you and your wife's success online is quite inspiring to me.

Additionally, your videos on keyword research took my knowledge in that area up a notch or two, and caused a light bulb to go off above my head about affiliate marketing.

Thanks!

David

[cashcow]

Thanks for another great video Nick!

I actually hadn't used Amazon much before watching your first couple of videos. BUT, then I looked into my account (which I never really paid much attention to) and noticed the very thing you were talking about - people get there through my link, but then they buy OTHER things.

I'd never really paid much attention to it because my income from them was so small and I kind of had a negative attitude about them because the commissions are low and the cookie is not that long. Plus, the last time I put used Amazon on a site they didn't really have all the cool tools for adding links that they do now.

Anyway, since watching the other videos you posted last week, I was inspired to make a site using the techniques you outlined and I monetized it with Amazon. Imagine my surprise when just 7 days later, I received several sales from the tracking ID I used on that site and none of them were for the actual product I was trying to sell!

Keep up the good work and more videos!

Lee

[Anthony Wee]

WOW! Brilliant! Thanks... you could have done a WSO!

[Bruce NewMedia]

Thanks Nick ...thats really very revealing about your Amazon account.

I never even imagined that Amazon affiliates were doing so well. I guess I was always put off by the lower commission percentages. Anyway, great job!
_____
Bruce

[nichemarketninja]

Originally Posted by michael_nguyen

Hello Nick

Thank you for the video. You have a very good tip there we all can use as it shows what other things people are buying which could potentially be another decent niche.
$8000 per month, is big money and best of all its passive.
Looking forward to the next video!

Michael

True Michael, I have discovered so many new product Niche markets this way not to mention many different Hobby niche markets by looking through the topics of Books that people purchase.

[nichemarketninja]

Originally Posted by william.jack38

Hey buddy, you and your wife have done a great job. $8000 in a month, its really good. Very hard work done.
I have just follow the tips that you have posted at the end of the video.
Lets wait for my success.

Thank you William, yes it is hard work, at times, but as I have said before, we love what we do so much that it never feels like work.
I'd love to hear more about that JustLuxe website in your footer. I am a huge VW fan boy In fact only yesterday, we just purchased a Touareg and a also got my first glimpse of the new Scirocco I have a Golf GTI now, but after seeing the Scirocco, I am ready for something new! (Sorry very off topic.)

Cheers
Nick

[Max Ramocsai]

Originally Posted by nichemarketninja

Thank you William, yes it is hard work, at times, but as I have said before, we love what we do so much that it never feels like work.
I'd love to hear more about that JustLuxe website in your footer. I am a huge VW fan boy In fact only yesterday, we just purchased a Touareg and a also got my first glimpse of the new Scirocco I have a Golf GTI now, but after seeing the Scirocco, I am ready for something new! (Sorry very off topic.)

Cheers
Nick

I'll add a little to the off topic discussion.

I myself have a VW Jetta 1.8T (first car) but I've been a VW fan for some time. I prefer euro cars in general.

I'll tell you, that New Scirocco is one thing that keeps me going in terms of IM. First of all, I hope they bring it to the US and secondly I could definitely see myself buying one.

And nichemarketingninja, great video.

[nichemarketninja]

Originally Posted by Max Ramocsai

I'll add a little to the off topic discussion.

I myself have a VW Jetta 1.8T (first car) but I've been a VW fan for some time. I prefer euro cars in general.

I'll tell you, that New Scirocco is one thing that keeps me going in terms of IM. First of all, I hope they bring it to the US and secondly I could definitely see myself buying one.

And nichemarketingninja, great video.

Ah another VW fan, great to hear. Yeah, the Scirocco is a real thing of beauty, I have not driven it yet, but sat in it at the showroom, and it fit like a glove. So here is my plan, 15 more Niche websites over the next 2 months and then place my Order for the Scirocco in month 3.

[nichemarketninja]

Originally Posted by JayXtreme

Great share Nick...

I have to add.. your contribution to this industry is nothing short of spectacular...

When creating my own product(s), I struggle on a personal level with sharing specific niches and examples.. I do share, but only limited stuff. I get crazy protective over my stuff like that. You really do some great layout..

Peace

Jay

Thanks Jay, you have not even begun to see what else I plan to share so watch this space mate.

I think in certain circumstances it is important to keep some of your personal sites and techniques to yourself, I have been like that for a long time, but now realize that Niche marketing and SEO is such a vast and dynamic playing field and I will never know it all and will continue to learn new things. What drives me to share all the details that I do know work for me, is that I am just so sick and tired of seeing so many people fail at internet marketing because they get suckered into trying to interpret the vague and rehashed garbage that so many Gurus keep pushing into the market. It is time for change and If I can help just a handful of people realize that they can control their own future themselves, then I will have achieved more than I could ever dream, that gives me more pleasure than cashing my commission checks at the end of each month.

[nichemarketninja]

Originally Posted by netmalls

Nick,

How will your amazon business be effected when they no longer offer data feeds?

Mark

Hi Mark,

This will not effect me at all. You see my Niche websites are so targeted, I guess you could call them Micro Niche markets. Each website is focused on a particular product or a small range of similar products.

While I believe in automation, like the use of Data feeds, I prefer to only use direct product links to send customers to Amazon. This way, I get a higher commission.

I am also very hesitant to populate any of my search engine facing pages with links to Amazon. My links to amazon are via Redirect pages which I link to internally using the no follow attribute.

[nichemarketninja]

Originally Posted by JustaWizard

Hi Nick, that's a helpful video for me because you address the topic of the affiliate cookie expiration - I was wondering what your thoughts were about that just yesterday, and today there's your video on the topic... what, do you have a camera in my house? ;-) Also, you and your wife's success online is quite inspiring to me.

Additionally, your videos on keyword research took my knowledge in that area up a notch or two, and caused a light bulb to go off above my head about affiliate marketing.

Thanks!

David

No problem Dave, glad the videos answered a few questions for you. It is a pretty big topic on its own, the whole Amazon cookie issue, I may elaborate further on it sometime as I have more thoughts on that.

Cheers
Nick

[nichemarketninja]

Originally Posted by cashcow

Anyway, since watching the other videos you posted last week, I was inspired to make a site using the techniques you outlined and I monetized it with Amazon. Imagine my surprise when just 7 days later, I received several sales from the tracking ID I used on that site and none of them were for the actual product I was trying to sell!

Keep up the good work and more videos!

Lee

This is great Lee, absolutely brilliant. Another site of mine which focuses on Blu-Ray DVD's normally only generates relatively small commissions from the sale of Blu-Ray DVD's, I'd say about $15 a day in commission. About 2 months ago, I discover someone who purchased a Blu-ray DVD from a link on my site ended up purchasing a 42" LCD TV and a Blu-Ray DVD Player netting me a profit of $240 from that one sale, and I don't even promote TV's. It's poetry!

BTW I added a link to your Website Promotional Blueprint website on the Niche Market Ninja Blog. You have done a great Job with providing great information. Hats off to you!

[jbolte1976]

Thank you Nick,

Like Jay said, you've given out a ton of great information. Thanks for sharing. This could indeed make a great WSO, but thanks for giving it out for free!

Jason

[nichemarketninja]

Originally Posted by jbolte1976

Thank you Nick,

Like Jay said, you've given out a ton of great information. Thanks for sharing. This could indeed make a great WSO, but thanks for giving it out for free!

Jason

My pleasure Jason, the best information is always free, you just need to know where to find it.

[nichebreakers]

I have tried it myself, and I never had much luck with it.

I never thought anyone could make that much from it, especially from promoting one product. WOW! It makes me rethink it's earnings potential!

[crispin]

Nicheninja,

thanks for your series of videos and info on your blog. I do some similar sites, but not quite as many!

A note on Amazon "datafeed". I use Amazon AWS to populate products for sites. I also use a nofollow to an internal redirect script, which tracks the click through and 302 redirects to the amazon link. All stored in mysql.

I use Amazon US and I'm pretty sure that they have scrapped the higher percentage commission for direct product links system. Under the "performance plan" the % just goes up with volume (except for electronics and a few other bits and pieces). Maybe it's different at Amazon UK.

One thing I don't like about Amazon is the lack of proper subids. Amazon have a very limited tracking capability, which makes my nice stats not work to their best effect. I like to give every click a new subid.

Crispin

[nichemarketninja]

Originally Posted by nichebreakers

I have tried it myself, and I never had much luck with it.

I never thought anyone could make that much from it, especially from promoting one product. WOW! It makes me rethink it's earnings potential!

That is just the tip of the ice berg in terms of earning potential. If you are into promoting products other than information products, there are alternatives to Amazon where you can earn much higher commissions. I just mostly use Amazon as it is a well established and trusted brand who always offer incredible discounts which I use to try and push customers there.

[nichemarketninja]

Originally Posted by crispin

Nicheninja,

thanks for your series of videos and info on your blog. I do some similar sites, but not quite as many!

A note on Amazon "datafeed". I use Amazon AWS to populate products for sites. I also use a nofollow to an internal redirect script, which tracks the click through and 302 redirects to the amazon link. All stored in mysql.

I use Amazon US and I'm pretty sure that they have scrapped the higher percentage commission for direct product links system. Under the "performance plan" the % just goes up with volume (except for electronics and a few other bits and pieces). Maybe it's different at Amazon UK.

One thing I don't like about Amazon is the lack of proper subids. Amazon have a very limited tracking capability, which makes my nice stats not work to their best effect. I like to give every click a new subid.

Crispin

Thanks for that info on AWS Crispin, it is an area that I certainly need to spend more time looking into. I have accounts with Amazon US, UK and Germany for my multi-language sites and I think the rules are the same across all Amazon stores.

Mark commented above on Amazon not providing data feeds anymore, perhaps you could comment more on this and how it will effect the way you promote amazon products on your sites. I'd be really interested to hear your view point before I commit too much time looking into how I could use it.

[nichemarketninja]

Originally Posted by Anthony Wee

WOW! Brilliant! Thanks... you could have done a WSO!

Glad you enjoyed it Anthony, yes could have, I guess, but more people hopefully get to benefit from sharing some of my information in a public forum.

Cheers
Nick

[cashcow]

BTW I added a link to your Website Promotional Blueprint website on the Niche Market Ninja Blog. You have done a great Job with providing great information. Hats off to you!

Thanks Nick - that was awfully nice of you. I added a link to you on my site too. I made the site because I noticed that a lot of people have questions about promotion so I figured I would just lay out what works for me - it's still a work in progress and I just add to it whenever I get a whim to.

I am using a watered down version of my blueprint for the micro-niche sites and it's working out quite nicely!

Lee

[Andyhenry]

Good share Nick,

That's what I love about the Amazon program - I have a niche where the main product I promote is only a few dollars, but the average sale price is over $100 because of the related purchases people make.

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.

Andy

[nichemarketninja]

Originally Posted by Andyhenry

That's what I love about the Amazon program - I have a niche where the main product I promote is only a few dollars, but the average sale price is over $100 because of the related purchases people make.
y

I love this too!

Originally Posted by Andyhenry

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.

Andy

No worries Andy, always a pleasure to share.

[nichemarketninja]

Originally Posted by cashcow

Thanks Nick - that was awfully nice of you. I added a link to you on my site too. I made the site because I noticed that a lot of people have questions about promotion so I figured I would just lay out what works for me - it's still a work in progress and I just add to it whenever I get a whim to.

I am using a watered down version of my blueprint for the micro-niche sites and it's working out quite nicely!

Lee

Thank you for reciprocating, your site is great. I will definatly spend some more time going through your blueprint.

Cheers
Nick

[tina_f]

Great information - thanks for sharing! I always appreciate good, free information but it's hard to come by.

[nichewebstrategies]

Thanks for sharing this Nick. Yes, there is really good money to be made from the Amazon affiliate program.

Most people are put off by the 1 day cookie, but if you target your traffic you can get those people to impulse buy. To your point, they most often are buying other things so you can really take advantage of that targeted traffic.

Thanks for sharing and continued success!

-Brad

[abelacts]

Thanks for sharing, Nick.

Care to share how your wife promotes the site? Did she do a review on the mentioned product?

[nichemarketninja]

Originally Posted by tina_f

Great information - thanks for sharing! I always appreciate good, free information but it's hard to come by.

Thanks, yeah, free information is often the most valuable.

[nichemarketninja]

Originally Posted by nichewebstrategies

Thanks for sharing this Nick. Yes, there is really good money to be made from the Amazon affiliate program.

Most people are put off by the 1 day cookie, but if you target your traffic you can get those people to impulse buy. To your point, they most often are buying other things so you can really take advantage of that targeted traffic.

Thanks for sharing and continued success!

-Brad

Thanks Brad, great points you make! and too yours!

[nichemarketninja]

Originally Posted by abelacts

Thanks for sharing, Nick.

Care to share how your wife promotes the site? Did she do a review on the mentioned product?

Hi Abel,
This was a great one, and probably not achievable with every product you promote, but basically she took pictures of our family at a Manic Heathrow airport with my 4 year old son racing around on his Trunki and myself in the background chilling reading a magazine (Looking very stress free). She then proceeded, as you mentioned, to write a very personal and fantastically positive review. A huge bonus was that she submitted the website link to a local Mother and Child magazine (Print). and they published it as part of their recommended websites.

[nichemarketninja]

Originally Posted by brucerby

Thanks Nick ...thats really very revealing about your Amazon account.

I never even imagined that Amazon affiliates were doing so well. I guess I was always put off by the lower commission percentages. Anyway, great job!
_____
Bruce

Hi Bruce,
Yeah, the 4% sux, but when you are on 6% it makes thing better, in particular for when you are promoting higher ticket items like electronics. But toys are really great too, a little seasonal but when Christmas is near and you are on the receving end of a buying frenzy, lifes good!
Cheers
Nick

[samish]

Nick,
Thanks for sharing. I've joined amazon affiliate-program since 11/08, put a data feed on one of my 300 hits/days web directory site. Almost six months, zero income.

Could you share with us how and what you did, sort like a road map, beside all the video on your site. thx

Sam

[Mike Hill]

Nick,

For redirecting your affiliate links using the nofollow attribute can a person use something like OpenX to administer the ads?

Mike Hill

[Mike Hill]

Originally Posted by samish

Nick,
Thanks for sharing. I've joined amazon affiliate-program since 11/08, put a data feed on one of my 300 hits/days web directory site. Almost six months, zero income.

Could you share with us how and what you did, sort like a road map, beside all the video on your site. thx

Sam

Sam, You need to target buyers... Having ads on a web directory are not going to perform because the visitors aren't in a buying state.

There are keywords you can identify in your research that are buyers keywords. Meaning, people who search those keywords are most likely looking to buy.

Here's an example:

Broad keyword example: Flat Screen TV's
Buyers keyword example: kdl 40s3000

See the difference? The second one is very specific, right down to the model so they are most likely looking to buy.

Mike Hill

[nichemarketninja]

Originally Posted by samish

Nick,
Thanks for sharing. I've joined amazon affiliate-program since 11/08, put a data feed on one of my 300 hits/days web directory site. Almost six months, zero income.

Could you share with us how and what you did, sort like a road map, beside all the video on your site. thx

Sam

Hi Sam,

I completely agree with what Mike has said, I believe to be a successful Amazon affiliate you really need to work in a targeted niche and make sure you go after the "buying" keyphrases. Not knowing enough about your said website and why or how your vistors come to your site, it is a little hard to give to much more advice than that.

Please feel free to PM or email me to discuss in more detail and perhaps I can help further.

Cheers
Nick

[Sleaklight]

Thanks for posting this video. It is insightful and helpful

[nichemarketninja]

Originally Posted by Mike Hill

Nick,

For redirecting your affiliate links using the nofollow attribute can a person use something like OpenX to administer the ads?

Mike Hill

Hi Mike,

I can't really comment on OpenX with too much authority as, while I have just had a browse around there website, I don't know enough to be able to give you an educated opinion on the matter.

What I can say is that I have a strict rule that none of my Visitor/Spider facing web pages ever contain outbound links to any advertising network/platform or affiliate website. This is why I never use Amazons fancy flash product widgets etc or why I never have adsense on sites that I promote Amazon products. That said, I have many sites that do use these advertising network services, but those sites don't promote products and are geared to earn income directly from those networks.

Hope that makes sense? I will however investigate further into OpenX.

Cheers
Nick

[nichemarketninja]

Originally Posted by Sleaklight

Thanks for posting this video. It is insightful and helpful

Absolute pleasure, plenty more where that came from. I am glad you found it useful.
Cheers
Nick

[Mrs S]

Thanks for the video - $8000 a month sure is impressive! Great tip at the end too. I've had mixed luck with Amazon in the past but the fact that they pay you commission on other products the customer buys can really stack up - especially over the Christmas period. It's a program I will be sticking with and tips like these are good motivation to try something a little different!

[discrat]

Originally Posted by nichemarketninja

Thanks Jay, you have not even begun to see what else I plan to share so watch this space mate.

I think in certain circumstances it is important to keep some of your personal sites and techniques to yourself, I have been like that for a long time, but now realize that Niche marketing and SEO is such a vast and dynamic playing field and I will never know it all and will continue to learn new things. What drives me to share all the details that I do know work for me, is that I am just so sick and tired of seeing so many people fail at internet marketing because they get suckered into trying to interpret the vague and rehashed garbage that so many Gurus keep pushing into the market. It is time for change and If I can help just a handful of people realize that they can control their own future themselves, then I will have achieved more than I could ever dream, that gives me more pleasure than cashing my commission checks at the end of each month.

Oh my God what a extraordinary breathe of fresh air. I 'm too sick of all the Guru crap pertaining to the IM Niche that we see so much of. And honestly I see a lot of it going on here at Warrior Forum.There is way more good stuff going on here but I do see sprinles of this Guru crap going on!!

Keep it up Ninja and I think we will see many of the so called Gurus around here star wetting their pants

[nichemarketninja]

Originally Posted by fkformula1

wow..very nice video!

Well, thank you kindly, glad you enjoyed it.

[nichemarketninja]

Originally Posted by Mrs S

Thanks for the video - $8000 a month sure is impressive! Great tip at the end too. I've had mixed luck with Amazon in the past but the fact that they pay you commission on other products the customer buys can really stack up - especially over the Christmas period. It's a program I will be sticking with and tips like these are good motivation to try something a little different!

Thanks for the compliments, there are in fact many Amazon associates that ear way more than we do, we are just scratching the service of the full potential. As you say, It is a great place to be an affiliate especially over the holiday season.

[nichemarketninja]

Originally Posted by rickeriksen

Good stuff, thanks!

My pleasure, plenty more where that came from!

[nichemarketninja]

Originally Posted by Affiliate.Solutions

Question. how long did it take you to set this up?

This particular promotion took about a day to setup. Then about a week of hardcore SEO work which in turn took about 2 weeks to start generating a steady flow of organic search engine traffic. Traffic then went a little crazy for a few weeks after the Magazine publication (Mentioned above) which after dying off we then have continued to see a steady increase in organic search engine traffic which continues to grow as it is still an area of the site we work on daily with SEO tasks. We are also working on expanding on this based on the success we had by breaking the "children's luggage" niche content out of the "Parenting" niche website and creating it's own small network of related websites.

Cheers
Nick

[DS Marketing]

Nick, this is great information. Thank you SO much for sharing your experience!

[JohnS]

Originally Posted by netmalls

Nick,

How will your amazon business be effected when they no longer offer data feeds?

Mark

Mark, is this a sure thing (Amazon no longer offering data feeds)? If so, is there a timetable on them discontinuing them?