Are automated Amazon Store sites profitable?

Vlad Shelest · 09-09-2010, 09:34 PM

I've been looking at various WP plugins as well as standalone scripts available on WF that automate building of Amazon Store sites.

Some seem to be more popular than others, but I'd love to hear comments from warriors that are using these tools and are making money from them.

Vlad.

abs007 · 09-10-2010, 05:46 AM

Ive had a site for almost 1.5 years - it used to rank very well but since the may update it has tottally lost all rankings

i cant remember which plugin im using but its a free one -

Martin Percival · 09-10-2010, 10:28 AM

As a counterpoint to the last comment, I had a site which did well for a while, dropped down to page 8 for a lot of the beginning of the year and just bounced back up to number 3 (ish) in the last couple of weeks.

Don't ask - I have no idea how. It was for small ticket items as I was just learning the ropes, so I had effectively let it go...no more promotion or anything and here it is.

It almost make me feel guilty enough to add some real content to it

gearmonkey · 09-10-2010, 01:15 PM

^^ He's not asking if amazon sites rank well in Google, he's asking if they make money.

In my experience, Amazon isn't a very good affiliate because they pay low and only track cookies for 24 hours. That's horribe! Respectable affiliates track cookies for 14 days.

Statistically people on the internet aren't splurge buyers, they'll research and ponder for alteast a few days before they buy big ticket products.... the only way you get lucky to earn a sale is if that person who clicked through your affiliate link already knew they were buying or was at the last day of their research.

How many reading this spontaneously bought a high-priced computer or TV after finding it online without doing some research? Not many if any at all.... because people ALWAYS research before they buy. People ponder for 2-3 days... or maybe wait for a week when they get their paycheck, by then the tracking cookies on their computer are no longer there and Amazon pays 0% commission for your website sparking the interest. Who knows, there could be like a 1% chance that you are the lucky affiliate who this buyer clicks through after they've done their homewwork. Less likely though.

I personally don't think Amazon is a good affiliate. I've been using it had very little success and I think the above explanation is why. However, the affiliates that track cookies for 2 weeks bring me $2,000 or more per month. I sell big ticket items, not $5 dollar books or CDs.

vpgemini · 09-10-2010, 04:03 PM

And Gear what would this affiliate be?

I don't care for Amazon myself unless I had a product to personally sell on Amazon.

Vlad Shelest · 09-11-2010, 08:06 AM

Thanks for your input, so I guess the consensus is that Amazon sites aren't all that great. I suppose that being the case, it wouldn't matter which plugin was used.

I agree with gearmonkey that 24 hour cookie tracking is ridiculous. I didn't know that. That being the case, I'm surprised anyone is making money with Amazon at all. I mean I know people do, I'm just surprised given the fact that most people do research the product prior to making a purchase.

Vlad

Focused Action · 09-11-2010, 11:26 AM

I dont think 1 or 2 people form a consensus

I am sure there are wildly successful affiliates earning from amazon. it just depends on the scale of the business you have.

MajorNet · 09-11-2010, 01:34 PM

I have read that the higher end products are better to promote. More money and less competition.

Good topic.

Vlad Shelest · 09-11-2010, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by curtroese

I dont think 1 or 2 people form a consensus

I am sure there are wildly successful affiliates earning from amazon. it just depends on the scale of the business you have.

I know my logic is somewhat faulty here

, but since I've become interested in these automated Amazon stores, I've been reading various threads here and on other forums and while there is a lot of talk about some scripts or plugins being better or worse, I am yet to read about anyone actually making any decent money.

Certainly, I'm sure SOME people are, but I just can't find any evidence of that in any of the material I've read. Maybe people are just keeping their success to themselves, not unheard of behaviour in the IM circles after all.

So once again, I'd love to hear some positive opinions (even if it breaks the consensus

)

Vlad

bmoney76 · 09-13-2010, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gearmonkey

^^ He's not asking if amazon sites rank well in Google, he's asking if they make money.

In my experience, Amazon isn't a very good affiliate because they pay low and only track cookies for 24 hours. That's horribe! Respectable affiliates track cookies for 14 days.

Statistically people on the internet aren't splurge buyers, they'll research and ponder for alteast a few days before they buy big ticket products.... the only way you get lucky to earn a sale is if that person who clicked through your affiliate link already knew they were buying or was at the last day of their research.

How many reading this spontaneously bought a high-priced computer or TV after finding it online without doing some research? Not many if any at all.... because people ALWAYS research before they buy. People ponder for 2-3 days... or maybe wait for a week when they get their paycheck, by then the tracking cookies on their computer are no longer there and Amazon pays 0% commission for your website sparking the interest. Who knows, there could be like a 1% chance that you are the lucky affiliate who this buyer clicks through after they've done their homewwork. Less likely though.

I personally don't think Amazon is a good affiliate. I've been using it had very little success and I think the above explanation is why. However, the affiliates that track cookies for 2 weeks bring me $2,000 or more per month. I sell big ticket items, not $5 dollar books or CDs.

My experience is the opposite of this. I have used many different affiliate programs and none have been as good as amazon. Yeah they only have a 1 day cookie but I find that a lot of my visitors trust the amazon brand and they end up buying. You also get many additional items thrown in as amazon is great at cross selling. Almost half of my sales are things totally unrelated to my niches.

I have found that if you send targeted traffic to amazon you will make good money. People trust them and they have good prices. And as an affiliate I can promote almost anything because their lineup is HUGE. I used to bash amazon too until I really put an effort into them. Now they earn me a lot of money every day.

Vlad Shelest · 09-15-2010, 05:09 AM

Question to bmoney76, do you use a script or a plugin to automate building your Amazon sites and fill them with Products, Reviews and other relevant content?

VLad

bmoney76 · 09-15-2010, 05:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by diggitydog

Question to bmoney76, do you use a script or a plugin to automate building your Amazon sites and fill them with Products, Reviews and other relevant content?

VLad

I build all of my sites by hand and put in tons of unique content, I never use scripts or plugins to build my sites. I focus on a handful of sites and build them into authority sites in their niches. I tried the auto building methods in the past and never had much success. Now I try to put up quality sites that will last. Put yourself in your visitors shoes and just give them what they are looking for. In my case it is a decent review and a link to where they can find a good price on it.

If you put up a good site and start getting links to it from a variety of sources you will eventually rank for your keywords. It takes time but I'm patient with my sites because I know how much it will pay off.

Vlad Shelest · 09-15-2010, 05:48 AM

Very useful answer bmoney76,

Thank you.
Vlad

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmoney76

I build all of my sites by hand and put in tons of unique content, I never use scripts or plugins to build my sites. I focus on a handful of sites and build them into authority sites in their niches. I tried the auto building methods in the past and never had much success. Now I try to put up quality sites that will last. Put yourself in your visitors shoes and just give them what they are looking for. In my case it is a decent review and a link to where they can find a good price on it.

If you put up a good site and start getting links to it from a variety of sources you will eventually rank for your keywords. It takes time but I'm patient with my sites because I know how much it will pay off.

Mcrofts · 09-15-2010, 06:17 AM

Im Using Datafeedr & Building Minisite's & Regard's to Amazon & 24hour Tracking.
If an Item is Something Under $100 or it's $30 or $50.
You don't really ponder, People tend to outright just buy it.

So it Really just Depend's the Angle & Strategy your taking, I Think It'd Be Crazy Using Amazon & Higher Priced Item's that people are more likely to Reasearch on.
Something Higher Priced, I'd want Longer Tracking or an Autoresponder going.
Would be the Angle I'd take.
(If your Site was a Hot Product Under $50, How Much Pondering is going to go on)

Ah, Plugin's *Im Still Experimenting Myself
phpBay Pro - Ebay Plugin and Amazon Plugin Script for Wordpress
Associate-O-Matic | Build a custom Amazon Associate Store with 1000's of items in minutes

If you Find a Hot Product, & you could get good Traffic.
For Traffic Use TrafficGeyser (Paid)
pixelpipe.com (Free)
Tubemogul.com (free)
Twitter Linked to Site?

Video Marketing/Traffic Would be good for a Product Under $60
24hour's Tracking. Finee
There's lot's of tiny thing's that have been hot Products that people just Buy.
Those Digimon Toy thing's, Tamagotchi's
(Those thing's I Mentioned were Hot 10years ago)

Anyway's Good Luck.
{I was More "Brainstorming", with you here I hope}

Also I'll Just Add, There are some really Great Tool's to Help Research Hot Product's.
https://www.terapeak.com < Is One I Plan to Invest In, when I can Afford to.

It's Really Good.

Vlad Shelest · 09-16-2010, 12:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mcrofts

There's lot's of tiny thing's that have been hot Products that people just Buy.
Those Digimon Toy thing's, Tamagotchi's
(Those thing's I Mentioned were Hot 10years ago)

Anyway's Good Luck.
{I was More "Brainstorming", with you here I hope}

Thanks for that Mcrofts! So you don't recommend I go with the tamagochis, a little outdated you reckon?

Good advice about promoting products that aren't too expensive, You're right, people aren't likely to spend too much time considering if an item is only say $20-30 bucks. Thanks again.

Vlad

Janet Walker · 09-16-2010, 05:15 PM

I found that my Adsense makes 4 times more than my Amazon account. Based on 50 niche sites that average 1,000 searches per month for the #1 spot on Google. All of my rankings vary of course.

If you are just making niche sites, then hands down,use Wordpress Robot plugin

For review style sites then use Reviewathon Plugin

I have bought and tried just about every Amazon plugin out there and these two are the best but you still will need various other plugins for different functions.

zeropower · 09-16-2010, 07:06 PM

I have 2 things to say here
1-Not by practical trying but by guess , I think that ppl who fiund themselves in front of low prices like 10-20$ don't do much research , they just Go ahead and purchase in most cases .
2-I think also that most of the big things that are expensive and need much research b4 purchasing are not for beginners or even semi-professional marketers , most of these things need professional ppl who have experience on what most ppl like or dislike when purchasing these things , In addition , they can make the needed research for the customers in their site in order not to lose them .

09-10-2010, 05:46 AM	#2
abs007 Abbas Ravji War Room Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: UK Posts: 1,197 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 205 Thanked 567 Times in 132 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Are automated Amazon Store sites profitable? Ive had a site for almost 1.5 years - it used to rank very well but since the may update it has tottally lost all rankings i cant remember which plugin im using but its a free one -

09-10-2010, 10:28 AM	#3
Martin Percival Euro Warrior! War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: London Posts: 102 Thanks: 2 Thanked 51 Times in 29 Posts	Re: Are automated Amazon Store sites profitable? As a counterpoint to the last comment, I had a site which did well for a while, dropped down to page 8 for a lot of the beginning of the year and just bounced back up to number 3 (ish) in the last couple of weeks. Don't ask - I have no idea how. It was for small ticket items as I was just learning the ropes, so I had effectively let it go...no more promotion or anything and here it is. It almost make me feel guilty enough to add some real content to it

09-10-2010, 01:15 PM	#4
gearmonkey Advanced Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 877 Thanks: 6 Thanked 79 Times in 61 Posts	Re: Are automated Amazon Store sites profitable? ^^ He's not asking if amazon sites rank well in Google, he's asking if they make money. In my experience, Amazon isn't a very good affiliate because they pay low and only track cookies for 24 hours. That's horribe! Respectable affiliates track cookies for 14 days. Statistically people on the internet aren't splurge buyers, they'll research and ponder for alteast a few days before they buy big ticket products.... the only way you get lucky to earn a sale is if that person who clicked through your affiliate link already knew they were buying or was at the last day of their research. How many reading this spontaneously bought a high-priced computer or TV after finding it online without doing some research? Not many if any at all.... because people ALWAYS research before they buy. People ponder for 2-3 days... or maybe wait for a week when they get their paycheck, by then the tracking cookies on their computer are no longer there and Amazon pays 0% commission for your website sparking the interest. Who knows, there could be like a 1% chance that you are the lucky affiliate who this buyer clicks through after they've done their homewwork. Less likely though. I personally don't think Amazon is a good affiliate. I've been using it had very little success and I think the above explanation is why. However, the affiliates that track cookies for 2 weeks bring me $2,000 or more per month. I sell big ticket items, not $5 dollar books or CDs.

09-10-2010, 04:03 PM	#5
vpgemini HyperActive Warrior Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 272 Thanks: 10 Thanked 39 Times in 35 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Are automated Amazon Store sites profitable? And Gear what would this affiliate be? I don't care for Amazon myself unless I had a product to personally sell on Amazon.

09-11-2010, 08:06 AM	#6
Vlad Shelest Warrior For Freedom War Room Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Sydney, AUSTRALIA Posts: 295 Thanks: 167 Thanked 43 Times in 35 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Are automated Amazon Store sites profitable? Thanks for your input, so I guess the consensus is that Amazon sites aren't all that great. I suppose that being the case, it wouldn't matter which plugin was used. I agree with gearmonkey that 24 hour cookie tracking is ridiculous. I didn't know that. That being the case, I'm surprised anyone is making money with Amazon at all. I mean I know people do, I'm just surprised given the fact that most people do research the product prior to making a purchase. Vlad

09-09-2010, 09:34 PM	#1
Vlad Shelest Warrior For Freedom War Room Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Sydney, AUSTRALIA Posts: 295 Thanks: 167 Thanked 43 Times in 35 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Are automated Amazon Store sites profitable? I've been looking at various WP plugins as well as standalone scripts available on WF that automate building of Amazon Store sites. Some seem to be more popular than others, but I'd love to hear comments from warriors that are using these tools and are making money from them. Vlad.

09-11-2010, 11:26 AM	#7
Focused Action HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 463 Thanks: 67 Thanked 72 Times in 59 Posts	Re: Are automated Amazon Store sites profitable? I dont think 1 or 2 people form a consensus I am sure there are wildly successful affiliates earning from amazon. it just depends on the scale of the business you have.

09-11-2010, 01:34 PM	#8
MajorNet Give Me A Break! War Room Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: , , USA. Posts: 93 Thanks: 9 Thanked 16 Times in 13 Posts Social Networking	Re: Are automated Amazon Store sites profitable? I have read that the higher end products are better to promote. More money and less competition. Good topic.

09-15-2010, 05:09 AM	#11
Vlad Shelest Warrior For Freedom War Room Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Sydney, AUSTRALIA Posts: 295 Thanks: 167 Thanked 43 Times in 35 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Are automated Amazon Store sites profitable? Question to bmoney76, do you use a script or a plugin to automate building your Amazon sites and fill them with Products, Reviews and other relevant content? VLad

09-15-2010, 06:17 AM	#14
Mcrofts Chameleon War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 59 Thanks: 4 Thanked 6 Times in 5 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Are automated Amazon Store sites profitable? Im Using Datafeedr & Building Minisite's & Regard's to Amazon & 24hour Tracking. If an Item is Something Under $100 or it's $30 or $50. You don't really ponder, People tend to outright just buy it. So it Really just Depend's the Angle & Strategy your taking, I Think It'd Be Crazy Using Amazon & Higher Priced Item's that people are more likely to Reasearch on. Something Higher Priced, I'd want Longer Tracking or an Autoresponder going. Would be the Angle I'd take. (If your Site was a Hot Product Under $50, How Much Pondering is going to go on) Ah, Plugin's Im Still Experimenting Myself phpBay Pro - Ebay Plugin and Amazon Plugin Script for Wordpress Associate-O-Matic \| Build a custom Amazon Associate Store with 1000's of items in minutes If you Find a Hot Product, & you could get good Traffic. For Traffic Use TrafficGeyser (Paid) pixelpipe.com (Free) Tubemogul.com (free) Twitter Linked to Site? Video Marketing/Traffic Would be good for a Product Under $60 24hour's Tracking. Finee There's lot's of tiny thing's that have been hot Products that people just Buy. Those Digimon Toy thing's, Tamagotchi's (Those thing's I Mentioned were Hot 10years ago) Anyway's Good Luck. {I was More "Brainstorming", with you here I hope} Also I'll Just Add, There are some really Great Tool's to Help Research Hot Product's. https://www.terapeak.com < Is One I Plan to Invest In, when I can Afford to. It's Really* Good.

09-16-2010, 05:15 PM	#16
Janet Walker HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Louisiana Posts: 188 Thanks: 4 Thanked 24 Times in 22 Posts	Re: Are automated Amazon Store sites profitable? I found that my Adsense makes 4 times more than my Amazon account. Based on 50 niche sites that average 1,000 searches per month for the #1 spot on Google. All of my rankings vary of course. If you are just making niche sites, then hands down,use Wordpress Robot plugin For review style sites then use Reviewathon Plugin I have bought and tried just about every Amazon plugin out there and these two are the best but you still will need various other plugins for different functions.

09-16-2010, 07:06 PM	#17
zeropower Active Warrior Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 82 Thanks: 42 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Re: Are automated Amazon Store sites profitable? I have 2 things to say here 1-Not by practical trying but by guess , I think that ppl who fiund themselves in front of low prices like 10-20$ don't do much research , they just Go ahead and purchase in most cases . 2-I think also that most of the big things that are expensive and need much research b4 purchasing are not for beginners or even semi-professional marketers , most of these things need professional ppl who have experience on what most ppl like or dislike when purchasing these things , In addition , they can make the needed research for the customers in their site in order not to lose them .