Ebay, Amazon or Alternative Affiliate Program?

10 replies
Hi All. First post here and as I can see there are plenty of experienced IM's here I figure this might be the place to get some advice.

I run a musicians website and forum which has been going in various forms since 2001. Until recently I have not considered monetizing the site in any way but since I want to spend more time working on the site now I need to generate some income from it.

Have tried Adsense of course but that is pretty much a waste of time. The returns are so small as to be almost not worth having.

Now I am looking to other forms of revenue building such as joining an affiliate network, the question is, which one?

I have read that many people here prefer Amazon and I have no reason to doubt it is a good affiliate to sign up with however I am thinking of our site visitors and the sort of things they are likely to click on. The majority of our members would be far more likely to be searching out used musical instrument bargains than shopping for something new. Given that is the case would I be better going for Ebay over Amazon?

Are there any other suggestions that would have the potential to give a reasonable return?

Traffic to the site has always been good although certainly if I were to actually advertise the site, which I never have, we could do better than the 30/40,000 visitors per month we currently get.

Any advice much appreciated.

Thanks

Saul
#affiliate #alternative #amazon #ebay #program
  • Profile picture of the author munir ahmed
    Hi,
    Gona keep it short and simple...

    My understanding is that you are in the
    musical niche and you want to become
    an affiliate and promote something in this
    particular Niche..

    If that is the case than there is Click-Bank
    and also JVZOO...

    You can browse and search for what you
    are interested in promoting and you should
    be able to come out with something you like...

    A quick advice would be is that if your
    not then start building your email list if
    you want to become an affiliate, build
    relationship and sell...

    Remember people will buy
    in to you and not the actual
    product...
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  • Profile picture of the author xnice
    Originally Posted by yamahaforums View Post

    Hi All. First post here and as I can see there are plenty of experienced IM's here I figure this might be the place to get some advice.

    I run a musicians website and forum which has been going in various forms since 2001. Until recently I have not considered monetizing the site in any way but since I want to spend more time working on the site now I need to generate some income from it.

    Have tried Adsense of course but that is pretty much a waste of time. The returns are so small as to be almost not worth having.

    Now I am looking to other forms of revenue building such as joining an affiliate network, the question is, which one?

    I have read that many people here prefer Amazon and I have no reason to doubt it is a good affiliate to sign up with however I am thinking of our site visitors and the sort of things they are likely to click on. The majority of our members would be far more likely to be searching out used musical instrument bargains than shopping for something new. Given that is the case would I be better going for Ebay over Amazon?

    Are there any other suggestions that would have the potential to give a reasonable return?

    Traffic to the site has always been good although certainly if I were to actually advertise the site, which I never have, we could do better than the 30/40,000 visitors per month we currently get.

    Any advice much appreciated.

    Thanks

    Saul
    You can use both Amazon and Ebay. At Amazon, they have used products also, sometime the customers even buy the another unrelated products.
    Just embed link to some posts with good traffic. Because Google did not like the website with most affiliate links.
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    Need Quality Backlinks: Check Out How To Buy Quality Backlinks in 2018?
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  • Profile picture of the author vishwa
    You can use viglink or skimlinks as a alternative for eBay and Amazon.
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    Techbizmasters.com- Blogging, Technology, and Digital Marketing
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  • Profile picture of the author eugenedm
    That's a wrong question... You need to reframe it...

    1. I would come to this question completely from a different point of view...
    It's not the name of the affiliate program that matters, but the income you get from it...

    You need to calculate your ROI (return on investment).
    You need to find a product that's either popular or costs a lot...
    it's either you have to increate X(amount of sales) or Y(the price)

    X * Y =$70,000


    Imagine $7 x 10,000 people and you make $70,000!
    or you can sell $70 product x 1,000 times...

    2. Test your results.
    If you don't know what's better try them all and get the better converting one.
    3. Do you have an email list?
    Grow your list of subscribers... An email list is the highest money maker so far.. Don't believe me? Google it... But advantage of having a list is that you can send them promotions and products to promote forever and ever. Do it in a nice way... don't be too salesy... That's what I would do..
    Signature

    WARNING: A 50 Million Dollar Man Taught Me His Secret... Which Resulted 6,000 Sign-ups on My Email List.

    "It's easier than you think..."

    => Watch this video here...
    Build Your List to 6,000 Subscribers

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  • Profile picture of the author PassiveIncomes
    Jvzoo
    Warrior WSO Affiliate program
    Linkshare
    Software and tools affiliate program like FCS Networker etc.
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    • Profile picture of the author yamahaforums
      Thanks for all the replies and suggestions.

      I have signed up with JVzoo and Click Bank and will look at the others later today.

      I know what I need to make per month in order for me to move to working on the site full time so I will check out the products with the best return however that brings me to another question. Should I keep the products advertised themed in line with the subject matter of the site or just go for what sells the most? Actually I don't know what will sell on the site so I am just guessing it will be things related to the subject matter...which of course could be completely wrong.

      The mailing list idea is something I definitely need to tackle. We have just on 9000 members all of who's email addresses I have but that's not the same as an 'opted in' mailing list. I do have mailchimp installed on the front of the site although not activated yet but I don't have anything for the forum so will need to see how I can integrate that.

      I think what I don't want to do is clutter the site with ads, especially those that are completely wrong for the site.

      Lot's to think about and more research to do!
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  • Profile picture of the author agmccall
    you might want to look into guitar center, they have an affiliate program

    al
    Signature

    "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." Thomas Edison

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    • Profile picture of the author yamahaforums
      Originally Posted by agmccall View Post

      you might want to look into guitar center, they have an affiliate program

      al
      Thanks for the tip. Would actually also work for another domain I own which specializes in guitars
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  • Profile picture of the author seobro
    I am glad you tried sad sense. What can we say on amazon. Basically, they pay even LESS money. That should surprise no one. Like there is a tiny 4% commission. It is hard to get any one to buy any thing from this company. Also, I have had trouble with returns as the people buying thru your site will want you to return their money. Sad in a way.Best of luck to you.
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    • Profile picture of the author yamahaforums
      Originally Posted by seobro View Post

      I am glad you tried sad sense. What can we say on amazon. Basically, they pay even LESS money. That should surprise no one. Like there is a tiny 4% commission. It is hard to get any one to buy any thing from this company. Also, I have had trouble with returns as the people buying thru your site will want you to return their money. Sad in a way.Best of luck to you.
      I didn't know anything could pay less than Adsense!

      Also had not considered the 'returns' issue so thanks for the heads up.
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