Lessons Learned from earning $60,151.68 in past 12 months with Amazon Associates

[MAtkins]

Chris: Thanks again for all your help.
I wondered if you could tell us what criteria you use to determine whether a given set of keywords is viable to pursue.

Do you have a minimum daily search volume or require a certain range for AdWords CPC? What criteria do you use to determine whether or not competition is acceptable? Could you be so kind as to tell us some criteria numbers?

[Shannon Spoon]

Originally Posted by 411Recommends

Bay37, thanks so much for your help. your comments appear to be well thought out and quite useful.

Yes, I am very new at this. I assume people like Chris start these kinds of posts to help people learn. There is info on the net about one page sites and multi-page sites. Which I have read up on but still not sure why a site you build up for a long period is any more useful to the customer than a one page.

I have to wonder:
Why would people go to a review site and read pages on pages of info about any product?
For that matter, why go to any review site when you could just go to Amazon, search for the product and read the reviews left by previous customers.

BAy35, thanks in advance for the forth coming flame.

411Recommends,
What we little people need to understand is that some people are so awesome at this IM thing that me and you are like ants underneath their big goliath feet and when we ask a question that this person might not like they feel they need to step on us like the bugs we are.


But to try and add some value to this thread i build review sites and i make them 7 to 10 pages long based around different products in the same niche. like a review site on different kinds of vacuum cleaners.


P.S. i know a great training module that has helped me make my first sales if you are interested 411 pm me

[TiffanyDow]

Thanks for the info Chris. I wanted to add something for the person who asked about promoting large items from Amazon (physically large, not high ticket necessarily).

I prefer to buy large items from Amazon and here's why:

1.) We don't have a truck. So buying locally and getting it home is a PITA.
2.) On many items (even large ones), Amazon ships free if the order is over $25, so I can have a large item delivered to my home FREE.

I likey.
Tiff

[netrover]

Thanks for the great post, Chris. Like several others who replied I just happen to be focusing my efforts on building Amazon based websites; so it is great timing.

The thing that worries me w/ Amazon is the 24 hour cookie. Do you make any attempt to get the visitor to revisit your site (a big Bookmark this Site graphic on your site?) in case they plan to buy later, after the 24 hour period (in which case they may go directly to Amazon)?

Also, do you know if it is permissible, as an Amazon affiliate, to offer incentives if the visitor purchases through your link, like a free gift or even a rebate of some sort?

Lastly, the biggest obstacle I see when doing market research is that, for many, many consumer item keywords (vacuums, electronics, tools, etc.) the big A occupies the top 1-3 spots, and there are even thumbnail images of the product right in the natural search area. A big bummer, no way will my site get clicked in these scenarios. So, my technique centers on finding products sold on Amazon where Amazon is not in the top ten spots for the keyword; and it is not easy. What are your thoughts on this?

[kchui1028]

Amazon is ridiculously low rate.. like what.. 2% of sales? i use them just as a decoration on my site. lol

[Shannon Spoon]

Originally Posted by kchui1028

Amazon is ridiculously low rate.. like what.. 2% of sales? i use them just as a decoration on my site. lol

Amazon commision starts out at 4% then keeps moving the more items that you sell.

[kchui1028]

interesting.. i run a tv/movie site but i don't get that many sales only get around 6%. it's kind of a desert income for me lol

Originally Posted by Shannon Spoon

Amazon commision starts out at 4% then keeps moving the more items that you sell.

[Success With Dany]

Originally Posted by Shannon Spoon

Amazon commision starts out at 4% then keeps moving the more items that you sell.

Do the number stack up or does it "reset" each month?

[mfleisch]

Awesome.. thanks so much for sharing your tips. This information is invaluable and I can't believe that you're so open to sharing. I am so grateful. Thanks!

[Shannon Spoon]

Originally Posted by Success With Dany

Do the number stack up or does it "reset" each month?

They reset every month.

[Success With Dany]

Originally Posted by Shannon Spoon

They reset every month.

GAAAAAAAAAAAH!

[Tina M. Rideout]

If you own an ecommerce website where you ship physical product and are looking to expand the scope of your website by adding in products from Amazon I"m sure that's allowed for you to do, but I wouldn't suggest doing it.

The consumer will click a link thinking to go to the next stage of your checkout process and be surprised that all of the sudden they're going to Amazon.com

If that's what you were asking I suggest you don't do that.

I do want to add another scope to my site...........the dynamics of my site is quite a bit different from the norm..........most of my customers do not go through the checkout process because of the large quantities involved.....so I was thinking that I could offer my visitors that are looking for a specific product.....in smaller amounts the options from Amazon....they would know they are being redirected to Amazon..as it would be clearly stated on the preview pages........Thoughts?

Tina

[Lasse]

thanks for the info, highly appreciated

[tycoon828]

Thanks for your great post. In fact, I had the same question before, and after reading your post, I now understand that why the review type site is useful.

Originally Posted by jan roos

If you build an Amazon review site where you review lots of products in the same niche it is good for the search engines and the user to add new content regularly to the site.

Think about it this way. Peter decides he wants to buy his wife a fancy rice cooker for Mother's day. He has no clue which one to buy so he goes to google and types in something like "rice cooker reviews" "which rice cooker is best" or he types in the specific model rice cooker his sister told him about.

Now he comes to your site where you thoroughly review (not sell) all the best rice cookers on the market with real customer feedback etc. For Peter this is great, he has all the info he wants right there on your site and he doesn't have to spend an hour on the net searching for info on the different rice cookers.

You also happen to mention on your site that Amazon has the best prices on all rice cookers because of the sheer volume they sell and Peter needs to click here to check it out.

That's it. End of story

ps. look at consumersearch.com to see how it's really done

[tycoon828]

That's the question I asked Chris several days ago.

Thanks Tiff for your input. I have no experience of buying from amazon, so I've never thought that customers may take advantage of free shipping for large items. This explaination make me relaxed because I am promoting a large item right now.

Originally Posted by TiffanyDow

Thanks for the info Chris. I wanted to add something for the person who asked about promoting large items from Amazon (physically large, not high ticket necessarily).

I prefer to buy large items from Amazon and here's why:

1.) We don't have a truck. So buying locally and getting it home is a PITA.
2.) On many items (even large ones), Amazon ships free if the order is over $25, so I can have a large item delivered to my home FREE.

I likey.
Tiff

[Dilli Gaf]

Thanks to Chris and others for some great information.

I have already started building some Amazon sites and received my first sale. Nothing to do with my niche though. Not sure how you link from home safety to a kids travel potty. Probably a reflection on my site building ability.

Thanks also to Tiffany for pointing me in the direction of this post.

[honestbizpro]

I have had great success with mere blogs that use Amazon links staying within a particluar niche. Also included a free guide to get opt ins to my list then sold the entire site for nice chunk of change.

[gareth]

great tips & stats thanks.

I will try a WP plugin for in content links.

[daztrouk]

very informative post, thanks. I'm new to web site building and SEO, and there's a lot to take in. I've setup a site which i think will do well, and it's good to see someone making the coin, and helping me to make mine.

[b2bzone]

Excellent information based on your own successes and experiences. Thank you.

[MGunn]

The commission rate starts over each month but your total sales for your account are added together to determine your % rate. So if you have 10 sites that sell 10 items each then you are at 6.5% (100 sales)

As I recall the % level you move up to is retroactive on your previous sales. So if you move to the 8% level (for example) then all of your previous sales for that month get paid at 8%.

[jcepeda]

Great post Chris.
Thanks for taking the time to share with us your successes.
I appreciate it.
joe

[Aaron Elliott]

I know alot of people make good money from amazon, but 4-6% commission, I can't bring myself to spend the time creating the sites for this.

[J23]

Originally Posted by Aaron Elliott

I know alot of people make good money from amazon, but 4-6% commission, I can't bring myself to spend the time creating the sites for this.

The commission % shouldn't be your main focus, your net profit should be.

You say you know people making good money with Amazon, (which means if they are doing it, why can't you?) but you won't promote Amazon just because of the low commission % even though it really has nothing to do with the possible income you can earn?

Think if someone spends $200 and you earn 6% on it. That's $12 for you right there. Get 2 sales like that per day and you're already at the average commission payout for most Clickbank products.

Not to mention Amazon probably converts 10 times better than a Clickbank ebook.

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by kchui1028

Amazon is ridiculously low rate.. like what.. 2% of sales? i use them just as a decoration on my site. lol

Originally Posted by kchui1028

interesting.. i run a tv/movie site but i don't get that many sales only get around 6%. it's kind of a desert income for me lol

kchui, do you think it's possible that these two statements might be related?

With the $25 = free shipping offer coupled with the fact that Amazon tends to discount these items, DVDs should be an easy sell for you.

It's not uncommon for people to buy a $15 DVD, see the free shipping reminder, and throw in another $15 DVD to save $4 in shipping. Then Amazon uses a variety of upsells to try and get more added to the order. You get paid on the entire order.

And, as someone mentioned above, the rate you've earned for the month applies to everything eligible that month, starting from item 1.

[Arcana Media]

Do you know offhand what happens to international traffic that click on your Amazon.com links..?

For instance, Canadian visitors to your site would have to buy from amazon.ca and UK visitors from amazon.co.uk... is that correct?

It would be nice if amazon.com links geotargeted the person to the appropriate amazon domain.

So do you get credited with commissions when visitors from outside the USA click and buy through links on your websites? (ie Canada is ~10% of US population, UK about ~20%, and there are other amazon country domains too, afaik)

I've sometimes wondered how eBay.com handles affiliate links from international traffic as well. Could be lots of money left on the table (their table) if your site gets a significant percentage of viewers from outside the States.

[remodeler]

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

kchui, do you think it's possible that these two statements might be related?

With the $25 = free shipping offer coupled with the fact that Amazon tends to discount these items, DVDs should be an easy sell for you.

It's not uncommon for people to buy a $15 DVD, see the free shipping reminder, and throw in another $15 DVD to save $4 in shipping. Then Amazon uses a variety of upsells to try and get more added to the order. You get paid on the entire order.

And, as someone mentioned above, the rate you've earned for the month applies to everything eligible that month, starting from item 1.

I know you're trying to help John, but when other people post up in a thread like this and state that the comm % is too low, the cookies are only 24 hrs, blah blah blah...I'm happy to hear it. Just less competition. I'll just continue to cash my ever increasing Amazon checks every month.

Excellent post BTW Chris!

[jan roos]

The part where you say that Amazon probably converts much better is key. On one of my sites I sell a $200 item and get $14 commission per sale. I only need to send 20 to 30 people to my site to make that sale and sometimes less. This to me is huge because when I was selling clickbank products the conversion rates sucked quite literally. I'm not saying clickbank is bad or anything, I'm just saying that for me personally it was an uphill battle.

Cheers

Ps. you gotta love 4-5% conversion rates

Originally Posted by J23

The commission % shouldn't be your main focus, your net profit should be.

You say you know people making good money with Amazon, (which means if they are doing it, why can't you?) but you won't promote Amazon just because of the low commission % even though it really has nothing to do with the possible income you can earn?

Think if someone spends $200 and you earn 6% on it. That's $12 for you right there. Get 2 sales like that per day and you're already at the average commission payout for most Clickbank products.

Not to mention Amazon probably converts 10 times better than a Clickbank ebook.

[jan roos]

Originally Posted by Arcana Media

Do you know offhand what happens to international traffic that click on your Amazon.com links..?

For instance, Canadian visitors to your site would have to buy from amazon.ca and UK visitors from amazon.co.uk... is that correct?

It would be nice if amazon.com links geotargeted the person to the appropriate amazon domain.

So do you get credited with commissions when visitors from outside the USA click and buy through links on your websites? (ie Canada is ~10% of US population, UK about ~20%, and there are other amazon country domains too, afaik)

I've sometimes wondered how eBay.com handles affiliate links from international traffic as well. Could be lots of money left on the table (their table) if your site gets a significant percentage of viewers from outside the States.

Here's the solution to your issue. WordPress › Amazon Affiliate Link Localizer WordPress Plugins

This plugin will automatically send visitors from different countries to their local Amazon store with your affiliate link in place

Wish I could use it but I can't cause it messes with my PPC tracking.

Cheers

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by remodeler

I know you're trying to help John, but when other people post up in a thread like this and state that the comm % is too low, the cookies are only 24 hrs, blah blah blah...I'm happy to hear it. Just less competition. I'll just continue to cash my ever increasing Amazon checks every month.

Excellent post BTW Chris!

I get your point, and like you say, it just leaves more for the rest of us.

My point was in relating his statement that he only used Amazon products as site decoration and that he didn't make many sales.

I made the same mistake trying to promote AllPosters at one time - I used the posters as decorations for other content, then gave up when I didn't get the clicks or sales.

I just don't want people just starting to consider Amazon to read those type of comments without some rebuttal.

[Texjd]

Chris makes some excellent points on all fronts. And yes, both Adsense and Amazon produce lot lower commissions for the most part. But both have some serious earners out there making lots of money.

But the thing that I saw that most overlooked is that Chris mentioned in one of his replies that he is getting over 500,000 page views a month. He also mentioned about 10 sites so that's an average of 50,000 page views per site.

So his sites are well tested and he gets a ton of traffic. I'd bet he's invested some serious time and effort to both sides. So focusing on one method is also a huge factor.

Too many people jump around and try too many things at once or give up too quick.

[Avidpoet]

Id like some more information about your link building strategies 500,000 page views a month is really impressive with youur 10+ sites.

[Anonymous Affiliate]

Originally Posted by ChrisGuthrie

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

24 hours? that's crazy! It's extremely difficult to make a sale on the first visit unless you promote highly seasonal products (Christmas, Valentine's day, etc). Why does Amazon follow such a humongous policy towards their own affiliates???

[Anonymous Affiliate]

Originally Posted by J23

The commission % shouldn't be your main focus, your net profit should be.

You say you know people making good money with Amazon, (which means if they are doing it, why can't you?) but you won't promote Amazon just because of the low commission % even though it really has nothing to do with the possible income you can earn?

Think if someone spends $200 and you earn 6% on it. That's $12 for you right there. Get 2 sales like that per day and you're already at the average commission payout for most Clickbank products.

Not to mention Amazon probably converts 10 times better than a Clickbank ebook.

Errr... no! commission does matter, and it matters A LOT. I mean, there are like thousands of CPA offer offering $5 to $10 commissions for an offer that's MUCH easier to convert than selling a $100-$150 product off Amazon.

Of course commission does matter, and there's no chance anyone will make me believe that promoting Amazon products is more efficient/profitable than promoting CPA offers.

[kachaloo]

Hi,
Thank you for sharing your story. May I know how many blogs do you have ? and how many visits do you get in a month ?


Cheers,
Kachaloo

[kachaloo]

Pls ignore my prev post I found the information on earlier posts by you.

[MCDavies]

Hey guys,

I had the good fortune of meeting Chris in person earlier this week. He definitely wants to help other people succeed in making money on the internet.

Chris, thanks for posting this. It sure is amazing to see the activity here.

I am now taking a real interest in building blogs and earning commissions from Amazon sales. Looking forward to our next meeting, there is so much more to learn and do!

See you around,
Michael

[Domainoutlaw]

Wow what an amazing post. I really hope I can achieve a goal as lofty as this some day.

[Tejasca]

Originally Posted by Anonymous Affiliate

Errr... no! commission does matter, and it matters A LOT. I mean, there are like thousands of CPA offer offering $5 to $10 commissions for an offer that's MUCH easier to convert than selling a $100-$150 product off Amazon.

Of course commission does matter, and there's no chance anyone will make me believe that promoting Amazon products is more efficient/profitable than promoting CPA offers.

Then, if I were you, I'd stay away from promoting Amazon products. I don't think anyone is trying to coerce you. Do what works for you.

[Shannon Spoon]

Yes stay far away from Amazon, to everyone who thinks it is not worth it so i won't have as much competition

[Alex Rich]

Interesting and informative and definitely helpful information. It appears all the exotic stuff is great exercise but the simple formula actually delivers. Who would have thought it When the student is ready the teacher appears.

Chris, thanks for being so generous with your time and your secrets of success.

[Shannon Spoon]

I haven't made near as much money as Chris but i have made sales which i know i can rinse and repeat.

I would like to share what i have learned so far:

Domain Research
1. When doing domain research make sure your competition of 100,000 or less in quotes in Google and pay per click amount of .50 cent or more
2. find a keyword phrase that is 3 to 5 words
3. search volume of 500 or more
4. Make sure the keywords that you are going after has ads displayed in the sidebar. Competition can be a good thing because you know people are spending money for that keyword
5. I would not use a company name in your domain name just to be on the safe side.
6. use something generic like bestbarfurniture.com


Keyword Research
1.find a keyword that has less than 10,000 competition in quotes
2.find keywords that get at least 1,000 searches a month
3.Look for keywords that are longtail like 3 to 5 words
4.Pick 7 to 10 different products in the same niche or you can do more it is up to you really
5. make sure your products have a good number of reviews so you know that it sells well
6. I wouldn't try to sell anything that has less than a 3 star rating
7.check out your competition on the first page of Google to see if you can beat them for your keyword/keywords Are they authority sites? like wikipedia? Also check their pagerank and the number of backlinks they have.
8.If their are sites like Hubpages, Squidoo or Ezine on the first page then you have a good chance to rank and beat them

Writing Product Reviews
1. Offer up as much information about the product as you can from a neutral standpoint. You don't want to look biased or like you are trying to sell them anything. You are just reviewing the product.
2. I like to make my reviews 500 to 1000 words long. The more information you give the reader the better.
3. The real key is in your article to get the reader to trust you and then they will be more likely to buy.
4. Don't worry about the 24 hour cookie, by the time they come to your site they should be ready to buy, you just have to tip them a little in the right direction without them knowing it.
5. Don't just speak good about the product, tell them what you don't like about it, they are more likely to trust you that way.
6. Amazon is well known site a lot more than other sites like ClickBank, You ask 10 random people that don't know IM about both and more people will surely know Amazon before ClickBank. The point is that people trust Amazon and it is a lot easier to sell from Amazon than ClickBank IMO.

Well that is all i can think of right now, hopefully it helped someone.

[RossVegas]

great post...very helpful info

[ellers]

Thanks for sharing

Two thumbs up to you

[ptwain]

This is a great thread!!

Just wanted to know if you're using any Amazon plugins(ie. ReviewAzon, wprobot,) on your sites. Or are you manually add amazon links and products to your site.

Thx

Paul

[Shannon Spoon]

Originally Posted by ptwain

This is a great thread!!

Just wanted to know if you're using any Amazon plugins(ie. ReviewAzon, wprobot,) on your sites. Or are you manually add amazon links and products to your site.

Thx

Paul

I don't know about Chris but i manually input everything. I did use a WordPress plugin at first to pull everything from Amazon but the site did not rank well at all. My advice is to write unique content and manually insert your Amazon links into your content. I like to put 3 to 4 links per article in there.

[J23]

Originally Posted by Anonymous Affiliate

Errr... no! commission does matter, and it matters A LOT. I mean, there are like thousands of CPA offer offering $5 to $10 commissions for an offer that's MUCH easier to convert than selling a $100-$150 product off Amazon.

Of course commission does matter, and there's no chance anyone will make me believe that promoting Amazon products is more efficient/profitable than promoting CPA offers.

I think you missed the entire point of my post.

The actual percentage number doesn't mean a damn thing, but rather how much you walk away with. If I were to promote a $10,000 product and only got 1% commission on it which would be $100, I really wouldn't care about it being 1%. I still make $100 per sale.

As long as the product sells for me and I make $100 off every sale, why should I care that I'm only getting 1% commission rate?

I want to know how much I'm actually walking away with and how well the offer/product converts. Anything else isn't a big deal.

But to each their own. If you find CPA marketing works better for you, then stick with that.

[rft123]

Thanks for the info. I agree that $60K on nearly a million in sales isn't very good, but everyone knows that although Amazon's affiliate program is probably the oldest and best known, it is also one of the worst paying; however, someone would be crazy to turn down an extra $60K a year stream of income.

Good work and thanks for the info.

[Ofthemix]

Originally Posted by rft123

Thanks for the info. I agree that $60K on nearly a million in sales isn't very good, but everyone knows that although Amazon's affiliate program is probably the oldest and best known, it is also one of the worst paying; however, someone would be crazy to turn down an extra $60K a year stream of income.

Good work and thanks for the info.

Despite the fact that $60K on a million in sales isn't good (which I think most would agree on), it's still more than most people make at an 8 - 5 day job (which is also something most people would agree on).

Think of it this way. If you work for any company, you're only making a minute percentile of the sales for products/services of that company. You have to follow said companies rules and regulations. I'd rather be making a 1% commission for myself and doing it on my own time, than making a 10% commission having to march to the beat of someone else's drum. I think most people would agree.

[Aaron Elliott]

Originally Posted by J23

The commission % shouldn't be your main focus, your net profit should be.

You say you know people making good money with Amazon, (which means if they are doing it, why can't you?) but you won't promote Amazon just because of the low commission % even though it really has nothing to do with the possible income you can earn?

Think if someone spends $200 and you earn 6% on it. That's $12 for you right there. Get 2 sales like that per day and you're already at the average commission payout for most Clickbank products.

Not to mention Amazon probably converts 10 times better than a Clickbank ebook.

I guess the up side is that it may be easier to sell amazon type products because its everyday things and its usually cheaper than retail stores.

I suppose its like adsense, it sounds useless earning an average .50 cents a click, but with thousands of visits it adds up over time, multiply that with more sites and you will increase revenue.

I just can't help to feel ripped off with the low commission, dont get me wrong the OP has done very well earning 60K in one year. However he has made the company almost 1 million $$ in sales, and the reward seems small....

Anyway next time I start a site with possible amazon potential ill be back to this thread, and will def use his advice.