My first amazon affiliate site

37 replies
I am building my first amazon affiliate site where I will write reviews for electronic goods. I need some suggestions from the veteran warriors as to which templates would be better and which plugins should I use and other relevant suggestions. Any help will me much appreciated.
#affiliate #amazon #site
  • Profile picture of the author jan roos
    Are you sure you want your first site to be in the electronics niche?

    Electronics becomes outdated too quick in my opinion and the commission rate is a flat 4% on them. That's why I stay away from them.

    Cheers

    Jan
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    • Profile picture of the author souravdas32000
      Originally Posted by jan roos View Post

      Are you sure you want your first site to be in the electronics niche?

      Electronics becomes outdated too quick in my opinion and the commission rate is a flat 4% on them. That's why I stay away from them.

      Cheers

      Jan
      I know but then it gives chance of featuring new products and expanding the site. Other than electronics what other niches can be good?
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      • Profile picture of the author AFI
        Originally Posted by souravdas32000 View Post

        I know but then it gives chance of featuring new products and expanding the site. Other than electronics what other niches can be good?
        Jan knows what he's talking about. I bought his WSO from him where he tells you exactly what other items are good. You should look for it in the WSO forum.
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      • Profile picture of the author jan roos
        Originally Posted by souravdas32000 View Post

        I know but then it gives chance of featuring new products and expanding the site. Other than electronics what other niches can be good?
        Promote anything over $100 and with at least 10 or more good reviews. There must also be quite a few other similar products that you can review and make your site an authority in the niche over time.

        Look in the best sellers list. Home and Garden etc.

        There's a ton of untapped niches on Amazon.

        Don't do electronics on your first site.

        Cheers
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        • Profile picture of the author souravdas32000
          Originally Posted by jan roos View Post

          Promote anything over $100 and with at least 10 or more good reviews. There must also be quite a few other similar products that you can review and make your site an authority in the niche over time.

          Look in the best sellers list. Home and Garden etc.

          There's a ton of untapped niches on Amazon.

          Don't do electronics on your first site.

          Cheers
          I know there are lots of niches out there in amazon but I am not sure whether they sell or not. I was confused with this so decided to do electronics since according to me they sell well, but since you are advising I will not make it an electronics site and focus on something else, but how am I gonna know whether the niche has got good amount of sales from amazon or not?
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          • Profile picture of the author jan roos
            Originally Posted by souravdas32000 View Post

            I know there are lots of niches out there in amazon but I am not sure whether they sell or not. I was confused with this so decided to do electronics since according to me they sell well, but since you are advising I will not make it an electronics site and focus on something else, but how am I gonna know whether the niche has got good amount of sales from amazon or not?

            If you find a niche that has products with lots of positive reviews that means the products are selling well on Amazon and if you send targeted visitors to those products you will make sales.

            That's it. Sounds easy because it is easy.

            Cheers
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            • Profile picture of the author souravdas32000
              Originally Posted by jan roos View Post

              If you find a niche that has products with lots of positive reviews that means the products are selling well on Amazon and if you send targeted visitors to those products you will make sales.

              That's it. Sounds easy because it is easy.

              Cheers
              Thank you so much you cleared a lot of doubts in my mind.

              This forum rocks and all the warriors too.
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      • Profile picture of the author KenJ
        Originally Posted by souravdas32000 View Post

        I know but then it gives chance of featuring new products and expanding the site. Other than electronics what other niches can be good?
        I think electronics is a good area to start with as long as you are into the products. Games and gadgets fans are able to write really well for this niche and they know what new products are coming up to launch.

        I have posts from august and September promoting products that are not released until next week. Because I know this niche I am ahead of the game and already rank for these products.

        Kenj
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        • Profile picture of the author SK123
          Originally Posted by kenj View Post

          I think electronics is a good area to start with as long as you are into the products. Games and gadgets fans are able to write really well for this niche and they know what new products are coming up to launch.

          I have posts from august and September promoting products that are not released until next week. Because I know this niche I am ahead of the game and already rank for these products.

          Kenj
          Please I need some clarifications here: Do I have to first of all BUY/OWN the Amazon product to have a feel of it before I'll be able to write a review about it.

          Now, assuming I do not own the product yet, Would it be okay if the review contains just the outlined features and benefits that the manufacturer has stated concerning the product? (Maybe a elaborated explanation, rather than from an experiential stand point)

          I'll appreciate any input. Thanks.
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          • Profile picture of the author PatriciaJ
            Originally Posted by SK123 View Post

            Please I need some clarifications here: Do I have to first of all BUY/OWN the Amazon product to have a feel of it before I'll be able to write a review about it.

            Now, assuming I do not own the product yet, Would it be okay if the review contains just the outlined features and benefits that the manufacturer has stated concerning the product? (Maybe a elaborated explanation, rather than from an experiential stand point)

            I'll appreciate any input. Thanks.
            Personally I would not do a fake review and I think there are laws against that now.

            But It depends what you call a review and I might be splitting hairs here but I get fed up with looking for true product reviews and just finding made up reviews from affiliates.

            For me and I think the correct meaning is taking something that you own or have used regularly and review from user experience and stating pros and cons. The sort of thing that you as a buyer would have wanted to know before buying. Take a look over at Ciao.com if you want to see the true meaning of review.

            Outlining features and benefits that the manufacturer has stated is not and should not be called a review because calling it such is misleading, there is no harm in adding your thoughts but it is still not a product review. Because there are true customer reviews on Amazon I don't see any problem with adding things like 'one buyer said this about the product and another said this' but adding bits like that still doesn't make it a product review.
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            • Profile picture of the author jan roos
              Originally Posted by PatriciaJ View Post

              Personally I would not do a fake review and I think there are laws against that now.

              But It depends what you call a review and I might be splitting hairs here but I get fed up with looking for true product reviews and just finding made up reviews from affiliates.

              For me and I think the correct meaning is taking something that you own or have used regularly and review from user experience and stating pros and cons. The sort of thing that you as a buyer would have wanted to know before buying. Take a look over at Ciao.com if you want to see the true meaning of review.

              Outlining features and benefits that the manufacturer has stated is not and should not be called a review because calling it such is misleading, there is no harm in adding your thoughts but it is still not a product review. Because there are true customer reviews on Amazon I don't see any problem with adding things like 'one buyer said this about the product and another said this' but adding bits like that still doesn't make it a product review.
              There is absolutely nothing wrong with reviewing products you don't own yourself.

              All the info about what people are saying and experiencing about a certain product is out there on the internet. Forums, Youtube, Blogs and Amazon is great places to find out what people are experiencing with a certain product.

              Taking all that info and putting it in one place for people to access provides a ton of value to them. As you mentioned it's best to mention in your reviews that from our research we found people having this and this issues with this product etc.

              People email me all the time thanking me for the reviews I have on my site because it helped them so much.

              The key is to be honest and not just reporting on the positives of a product. If there are negatives as well one should mention it in the review because it builds trust.

              Cheers
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              • Profile picture of the author Croz
                Originally Posted by jan roos View Post

                There is absolutely nothing wrong with reviewing products you don't own yourself.
                sent you a PM.
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                • Profile picture of the author Ursa Anzur
                  I tend to agree with both, Patricia and Jan.

                  I agree with Patricia because everybody wants first hand true experience of the products we want to buy. But I also agree with Jan, there are already tons of reviews from users who tell us why the product is good or bad.

                  We are internet marketers/affiliates and we earn money building these kind of sites. It would be almost impossible to buy and review all the products we're promoting. It would probably also be impossible to earn any substantial money this way (we all know about Amazon's low commissions )

                  And, I'm from a very small country in Europe, trends are very different between USA and Slovenia. We don't have Amazon SI (nor similar companies that have aff. programs). I may not have access to the same products.

                  My point is, we are not doing anything wrong by writing product reviews, we help potential buyers know why a certain product is best (or worst) by summarizing its good and/or bad features or uses.

                  But I really admire Patricia's desire and eagerness in truly helping people from her own experience.

                  Yes, there are countless of 2-3 page similar minisites out there, but we can still be different and truly try helping people the same way as if they came to any offline store for advice (sales people don't own the products they are selling/advertising either).
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              • Profile picture of the author PatriciaJ
                Originally Posted by jan roos View Post

                There is absolutely nothing wrong with reviewing products you don't own yourself.

                All the info about what people are saying and experiencing about a certain product is out there on the internet. Forums, Youtube, Blogs and Amazon is great places to find out what people are experiencing with a certain product.

                Taking all that info and putting it in one place for people to access provides a ton of value to them. As you mentioned it's best to mention in your reviews that from our research we found people having this and this issues with this product etc.

                People email me all the time thanking me for the reviews I have on my site because it helped them so much.

                The key is to be honest and not just reporting on the positives of a product. If there are negatives as well one should mention it in the review because it builds trust.

                Cheers
                If you are reviewing products that you do not own or have experience of then they are fake reviews. If you write about products with material gathered from the Internet or sales spiel then they are overviews and should not be called reviews.

                I write overviews about products that I don't own but I never call them reviews because I know that the general public expect reviews to be the real thing and I don't want to mislead my visitors by calling them reviews. You may be honest in your overviews but many people aren't. Sometimes it's really difficult to find genuine reviews of products because of the amount of fake reviews by affiliates.
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      • Profile picture of the author Michael Franklin
        Originally Posted by souravdas32000 View Post

        I know but then it gives chance of featuring new products and expanding the site. Other than electronics what other niches can be good?
        The 2 overlooked areas right now on Amazon are:

        sports and outdoors

        AND

        home, garden and pets

        A lot of people are focused primarily on electronics and yet there are so many hidden gems in the above 2 areas.....I would start there!
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  • Profile picture of the author SoEasyMoney
    I'm not an affiliate, but I can highly recommend Paula & Wanda's Amazonian Profit Plan. I used their technique, step-by-step, to start my own amazon review website. They give you an extensive plan, from research to traffic generation. If you want to do it and do it right, grab their book. It's money well spent :0)

    Just my two cents!
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  • Profile picture of the author souravdas32000
    Actually I am not in a position to invest much at the moment. So I wont be able to buy an offer now. But if I have a little success with my site I will definitely buy it if it is worth it.
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    IM is like Education! It takes time and effort to be a Master!
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  • Profile picture of the author Quentin
    You can go through my free Advanced Wordpress Amazon Shop tutorials at

    Advanced Wordpress Auto Blogging Workshop

    Just sign up and you will get a password for your free tutorials.

    Here is an example of the type of shops we create.

    http://msitools.info/

    I have all the different plugins and make posts often to teach you more things.

    Quentin
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    • Profile picture of the author jan roos
      Originally Posted by Quentin View Post

      You can go through my free Advanced Wordpress Amazon Shop tutorials at

      Advanced Wordpress Auto Blogging Workshop

      Just sign up and you will get a password for your free tutorials.

      Here is an example of the type of shops we create.

      Materials Scientific and Industrial Tools

      I have all the different plugins and make posts often to teach you more things.

      Quentin
      Nice site Quentin. One question. Do you see an increase in conversion by using the amazon store on your site vs sending to Amazon to buy?

      Cheers
      Signature

      I'll teach you how to make money like a Mamba.

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    • Profile picture of the author Jill Carpenter
      Originally Posted by Quentin View Post

      You can go through my free Advanced Wordpress Amazon Shop tutorials at

      Advanced Wordpress Auto Blogging Workshop
      Just sign up and you will get a password for your free tutorials.
      I just signed up and started poking around in there. This looks really nice.
      Signature

      "May I have ten thousand marbles, please?"

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      • Profile picture of the author Croz
        Was wondering if any of you guys are using the WP Zon Builder plugin and what do you think of it leaving behind a footprint?

        Cheers!
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  • Profile picture of the author sarahberra
    Is the Paula & Wanda's Amazonian Profit Plan similar to IPK? What are the best products to promote on Amazon?
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  • Profile picture of the author petevamp
    Originally Posted by souravdas32000 View Post

    I am building my first amazon affiliate site where I will write reviews for electronic goods. I need some suggestions from the veteran warriors as to which templates would be better and which plugins should I use and other relevant suggestions. Any help will me much appreciated.
    For the most part I have a set of plugins I use for all of my sites. These are standard.

    Platinum seo plugin
    tubepress plugin
    privacy plugin
    googles xml sitemap plugin
    maxblog press ping optimizer plugin
    asket spam guard sorry dont know the exact name of it but it comes standard with all wordpress templates
    pretty links
    related post plugins
    similar post plugin
    cystats
    analytics
    social plugin

    and a couple of others.

    This is my main list of plugins I use on my sites. However certain sites get different plugins then others.

    Templates it all depends on if you want it to look relevent to what is going to be on your site. If so then you need to find one where you can make or have made a header image. Then just choose a color theme that will go good with what you want to do with the site.

    I am actually building my first amazon site as well to basically make a hedge against the down markets many of the info products seem to have. However I know there are a few plugins that will make getting amazon products on your site easier but the ones I have tried are not working because of amazon changing their api settings.

    I would be interested in finding on of these plugins that is up to date with this change if someone can help out with that. It would be much appreciated.

    As far as building an amazon store goes try to make sure that you get atleast 20 posts backdated so that it doesnt look like you are the new kid on the block. I am personally building my site at the moment my goal is to get 100+ post on the site before the first then add about 10-20 a day till the end of xmas. Once I get the 100+ and have a few in reserve to be drip feed in I can start on promoting the site. Which I will be hitting just as hard as I have been with adding all the products.

    I wish you the best of luck. Besure to pick a domain that you can optimize for the niche. Then use your more competitive keywords as your categories.
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    • Profile picture of the author souravdas32000
      Originally Posted by petevamp View Post

      For the most part I have a set of plugins I use for all of my sites. These are standard.

      Platinum seo plugin
      tubepress plugin
      privacy plugin
      googles xml sitemap plugin
      maxblog press ping optimizer plugin
      asket spam guard sorry dont know the exact name of it but it comes standard with all wordpress templates
      pretty links
      related post plugins
      similar post plugin
      cystats
      analytics
      social plugin

      and a couple of others.

      This is my main list of plugins I use on my sites. However certain sites get different plugins then others.

      Templates it all depends on if you want it to look relevent to what is going to be on your site. If so then you need to find one where you can make or have made a header image. Then just choose a color theme that will go good with what you want to do with the site.

      I am actually building my first amazon site as well to basically make a hedge against the down markets many of the info products seem to have. However I know there are a few plugins that will make getting amazon products on your site easier but the ones I have tried are not working because of amazon changing their api settings.

      I would be interested in finding on of these plugins that is up to date with this change if someone can help out with that. It would be much appreciated.

      As far as building an amazon store goes try to make sure that you get atleast 20 posts backdated so that it doesnt look like you are the new kid on the block. I am personally building my site at the moment my goal is to get 100+ post on the site before the first then add about 10-20 a day till the end of xmas. Once I get the 100+ and have a few in reserve to be drip feed in I can start on promoting the site. Which I will be hitting just as hard as I have been with adding all the products.

      I wish you the best of luck. Besure to pick a domain that you can optimize for the niche. Then use your more competitive keywords as your categories.
      How will you write 20 or more reviews a day? Isn't it a bit too much to write in a single day?
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      IM is like Education! It takes time and effort to be a Master!
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  • Profile picture of the author petevamp
    Also keep in mind that i am keeping most reviews below 100 words which only takes a few minutes to write then the rest of the process is just copy and paste. I also download an image or 2 that amazon provides and insert it in the post. I can create a simple 100 word post on a product and have it live every 5-6 minutes. So adding 20 or so is not a big deal since most of my other sites run with out me having to do any added work to them every day. My only concern at the moment is getting this one up fully so that then I can start promotions which I will be promoting all of my sites at the same time once I have this site where I want it and drip feeding more posts in every day.
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    • Profile picture of the author souravdas32000
      Originally Posted by petevamp View Post

      Also keep in mind that i am keeping most reviews below 100 words which only takes a few minutes to write then the rest of the process is just copy and paste. I also download an image or 2 that amazon provides and insert it in the post. I can create a simple 100 word post on a product and have it live every 5-6 minutes. So adding 20 or so is not a big deal since most of my other sites run with out me having to do any added work to them every day. My only concern at the moment is getting this one up fully so that then I can start promotions which I will be promoting all of my sites at the same time once I have this site where I want it and drip feeding more posts in every day.
      I have heard that it is easier to generate sells if the product info contains things that are not included in the amazon site. Is it true?
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      • Profile picture of the author petevamp
        Originally Posted by souravdas32000 View Post

        I have heard that it is easier to generate sells if the product info contains things that are not included in the amazon site. Is it true?
        That there I am not to sure about for as I said this is also my very first amazon affiliate site. I noticed I did mess up alittle in createing mine however I am good at getting and hold page one rankings so I am not about to go through and change things around now. Where you are going to benefit with what ever niche you choose to sell. Is from the traffic for the exact product searches. The competition is extremely low for these products so it makes it really easy to obtain front page listens. Then if you can get more products on your site and lightly promote a few of them. The big G will start seeing you as an authority for those types of products. Which is also why I am producing so many pages in such a short period of time. I am sure the google bot is getting rather tired because as I said I have created 50+ pages in less then 2 days and it keeps expanding at the rapid pace. My goal initally is to get any where from 1k-2k products on my site before xmas.

        This is another reason as to why the urgency to creating so many. Xmas is coming and things need to be ready for it once they are I should be able to generate a few thousand just from amazon for the niche.
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  • Profile picture of the author souravdas32000
    What about after Christmas? Will you end the site after it or neglect it till next christmas?
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  • Profile picture of the author petevamp
    This should be a pretty good niche for you to get into. Even better it will pick up during spring. It should pay pretty well as well Amazon.com: Landmann 28335 Big Sky Stars & Moons...Amazon.com: Landmann 28335 Big Sky Stars & Moons...
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    • Profile picture of the author souravdas32000
      Originally Posted by petevamp View Post

      This should be a pretty good niche for you to get into. Even better it will pick up during spring. It should pay pretty well as well Amazon.com: Landmann 28335 Big Sky Stars & Moons Fire Pit, Georgia Clay, 12.5-inches deep: Patio, Lawn & Garden: Reviews, Prices & more
      Thank you. I was also searching on the same lines. I guess something out of the ordinary will be a good start as I will have less competition.
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      • Profile picture of the author petevamp
        Originally Posted by souravdas32000 View Post

        Thank you. I was also searching on the same lines. I guess something out of the ordinary will be a good start as I will have less competition.
        Just make sure to do your keyword research before starting any site. It will save you alot of pain and flustration in the long run. If you have ms (market samurai) you should beable to find atleast 20 good keywords to start with.
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        • Profile picture of the author PatriciaJ
          Some of my most consistent Amazon blogs are electronics. They have lots of lower cost linking products that help to get my percentages up quickly every month, or some electronic items are often bought in multiples.

          The percentage thing depends which Amazon site you promote. In the UK electronics are capped at £7 per sale

          The Amazon plugins that I use and in order of preference are:

          Autoestore
          WP Robot
          WP Zon Builder

          Using this type of plug in the organic searches are often for product brand names not the keywords that I carefully researched.

          I don't write product reviews unless I have owned a product for at least 3 months, true experience is the most valuable information.
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  • @petevamp, 100 word reviews? Really? Show some class dude!

    And some of the best reviews come from those who summarize the feelings of those who have owned the product in one concentrated place.
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  • Profile picture of the author HaydenR
    If you are unsure of how to start I suggest using the Premium Wordpress Review Theme for a decent Amazon review site.

    The theme has proven to convert for me and many others.

    And if you're unsure how to write effective product reviews you can check out the one stop solution service I offer to all your Amazon Site Building needs. It's in my sig.
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  • Profile picture of the author johnysc
    I designed a theme which more or less resembles an Amazon shopping page. Seems to be converting well at the moment.
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