Amazon Affiliates Not Converting

8 replies
Hey everyone,

One of my main sites is promoting a fitness product using the Amazon Affiliate program. After receiving over 3,000 visits over the past 2 months I've only received 8 sales. What gives?

I've verified each of my product links in Amazon and all of them work correctly. In fact I've had 511 clicks this month alone according to my reports but only 8 sales. Everyone talks about how you "just need to get the visitor to Amazon and let their site do the rest," but this doesn't seem to hold true in this circumstance. Should I just try a different product? Or could there be something wrong with the purchases that causes some not to be registered with my Affiliate program?

Any tips are greatly appreciated as I am new to the Amazon Affiliate world.

Thanks!
#affiliates #amazon #converting
  • Profile picture of the author BloggingPro
    Evaluate your traffic. Where is coming from. Is it targeted? For example I get very little traffic to an action figure site but I make affiliate sales through Amazon almost every day. Why? Because I post on an action figure enthusiast forum and have a link to my site in my sig line.

    TARGETED TRAFFIC.
    Signature
    You're going to fail. If you're afraid of failure then you do not belong in the Internet Marketing Business. Period.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4133065].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author SpikeS
      With 3000 visitors and only 8 sales I'd say there's definately something wrong. Although I saw some stats someone posted a few weeks ago that had a million clicks to get what he wanted in commission...

      I'd probably do everything 'bloggingpro' said and evaluate if your getting people come to your site because they are interested in purchasing something or just looking for info. Secondly, how you've written your review will make a huge difference! If you 'trick' your visitors into clicking through to amazon then of course, you wont get many sales. If however you write a really good honest review (as much quality as is possible) then you prompt by saying something like 'the cheapest prices I could find were at Amazon. Click here to buy on Amazon' then if they click, it's because they want to buy it.

      My new review site has only had 70 visitors. 66 of those clicked through to amazon and 11 of those bought stuff. Not sure how that compares to the people who are making huge money at this but, I'm pretty happy with that.

      Keep tweaking and you'll be fine. BTW, if you have not already done so, I suggest you read Chris Guthries 20 tips here: Make Money with Amazon | Make Money on the Internet

      Good luck!
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4133292].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Gaz Cooper
        You ask if you should just try another product ? and the answer is you should be building more sites for sure, as your not going to get rich off one small site although you could make some nice cash from single sites.

        With regards to your current site, its difficult to say without knowing the details, but I always focus on buying keywords and buying domains meaning words or keywords that indicate the person is in a buying mode, your site is obviously attracting traffic and click thrus but not converting so maybe its more of a shopping keyword for example. 32 inch led television (shopping keyword) kdl32bx320 (buying keyword)

        If someone entered 32 inch Led television into a search it indicates they are shopping for a 32 inch led television but if they entered kdl32bx320 then that shows they have already done their research and know the exact product number they want to buy and are looking online to buy why else would they know the exact product number of that specific television.

        Now since you are gettins lots of clicks, but no sales, this would indicate that it may be a shopping keyword and they are not ready to buy or either they are clicking through by making an error, ie clicking on a prompt or a grey hat technique which gets the clicks but wont convert to a sale, if you are not doing anything like that then you need to re look at your content and product and do some tweaks.

        Worst case scenario since you are getting traffic but no sales look at other revenue sources, such as adsense to capitalize on clicks.

        Kickin it on Amazon

        Gaz Cooper
        Amazon Cash King
        Signature

        Beginners Guide to getting started in CRYPTO, FREE Ebook on a Massive Opportunity as the World shifts to Digital payment http://amzauthorityzone.com

        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4134608].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Rob Whisonant
    Conversion rates depend on what type of traffic you are sending. Are you sending traffic that is in BUYING mode? Or are you sending traffic that is in LOOKING or RESEARCH mode?

    Big difference in the conversion rates of the different types of traffic. Just sending traffic to Amazon or any other program for that matter is NOT going to magically create sales.

    Re's
    Rob Whisonant
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4134797].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author PatriciaJ
      The others are right about the type of traffic, but I don't necessarily think that something is wrong. 3,000 visitors in 2 months is not high and a large percentage of those who click on Amazon links don't buy, but they are more likely to buy on Amazon than sites that they don't know and trust as much.

      What I find is that sales are seasonal. I have sites in many different niches and they all peak in sales at different times of the year and drop off at others. My fitness niche site was going great guns from January until last month and now it's slowed down and other niches connected to travel are taking off, but I expect the fitness connected site will make steady sales and take off again at the beginning of next year when people usually start fitness and weight loss programmes.

      I don't think that 8 sales is too bad for a new site and given time and some tweaking that could build up into a lot more.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4135003].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        Let's massage the numbers a bit...

        511 clicks from 3000 visitors is about 17% clickthrough rate. Not bad, especially if the traffic isn't tightly focused.

        8 sales from 511 clicks is about 1.6% conversion. Again, not bad but not great.

        As for something interfering in the sales, it's possible but not very likely since you've verified your links. It is possible to lose sales to things like bad or stolen credit cards, funky delivery addresses, and so on. That's just a fact of life.

        Your site shows promise. Keep testing different traffic sources, copy, even product models.

        Look again at your 8 sales. did any of them buy additional items, or items other than what you linked to? That's another thing Amazon is really good at - getting you sales you wouldn't have even thought to try for.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4136388].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author NiallR
    My first thought is on the product itself and not on the traffic at all - although having extremely targetted traffic does help LOADS.

    How many positive reviews does the product have? How many stars? Is the sale price of the product worth the commissions you're getting for it? How are you promoting it? Like BloggingPro said being a part of a community where your offer is constantly visible is going to help conversions.

    And the sad truth is some products are just not worth promoting - not every offer works. I'd swap products and test how well it converts but try promoting something people are already buying in volume. Don't try to create a market - tap into an existing one instead :-)
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4136407].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Mrs S
    Are you warming up the "buyer" before you send them off to Amazon to buy? People searching for product information online generally don't know what to buy, or they want someone to help them decide on a particular product. If they knew for sure they'd likely go direct to Amazon right? (I know I do).

    Make sure your review is balanced and packed full of useful information to help them make the buy decision and then give them a clear call to action to move on and buy the product.

    It is true that once someone lands on Amazon you can rely on Amazon a little to close the sale, but that only works if the person is in the buying frame of mind when they click through and isn't "tricked" into going there (not that I'm suggesting that's what you're doing BTW!)
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4137291].message }}

Trending Topics