Experience as an Amazon associate

by tsswd

Posted: 11 years ago 19 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

Hi,

I've been an Amazon associate for eleven (11) years. I've made a lot of mistakes along the way and learned allot. Here is a few things that I feel are important in turning a profit as an Amazon Associate.

1. Be very aware that Amazon has a very aggressive marketing machine (monster). This is where many associates get clobbered, especially in the beginning. Amazon's market machine has very deep pockets and feed on anything in its way, including its own associates. Never forget this!

2. While the widgets, links, and AStore are all nice eye candy, they won't do much for profit. You'll get some money from them but nothing compared to what I describe below.

3. Your product list is extremely important. Here is where you will burn in a very bad way if you don't plan well.

4. The best sales come from a custom site built around ONE SINGLE PRODUCT or BRAND. This is why picking your product/brand can be so difficult. If your product or brand is to general, you'll run into Amazon's marketing machine. On the other hand, if your product/brand is too nichey, you'll run into limited demand.

5. Your knowledge of the product/brand MUST be very broad and accurate. The more intimate knowledge you possess about your product/brand, the easier time you'll have designing an entire site around the product/brand.

6. Now for the one point that is hardly ever discussed. The price of the product/brand must be considered as a part of the selection process. If its too cheap, you'll never make any real money as you'll burn through your profits faster then you can earn them. If the product/brand is too expensive, you won't make enough sales to sustain your business.

There are plenty of other tips, but these are the ones I believe to be the most important.

#amazon #associate #experience

Tony Dean 11 years ago

Good advice.
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onSubie

11 years ago

Could you explain more what you mean by being "clobbered by Amazon's marketing machine"?

As an associate relying on affiliate commissions, the "Amazon marketing machine" is my friend because that is what I depend on to convert my leads.

I don't usually see Amazon listings outrank my listings in Google so their marketing machine isn't hurting me there.

I haven't seen any videos by Amazon on YouTube, so they aren't competing with me there.

How am I competing with Amazon's "deep pockets"?

Some of the points in your post would seem more relevant if I was selling my own products on Amazon, not sending traffic to Amazon as an affiliate.

On your last point about price, it is a good idea to sell low price, high volume items in your portfolio. You won't make the same profit on each item, but the number of sales will boost your commission percentage across all sales.

If you sell 3x $100 @ 4% = $12 commission

If you sell 2x $100 + 10x $10 @ 6% = $18 commission

That is +50% more profit for you due to the low priced products.

Thanks
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tsswd

11 years ago

Originally Posted by onSubie

Could you explain more what you mean by being "clobbered by Amazon's marketing machine"?

Sure. Amazon's can enough money to advertise across a wide spectrum of media, i.e. T.V, print, web, and radio. I don't know too many new associates that can match that ability.

Amazon's marketing machine is not friendly to new associates. Most new associates are, arguably, inexperienced in picking the best product/brand.

Thanks
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onSubie

11 years ago

Originally Posted by tsswd

But my argument is that helps me as an associate.

Amazon spends tons of money bulding their brand and building trust. But they are marketing "Amazon", they aren't marketing individual products like TVs or cookware.

Building their brand like this helps associates who rely on Amazon's brand recognition so people will trust and click Amazon affiliate links.

When a visitor to my page sees the link goes to amazon.com, they know Amazon so they trust my link.

The more Amazon spends on marketing and the more widely they are known, then the more trust is passed to my website because all my branded links and badges are associated with Amazon.

How is that "not friendly" to new associates?

What do you do differently to combat this with your 11 years of experience that a new associate does not?

Your points seem more applicable to ecommerce sites that are trying to compete with Amazon, rather than Amazon associates who are working with Amazon.

I'm not trying to be argumentative. I'm just wondering why you think it is a bad thing for associates that Amazon has a huge marketing machine building their brand?

They are not marketing on the same platforms as most associates (SEO and YouTube) so they are not competing with or displacing associates.

There is no problem getting ranked in front of Amazon on Google and YouTube.

I think for most of your points you need an example, explanation or link to show what it is Amazon is doing and how it hurts associates. So far all your points seem to be of benefit to associates, not harmful.

And how does Amazon's marketing have anything to do with what products new marketers choose to promote? I don't see how one relates to the other.

I'm not saying your points are bad or incorrect, I just find them more confusing than helpful.

Mahlon

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tsswd

11 years ago

Originally Posted by onSubie

Amazon spends tons of money bulding their brand and building trust. But they are marketing "Amazon", they aren't marketing individual products like TVs or cookware.

Building their brand like this helps associates who rely on Amazon's brand recognition so people will trust and click Amazon affiliate links.

When a visitor to my page sees the link goes to amazon.com, they know Amazon so they trust my link.

Now you have to get the buyer to go BACK to your site. This is where Amazon is not friendly to new associate. Once the buy bookmarks the Amazon URL for repurchase, your associates link has been removed. Also, the per Amazon's TOS, the amazon associates tag expires after 14 days.

Originally Posted by onSubie

What do you do differently to combat this with your 11 years of experience that a new associate does not?

Your points seem more applicable to ecommerce sites that are trying to compete with Amazon, rather than Amazon associates who are working with Amazon.

Remember, my points are directed to new associates. As you gain experience, you learn how to out rank Amazon's pages.

My pick when I started learning the best approach as an associate was a specialized version of the Bible (translated from an ancient language called Aramaic). I built the entire site around the language, its history and its importance. I also emphasized bookmarking my site before the buyer was transfered to the Amazon site.

When I first started, I followed the tips out of the Amazon forum with the AStore, widgets and links. Experience has taught me that the AStore, widgets and links don't work as well as a detail and immersive site. In my case, comparatives between Aramaic and Latin within major sections of the text. My extensive experience in the area allowed me to create a site that got the buyer to bookmark my site, not the Amazon product page.

That strategy brought return buyers back to my site rather then them just going to the bookmarked Amazon page cutting me out of the commission. This is where an Amazon associate is in competition against Amazon's market machine. The point being people trust Amazon, not a newly established associate, even if they are using Amazon links, widgets, and the AStore. For that reason, poeple are more likely to bookmark the Amazon product page before the associate's page.

As a new associate, you have to get the buyer to come back to you, not return to Amazon thus cutting you out.

Thanks
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HanifQ 11 years ago

In my experience of doing quite a bit of volume as an Amazon associate over the past 7 years, I have to share the following:

1) Amazon's conversion rates are AMAZING. Therefore, short cookies they set work out just fine, most of the time I average a 5% plus commission. I think the Amazon 'marketing machine' has more overall benefit for associates than the drawbacks.

2) The most overlooked factor when choosing products is determining the 'sweet spot price range' in that particular category of products....

For example, for HDTVs, a $300-$500 TV is very reasonable, but in Vacuum Cleaners, $300-$500 is considered high-end...

So when choosing products, I always look for the 'mid-tier' pricing in the particular category...its not about $10 products or $500 products, its all picking the mid-tier priced products in your category...

You'd be surprised at how many high volume products there are that are prices at $300 and up...it all depends on what's considered reasonably mid-priced in that market.
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onSubie

11 years ago

Originally Posted by tsswd

Now you have to get the buyer to go BACK to your site.

No, I don't. Once they leave my site to Amazon, I don't need them to come back to my site. I need them to buy stuff at Amazon.

This is where Amazon is not friendly to new associate.

Amazon makes no distinction between new or experienced affiliates.

Once the buyer bookmarks the Amazon URL for repurchase, your associates link has been removed. Also, the per Amazon's TOS, the amazon associates tag expires after 14 days.

It is actually 24 hours.

Unless you send them to the Amazon Cart. Then they get a 90 Day cookie to complete the purchase.

Remember, my points are directed to new associates. As you gain experience, you learn how to out rank Amazon's pages.

Amazon is one of the easiest sites to outrank. You don't need experience, SEO or backlinks to outrank Amazon.

If you see a bunch of Amazon pages on the first page of Google, that is a sign that it will be an easy word/product to rank for.

It does not mean, "Stay away I can't compete with the Amazon machine".

Saying it takes experience to learn how to outrank Amazon is complete B.S.

My extensive experience in the area allowed me to create a site that got the buyer to bookmark my site, not the Amazon product page.
...
That strategy brought return buyers back to my site rather then them just going to the bookmarked Amazon page cutting me out of the commission.
...
As a new associate, you have to get the buyer to come back to you, not return to Amazon thus cutting you out.

If you are bulding niche sites targeting a single product, what are they going to buy on their 2nd visit?

It sounds like you are building an authority site around an information topic, not a product, and using that topic to drive traffic of people looking for information not a product.

Then some of the people looking for information will see products on your site click on them and go to Amazon.

Most of your visitors are looking for information and not a specific product.

You and I use a different model.

I build semi-authority sites in slightly broad niches and target multiple products.

I rank in Google ahead of Amazon pages.

My traffic is people searching for the specific products I am marketing.

I am not interested in my visitors learning about the linguistic history of a book they may or may not buy.

I am interested in my visitors seeing that my site reviews the exact product they were looking for, provides good information and encourages them to check out the product on Amazon for best price and (usually) free shipping.

If you are getting a lot of repeat traffic and getting people to bookmark your page and based on the subject matter you described, I bet you would make more money with AdSense than Amazon.

Also, since The Bible is available in many public domain formats, I think you would make more money selling your own annotated version of The Bible directly rather than scraping a 4% commission from Amazon.

There is nothing wrong with your model, per se, but there are much, much easier ways to build Amazon sites and make money.

Mahlon

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tsswd

11 years ago

Originally Posted by onSubie

On your last point about price, it is a good idea to sell low price, high volume items in your portfolio. You won't make the same profit on each item, but the number of sales will boost your commission percentage across all sales.

Recession proof items always do the best. I prefer the $75-$125 range for a single product/brand. Books and music are favorites, but can be challenging for a new associate, IMHO.

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JSProjects 11 years ago

I agree with onSubie. Amazon itself has never really been a problem as far as competition. (Their product pages are actually a little easy to outrank with a little effort.)
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goldmineberry Banned 11 years ago

I have been an Amazon Associate since years ago and I have since built many niche sites promoting Amazon products. The earnings can be good if you do your research and discover which niche to choose and which products to promote.

Thank you for such great tips and advice.
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asepkomara 11 years ago

As a beginner of becoming an amazon associate, the tips above is very useful to me. Thanks a lot!
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GGpaul

11 years ago

ONE single product? :O...

What if I made a fabulous kitchen site where I do tons of videos of me cooking food, giving tons of tutorials/recipes and me visiting restaurants and reviewing them? Oh and then what happens if I buy ALL sorts of products from Amazon (kitchen & appliances)? Am I limited to only reviewing ONE product? What if I have a huge following and they trust me in regards to what tools to use? Do I only get to review a "knife" or a "oven" ?

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tsswd

11 years ago

Originally Posted by GGpaul

Given what you've described, I would recommend a single brand. That brand would be your culinary talents. The big question is how do I get buyers to return to my site? Your skills are the answer. The knives, ovens, skillets, etc. are simply tools of your craft. You've already got one advantage over many new Amazon associates - you know what skills you want to use.

Gourmet cuisine or just being a home cook have distinct marketing advantages to each area. Comparing two products for energy efficiency would certainly bring many home shoppers while comparing a ceramic knife to a stainless steel one would appeal to a gourmet audience.

Highlighting a product in a video can boost sales as you use it in preparing a meal. Commentary on the ease of use or how well the product fits in your hand as fall under the selling point of your skills - the one thing Amazon can't market and will keep buyers coming back to you.

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KevinChapman 11 years ago

Thanks for the great advice, I've never had much luck with amazon affiliates. I like the idea of making a custom site for one product.
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- wolfmmiii 11 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by KevinChapman
  
  Thanks for the great advice, I've never had much luck with amazon affiliates. I like the idea of making a custom site for one product.
  
  Except when that product is no longer available....
  
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seo125 11 years ago

I have being planning to start an affiliate bussines now, so the information is good for me.
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jbsmith 11 years ago

One single product or brand is advice that means very little to a newbie - having several Amazon affiliate sites of my own for years and doing quite well and having helped some others, the single biggest challenge they have is finding the market, scope (how wide), products and angle. Advising them to focus on single product OR brand doesn't help much I'm afraid.

Your other points are very good though, it is also critical that people launching Amazon affiliate sites are willing to out-market (from online perspective) their competition (other associates and Amazon themselves). This can be done, but it takes work, testing and then sticking with it when you get there...most newbies have no idea this is required since most hype in this area sells otherwise.

Jeff
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- tsswd 11 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by jbsmith
  
  One single product or brand is advice that means very little to a newbie
  
  The goal for their first product or brand is to remain focused. That is one of the biggest hurdles I've ran into with new associates. When Amazon introduces a new gadget and tool, most new associates think they need to hurry up and get it. By starting with a limited scope while they are learning, I've found found its easier for them to stay focused on their product/brand.
  
  As an example, the music industry is a favorite. People love to join Amazon as associates and want to set up a review site for their favorite music. Most become overwhelmed very quickly at the sheer volume of music available on Amazon. Keeping the new associate focused on a single artist of group, they can build their first site in a concise way. By the time the new associate has a good stream of income from the first product/brand, they also have the experience to broaden their scope, yet still remain focused enough to make the second one a success as well.
  
  Thanks
  
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wolfmmiii 11 years ago

Although there is some good info in this thread, including some from the OP, there's also quite a bit of misinformation as well. My wife is calling me down for dinner so I can't expand right now but will try to drop by later and do so....
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Experience as an Amazon associate

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