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Advice on Reviving my IM Career With Amazon

by cjreynolds
19 replies
Hi, all!

I've been away from the IM scene for a couple of years now - I had spent about 1 1/2 years learning and tinkering with it, then life got in the way and all my IM files have sat on my hard drive gathering dust. Now my career has taken a nose-dive and I'm working as a waiter at a local restaurant. I'm enjoying the work, actually, but it doesn't pay much - time to dust off the IM files and see if I can make money this time around...

Before I quit IM, I was working at setting up an Amazon affiliate site, following a plan called Easy Adsense Profits by Cool Hand Luke (Lucas Devlin). It was written for Adsense, but Luke said it would work equally well for Amazon.

My question is, has Amazon marketing changed significantly in the last couple of years? For anyone who remembers Luke's program, is it still a viable plan, or could someone recommend their favorite Amazon affiliate plan that might be better?

Thanks for your input - and it's good to be back at the WF!

joe
#advice #amazon #career #reviving
  • Profile picture of the author paulie123
    There are several courses available, though, I could not tell you which one is best. There are plug-ins, software, keyword tools, etc., that have been developed. Assuming you want to get back in, you would have to do your research and see what is working.
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      Hello Joe,
      I briefly mentioned his name already once today, but fellow Warrior Jan Roos is someone who has some great Products and Services to help you if you want to get serious about being an Amazon Affiliate.


      - Robert Andrew
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    • Profile picture of the author DWolfe
      Welcome Back ! Google and IM have progress forward and a lot of methods might of been hit with the updates after you left. The recent ones where Panda, Humming Bird and recently Pigeon on the local scene.
      The methods in that program you are referring too may have been damaged by one of the updates .

      It seems a lot of the Amazon WSOs have disappeared .. This thread here always comes up now when Amazon is mention, take your time and get re-acquainted around here and read these posts carefully

      http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...000-month.html
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      • Profile picture of the author jan roos
        Amazon works great still but I would recommend you build one big authority site monetized with Amazon, clickbank, adsense and building your own list and info products in that one niche.

        Then focus on diversifying your traffic sources and not rely on seo only.

        Cheers
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      • Profile picture of the author cjreynolds
        Originally Posted by DWolfe View Post

        Welcome Back ! Google and IM have progress forward and a lot of methods might of been hit with the updates after you left. The recent ones where Panda, Humming Bird and recently Pigeon on the local scene.
        The methods in that program you are referring too may have been damaged by one of the updates .

        It seems a lot of the Amazon WSOs have disappeared .. This thread here always comes up now when Amazon is mention, take your time and get re-acquainted around here and read these posts carefully

        http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...000-month.html
        Wow! Thanks, BIG TIME! I've been reading through the thread you linked, and it is fantastic! I've gotten more usable info from that thread than any of the courses I've seen. It's changed my whole view of how to do affiliate marketing.

        Many Thanks! And thanks to Jan, Diskrat and Paulie, too! I can always count on the Warriors for help and great advice.
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  • Profile picture of the author flesterking
    I have my own service on amazon Make Money Online | Adsense | Amazon | Clickbank | We Make It Possible. I have been in this amazon game for over 3 years. So feel free to ping me if you need any help or questions regarding amazon affiliates.
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    • Profile picture of the author cjreynolds
      One more question - I guess I should have asked this at the first since it could be a deal-breaker for Amazon...

      I live in Texas. I remember from my prior experience that the azon affiliate program was made off-limits to affiliates in several states due to tax laws. On googleing the issue today, I found that this happened to Texas affiliates in 2011. Does anyone know the current status of this? Are all of these states still banned from affiliating with azon?
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      • Profile picture of the author jan roos
        Cali got banned and then reinstated. Not sure about Texas.
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        • Profile picture of the author myob
          Amazon made a tax settlement and agreement with Texas about 3 years ago. Affiliates were never affected in that state.
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          • Profile picture of the author cjreynolds
            Originally Posted by myob View Post

            Amazon made a tax settlement and agreement with Texas about 3 years ago. Affiliates were never affected in that state.
            Thanks, myob! That had me worried for awhile.
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            • Profile picture of the author myob
              Originally Posted by cjreynolds View Post

              Thanks, myob! That had me worried for awhile.
              You're quite welcome. And oh, by the way - in answer to your original question:
              Originally Posted by cjreynolds View Post

              My question is, has Amazon marketing changed significantly in the last couple of years?


              Nobody I know has ever consistently sold Amazon products without first building trust and engaging their customers on a personal level through some kind of an integrated communication system. Once you understand that a website is only a part of the whole marketing system (often a very small part as shown by some of the more successful marketers in the referenced thread above), you will see the virtually unlimited scalability of affiliate marketing.

              This singular concept has never changed significantly over the years, and despite many "gurus" proclaiming otherwise, SEO and the so-called "review sites" have been comparatively impotent marketing models for top Amazon affiliates. Get around the limiting 24-hour cookie through holistic marketing (including direct online/offline channels and multiple warm-fuzzy points of contact), and you'll beat the competition all-to-hell.
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              • Profile picture of the author JohnnyPlan
                Originally Posted by myob View Post

                You're quite welcome. And oh, by the way - in answer to your original question:
                Nobody I know has ever consistently sold Amazon products without first building trust and engaging their customers on a personal level through some kind of an integrated communication system.
                The only real way to do this is by building an email list. When you have the chance to speak with the people who visit your site on more than one occasion, you are more likely to earn the sale. In that way, you are not dependent on that brief window the initial cookie allows.
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              • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
                Banned
                Originally Posted by myob View Post

                Nobody I know has ever consistently sold Amazon products without first building trust and engaging their customers on a personal level through some kind of an integrated communication system. Once you understand that a website is only a part of the whole marketing system (often a very small part as shown by some of the more successful marketers in the referenced thread above), you will see the virtually unlimited scalability of affiliate marketing.

                This singular concept has never changed significantly over the years, and despite many "gurus" proclaiming otherwise, SEO and the so-called "review sites" have been comparatively impotent marketing models for top Amazon affiliates.
                This.

                "Review sites" and search-engine traffic are not the way forward, for Amazon commissions! And as for the so-called or self-called "gurus" alleging that they are, well, they're probably making their livings selling information/services to struggling Amazon affiliates, rather than from Amazon.

                But here's a thread which can help (and has helped several people here): http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post6608638

                .
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                • Profile picture of the author nik0
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                  Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

                  This.

                  "Review sites" and search-engine traffic are not the way forward, for Amazon commissions! And as for the so-called or self-called "gurus" alleging that they are, well, they're probably making their livings selling information/services to struggling Amazon affiliates, rather than from Amazon.

                  But here's a thread which can help (and has helped several people here): http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post6608638

                  .
                  Lol am I really the only one making money with review sites and SEO?

                  I ain't selling any guides..., neither do some of my customers that are way more succesful with Amazon than me, and all they have is review sites + SEO, zero list building attached to it.

                  I threw $6500,- at it, hoping it would stick, and sure there were some bumps but the sites bring in a combined $2k/month and this christmas month probably twice that amount.

                  One of my customers is making nearly $10k/month, a friend of mine has one decent site, again no list building and he makes $2k/month from that site alone, no idea how much more his dozen other sites bring in.

                  Point is, people are definitely succesful but they are not so vocal as they have nothing to sell at IM forums, just too busy making money.

                  ps: Their sites survived all the Google updates, while mine much lower quality sites needed a bit of help but they all recovered their rankings.

                  Most however think it's a matter of some auto generated site and blast it with 1000's of links, which is not the way to go but with a solid private network based on strong domains you'll be amazed what can be accomplished.
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                  • Profile picture of the author myob
                    Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

                    Lol am I really the only one making money with review sites and SEO?

                    I ain't selling any guides..., neither do some of my customers that are way more succesful with Amazon than me, and all they have is review sites + SEO, zero list building attached to it.

                    I threw $6500,- at it, hoping it would stick, and sure there were some bumps but the sites bring in a combined $2k/month and this christmas month probably twice that amount.
                    ROFLMAO!!! Do you really consider all of your sites combined bringing in $2k/month as "making money"?
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                    • Profile picture of the author nik0
                      Banned
                      Originally Posted by myob View Post

                      ROFLMAO!!! Do you really consider all of your sites combined bringing in $2k/month as "making money"?
                      Do you not consider investing $6500 and getting $2000/month back as making money?

                      I don't know about you but I think that's one hell of an ROI.

                      Obvious troll but whatever, all of my sites make a little more than that, just talking about an Amazon experiment here but yeah I'm pretty happy with those 2000 dollars each month that I don't have to do a thing for, quite a bit different then running an SEO service, just to name something.

                      Also quite a bit different then writing emails and corresponding with your list each time, something I definitely wouldn't enjoy.

                      But amount doesn't matter, you claim you don't know anyone that makes consistent money with Amazon sites, now you know one.
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  • Profile picture of the author hometutor
    I have those free Amazon stores at the bottom of my boards in ontopic sections of my forum. I also use Amazon RSS feeds to fill an Amazon Electronic board in The Christian Business Network Forum. Forums are different than blogs in rss respect in that each rss post in a new post, not an addition to the same page.

    Rick
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  • Profile picture of the author cjreynolds
    Thanks for all the advice! Very much appreciated!

    I followed a couple of links given earlier in this thread, which took me WAY down a rabbit-hole, LOL! Following links in other posts, then links in those posts to other posts, etc. - had dozens of browser tabs open, been following links in those tabs and reading some of the marathon length posts on article syndication... Just now getting through all that and came back here to find all this good info that's been posted while I've been chasing rabbits

    Sometimes it's hard to believe how much information is on this forum! Can't thank y'all enough!

    Many thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author eac113
    Yeah the only thing that gives me pause with Amazon is the constant attack from states wanting some of that sweet sweet tax revenue, the big A doesn't seem to mess around when they are put in the cross-hairs.
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