Amazon (and other physical product affiliates) & visitors from outside your targetted audience

6 replies
For those that are affiliates for programs like Amazon, LinkShare, Commission Conjunction etc: to which countries do you target?

I personally have been promoting to mainly the US, but I noticed that one of my sites yesterday received about 200 UV, and about 50 of those were people from outside of the US. That's 25% of my traffic; 25% of my potential income being left on the table. Unfortunately, a large chunk of that (maybe half) were from European and some third world countries where I'm sure very few physical affiliate programs reach.

What kind of figures do you other physical product promoters get, and how do you deal with it? Do you just take those visitors from countries outside your target as a loss?

I'm wondering if there are any good ways to monetize these visitors which are outside of the US.

I was thinking about perhaps displaying different content depending on where the user is visiting from, but geolocating methods aren't without their flaws; for example, I am in Canada and Google itself identifies me as being from the UK. :confused:

I am also aware of the Amazon "Link Localizer" plugin for Wordpress, but previous discussions have brought up many flaws with the software that make it, in my eyes, a liability to use.

Any experiences, advice, insight would be very appreciated. This is uniquely an issue with the promotion of physical products, because digital products and services don't have these kinds of problems (other than some of the countries that don't allow PayPal, I suppose)
#affiliates #amazon #audience #physical #product #targetted #visitors
  • Profile picture of the author thedog
    Originally Posted by Matt Ward View Post

    For those that are affiliates for programs like Amazon, LinkShare, Commission Conjunction etc: to which countries do you target?

    I personally have been promoting to mainly the US, but I noticed that one of my sites yesterday received about 200 UV, and about 50 of those were people from outside of the US. That's 25% of my traffic; 25% of my potential income being left on the table. Unfortunately, a large chunk of that (maybe half) were from European and some third world countries where I'm sure very few physical affiliate programs reach.

    What kind of figures do you other physical product promoters get, and how do you deal with it? Do you just take those visitors from countries outside your target as a loss?

    I'm wondering if there are any good ways to monetize these visitors which are outside of the US.

    I was thinking about perhaps displaying different content depending on where the user is visiting from, but geolocating methods aren't without their flaws; for example, I am in Canada and Google itself identifies me as being from the UK. :confused:

    I am also aware of the Amazon "Link Localizer" plugin for Wordpress, but previous discussions have brought up many flaws with the software that make it, in my eyes, a liability to use.

    Any experiences, advice, insight would be very appreciated. This is uniquely an issue with the promotion of physical products, because digital products and services don't have these kinds of problems (other than some of the countries that don't allow PayPal, I suppose)
    I use the link localizer, why do you think it's a liability?

    I have an amazon site, most of my traffic goes to the US, but a good chunk goes to Canada.

    The problem is, out of about 10 products, amazon.ca only stocks 4. These show up in my account, around 500 product clicks this month, but no sales.

    Do Canadians not buy things online?
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    • Profile picture of the author Matt Ward
      Originally Posted by thedog View Post

      I use the link localizer, why do you think it's a liability?

      I have an amazon site, most of my traffic goes to the US, but a good chunk goes to Canada.

      The problem is, out of about 10 products, amazon.ca only stocks 4. These show up in my account, around 500 product clicks this month, but no sales.

      Do Canadians not buy things online?
      My main concern is the example I noted above: I live in Canada, and the localizer plugin identifies me as living in the UK and therefore shows me UK Amazon links.

      That alone really made me question it, because if it happened to me, who knows how many other people it happens to.

      I'm not sure, and I haven't crunched the numbers, but there's really no way of knowing exactly how accurate the plugin detects the visitors location. On sites that get relatively few non-US visitors, you might potentially lose money overall due to misdirected US visitors that end up on the UK or Canadian Amazon compared to UK or Canadian visitors that end up on their respective sites and make a purchase.

      I just don't know.
      Signature
      "Keep moving forward."
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      • Profile picture of the author thedog
        Originally Posted by Matt Ward View Post

        My main concern is the example I noted above: I live in Canada, and the localizer plugin identifies me as living in the UK and therefore shows me UK Amazon links.

        That alone really made me question it, because if it happened to me, who knows how many other people it happens to.

        I'm not sure, and I haven't crunched the numbers, but there's really no way of knowing exactly how accurate the plugin detects the visitors location. On sites that get relatively few non-US visitors, you might potentially lose money overall due to misdirected US visitors that end up on the UK or Canadian Amazon compared to UK or Canadian visitors that end up on their respective sites and make a purchase.

        I just don't know.
        Interesting, how do you test it? You just click the link yourself and it brings you to .co.uk?

        I'm in China, I'll sign up for .com.cn, turn off my vpn, and try it out.

        I think I'll turn it off for a week and see if it makes a difference.

        cheers
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    • Profile picture of the author onSubie
      Originally Posted by thedog View Post

      Do Canadians not buy things online?
      Yes, but a lot of online services are not any cheaper than going direct to a store and the delivery times are often abysmal.

      Why pay 30% more and wait weeks (and weeks... and weeks..) for somehing I can put in the back of my car today.

      Mahlon
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  • Profile picture of the author GemFranco
    Banned
    I have multiple Amazon sites and I only target US traffic. Though I got some visitors from outside US, I still focus in generating US traffic. I have also Amazon sites that have Adsense ads and outside US traffics are helpful for my clicks.
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  • Profile picture of the author Matt Ward
    No one has any input?
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    "Keep moving forward."
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