Surprising results selling Amazon affiliate products

[roxyruby]

Ok so last time I checked I have only made about $4 selling amazon products through my website.

But it was a lot better than I expected, as having amazon books on my website was only a small, side thing.

I had actually started to take these items off, thinking, "This isn't good enough" I thought displaying the amazon products might look too desperate and annoying, plus, no-one really was buying.

I hadn't seen anyone clicking through the amazon links in the exit links statistics.

But I accidentally clicked on my amazon affiliate report page while on amazon and saw I had now made about 7 sales in total.

You only earn 4% at first then when you make more sales it eventually goes up to 8%.

I had only been displaying self help books on my website but strangely, someone had bought a computer game when they clicked through my link!

They must have clicked on a self help book and then went elsewhere on amazon to buy the computer game.

So I earned $1.50 or so from that.

So I learned from this that maybe I was doing the right thing. Maybe I will display some links to self help books from amazon on every page of my website!

I also displayed self help books from amazon in the middle of longgg articles as well as at the end of reasonable sized to long articles.

If you want to do this on your website a tip I heard is check out the products first and read all the reviews and look at how high the rating of the product is, make sure it is an excellent product, or even better, you have experienced the product/read the book your self and would recommend it to others, and also importantly, the product really relates to your website.

When you are an amazon affiliate, what I was using is the spinning carousel. You select up to 10 products and place the code in your website, then viewers see a 3d carousel of products that they can spin around, put their mouse over the product for more information, and if they click it, they go through your affiliate link. It looks cool.

You can also put a title at the top of the carousel like "my picks" "things I like" "my recommendations" etc

Anyway I just thought I would spread these ideas if it might help someone or give someone an idea.

[Casey Lake]

Hi Roxy,

Thanks for this post. I am toying with the idea of becoming an Amazon affiliate, so your review was useful.

I have read some fantastic books and would like to recommend them to people and making money from this would would be great! You may have just convinced me this is the right way to go.

Do keep me updated on your progress, it would be interesting to hear how you are doing! Do you have any specific targets with Amazon?

[roxyruby]

Originally Posted by Casey Lake

Hi Roxy,

Thanks for this post. I am toying with the idea of becoming an Amazon affiliate, so your review was useful.

I have read some fantastic books and would like to recommend them to people and making money from this would would be great! You may have just convinced me this is the right way to go.

Do keep me updated on your progress, it would be interesting to hear how you are doing! Do you have any specific targets with Amazon?

Thank-you, my results probably are not good, so I wish there was someone you could talk to that has a much better result than me.

If you have a lot more visitors to your website than me you may get a good result.

I only get about 100 visitors per day

But as a side thing, if you cannot place any other ads in a spare spot on your page or at the bottom of a page, why not! You will make a bit of extra money over time.

I don't have a specific target with amazon, just to get to 8 percent.

And it is such a good thing to recommend really helpful books!!!!

[mikethedrummer44]

Yeah, the real money from amazon affiliates come from people buying OTHER products than what you recommend. The idea is to get them on the website, and hope they go on a shopping spree.

If you have a website with high traffic, using amazon affiliates during Christmas season is a great way to make a tonnnn of money (in theory).

[Requiem]

I've been satisfied with Amazon.

I just signed up for their affiliate program this month. I've only earned a few dollars, but in comparison to how little time it takes and how little space it takes up, I'm happy with it.

I also like the idea of promoting a book that I particularly recommend rather than letting Google decide what my readers want to see. It feels a bit more... intentional, I guess.

The way I view it, Adsense seems mostly for one-time blog visitors while my book recommendation is for regular readers that share similar viewpoints with me.

[Curtis2011]

There are many items on Amazon that are priced much higher than books. For instance, lots of people buy household appliances that cost $50-500 on Amazon. I have a feeling you could make a lot more selling those as an affiliate than selling regular $20 books.

[SatvikBeri]

Here is a comprehensive post on how a guy earned a bunch of money using the amazon affiliate program, including tips like:

-Sell expensive products
-Aim for people who are in the "buying" phase, NOT people who have already bought a product. For example, don't talk about how to use XYZ Camera. Give a review of this camera in comparison to other cameras.

He also wrote a follow up post here: 10 More Amazon Associate Program Lessons I Learned on My Way to Six Figure Earnings

[Bradshaw]

If you can sell Amazon affiliate products, you can also sell ClickBank products.

And ClickBank products have commissions of 50%-75%.

Have you tried that?

[danthony]

Sounds like a good start, you should simply ramp up your results. Find what's selling and drive more targeted traffic to it or build a mini site around it that's SEO friendly

[dreamjobdragon]

Congrats on your commissions RoxyRuby!

I like commission junction for affiliate stuff .... with that affiliate you can choose both the vendor and the commission and have a wide variety of things to link to. It's really good for niche sites because there is just so much stuff on there.

I used linkshare too and their quantity of vendors and products is really great - but they have never paid me out the money I have earned

Amazon is new to me - I just signed up - I had overlooked it for a long time on my niche site because I don't often recommend books. THEN someone clued me in that they sell other stuff too. Out of all of them, amazon has the easiest set up and linking process in my opinion.

[roxyruby]

Originally Posted by dreamjobdragon

Congrats on your commissions RoxyRuby!

I like commission junction for affiliate stuff .... with that affiliate you can choose both the vendor and the commission and have a wide variety of things to link to. It's really good for niche sites because there is just so much stuff on there.

I used linkshare too and their quantity of vendors and products is really great - but they have never paid me out the money I have earned

Amazon is new to me - I just signed up - I had overlooked it for a long time on my niche site because I don't often recommend books. THEN someone clued me in that they sell other stuff too. Out of all of them, amazon has the easiest set up and linking process in my opinion.

Thanks I may have a look! I have been totally focused on clickbank, I believe that "clickbank is all there is"

But perhaps...over the rainbow there is another whole world of affiliate products! with...commission junction

[richardxthripp]

I have been surprised at how crappy Amazon Associates is... I've made under $100 from it despite having links from my website for over 2 years... compare to $5000+ with Google AdSense. AdSense is the only thing that consistently makes money.

[roxyruby]

Originally Posted by richardxthripp

I have been surprised at how crappy Amazon Associates is... I've made under $100 from it despite having links from my website for over 2 years... compare to $5000+ with Google AdSense. AdSense is the only thing that consistently makes money.

hmm

maybe you can, probably only make a lot if you have a website with tonnes of visitors....

[Requiem]

The problem with Amazon is that it's at a mathematical disadvantage to things like Adsense.

Let's say, for example, that someone has a 1.5% conversion rate for an ad. That means that 1.5% percent of visitors or pageviews or whatever click on that ad, and you get paid.

On Amazon, first you have the hurdle of click conversion. Suppose that only 5% of people even bother to click on the link. And then suppose that only 2% of people that click on the link buy something. Multiplying them together, that means only 0.1% of people buy something. And if they're buying something cheap like books, you might even get less money per purchase than an Adsense click. Sometimes people buy more than one thing, but often, they only buy a few cheap things, like more books.

But, for the amount of time it takes to set up, I like it. I'd prefer directing my visitors to things I directly recommend than letting Google decide what my visitors want. I wouldn't use amazon INSTEAD of other monetization techniques, but I like using them in addition to others.

[Ryan OLoughlin]

There are actually tons of affiliate programs. All you have to do is Google them. I'm a fan of clickbank and comission junction. There's also paydot.com. Affiliate Marketing is a great way to makw some money online.

Personally, I thnk the amount of traffic you drive to amazon is worth more than 4%. Bust Amazon is trusted so it has its advantages. Good luck all!

[richardxthripp]

I prefer letting Google decide what my visitors want. It's so much easier.

[Rebecca800]

I've never been very impressed with Commission Junction. They like to lock me out alot with their bizarre secure login. They make me feel like a techno-idiot. Also I just dont find the right programs for my niche - am I missing something?

ClickBank is my favorite. It's host to my top seller (>$1,000/month) plus I have two of my own ebooks on there now. The reporting and payment system is very clear and I never have any problems logging in

I like it so much I wrote an article about it for noobs: How to Make Money with ClickBank - this highlights what products to look for and how to increase conversions on your site.

As for Amazon, it's a fine alternative and my attitude is: why not? But it's definitely not a big earner for me. I think you need quite a lot of traffic to start raking it in with Amazon. I guess it depends on your niche too - if you are writing electronics reviews it could be quite lucrative.

[Requiem]

Originally Posted by Rebecca800

I've never been very impressed with Commission Junction. They like to lock me out alot with their bizarre secure login. They make me feel like a techno-idiot. Also I just dont find the right programs for my niche - am I missing something?

If you don't mind, I'd like to hear a little more about why you don't like it. I was planning on using Commission Junction as my next revenue stream. I've already got an advertiser in mind I'd like to try to affiliate with.

[Rebecca800]

I've just never got into it really. I don't wish to put you off, but I have just never found it served my needs very well.

I first joined CJ for an affiliate program that sells 39 Dollar Glasses, to help with vision training. The first year, I had such technical problems accessing my account, and when I did the pages never loaded properly. It might be that I'm not in the US. But I could never log on without lodging a support ticket. Stupid, eh?

I find the marketplace very confusing. Unlike ClickBank, there are no gravity ratings, so you can't see how effective an affiliate program is. It also bothers me that you have to apply for a relationship with the vendor before you can get started, and several times I have been automatically rejected on the spot, with no explanation. What's the point!

As a result I only use about three affiliate programs on there and I don't make much from them. I know it's a hugely popular affiliate platform but frankly I think they could do it a lot better!

Incidentally, I also use Ejunkie and Share a Sale which both have slightly fiddly platforms (if only they were all like ClickBank!) but I would still recommend them over CJ. At the end of the day, though, I usually go wherever the affiliate program lives. I start with a product and work back, rather than perusing marketplaces for products.

[Requiem]

Originally Posted by Rebecca800

I've just never got into it really. I don't wish to put you off, but I have just never found it served my needs very well.

I first joined CJ for an affiliate program that sells 39 Dollar Glasses, to help with vision training. The first year, I had such technical problems accessing my account, and when I did the pages never loaded properly. It might be that I'm not in the US. But I could never log on without lodging a support ticket. Stupid, eh?

I find the marketplace very confusing. Unlike ClickBank, there are no gravity ratings, so you can't see how effective an affiliate program is. It also bothers me that you have to apply for a relationship with the vendor before you can get started, and several times I have been automatically rejected on the spot, with no explanation. What's the point!

As a result I only use about three affiliate programs on there and I don't make much from them. I know it's a hugely popular affiliate platform but frankly I think they could do it a lot better!

Incidentally, I also use Ejunkie and Share a Sale which both have slightly fiddly platforms (if only they were all like ClickBank!) but I would still recommend them over CJ. At the end of the day, though, I usually go wherever the affiliate program lives. I start with a product and work back, rather than perusing marketplaces for products.

Ok thanks for the info. I appreciate it. I'll have to look into clickbank.

I've decided to use CJ because I already know they are partnered with some specific advertisers I am targeting, but clickbank might have some good advertisers as well.

[danthony]

Yes, I too have a real issue with CJ, its somewhat of a joke. I've been rejected on the spot more than a few times with even looking at similar products to offer on sites with decent traffic.

Originally Posted by Rebecca800

I've just never got into it really. I don't wish to put you off, but I have just never found it served my needs very well.

I first joined CJ for an affiliate program that sells 39 Dollar Glasses, to help with vision training. The first year, I had such technical problems accessing my account, and when I did the pages never loaded properly. It might be that I'm not in the US. But I could never log on without lodging a support ticket. Stupid, eh?

I find the marketplace very confusing. Unlike ClickBank, there are no gravity ratings, so you can't see how effective an affiliate program is. It also bothers me that you have to apply for a relationship with the vendor before you can get started, and several times I have been automatically rejected on the spot, with no explanation. What's the point!

As a result I only use about three affiliate programs on there and I don't make much from them. I know it's a hugely popular affiliate platform but frankly I think they could do it a lot better!

Incidentally, I also use Ejunkie and Share a Sale which both have slightly fiddly platforms (if only they were all like ClickBank!) but I would still recommend them over CJ. At the end of the day, though, I usually go wherever the affiliate program lives. I start with a product and work back, rather than perusing marketplaces for products.

[Requiem]

Since I began using Amazon in September, I've been selling a few copies of the book I recommended along with other similar books that people bought in addition to the one I recommended.

The other day, though, someone bought a Kindle and a cover for it, and another guy bought some expensive battery backs. So basically, each of them bought me lunch for a day.

It still vastly underperforms adsense, but it's funny nonetheless.