Yeah, Darren is the man. But he has put a LOT of work into his sites, they are REAL, authoritative sites, he is honest, hardworking, respected, shares his knowledge very freely... Hmm, all those things that a lot of would-be affiliates can't be bothered with..! We just want to make a quick buck, mostly, ha!
In my own opinion, and this is just an opinion so don't beat me up. I think Darren did put in a lot of hard work, but at the same time, I don't believe that it is skill alone that got him to where he is. I think he essentially had a combination of hard work which everyone does, good timing, and then lots of luck. I don't think that he could start a totally from scratch website or blog, and yield the same results, that would be considered skill, and put him out of the lucky range. Some people have luck, and some people have skill, I really don't know which one he truly falls under. I know for myself, that I've been able to reproduce my results over and over again for myself and for other people, so I don't consider myself lucky. Anyone have some words about if Darren has luck or skill? thnx, PuReWebDev
I think it's fair to say "luck" in the sense of "the right guy at the right time". He is a practicing, serious Christian - maybe he got some help from "on high"
Great collection of tips. I especially liked the comments about cross-promotions, and the importance of reader reviews to captivate and involve your audience. It's kind of amazing to hear how Darren Rowse has earned so much money at Amazon since 2003. I think a lot of this has been said before, but has anyone tried to figure out if Amazon Associates is really the best affiliate program to join and promote? The percentage for commissions is pretty low at 4% according to their compensation overview. hxxps://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/join/compensation.html True you could focus on Kindle, VoD, MP3, and game download for 10%, or refer visitors to endless.com for 15% at the lowest level, but the highest earnings on general product sales you can ever achieve is 8.5% once you exceed 3,131 items. Does anyone else think that is too low? Especially when you compare to other affiliate programs that give you a signup bonus of $10 or $25. Another point is that you only earn money when the visitor makes a purchase. What I mean is, they have to spend money instead of getting something for free. The example I read about was for a credit card signup offer that is free to the visitor but it earns you $200 as an affiliate. Take a look at this blog post for a more detailed discussion. hxxp://www.johnchow.com/why-i-am-not-an-amazoncom-affiliate/ With Amazon is there a possibility of ongoing residual earnings? I don't think so. It looks like the visitor will have to make a new purchase if you want to earn additional commissions. Compare that to other affiliate programs that pay you on the first sale, and an ongoing percentage of all future sales. So you work hard just once to make the sale and the affiliate checks keep coming in each month. There are other concerns but I think the main idea, just like with Google Adsense, is to not put all of your effort into a single vendor. Diversification is the key. And get a residual check whenever possible!
Thanks For sharing these great tips Darren. In reply to whether Darren is lucky or has skill I would definitely say he has skill. If you follow his tips they are exactly what you must do to make money online in any niche. He tries new ways and then test which produce better results for his readers. He checks out what his customers are buying and gives them more of what they want. He asks them to purchase not once but multiple times. He provides quality content with useful related products that his customers actually thank him for providing. As far as if Amazon is a good affiliate program to promote I think it is a great program. Sure it does not provide the highest level of commissions and requires customers to continue purchasing, but it offers one of the best product selections that compliment just about every niche you can think of. Amazon makes it extremely easy to use and promote and there are many ways to automate the process as well. They provide excellent products, branding, name recognition, easy trusted purchasing process, reliable in their payments to their affiliates, lower returns than other programs, and I could go on... Once again thanks for the great information Darren!!
I've some questions about amazon associate program 1. I've an account right now with them which I use to buy things. Shall I use this account for AAP or I should open a new account? is it against their rules to open an account for this purpose? 2.Can I use my earnings to shop from amazon without having them to be sent to my bank account first? 3. Is there any script out there to make a professional looking website? (I know about aStore). Thanks
1. you can use the same account 2. you can get gift certs as payment 3. AOM at http://associate-o-matic.com/
Thanks,+ repped you. So I can register another account only for affiliate purposes, right? It's not against their rule? I want just to make sure. Thanks
Great and thanks. I never make it with Amazon. I will try those tips.... go to "crime scene" right now
Thanks for sharing these articles. I will read them to see they can help me to make money from Amazon Associates program. Right now, I thought it's difficult. Everybody know Amazon. Each time, they need something, they just go directly to Amazon.
Thanks for the tips, very interesting stuff. I just opened my first aStore on a paid domain with iframe. Will post later my results.
I did create some book related links from amazon. So far the return has been poor. The prices of the books are very low and the 4% means peanut. I stopped amazon affiliation.
I just went through all three blogs. It has been written in a great style. It is something to learn about from. he has great patience.