The #1 tip on this guide should be "start with a profitable niche". Instead of selling 100 books per month and making $100 you could use the same product review rules you write about and sell 100 computer monitors (or whatever) and make $2500. just my opinion. very nice guide though good information
I've thought of that before and am going into that hopefully in the future. But the thing is, it will be incredibly hard to find success with that model. One has to find some way of getting those profitable items to review. There has to be a really good strategy to pull that one off. Two, you have to compete with established tech websites that constantly produce these reviews. Making a name and getting traffic is difficult. Payoff is big but the execution has to be very good.
The numbers are here: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1480189 as well as the business aspect of it.
2009 is finally over. I've managed to reach the 8% commission rate and for the first time earned over $1000 (US account only). This is still a small milestone. I hope I can be self employed on this by the end of 2010. Fingers crossed. And I'm still using my own tips. It's applicable to any product review websites. Tip: It really helps if you post your own reviews and opinions instead of copying and pasting those from Amazon. If you're showing the same content as Amazon, why would readers start their search by going to your site and not Amazon?
You need to consider the new FTC rulings with regards to your reviews/opinions. Unless you have actually purchased and used the product it might be better to use those that have already been published. I don't care what your opinion is, but I might be swayed after reading 5 or 6 similar opinons from Amazon becsidr I know they have actually purchased/used the product. I'm not directing this toward you personally, just trying to get the point across that several reviews/opinions mean much more than just one.
I always make it explicitly clear that I earn commissions if readers click the Amazon links. And many readers make an extra effort to buy their books through my links, as they have told me so via comments and email many times. Anyway, I'm not based in US so FTC rulings doesn't apply to me. But it's actually good to declare because if the content provided is useful, readers are more inclined to help out — click.
Just wanted to say thanks for the great guide, simple and to the point. I've been looking at making the jump into affiliate marketing so this was very helpful.