I have experimented with Amazon - on and off - over the last 3 years. While I have made money, big and small, in almost all other program, amazon has eluded me. I have tried books, music, kindle, goods related to niche - NOTHING. NADA. Just didn't work! How do you make money from Amazon - is it worth the effort? Any GOOD success stories?
Two things have worked for me: 1. Finding a niche that isn't oversaturated 2. Finding a product or products within that niche that people are searching for by name or model number and promoting it with every different variation of the name possible.
I tried the MP3 players niche with pretty nice profits, I did not try other niches, because eventually I didn't like the platform, I didn't feel "comfortable" in their system, I hope you understand what I'm trying to say. I can truly understand you.
Embedded links within an established and content rich site can work as long as you keep relevance high. Astores and other types of Amazon based shops are very difficult to make money at - I avoid them.
thanks everyone for your thoughts. I will avoid Amazon for the time being - till I find a niche that can sell.
Amazon was the first serious money maker for me - it can be done and like everything, you have to have the right approach...
I hear a lot of people saying you need to have a niche focus and stuff, but in my own opinion and experience, it doesn't matter of you are doing a niche site or you're the next Amazon or Newegg, because there are millions and millions of people online ready to shop. There is a global market to be served, so I would say that you should approach the Amazon Associates program like any other e-commerce venture you might start. I think people don't take it serious enough, and put as much commitment into it because they figure "it's just an affiliate program", and if you look at it that way, it'll be difficult to be successful, but if you draw up an action plan with a 6 month goal, and list the steps you are going to take to get there, then there is no reason (unless the plan was flawed), why you shouldn't have some measure of success. desmondhaynes, to answer your question, I'd say it's well worth the effort, you just need the right approach. I recommend to not to focus on the one time sales, and focus more on the entire customer experience, and encouraging your visitors to become repeat shoppers. That's how you'll grow. I recommend getting a good book that just focuses on e-commerce, and then use your e-commerce skills and apply them to the associates program. Hope this post was helpful. Happy Selling!, PuReWebDev
I've had moderate success with Amazon by including links within articles on my site. The astore option doesn't seem to work well for me and maybe because I didn't find a niche.
It works better then Adsense these days... I'm just beginning to dabble in the astore thingy, I mostly do context links and Omkase.
I have advertised Astore and given Yahoo and Google a lot of money-never made a dime. However, It is a strong possibility I just stink at PPC marketing.
I have three niche Amazon stores, and 2 niche astores embedded into content rich blogs. A niche store focuses on certain products, or categories, not just an all in one store. I have a good traffic dance music blog, so my niche store for that blog sells Dance Music, DJ Equipment, and Audio Products. I have a Political Opinion blog, and the niche astore sells political books. Get the picture ? Other niche stores are, Just Detroit Sports Accessories, and Las Vegas and Casino products. It won't work if you don't really know the niche. It's best if you are interested in it, that way you will know what others are looking for.