Tips on using Amazon affiliate links effectively for blogs

I prefer enhance links (iframe) because it's so clear they are affiliate links. When people click on them, it means they are interested and conversion rates are higher because of that interest.

The javascript popup when rollover is also pretty good.

 

goog idea Thanks!

 

Thanks for sharing these informative tips. It is very helpfull for webmasters.

 

Wow !! Good Tips

Thank.

 

thank for tips

 

These are some great tips. I haven't had much luck with amazon. mind you that my amazon affiliate sites only generate just over 100 clicks a month. I do wish to pursue amazon more actively. These tips are a great starting point. Thanks!

 

I also started promoting Amazon products from one of my niche blogs since Feb '09 and for the first three month it was zero sales and lots of clicks. Then I realized that my traffic is not targeted and placing related items in sidebar of my blog might get me decent number of clicks but sales would only be a miracle. Then I changed my strategy and started reviewing products (not books). Here are the stats ( not very encouraging) :

4th Month :

1 sale ( item not relevant to my blog)

5th Month :

15 orders ( avg per item $4.2)

6th Month (Current month) :

15 orders again ( avg per item $2.4)

These stats are not very encouraging as the first month of my 15 orders I had a conversion rate below1% and that has almost doubled the following month. But still my overall traffic is very low so still have to work hard on that.

 

I've tried putting some related items up before, they get the clicks but didn't sell. I guess a link just like that doesn't help the readers much.

 

thank you for guide.

 

Great post!!

I'm curious as to why you work so hard to make a few bucks commission with Amazon. What I mean is that their rates are very low. For you to make the $100 per month (which is great) you must be making tons of sales. My thinking is that if you can do that with Amazon, imagine what you could do with other programs that pay higher commissions? Once you learn how to sell/market, you can market anything you choose.

Course, I just got a $10 commission from Linkshare selling a $500 pc, which ain't that great either)

 

Great guide! any site sample?. Thank for share.

 

Just do a search for "book reviews" on delicious.com. Basically, all reviews websites can use these tips.

 

Time to post some numbers for the month up to July 2009.

Jul - 8.38% (3495 clicks) - $369
Jun - 7.7% (2779 clicks) - $287
May - 8.23% (3996 clicks) - $476
Apr - 7.91% (3238 clicks) - $425
Mar - 7.76% (2589 clicks) - $242
Feb - 7.47% (2435 clicks) - $244
Jan - 6.78% (1918 clicks) - $169
Dec 08 - $114
Nov - $62
Oct - $51
Sep - $2
Aug - $4

Still a few items short of the 7.5% bracket.

I do notice that a lot of items bought were from my older reviews. But somehow they don't accumulate in terms of sales numbers, strangely.

Need to seriously work on getting more related traffic.

 

Thank you so much.

 

Nice and useful Guides, Thanks

 

I don't agree with what Nicesurf said. I learned from reading this post. I particularly liked what you said about writing about what you are passsionate about. I am sure this is important information for many people.

You will get much more traffic if you post this as an article. Please contact me privately for more info.

 

Not a lot for a months consistent work - that is just over $107 per 7-days. You could almost do better selling pens on a street corner !

I've never been really excited by Amazon's Affiliate Programme. I've been seriously involved in it a couple of times previously, all with worthless outcomes. Even when you get a cheque, it can cost you more to bank it in Australia than it's worth. I've kept them as souvenirs !

OK ... I suppose it depends on the number of visitors, but after about six months of my current involvement I haven't seen a single sale !
And I'm providing value, not just directly but also through an eBook that contains affiliate links to relevant books.

Often with Affiliate Programmes all you are doing is providing free advertising for the Principal. Now that in itself is OK if you are getting some sort of benefit from the arrangement, but this is rarely the case.

An an Affiliate, you need a Programme where you can be actively involved with the Principal, almost like acting as an 'agent'. Most Programmes only enable passive involvement - and Amazon's programme is an example of this, as are other booksellers, CD sellers, etc. Passive Affiliate Programmes generally don't return great results.

So, like assessing any business opportunity, you meed to do the maths and ascertain if the proposal is worthwhile. Passive Affiliate Programmes rarely are.

 

The thing you have to note about this is, the earnings are pretty much always going to be there even when you retire in the future. Assuming Amazon doesn't go bankrupt or there's still going to be electricity to power the web. That's the risk of creating a business on top of some other business (Amazon).

I'm just working 3-4 hours per day on my blog, sometimes less.

What do you mean by providing value? Do you solve a problem no one else is solving? Does your readers respond positively by commenting and most importantly, do they thank you for posting stuff? Are your webpages bookmarked on delicious, digg or other types of bookmarking websites? Those feedback are very clear indicators of providing value. The low sales feedback is already telling you something.

There's a very big difference between thinking that you're providing value and people saying you provide value.

One other thing could be your products are just not suitable for affiliate marketing. Or you haven't figure out how they can be marketed. Or worse - how they are helpful to your readers.

I don't see how being passively involved is bad, except when the affiliate rules changes. You're your own boss, you decide what to do. You're responsible for your own success.

About assessing business opportunity. I'm now at a point where every dollar I spend is translated to every dollar I earn months down the road. My problem with that is, I'm thinking real hard on how to spend more money, or more accurately how to invest those money.

Last month, I earned US$1000. $600 from Amazon US, and $400 from other Amazon branches.

And it's growing every month.

 

Here are some updates on my blog earnings. It reflects only results from my Amazon US branch which accounts for 60-80% of the total.

I'm hitting the 7.5% fee bracket every month already.

Oct - 8.26% (4310 clicks) - $621.28
Sep - 9.58% (3590 clicks) - $547.67
Aug 09 - 10.49% (3376 clicks) - $511.21
Jul - 8.38% (3495 clicks) - $369
Jun - 7.7% (2779 clicks) - $287
May - 8.23% (3996 clicks) - $476
Apr - 7.91% (3238 clicks) - $425
Mar - 7.76% (2589 clicks) - $242
Feb - 7.47% (2435 clicks) - $244
Jan - 6.78% (1918 clicks) - $169
Dec 08 - $114
Nov - $62
Oct - $51
Sep - $2
Aug 08 - $4

 

Nice,
Thank,