Secret Amazon Affiliate

December 10, 2014 — 2 Comments

It’s as easy as this: if you’re not an Amazon affiliate making consistent commissions through their range of products then you’re missing a trick. It doesn’t even matter what kind of website or business you have…

People every single day of the week, and that includes you and me, are buying off Amazon – literally hundreds per minute, without breaking a sweat. What’s also happening in the background, without those buyers knowing, is that 50% of the time there are affiliates (or associates for Amazon) that are making a consistent commission on those sales. Sometimes, on complete autopilot.

Chances are you have probably purchased off an associate without even knowing it. This is quite often the case with the increased cookie lifetime you’ll see on affiliate and associate programs these days. This is the market that you need to tap into, whether you see yourself as an Amazon associate or not. Why?

Because the Amazon market does not look like it’s slowing down. Which means the potential earnings you gain through their associate programs won’t be either – people will always buy physical products, and associates will always make money from those customers.

Here’s some basic but highly practical tips to selling through Amazon at this time.

#1 Look to cash in at the right times. The fourth quarter of each year almost always shows a spike in Amazon affiliate earnings for the simple fact it’s Christmas and Thanksgiving which kicks off from the moment Black Friday lands. This is the time to keep your eye on Amazon as it’s guaranteed to make you the most money. It’s the same story every year. Work your content to your advantage when the holiday season arises, as people are naturally more switched on to buying.

Content such as buying guides, reader questions, lists of popular/recommended products etc get people talking about what they’re looking to buy or would like to receive for Christmas, so make sure you keep this content fresh.

#2 Do your research! By researching the demand for a product, you can tell whether it’s going to be a go-er. Be confident that you’ve done enough research to define whether or not the product is going to meet your audience’s needs. After all, if you try selling a product that’s low in demand the chances of getting sales are slim, regardless of how hard you try. If your website gets a decent amount of traffic then you can conduct an online survey, easily getting input from your visitors.

#3 Relevancy matters. May seem like common sense, but actually many people can get this wrong. Make sure you choose products relevant to your audience. Even if your website focuses specifically on say, cooking, there’s always opportunities to cross-sell products. Have you thought about promoting the likes of recipe books, how to’s on using new kitchen appliances, utensils, even food items. The list is endless. Amazon makes this simple, just take a look at the section entitled “Customers who bought this item also bought…”

#4 Use genuine recommendations and reviews to your advantage. Let’s face it, more and more people who are considering buying products will read reviews and make their decision based on them. Plus, real reviews help to encourage your reader relationship, in the long run, which you’ll probably find will help with more sales in the future.

So, always test the products you’re wanting to sell, that way you can relate to your experience and go into greater detail when you’re writing about it. Your review should be genuine and unbiased and, whilst it’s easy to chat on about the good points, it’s better to point out the cons of the product too.

#5 Use more than one source of traffic. Rather than just taking the most common approach of advertising on your own website, take a look at other traffic sources too so that you can promote products simultaneously elsewhere. The more targeted you are with your traffic the higher the chances are of you making money.

Click here for more on traffic generation.

#6 Track Your Campaigns. As an Amazon Associate, Amazon will allow you to create 100 tracking IDs. Because there’s a 100 tracking code limit, try starting off by creating a few general tracking codes, that way you can use the other codes for the ‘bigger’ promotions you’re working on – the most important ones.

Another method for tracking is by setting up Google Analytics. You always need to know what kind of people look at your websites, what they read and what products they are most likely to buy, so keeping an eye on your analytics helps you to do this. If you know your visitor, then you’ll know how and when they will buy off you – if you don’t know this then you’ll struggle to build authority with your visitors.

That’s some ideas to get you started.

If you’re an Amazon user you’ll know about their one-stop shopping feature, so this should encourage you to send people straight to the product you’re advertising. If people really want the product they’ll go ahead and buy right away, but even if they don’t, but still buy the product within 24 hours of clicking on your affiliate link you’ll still get your commission.

If you’re an Amazon customer, you KNOW the potential I’m talking about here.

And you’ll also know that when you buy a product on Amazon, you’re most probably going to be buying another product that they entice you with! As an affiliate, you’ll secretly be getting commissions on both of these products. So if you just promote one product well, you can end up selling multiple products completely unrelated to that original product.

The question is, do you have a little room somewhere on your website to make Amazon commission, and become a Secret Amazon Affiliate?