Hmm.. Its been quite some time since I posted on this blog. Some big projects have been keeping me busy. However, it is now time I share something nice with all you loyal readers. 
If you personally know me, you will know, that I am an Adsense guy, i.e. most of my efforts goes into making of quality sites monetized primarily by Adsense.
I am always looking to diversify my internet income. This is why my affiliate revenue is almost as good as Adsense. Anyways, in March 2010 (2 months back), I decided to check out, what the Amazon associates program was all about. Now, I have read all over forums, blogs, etc. that tha Amazon affiliate program literally sucks!
Why? Well..from the research I had previously done, I figured, that the conversion rates for most people were poor, less that 1% of ultra targeted traffic, and also that Amazon, sent payment only after 90 days of finalizing you earnings. Hence, if you have earned something in January, they will release the payment only at the end of March! wow! Moreover, if you live outside the United States, the only mode of payment available is a check sent via snail mail (Amazon does bank wire for USA), which will take another month to reach you. So, you actually receive your payment in about 4 months, not counting the time taken by the banks to clear international checks.
Anyways, I thought, that Amazon having such a huge presence on the internet, was at least worth a try. I decided to take action.
I actually did not want to spend too much time testing stuff with Amazon, hence, all I did, was select about 10 of my product niche sites* and included the Amazon widget in the sidebar.
*Note: These sites were not authority sites, basically content based, product niche sites. Example: a site about baby products, or laptops, etc. The cumulative daily traffic on these 10 sites was about 250 uniques everyday – all organic traffic.
Now, my Adsense income on these sites has been quite stable, clearing double digits everyday. Not great..but reasonable compared to the efforts put in building and promotion of the sites.
So, I included the Amazon affiliate product widget on each of these sites, and forgot about it. I had installed the widget on the 13th of March, to be exact, and it was only last week, that I logged in to my Amazon account to check the results of the experiment. My initial thoughts were, that it might not have done too well, because my Adsense earnings were still stable, no fluctuations, so I wasn’t expecting a surprise really.
Here is today’s updated report of my Amazon account:
Yes! I made $1707.31 in about 2 months, without doing anything! really! I have thus realized, that you cannot be sure of ANYTHING until you try it out yourself. Maybe, the other people are doing it all wrong..maybe, you will do something different (be it unknowingly)..whatever. The path to success can be defined in just 2 words: Take Action!
So How did I end up making that much? Well, I am not really sure, all I can say, is, that my sites receive good quality organic targeted traffic. These are people who are looking to buy something. Also, I put Amazon widgets in a non-intruding space on my sidebar, so only those people who were interested, clicked – thus I got a higher conversion rate of 6.5% compared to the industry average of less than 1%.
Moreover, I actually leveraged the power of Amazon’s huge product catalog. I should mention, that none of my sites are about beds, furniture or similar products. But still, I see that almost 30% of the sales are of furniture related items. Some, people even bought $500 worth Amazon kindles, giving me good commission. Basically, I sent someone to buy a particular product at Amazon.com, and the buyer, ended up buying much more than what he or she might have initially planned. So, everyone was happy.
The Future:
Now, obviously, after tasting Amazon blood, I am not going to sit idle. I am going to promote the Amazon affiliate program more aggressively. What I want to point out to everyone who might be looking at doing Amazon, just remember, that you need to send laser targeted visitors to Amazon, people who are willing to buy, and one of the most important thing, is that you have to have patience.. it might be that you do not make anything in the first few months… do not lose hope and you WILL succeed!
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{ 42 comments… read them below or add one }
Great! You have made $1,707 in two months from Amazon.
Can you tell more how you make it, how many sites you use all together? What marketing strategy you are using?
Hope to hear from you. Thanks in advance.
wow, great result! so you prefer using widget than build astore?
@tool die:
I have put the amazon product links on a total of 10 sites, averaging 250-350 uniques (10 combined).
I do not have any specific marketing strategy, I just research for low competition keywords, and the usual SEO, bookmarking, article submission, link building etc.
@Blog Hardim:
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I prefer widgets, because I can put it wherever I want, not showing ads to visitors who won’t be interested. Moreover, I build unique content based sites.
I haven’t tried it with Astores, (that’s in the todo list
That’s great aditya. You are doing a great job. So do you manage the 10 sites on which you put your affiliate links? Or did you buy banners or something like that?
Do you think that promoting specific products can work? What niche products worked the best for you? I know i shouldn’t be asking these questions, but still you can tell us something
@Pro:
I have made those sites, and manage them myself. I actually monetize these sites with Adsense, and link sales. I just decided to try out Amazon, and it has worked on my sites.
I ALWAYS promote specific products. For e.g. if you are promoting blackberry leather covers, make content for things like different models, pricing, where to buy etc., do not include things about iPhone or Samsung phones. Staying focused is what has worked for me.
I promote a variety of products ranging from tech to home/living. With Amazon both technology and home/outdoor products have done well.
Wow cool stuffs..found your site from mikesier.
thanks for the tips – I’ve not had success w/them and have had to make sales through pre-selling with UAW runs to my landing page, which has worked out well. I’ve monetized thru Adsense as well as Commission Junction – but I usually shop at Amazon online.
In any event – very good success! glad I found you on Mike’s blog.
Hi-I just found your blog through Mike Iser’s site. I just want to say thank you for this post!!! I have been looking into going w/ amazon, and I have 3 sites purchased ready to set up for this. I was just hitting my head wondering how to set them up. I came acrossed a few sites with hardly any content and just amazon all over the flippin place it was highly annoying.
I think I will just use one or two widgets in the sidebar and see how that pans out.
I just have to say for everyone that uses Amazon-Last December I knew I wanted to buy a Kindle and I started browsing one night through the big G about the features and so on I came across one site just clicked their link and I decided to buy it then, plus I got a few other things. I read their content on the site first, and I did not feel like going to another window and bringing up Amazon so I just used their link. I betcha this is how it works for a lot of people.
@JamestheJust on Elance:
James, I have read a lot of your posts at Mike’s site. Great job over there.
I suggest, that when you are making niche sites, just include some amazon product links below the menu. I have done the same (I can confirm that Adsense CTR does not decrease, and Amazon will definitely bring in some cash.) It is really worth trying I should say.
I haven’t tried using CJ or any other program, but I am working on a big project, that I plan to monetize by methods other that Adsense, without any paid traffic. Will post an update on the blog very soon.
@Kelly:
Kelly, thanks for visiting my blog.
Yeah, I think you got it right, when people visit Amazon through your link they usually end up buying more (because of Amazon’s wide range of goods), and this adds up commission for you.
I would also suggest that you try out content links below or above you menu with some sites. I have researched, and found that for some sites widgets work well, and for some sites, content links (just like menu links) do better. So, you should try out both.
I also checked out your site! great work! you just got a new loyal reader.
Actually, I’ve just put some widgets in my sites in the sidebar, and some text links. I’ve also adjusted my CSS to reflect the links a bit more (contextual links) so the Amazon links should pop.
You’re an inspiration with these numbers, for sure!
Wow those are some fantastic results! That’s what I love about Amazon – the fact that people can buy products from their whole site that might not even be related to the link they first clicked on. I am trying to focus more on Amazon on some of my sites and this has given me great inspiration!
@Ruth – Web Career Girl:
Ruth, thanks for visiting my blog.
This is why I made this post, because all over forums and blogs, people say that Amazon doesn’t work. It works if you do it the right way with consistency.
I’m focusing more on Amazon review sites (with unique content) because they in fact are quite the little earners. However, as with all things, I do believe that when testing what works, you need to experiment with more than one niche to really see what works and what doesn’t — and that includes playing around with different Amazon widgets, ad placement, color schemes, etc.
I think amazon is amazing. It can bring you tons of money without efforts. And no tension of low ecpm and etc. Hubpages one guy started earning $1000 per month. within three months. It is easy to acheive i think. Right now i am not sure where to concentrate amazon or adsense.
Congrats, Aditya! I just started with Amazon, get a hundreds of “other clicks” every day but only tens of product clicks and zero to shipped. How change other clicks to product clicks? Thanks for your answer.
@Rahul @ Earn Money Online:
My suggestion would be that you concentrate on Adsense income, and Amazon as a secondary/bonus income. Adsense is much more reliable and stable compared to Amazon. Amazon can be the icing on your Adsense cake.
@Amyh3y:
I am not sure why this is happening..because for me the conversions are good. Probably, because you are sending a lot of untargeted traffic to Amazon? or maybe your visitors are not amazon buyers. For e.g. Amazon does not ship to countries like India..so I am not really sure.
Congrats, the “content is king” strategy is certainly the best, but I made exactly opposite experiences with Adsense. While the Amazon income from most of my sites is pretty stable (except the usual boost around christmas), Adsense varies alot, more than 50% daily fluctuations and I’m not talking about just a few clicks.
Thank for share your tips.
perfect!!!…thanks for this good info.
Wow those are some fantastic results! That’s what I love about Amazon – the fact that people can buy products from their whole site that might not even be related to the link they first clicked on. I am trying to focus more on Amazon on some of my sites and this has given me great inspiration!
that is a great 2 months worth of earnings. I hope your success keeps going and you make lots more money in these next few months. I can’t wait to hear how you have been doing
I just started amazon around one month.. The trend looks good.. my keyword show in first page of google search.. but it disappear from search result now.. Please advise how to bring mine back.
Thanks
Bird
That is great, I made good money from CJ but a little from Amazon so far
Great Job, share the tutorial, please..
hi
a great post giving encourgement to those of us thinking about amazons affiliate programme did you do much niche research first
or just look up amazonz on best selling list
why dont you knock up a blue print your secret in getting targeted organic traffic to your amazon sites
well done and thanks for sharing with us
regards
peter mcgrath
Hello, I am of Argentina and I have very few knowledge of the language ingles. Use a software SISTRAN to translate commentaries generally. In the case of blogs and sites, directly I use google.
It wanted preguntarte, since I have crossed all the site of Amazon, in which place after registering estan the “STATS” to see if one vendio algun product.
Thanks for your attention
mateo
Congrats on your success! And thanks for sharing your experiences, it is really very helpful for someone like me who is still trying to learn about how to make money online through affiliate sites. So thanks!
Thank for share your tips.
That was a great job earning that amount of money with amazon in just 2 months. It takes work to get money from amazon, and I am sure you will keep working to increase that amount.
manteb bro ane juga maen amazon tapi lagi sepi nich ada tips apa nich?thankz
Hello,
I’m from India and you’re also from India. Great
Have 3 easy questions.
1. How much time it takes to encash the US dollar in Indian banks?
2. How much time it takes to receive the check from US to India? 3. Do they use courier services or just regular post?
Thanks.
@amaron:
1: About 1 month.
2: Amazon sends after 3 month period
3: Usually receive it within 20-25 days after they have sent it.
So, actually the total time after earning is 3 months + 1 month + 1 month = 5 months
…there seems to be no other solution for Indians at the moment.
Thanks for your great article.
I have two question here:
1. how you write article?
2. how many articles per site ?
Thanks.
Wow very good job.. I am working on building my content and focusing more on selling Amazon products. I already made 2 sales but it was from my articles. I am working on building blog or websites around a specific category and taking it from there. I see Amazon is the way to go..
All articles handwritten and about 20-40 articles per site.
wow great!!!
I just got my first check from amazon, it’s $200 only, one year after I add amazon widget in my sites…what a poor!
Wow!!! Thank You for that post. I’m starting making mini MFA sites but being afraid of deindexing decided to look for other ways of monetization. And that how I got here. Big THANKS. Could You please tell us more about your sites? You wrote that You always promoting specific products. So You always look for long tail keywords related to specific product like “blackberry leather covers”? Or your keyword would be rather something like “nice leather covers” and You choose one product to promote? Then your let’s say 15-20 pages site is all about “blackberry/nice leather covers” (it would be difficult) or just related stuff and You promote different product on every single page? So 1 keyword per site or 15-20?
@jukoz: I tend to stay very product specific: like “black leather handbag” and Most of my sites have 15-20 product pages. Example all separate products, but related to the handbags niche.
Great job, I wish I could make that much. I have been stuck under $1,000 for months now and I can’t seem to get over the hump.
You did a good job, i have tried amazon but can not find the proper way to promote.
Very interesting. I’ve been looking at creating an Amazon product review site, but I was kind of afraid that there wasn’t a lot of money to be made in it. After reading your experience I think it is time I get to work.