Tips to increase your Amazon Affiliate Earnings

Trying to fight your way to success with Amazon Affiliate links, and beginning to wonder if anyone really makes any money with it? You’re not alone, but the fact is, Amazon is THE leading online retailer in the US, and a very good resource for an affiliate merchant. The key is knowing how to be an affiliate seller. There’s a lot more to it than just planting a few links and hoping they get clicked. That type of “working” a blog, or any affiliate type
of sales page is the reason 90% of all affiliate marketers—or even just Internet marketers in general—fail, or struggle along with pennies per month instead of big fat checks in their mailbox.

Why Amazon over any other affiliate site? Amazon gives you two things that no one else does: thousands of products in every category a shopper could possibly want to look for, and THE biggest incentive of all—when a visitor clicks through to Amazon from any link on your site, it doesn’t matter what they purchase, so long as they purchase something, you get credit for it.

Want more? You got it. Amazon is the king of conversion. Just send your readers off to Amazon and Amazon will do the rest. You don’t even have to convince your readers to buy the product you are blogging about. You only need to suggest they visit Amazon to “read more reviews and make an informed decision”, and that’s it. Really. I know that because out of the few hundred of sales my diet blog generates every month on Amazon, only 33% relate to the products I feature on my site. The other 67% has nothing to do with the products I blog about. People come to my blog to read a review of a weight loss pill and they end up buying a movie or a bicycle tire!

The Amazon folks have a huge marketing experience and they know how to sell. I’d like you to find a better, more possible way to make money online as an affiliate—and let me know about it.

Still, with all that, the majority of Amazon affiliates garner little to nothing for their efforts. Here are my top 5 ways to increase your Amazon Affiliate earnings.

1. Overnight Success? No

First off, you have to realize that no one starts off raking in big bucks. You have to learn the ropes, gain attention and traffic, and develop a skill for planting keywords and corresponding links in your posts so that they attract reader’s attention without pissing them off, and making them feel they’re being “sold.”

2. Starting From the Beginning

Just because you aren’t likely to become an overnight success as an affiliate mogul, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start right at the beginning. Don’t wait to sign up as an affiliate, and don’t wait to start placing links. A few dollars a month is better than no dollars a month, and they do add up. Starting off at the beginning is a great way to track your increase in clickthroughs and study patterns to see what methods are working best for you, also.

When I first started my diet blog, I tracked the patterns for my main links of “Medifast coupons” and “Nutrisystem discounts” to see how well each one was performing. When they increased, I paid attention to what and where they improved from, and made a habit of repeating that method.

3. Content Content Content

In real estate it’s: location, location, location. For any online marketing, whether you are putting up landing pages, websites, blogs, or even if you are writing on relevant forums, the key to attracting interest from readers is content. Don’t skimp, don’t cheat, and give them something that is worth their time and effort. Blend your link text into the content so that it doesn’t jump out and scream, “hey, the whole reason for this post is for you to see this.”

4. Make Use of All Available Marketing Possibilities

Where are you marketing your chosen products? Do you stick to just your blog? Don’t discount your email. Add the best links to your email signature line. You never know who will see it. But even better than your personal email, create a mailing list and generate a newsletter for those that sign up from your blog. That way you get to repeatedly “reach out and touch them” with their permission, while giving them little tidbits of wisdom in each one… of course, on a subject related to your products, and linked to them on Amazon.

Forums are another great way to find interested readers in your sales niche. Selling marine GPS navigation systems? Join a boating board. Add your link to your signature line in an appealing and not too intrusive manner, and make relevant, and interesting posts so people like what you have to say, and learn to trust what you stand for.

The whole “like what you have to say, and learn to trust what you stand for” is the purpose behind the importance of content, and the key to steady sales and loyal readers.

5. Target Your Products

You’ll notice I mention “related products” in several areas. Don’t just pick high-priced items willy nilly. Pick products based on a target market, and work your blog, newsletters, or forum memberships around those. I am not going to market my weight loss product on a pet forum, but I might use a pet forum if my products of choice have something to do with dogs or other pet animals.

Target seasons and holidays as well. Even in a niche blog, forum or newsletter, you can find ways to incorporate special holiday items into your work to entice those extra, and usually receptive clicks.