The Art of Building Amazon Sites Post Panda
Thousands of people supplement their monthly incomes through the use of Amazon affiliate sites – or at least they used to. Recently, Google introduced a major overhaul to their search algorithms known as Panda, and a lot of Amazon affiliate sites that could be politely referred to as “thin,” “spammy,” or “junky” quickly saw their search rankings plummet down to the depths where no practical Google user would ever find them.
For the uninitiated, an Amazon affiliate site is a website or blog that directly or indirectly promotes products sold on Amazon.com, the ubiquitous online retailer. Clicking certain links at these sites redirects you to a product page at Amazon, and when you make a purchase, Amazon pays the affiliate site owner a portion of the proceeds in exchange for the redirect. With commission rates as high as 15% and the ability to promote whatever products you’d like, including the very expensive ones, it’s easy to see how a well-implemented Amazon affiliate site could turn a tidy profit.
The trick, of course, is to build an Amazon affiliate site that passes muster in the eyes of Google Panda, and achieves the search engine results ranking it deserves.
Build Your Site Around the Niche, Not the Products
Google Panda is all about attempting to ensure that the pages ranked most highly for a given search keyword are relevant and provide the best user experience possible. As such, most of the sites that experienced severe downranking at the hands of Panda were ones that offered a list of promoted products, along with maybe a brief description of each, some keyword-rich promotional text (“This is such a wonderful product!” without any details) and maybe a few pictures. In other words, the exact same content you could find by visiting Amazon directly and simply visiting the product page. Credit to Google for sending these two-bit sites where they belong: out of the public eye.
Your job is to make your site stand out. You can accomplish this by building a site based around a niche, or a specific product category, instead of just the products themselves.
Let’s say you want to promote wireless internet security cameras. Instead of making a thin site like the one described above that simply lists and promotes the cameras, build your site around the niche of home security, and particularly the ways that technology can be used to improve it. This is something that will provide actual value to your traffic. A few examples of content ideas that could be applied to other niches as well:
- Stories of break-ins and robberies that could have been prevented with a wireless security camera.
- Comparisons of the top-rated security cameras.
- Software programs that integrate well with security equipment.
- How to set up home security equipment.
- Common misconceptions held by those purchasing home security cameras for the first time.
Once your readers see how valuable home security cameras are, they’ll be far more likely to click your affiliate links and actually make a purchase.
Know the Products You’re Promoting
Although you may be tempted to select products to promote simply based on their value or apparent immediate popularity, the post-Panda online environment dictates that it’s better to promote products that you’re actually comfortable discussing through knowledge and experience. Your readers will be able to tell whether you’re an expert regarding the products you’re discussing, and they’ll be more likely to stick around at your site if you are.
If you really want to promote a certain niche that you may not be totally familiar with, there are some good ways of conducting research:
- Visit forums devoted to discussing the products and learn from experts who use them every day.
- Watch Youtube video reviews of the products to see how they work in action.
- Download the manuals for the products to get additional details that might not be included in their general online product descriptions.
- Take advantage of return policies and trial periods. You may be able to try the products in your own home and return them for a full refund, so long as you don’t damage them. Any fees you incur in the form of return shipping will be worth the content you’re able to generate by actually using the products.
Allow for Interactive Discussion
Speaking of forums, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t set one up on your own Amazon affiliate site. Google Panda loves the idea of increased website functionality and interactivity, making a forum for your users an excellent Panda-baiting feature.
It’s important that forums are moderated and kept on topic, so don’t expect to simply create the forum, let it run itself and return to your normal daily operations. Jump in frequently to participate in discussions and answer your visitors’ questions.
Post Video Reviews of Products
Placing some multimedia content on your Amazon affiliate site can truly make it stand apart from the competition. If you have access to the products you’re promoting, record a video of yourself using them while you discuss what you like about it, how you like to use the product, your favorite features, etc. Doing so paints you as an expert with hands-on experience, and builds a higher level of trust between you and your reader.
It’s also possible to review the promoted products using video even if you don’t actually own them. Although “talking head” videos are maligned by some, the fact is that they prove that you’re a real person and not some faceless marketer hiding behind a potentially dubious site.
Think from the Consumer’s Perspective
When creating your Amazon affiliate site, it’s important to occasionally stop and think: If I were a customer researching these products, would this site provide me real, valuable assistance? If the answer is “not really, but I think I have good advertising strategies,” then your site will need a lot more work before it’ll pass the Panda test. Think about the things that you want to see when you’re researching a potential purchase for yourself, and implement them into your Amazon affiliate site.
Guest post written by: Mitch O’Conner, an online marketer and writer. When he’s not busy testing sites, generating traffic or writing content, he enjoys spending time with his wife and kids, watching TV, playing games or going camping.
Can You Make Big Money on Amazon?
In a word, yes. It’s absolutely, 100% possible to make an extremely comfortable living promoting products through the Amazon Associates program.
Plenty of people dismiss the Amazon affiliate program because of its low commission percentages and short cookie times. But the truth is, Amazon’s program has several things going for it that no other provider on the market can compete with. It is these advantages that make the program so appealing to affiliates around the world.
For example, you can’t beat Amazon’s brand recognition or reputation for superior customer service – both of which are known to convert visitors more effectively than most other affiliate programs.
Think about it – who would you trust more to offer a good product for your hard earned dollars? A seemingly fly-by-night affiliate website with a few pages of content and a bunch of banner ads? Or Amazon – the web’s largest retailer, whose A-to-Z customer satisfaction policy guarantees every transaction? When it comes to reputation and trust factors, you just can’t beat Amazon.
Amazon also has another major advantage over most affiliate programs, and that’s the number and breadth of product lines, which can increase the dollar value of your visitor substantially. Although Amazon’s cookie length is short (you only have 24 hours to convert a visitor into a buyer), most customers who click through your link will wind up buying more than just the product you’re promoting.
As an example, say you run a site that promotes scrapbooking products. If your site visitors click through your affiliate link to purchase scrapbooking die cut machines, they might also add scrapbooking stickers, die cut cartridges and decorative papers to their orders to save on shipping costs, which could easily double or triple the amount of the sale. With absolutely no work on your part, you’ve increased your commission substantially.
Now, there’s no arguing with the fact that Amazon’s affiliate percentages are substantially lower than most other affiliate providers. You’re going to start at a 4.00% commission rate, and you’ll have to sell over 3,131 products to reach the highest payout level – which is still only 8.50% for most product categories. Compared with affiliate products that pay out 50-75% per sale, this can be quite a shock to new affiliates when they first join Amazon’s program.
However, there are two factors that make these low commission rates a non-issue. The first is the tendency of visitors to purchase more than just the item they were referred to, which effectively increases your commission rate, as described above. And the second is a choice that you, the affiliate marketer, can make to only promote products over a certain dollar value.
So again, say you’re promoting scrapbooking machines, as in our earlier example. Instead of promoting entry-level machines, which might retail for $50-$100, why not go after the higher end models, which can sell for $500+ or more? For the same amount of work, you’ll earn more money, which will more than compensate for the lower payout rates.
But don’t take my word for it. Look at example like Chris Guthrie, who earned a substantial monthly payout promoting netbooks on his “NetbookReviews.com” website before selling the site in a five-figure deal.
Top Amazon affiliates take advantage of Amazon’s unique perception as being the lowest cost provider of goods, online and offline. They count on their affiliate site visitors to remember Amazon’s free shipping policies, helpful reviews and extensive buying resources – all of which help them translate these visitors into more sales and more income.
To get signed up with the Amazon affiliate program, simply navigate to https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/ and complete the application. Please note that, at this point, affiliates in some states – including Rhode Island, North Carolina, Illinois and, most recently, California – aren’t currently eligible to participate in the program, after these states passed laws that require internet affiliates to collect local sales taxes.
However, if you are eligible for the program, signing up is a breeze and integrating Amazon affiliate ads into your current website is easy to do. So start taking advantage of the unique benefits of partnering with the web’s largest retailer and enjoy what the Amazon affiliate program can do for your bottom line.
Guest post submitted by Pawel Reszka, the creator of Affhelper.com, a blog where he posts killer affiliate marketing tips to help others make money online. Check out his free video course on how to make money with Amazon.
Perpetual 20 Review
This is a review of Ewen Chia’s Perpetual 20 program that has just recently launched and is quickly becoming the talk of the town in the internet marketing world. That’s not surprising considering Ewen Chia is a super affiliate of the highest caliber as well as one of the most well-known and respected online affiliate marketing gurus in the world. Anytime he promotes something or creates a new product of his own (such as perpetual20) it gets a lot of attention.
So, what is perpetual20? Here is a quick review of perpetual 20 so you can learn a little more about it before joining…
In simple terms it is a way to make money online by creating a perpetual (never ending) income by following a very simple system. There’s really not much to it. Here are the 4 simple steps to the program…
1) Start by joining the perpetual 20 program. It’s a very easy and straightforward process to sign up. And the monthly cost is dirt cheap compared to most other money making programs.
2) Once you are in you will get incredible training and resources to build a successful online business. This is to ensure that you never feel alone and helpless. You will have the tools you need to succeed on the internet.
3) Start promoting and referring others. All you need to do is refer just 4 people and you will be fully qualified! That gets the ball rolling towards a huge pile of money that keeps coming in every month. That is what’s called residual income!
4) Last but not least, you earn forever. Yes, you will get passive residual income every month like clockwork. And it will continue to grow as your referrals start bringing more people on board.
That’s about as simple as it can get when it comes to starting your own internet home business and making money online. Of course, it will take some time and work for marketing to get your referrals, but that can be expected. You can’t generate a sold monthly income without doing something to build it up.
There are actually 3 ways to earn with this program:
1) Unlimited $20 commission payments on your personal referrals
2) Reverse 2-up residual income from members below you
3) Quality products you can sell for instant profits
And you get all the tools, training, and resources you need to make it happen. This provides a solid opportunity along with a great set of products.
One more great thing about it is each sale made gets deposited directly into your Alert Pay account, which can then be transferred directly to your own bank account or sent to you by check. I like that because you don’t have to wait for the company to process and pay out your commissions.
Since perpetual 20 just launched, it hasn’t been around long enough to give a full in-depth review or provide actual data or personal experiences about how well it is working. However, it does appear to be a winner. And Ewen Chia is known for putting out amazing products so that speaks highly of it from the start.
There’s even more to it than I can fully explain in one blog post, so I encourage you to go read the site yourself. Be sure to check out the home page videos, compensation plan, frequently asked questions, products page, and everything else to get a full overview of the perpetual20 system.
Best Web Hosting Affiliate Program
If you are looking for the best web hosting affiliate program then you need to look no further than HostGator! They are an extremely popular web host among internet marketers and their affiliate program is a great way to make money online. They are widely considered to have the best web hosting affiliate program — or at least one of them — and it is completely free to join.
The reason they are so popular as a web host is because their prices are very low, you can host unlimited websites on one account, they have great support, very little down time, cpanel, and they offer pretty much everything you need from a hosting company. All of this together makes them the best web host according to many internet marketers, bloggers, and webmasters. I’ve had several different hosts over the years and by far my favorite is HostGator. I recommend them to everyone.
Rarely are there any problems with Hostgator, but all web hosts have issues every once in a while, and when it does happen their support team are very quick to resolve it. I’ve used the live chat feature any time I have had an issue and they have resolved it in a matter of minutes without any hassles. That is the sign of a great webhost and it helps their affiliate program to be an even better way to make money online.
Now, the reason they have the best affiliate program among web hosts is because they offer great commissions for sales. Their payout is one of the highest in the industry. You earn between $50 to $125 per sale. Plus, since it is such a cheap web host and a very popular host, sales are relatively easy to get. They also provide you with all of the tools you need to convert your traffic into sales thus making it even easier for you to make money with their affiliate program.
If you are looking for the best web hosting affiliate program to earn the maximum amount of money then you should definitely check out HostGator. And if you are looking for the best web host to actually use for your websites then once again Host Gator is highly recommended.
Residual Income Affiliate Programs
There’s little doubt that residual income is the best type you can have because it keeps coming in every month with very little (if any) extra work on your part. You basically do the work once and get paid forever! It’s typically passive and can usually be scaled up to an incredible amount. So it’s no surprise that residual income affiliate programs are among the most popular of all. Here are some of the best ones for you to choose from…
* SFI Marketing Group – SFI is a very popular home business opportunity that can be run 100% online and you can start for free. You will not have to make a single phone call or face-to-face sales pitch with this program. SFI is also a solid company associated with many huge names in the internet marketing world. It’s actually where I got my start back in 2003. There are many beautiful things about this program but my favorite is that it can provide you with residual income. There are millions of members worldwide and it has been one of the top affiliate programs for many years. Becoming an executive affiliate is the key to getting started earning money with SFI.
* My World Plus – This is a unique affiliate program that provides a way for you to make money by helping other people save money on things they are already buying every day. At the same time you can earn a residual income by promoting the business opportunity. They provide great training, a high quality product that people actually need, a superb system, and a top notch commission structure.
* ClickBank – This isn’t actually a residual income program in itself. However, they do have a huge database of all types of affiliate programs that you can promote for free, and many of them do provide residual earnings on sales. No matter what niche you are in or what market you are targeting, you will be able to find something related to it at clickbank that offers recurring commissions.
* Residual Websites – Earn a large percentage of each sale plus passive residual income every month! When you refer affiliates you also earn a large percentage of their affiliates earnings. This can be a great way to build up a high monthly residual income. They even offer real-time statistics and many other great tools to help you succeed.
* Site Build It! (SBI) – The Five Pillar Program from SiteSell is two-tier and pays incredible commissions on both tiers. You can receive lifetime commissions but they do stop if you quit generating new sales. SBI achieves high customer retention rates by over-delivering on their promises. This is one of the top affiliate programs on the internet. It’s a highly recommended residual income program to make money online and one of my best earners.
Residual income affiliate programs are often the best way to make money online simply because you can do the same amount of work as other affiliate programs but you continue to get paid a passive income over and over again for work you did just once. It takes the best of both worlds and combines them to make one amazing way to earn money!
