How to boost amazon sales as an affiliate

2. How To Boost Amazon Sales As An Affiliate Want to learn step-by-step how I built my Niche Site Empire up to a full-time income? During my online “career” I have built several sites monetized with Amazon Associates. In fact, 3 of the largest case studies I've done on my site here (Niche Site Project 1, Niche Site Project 2, and NSP 3 ) all involved building Amazon affiliate sites from scratch. During my years of building these sites, I've picked up a few tactics and techniques to help me earn more in affiliate commissions from Amazon. Some of these strategies are simple on- page “hacks”, while other are bigger pictures ways of thinking about your business. I originally published this list near the beginning of 2015, and while many things haven't changed I thought I should share some additional strategies that are working in 2016 and beyond. First Things First I've heard stories of different marketers who have had their Amazon Associates accounts banned because of violating terms of service. While I've done my best to ensure this guide is up to date and all of my tips are in compliance with their latest requirements for Amazon affiliates, here are a couple of excellent articles to

3. check out that help clear up some of the mistakes people make (sometimes unknowingly) that result in a banned account: Marketing With Sara – Anchor Text and Link Cloaking Marketever – 16 Common Mistakes That Get People Banned Now that we've moved past the disclaimer portion of the article, let's talk about how you can maximize your Amazon Associates earnings: Personalize Your Recommendations One strategy we've implemented this year on a site that currently makes over $3,000 per month is actually “quizzing” our visitors to find out what kind of product would suit them best. By using Thrive Leads (made by one of our favorite theme developers) we set up a multi-step pop-up box that starts by asking a question about a problem that we know many of our visitors have. If they say “yes” we then ask a couple more clarifying questions about their personal preferences, and then at the end we drop them on a landing page that delivers a personalized product recommendation (Amazon affiliate link) based on their answers. While it sounds complicated, setting up a multi-step opt in is actually fairly simple with Thrive Leads. The beautiful part about it is that you're also giving yourself a chance to not only get a click, but also convert better since you really are delivering value to the reader by showing them a product that can help.

4. Follow-up via Email While adding Amazon affiliate links directly into an email is a no- no, that doesn't mean you can't and shouldn't follow-up with your readers and drive them back to your blog (where you do have affiliate links). We actually use this in tandem with the first strategy of quizzing our visitors and delivering personalized recommendations. So at the end of our 3 question quiz, we ask people to put in their email address in order to see their results. When they do, we take them straight to a landing page, but we also use an email auto- responder to deliver an email. The great thing is, you don't have to deliver a generic email because you do actually know a few things about your visitor and what they want. So you can send an email that says something like “Thanks for sharing what your needs are in a gas grill! We hope our personal recommendation was a winner, but if not click here to read our full guide to buying the right gas grill.” By doing that, you've got another opportunity to show products to that person who is a very targeted visitor. If you don't already have an email service, click here to check out Aweber. Target “Buying” Keywords

5. When people shop online, they go through a process of general queries to more specific queries. You want to target phrases that people are searching for when they are closer to that buying stage. For example, let's say you have a site about sleeping bags. Instead of targeting phrases that are more general like, “sleeping bags” or “what is a sleepingbag”, you should target phrases where you know people are likely shopping…such as “best sleeping bags” or “sleeping bags under $100”. These searchers are clearly looking for more information in order to make a purchase decision. You will get a much higher conversion rate (commissions!) when you get this kind of traffic on your site. Target Long Tail Keywords…Even with Low Search Volume Yes, this is similar to the first point; however, it's important to take this one step further. Don't just stop at “best sleeping bags” or “sleeping bag reviews”! You should target phrases that are even longer tailed, which could mean going after keywords with very low search volume. I do that here on Niche Pursuits and every blog or website I've built. That's okay! Even though you may get less traffic per article/keyword, these are HIGH conversion type keywords. For example, we could be targeting “best sleeping bags under $100” or “cheap sleeping bags for toddlers”. These are some excellent long tail phrases that people would be using that are close to a buying decision.

6. Also, if you listened to my podcast with Claire Smith recently, you will know that she does VERY well (over $10k per month) by targeting these very long tail, very low volume type of keywords. These keywords take less links to rank for because there is just so much less competition. As an FYI, I used Long Tail Pro to find these long tail phrases in this sleeping bag example. Don't Miss International Commissions If you are using only the standard Amazon US affiliate link, then you're missing out on potential commissions when you get clicks from international visitors from countries like Canada, the U.K, and many more. Fortunately, the newest version of EasyAzon 4 includes automatic link localization. We've also tested a product called Genius Link which handles that as well. By using these services, your affiliate links will automatically change based on the location of your visitor. So a Canadian reader will click your link and end up on Amazon.ca, and you can still earn a commission if they purchase. Jake actually used this for one of his sites when he discovered that he was getting about 14% of his visits from the UK and Canada:

7. I know Jake uses the aforementioned Genius Link on his site and just by signing up for Amazon Associates UK and Canada he has made hundreds of dollars that would have been completely missed. Note: You do have to sign up for each country's Associates program individually, so it might not make sense to do every single country/region you get visits from. However, check out your Geo Location report in Google Analytics and you just might find that you are leaving big money on the table.

8. Affiliate Link to Images A simple but often overlooked tactic to improve you Amazon affiliate sales is to link to Amazon using all the images in your post. When people are reading your product review articles, they will very often click on the image. If the image link simply pulls up the image file on your site, that's potentially one less visitor you could have sent to Amazon. However, if your image is actually an Amazon affiliate link, you increase the chances that more people will end up on Amazon looking for products to buy. The more clicks you send to Amazon, the more buyers you will end up with. If you have ever tried to upload images, position them, label them, and then add an Amazon affiliate link, you know how time consuming this can be. It's worth it. However, luckily there is a tool that makes adding Amazon affiliate image links much easier. I have been using EasyAzon for a few years now, and it honestly just makes building an Amazon affiliate site much easier. So, if you want to add images that already have your affiliate link in-place, I highly recommend that you check out EasyAzon 4 right here. Use In-Content Links Similar to using affiliate links for your images, you can send more people to Amazon by using in-content links. In fact, these in- content links are the most likely links to get clicked!

9. Unfortunately, many people think that just inserting an amazon banner or an image link will be enough to make decent sales; however, this is not the case. If you are writing useful content, then people will actually read it and will click on your links within your content. All I mean is this: If I was talking about sleeping bags, I might simply say…”And to see the my top recommendation of a sleeping bag for a toddler under $50 click here. The link in that previous sentence is an “in-content” link. I also use EasyAzon 4 to make inserting these types of in-content links much faster. (The above link was inserted with EasyAzon). Rather than going over to Amazon, finding the product I want to link to, going through the process of finding the affiliate links on Amazon, and then pasting into my website; I can just stay in my WordPress backend and pull up the product and add the link using EasyAzon. I really like the fact that I don't have to leave my blog post to find and insert product links. Use Heat Maps To See Where People Click Heat maps are a tool that show you very clearly where people click when they are on your website. Something that stuck with me from a conference I attended last year was a speaker who was talking about heat maps and said“I guarantee people are clicking on things that aren't clickable.”

10. Your heat map will start tracking clicks on a given page and then you can check out the results like this: Image Source: AppSumo.com/heat-maps/ Whether it's making your images clickable like I mentioned earlier, or even just getting a sense of what might be the best place to put your ads and comparison tables, it certainly won't hurt to have this knowledge. There are a number of solutions out there, but an easy one I've used is from SumoMe. (They also have some other cool tools for your website.)

11. Test Using “Add to Cart” Option…. Longer Cookie Did you know that you can get a 90-day cookie when you send someone to Amazon through your affiliate link? When you use a regular affiliate link, the cookie is just 24 hours. However, if you create a special link that automatically adds the product to someone's Amazon cart when they go through your affiliate link, Amazon will lengthen your cookie to 90 days! (If they buy in 90 days, you still get the commission). Now, I would like to clarify that I think you should test this option. It may or may not work better in your niche. Each market and website is different, so this option may or may not be the best for you. To be honest, I don't know how to create an affiliate link that auto-adds a product to someone's cart without using a tool. This is just a simple option in EasyAzon that you can turn on or off. Here's a screenshot of several of the options in EasyAzon; including the Add to Cart Option:

12. Produce Quality Content I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that if you produce great content, not only will you rank better in Google, but more people will actually buy from you. This is an entire process in and of itself. Luckily, Perrin has written a few ideas on creating content that engages and converts right here. A big part of creating “great” content is just understanding what your audience is really looking for and meeting those needs. Some of this can be done through highly targeted content and research;

13. but part of it also just comes with seeing what your competitors are doing and deciding what you can do better. A couple of simple areas that you can often do better than your competitors is creating comparison charts and best seller lists. Create Fair Comparisons Another long tail keyword we like to use is Brand A vs. Brand B or doing articles on which type of product you should choose. When you write those, do your best to be very fair and honest with your readers. Trust is a big part of conversion, so the more people feel like they can believe what you say, the better your chances are that they'll actually make a purchase based on a recommendation. Most people understand that products aren't perfect, so don't be afraid to make a list of “cons” or things that could be improved about a product when you're review it or comparing to another model. The odds are, if you write about every product like it's the best thing since sliced bread, readers will tune you out because you just sound like someone who really wants them to buy something. Don't be that person! Use Eye-Catching Comparison Charts When I first started my survival knife site (from Niche Site Project 1), I wanted to make my site better than the others that

14. were ranking at the top of Google. One of the ways that I decided to make my site stand out was by creating a comparison chart of the top survival knives on the market. This produced great results for me not only in terms of quality content, but I found that more people started buying as they compared using the chart I had created. Since then, I don't know if I started a bit of a trend, but nearly every Amazon affiliate site I see now uses many of the same comparison chart tactics. I've written an in-depth guide on how to create your own Amazon product comparison charts right here. Another option that has just been released is to use the TableZon extension for EasyAzon 4. I just recently got to check out TableZon from Chris Guthrie and it's a pretty cool way to create comparison charts quickly and easily right within WordPress. TableZon is only available to those that buy EasyAzon 4. It's an upsell immediately following purchase. Create Best Seller Lists Another way to increase your amazon affiliate earnings is to create best seller lists within your blog posts. This is a bit different than a comparison chart. A comparison chart might only focus on survival knives under a certain price point for example. A best seller list will focus on the products that sell the most in your given category.

15. For example, let's say I wanted to create a list of the top 5 selling point and shoot digital cameras on Amazon. One option is to go to Amazon.com/BestSellers and select the correct category to start creating your best seller list. This is the current list of best selling point and shoot digital cameras: You would then have to take the information from each of those products and insert some kind of list on your site. This could get time consuming.

16. Or you can use the BestSeller Azon extension for EasyAzon 4 (it's sold as an upgrade after initial purchase). I don't know of any other simple ways to create these best seller lists. I could create a much more comprehensive best sellers list or change up how the links act. But overall, I was able to quickly create a list of the bestselling products on Amazon for my chosen category, and they are immediately inserted into the post with my affiliate link. Cash in on Competition As you may know, one of my affiliate sites makes some of its money by promoting my own brand of products sold via Amazon FBA. However, we don't hesitate to talk about and even recommend some of our top competitors on Amazon. Why? Because people aren't going to buy my product 100% of the time. So in addition to having articles that feature our own products, we also have articles where our product really isn't a good fit based on the topic. In those cases, we don't hesitate to recommend different products on Amazon via our affiliate link. Hey, if someone wants to buy from a competitor I'd rather get 7 or 8% of that money than 0%. So if you also sell products on Amazon in addition to using Amazon Associates, don't get stuck only writing about/promoting your own products.

17. Curate Deals There are some big time sites out there like Dealnews.com that pretty much do nothing other than scour the internet for discounts and deals and then list them out for their readers. In most cases, they are affiliates of those sites so when people purchase, they make money as well. This model works because we all love getting a good deal! So you can do a smaller version of the same thing by checking out Amazon on a weekly or monthly basis and finding products that fit your niche which are being sold below retail price. You can even have a dedicated “deals” page on your website in your navigation menu so visitors can easily find it. Plus, sending a regular deal alert email using an auto-responder service like Aweber to make sure the people on your list get used to coming back to your site on a regular basis to find the best deals on products they're interested in. Don't Forget the Small Fish One of the cool things about Amazon's Associate program is that the commission percentage goes up based on how many products you sell in a month. So you start at 4% but can go all the way up to 8.5% per sale. That is a HUGE difference!

18. So while most people spend their time focusing on higher dollar products, it's also important to not forget about the ‘smaller fish' low dollar products that people buy. While the individual commission on an $8 product isn't much, if you sell a few hundred $5 – $10 products per month in addition to the big money items, your overall commission goes up. So be sure to have a nice mix of products, both low dollar and high so you can maximize both volume and commissions A Few Closing Thoughts… Overall, hopefully some of these tips that I've shared can help you increase your affiliate commissions on Amazon. These little tactics can ensure that you send the greatest number of people to Amazon. Amazon has such huge brand awareness and trust that once you get people to the Amazon page, you just let Amazon do the rest. In addition to the tactics and strategies I've mentioned, I do think a tool like EasyAzon can be quite valuable in speeding up the process of implementing lots of these strategies. Just so you know, I have been using EasyAzon for over 3 years now, and I've never had an issues. Version 4 of EasyAzon is just being released for the first time this week. Chris Guthrie (the creator) has given me an advanced copy of v4 and I've been very happy with the updates I've seen.

19. In addition, the 2 extensions I mentioned (TableZon and Best Seller Azon) are only available to buyers of EasyAzon 4. These 2 extensions are some great upgrades that can just further streamline the process of managing your affiliate links. I recommend checking out EasyAzon 4 Right Here As always, I'd love to hear any comments or questions that you might have in regard to increasing affiliate commissions on Amazon. Do you have any other tactics that you use that I haven't mentioned here? Let us all know! Give Choices, But Not Too Many When you’re creating content that’s promoting products, there’s one rule that you want to keep in mind: less is more. By that, we mean that less options are usually better than giving your visitor 5-10 different options for products to choose from.

20. What typically happens, when you give the visitor too many choices, is a state of confusion, and a lack of action -- the exact opposite of what you’re trying to achieve. Instead of creating lists of 10 products that you think your audience will be interested in, try cutting back to a much smaller list. For instance, using 2-3 products in a post is going to perform substantially better than a post that contains 5-7 products. Likewise, a post that is centered around one product, alone, is going to perform substantially better than one that contains 2-3 products. Instead of confusing your visitors, which leads to them not buying anything, try cutting back the amount of choices you’re offering, and watch your conversion rates increase.

21. 21 Tips To Instantly Increase Your Amazon Affiliate Earnings There’s a ton of information available for you to get started making money from affiliate sites using Amazon’s Associates program. During our research, though, one aspect that a lot of marketers, teachers, and coaches fail to properly address is what to do once you’re finally making money. We’re here to address that problem. Remember, though, that this guide assumes you’ve already got traffic coming into your affiliate site, and are looking to increase the existing earnings. If you haven’t already tapped into a traffic source and begun making sales, focus on doing what you can to increase the number of visitors that are seeing your pages every day. Then come back and revisit this guide. For those of you with existing earnings and solid traffic levels, though, here are 21 tips that are going to help you instantly increase the amount of money your Associate’s based sites are bringing in each month.

22. Tip #1 - Split Test Your Page Copy When we sit down at the keyboard to start writing, we all like to assume that we have an idea of what the reader is going to be looking for -- or, at least, you should have an idea of what the reader is looking for. However, through split testing, your eyes can be opened, helping you quickly realize that what the reader was looking for was entirely different than what you’ve managed to create for them. That’s why, once you have a post that’s churning out sales for you, you should consider split testing portions of the page copy. Often times, coming up with a new angle to take, you can get the visitor thinking about the product in a different way -- one that resonates with them better, and gets them to make the purchase that much easier.

23. If you have the post ranking highly in the search results, it’s not recommended to change the entire page out, because you risk losing the rankings and traffic. However, if you’re testing social traffic, or a paid advertising channel, you can get away with adjusting the entire post and split testing it against your original. Tip #2 - Link Your Images To Amazon People love to click around once they’re on your website. This is especially true for the images you’ve include inside of the posts you’ve created that link to Amazon’s products. If you don’t already do it, go back through your posts and make sure that the images included are being hot linked to the Amazon product page -- using your Associates ID, of course.

24. To get started, add the tag “target=_blank” to the links on your images, to ensure that a new window is opened up with the product and that the visitor can continue reading through your post. Most times, the visitor will get distracted while they’re on Amazon, make their purchase, and then come back to reading your article again -- or finding new ones on your site to browse through. To link your images to a product on Amazon, grab your affiliate link, then edit the post containing the image. Click on the image itself, and then click on the hyperlink icon in your WordPress editor toolbar. Finally, insert your affiliate link and click save. Tip #3 - Include A Call To Action At The End Of Articles There’s no hard-fast rule about when you should include a “Call To Action” inside of your articles, but one generally accepted time to tell your visitors what to do is at the end of your articles. Unfortunately, a lot of affiliates simply finish their article without really telling the visitor what to do next. Remember, though, that readers like to be told exactly what to do. That’s where your call to action comes in.

25. At the end of your post, take the time to let the reader know they can get more in-depth customer reviews, find out the pricing, or make their purchase by clicking on the link placed at the end of your content. Instead of just sprinkling links throughout the article, hoping that the user will click one, tell them specifically at the end to click the link to be taken to Amazon. Tip #4 - Split Test Your Calls To Action Now that you’re going to be including calls to action throughout your post (and at the end, especially) you’ll also want to split test what text you’re using to convince the reader to click through to Amazon.

26. There are a few different strategies you can test, to determine which version works best with the audience that you’re creating content for. Test a few of these examples to see which one gets the highest click through rating: Click here to see more customer reviews Click here to buy X on Amazon.com now! Click here to see the latest prices on X Ready to buy? Click here, now Remember, changing up one word can mean the difference between a 5% CTR and a 10% CTR on your links. It always pays to test, test, test.

27. Tip #5 - Include Comparison Tables A quick way to add another page to your site, and give your visitors a way to browse through various products that are available in your niche is through the use of comparison tables. These tables line up anywhere from 5 to 20 different products and include a ton of different metrics that the user can sort by, giving them a chance to decide which product is right for them before they start clicking over to Amazon. Previously, you’d have to know HTML and how to build the tables yourself. However, a plugin called TablePress lets you launch the comparison tables on a page of your site within a few minutes.

28. Once you’ve gathered all the data from the bestseller’s list on Amazon, you can input it into the plugin, and build the table. Then, you just have to place the shortcode onto the page that you’ve created, and voila, you’ve got another avenue for helping your visitors make the right buying decision, and an easy way for them to click on more of your affiliate links. Find common metrics between the products that you’re comparing to include inside of your table. For instance, if the products have a variety of sizes, colors, and other options, be sure to include them in their own field on the table, as well as a basic pricing structure, such as $ for the cheapest, and $$$$ for most expensive. Tip #6 - Test Different Types Of Ads There are dozens of different ways you can get the visitor to click over from your site to a product listing on Amazon -- which should be the goal for every piece of content, and affiliate link you create. Most people, though, will stop at including a few text links, or maybe including some hyperlinked photos on their content. (You should be, after reading this, if you aren’t already.)

29. Instead of stopping at links and photos, though, try out some of the other widgets that Amazon has available. For the most part, you shouldn’t only rely on the widgets, such as showcases or sliders, because the CTR is going to be lower than a link or a photo included inside of your post. However, the widgets do help increase your user engagement on the content, which can, in turn, help you generate more clicks on the links you’ve included throughout the post, too. Don’t overdo it with the widgets. If you choose to include them, make sure that they’re working to help add to your content, instead of becoming the center of attention. Remember, these widgets are not going to convert nearly as high as a contextual link will.

30. Tip #7 - Create Posts Showing How Visitors Can Use The Products A lot of Associates affiliates have one thing in common: they’ve never used the products they’re actually creating reviews on. While we won’t necessarily get into the legality of this practice, we’ll all agree that it’s wide-spread, and generally considered socially-accepted when you’re building out affiliate sites. If you want to set yourself apart from the pack, though, go one step further and actually get your hands on the products you’re going to be reviewing. This can be done in a variety of ways:

31. Purchase The Product, Then Review It, Later Offering It As A Giveaway To Your Readers. Reach Out To A Seller On Amazon, And Work Out A Deal In Exchange For Free Products. Ask A Seller On Amazon For In-Depth Photos In Exchange For Sending Traffic Their Way. Go To Your Local Department Store And Take In- Person Photos Of The Product. Or, Ask One Of Your Friends Or Family Members If They Own It. Once you have legitimate pictures of the product being used, you can connect with the readers on a completely different level. No longer are you the “spammy” affiliate site that’s just trying to make a quick buck. Instead, you’ve escalated yourself to a true reviewer, and have pictures that aren’t available anywhere else on the web. Your reviews instantly become more trustworthy when the readers can see that you’ve legitimately used the product, and are providing honest opinions about whether or not it is a good purchase. This not only generates more sales for you, but can set your site up to receive a lot of links down the road, when people want a reference to use on forums and other blogs.

32. Tip #8 - Track Your Affiliate Links If you’re not tracking the clicks on your links, you’re leaving out a LOT of money on the table. Most people don’t understand how to actually go about tracking their Associates links, other than creating a tracking ID inside of Amazon. You know, the one that looks like “yoursitename-20”? While using Amazon’s basic tracking IDs works for determining which of your sites is making the most sales, it’s an incredibly bulky and inefficient way to determine which posts and links are getting the most clicks. To get around this problem, there's a free plugin called "Pretty Links" that lets you, well, make your links pretty.

33. As the name implies, the plugin will let you take your ugly affiliate links, the ones that look like: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D4IG9N6/ref=as_li_ss_tl ?ie=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=deskto p-1&pf_rd_r=0CSH8RTBMDQKB1WW0G1V&pf_rd_p=2437869742 And turn them into links that look like: http://yourdomain.com/linkname Not only does it make your links look better, though, it also gives you detailed stats on which links are getting the most views and clicks. This helps you split test different versions of the link text, while also giving you an area to focus on when you’re trying to get quick wins on your Associates sites. Remember, if you can measure the data, you can tweak and fine tune your process -- increasing your earnings as you go. Tip #9 - Create Ultimate “Buyer’s Guides” When a visitor lands on your site and then makes the decision to stay and read the content you’re offering up, it’s because you’ve connected with them in some way.

34. The best way to rank higher in the search engines, while also connecting with your readers and convincing them to stay on your page is through a type of content called “Ultimate Buyer’s Guides”. If you’ve been around the affiliate game for any length of time, you know the type of content I’m talking about. It’s usually filled with various keywords related to the product, and can run anywhere from 2,000 words, to upwards of 10,000 or 15,000 words in some of the more extreme cases. What these guides do, though, is give the buyer every single piece of information they could possibly need to make a decision on whether or not to purchase. They work so well, in fact, that even large brands have started creating them. Take a look at this buyer’s guide, created for users looking to buy a radar detector:

35. http://www.crutchfield.com/S- U4wVoAmCq8y/learn/learningcenter/car/radar.html You can see the length and depth of the content, and how far it goes into persuading the user to finally make a purchase. By creating these types of guides on your site, you’re setting yourself up to not only capture a lot more search engine traffic (because of the sheer amount of content and keywords included) but you’re also showing the visitor that you’ve taken the time and properly researched their buying decision for them, making their life that much easier. Tip #10 - Increase Rankings On "Easy Wins" In The SERPs There are two factors that determine how much search engine traffic you can funnel into your site: #1 - How high your pages rank in the search results. #2 - How well you entice visitors to click through to your page.

36. It’s a long time proven fact that search engine traffic is among the most profitable for affiliate review sites. In a study by Marketing Land, an estimated 30% of traffic clicks on the #1 spot in Google, followed by a much lower 14% clicking on #2, 10% clicking on #3, and dropping off substantially when you’re ranked lower than the #4 spot. That means, if you’re able to build more links to your review posts, you’re going to increase your placement in the search results, and obtain a much higher click through rate, naturally. However, there’s another way to effectively “swipe” traffic from the top spots, because of how users interact with the search results. As the visitors are scanning, they’re looking through the meta descriptions to determine which result may be the best fit for what they’re looking for.

37. That’s your chance to swoop in and grab the traffic that should have gone to the top spots. By tweaking your meta description, you can entice visitors to click through that would have normally scrolled right past your listing, and visited another page. Tip #11 - Setting Up FB News Feed Ads Social platforms, such as Facebook, are amazing for cheap clicks when you setup paid advertising campaigns, but require that you have an intimate understanding of the market that you’re targeting. Because the profit margins are on the thinner side with Associates commissions, you can’t afford to just toss money at the problem and hope it pays off. That leaves major advertising platforms out. However, if you can tap into your market, and understand what makes them purchase, you can setup a cheap ad campaign on

38. Facebook, and other social platforms, getting the products in front of the people you know are going to make a purchase. To help you get started, here is a great post by the Social Media Examiner, explaining in great detail how to setup your first news feed ad. Remember to take your time, and start small, at first. Tip #12 - "Best" and "Review" Keywords If you already have a good amount of traffic coming into your affiliate sites, you’ve probably already noticed that certain keywords tend to convert higher than other types of keywords. This is because of something known as “buyer intent”. In short, buyer intent means that each visitor that comes to your site is going to be at a different level of being ready to make a purchase.

39. Some are going to be interested in information only (cold traffic) while others are going to have their wallet out, looking for a recommendation on which product to buy. Most times, the visitor will get distracted while they’re on Amazon, make their purchase, and then come back to reading your article again -- or finding new ones on your site to browse through. You want to target those users who have their wallet out, and are eagerly waiting for you to tell them what to purchase. An easy way to start tapping into those specific visitors is by targeting keywords such as “best widgets” and “widget reviews”. Replacing widgets with your keywords, or products in your niche. If a user is searching for “best” or “reviews”, you know that they are at the end of the buyer’s cycle, and are ready to make a purchase.

40. Tip #13 - Write A "Best Sellers" List Another great way to increase the earnings on your site is by creating a “best sellers” list of products that other people have purchased. This list can be generated straight from Amazon and are fairly easy to produce -- all you’re doing is introducing your visitors to what the bestselling products are in your niche. Easy enough, right? To get started, go to Amazon.com and browse over to your niche’s product categories. Then, once you’re at the category listing page, click on “Sort By” and select “Avg. Customer Review”.

41. Now, you’ll be given a list of the products in your niche that have the highest reviews by customers who have purchased them -- the “best sellers” list. Choose the top 3-5, or even up to 10, if you’re feeling frisky, and begin to write your post. Most times, a small 100-200-word blurb on each is more than enough to introduce your readers to the product, and summarize the benefits, and why so many customers prefer it over the many others that are available to buy. Tip #14 - Sell More, Cheaper Priced Products When you’re trying to increase the amount, you make from Amazon each month, a great way to do it is by increasing the amount you make off of each product that you do sell. As you’re just getting started on Amazon, and the month starts over, your commission level is going to be reset at 4%. While that’s livable for a lot of people, you want to get into the higher tiers of commissions as quickly as possible.

42. If you sell enough products, you can earn up to 8.5% commissions, effectively more than doubling the amount you earn each month. It’s not always so cut-and-dried, though, when it comes to increasing the number of products you sell each month. You can either increase the amount of traffic you have coming into your site (difficult, for the most part) or you can start promoting much lower priced items, that will sell a lot more often. By promoting lower cost items, you’re going to make a lot more sales. And making more sales means that your commission level quickly starts to bump up from 4%, to 5%, 6%, and on, until you’re at the 8.5% commission tier. Tip #15 - Promote High-End Products On the flip side of the coin as Tip #15, which recommends you sell lower priced products to increase your commission level, you can

43. also sell higher priced products to earn a lot more from each sale that you generate. Think about it, if you’re at a 6% commission level, and you sell a $20 product. You’re going to get paid $1.20. Not bad, if you can do that dozens of times each day. Now think about another scenario where you’re selling a $1,000 product at the same 6% commission level. You’re going to make $60 off the sale -- and only need to pull that off once, or twice a day, to hit a substantial income from your affiliate site. If there are highly priced products available in your niche, get to writing about them. Take it one step further, and try to get your hands on the product so you can create the most in-depth review on the internet, and you stand to make lot more than 1 or 2 sales a day.

44. Tip #16 - Target More Longtail Keywords Going back to the “buyers’ intent” and where the visitor is at on the chain of just wanting to read some entertaining content vs pulling out their wallet and making a purchase, longer keywords are (generally) going to convert better than shorter, “head” keywords. As an example, think about the keyword “widgets” and compare it to “how do I X with widget”. Which do you think is going to be more targeted, and easier to potentially promote a product as the solution to their problem? Can you even spot a problem with the keyword “widgets”? Chances are, you can spot numerous. That makes it incredibly difficult to effectively solve all of the problems within one post. Now, look at the second example, “how do I X with widget”. The visitor has a problem and needs a solution. Can you see how much

45. easier it would be to solve their problem, and recommend a product as the solution to it? Targeting “longtail” keywords also gives you a lot more chances to rank higher in the search engines, because most websites focus on the “head” keywords vs the much lower searched for longtails. Tip #17 - Get Ideas From Other Products Customers Have Purchased If you’ve spent any length of time as an Associates affiliate, you’ve probably realized that the products you’re promoting from your site aren’t always the products that customers end up purchasing. In fact, if you stop and look through your recent sales history, you may be shocked at some of the stuff people have purchased after clicking on one of your affiliate links.

46. After all, Amazon gives you semi-anonymous shopping capabilities, so people tend to buy the types of things that they wouldn’t be caught dead purchasing from a local retailer, where their friends and family might see them. Now, we’re not telling you to rush out and start promoting all those off-the-wall products that your visitors have purchased. You may end up turning off a large portion of your readers. However, you can use this list of crazy products to generate some ideas that your readers may actually find useful, and begin including them into the content you produce. Tip #18 - Write Sales Promos During the Holidays & Large Shopping Periods There are certain times of the year when you’re going to make more sales than normal. If you’re promoting products that are primarily used during the summer, springtime is going to be a great time for you. Likewise, if the products are used more during the winter, autumn is going to produce substantially higher sales from your site.

47. One-time period that lifts the sales rates for every Associates based site, though, is at the end of the year. It’s not unheard of for people to generate 10 times the amount of sales they would normally make, during the holiday promotional period. Black Friday, for instance, is a consumer’s dream -- especially when it comes to buying online. To get prepared for the holiday season, make sure that you’re increasing the amount of promotion you’re doing in the months before the sales start to pick up. If you’re caught with your pants down, and try to start promoting at the beginning of December, you’re going to make more sales, but not nearly as many as you would if you were to start preparing for the holiday season during, say, October and November.

48. Tip #19 - Leverage Social Media Tip #11 introduces you to the power of paid advertising using social media platforms. But you can take it one step further, and tap into the massive amounts of traffic that’s available on sites like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, and others for free. Utilizing this strategy requires a little creativity on your part, because, most times, you aren’t going to be able to find a group or a page that’s strictly related to the types of products you’re promoting on Amazon. Let’s go back to our radar detector example. You’re not going to find a group of 10,000 people who are eagerly waiting for some authority blogger to post up the newest radar detector for them to look at.

49. What you will find, though, if you focus on thinking about the marketing (people who buy those radar detectors) and where the market hangs out, you’ll find hundreds of thousands of people who would be interested in reading a blog post showing them how to get the most of their radar detector, and safely avoid getting a speeding ticket while they’re enjoying their ride. Where would those people be hanging out? In car groups. Car enthusiasts are the people who buy radar detectors. Do you think that if you joined a bunch of car groups, and provided useful content to help them not only avoid a speeding ticket (with a detector) but also how to beat the ticket in court, should they get one, that you wouldn’t get people to click through to your site? Of course, you would. You’re getting a relevant message in front of people who will potentially make a purchase. Just keep it from becoming a spam fest, or you’re going to get banned from the groups. They tend to have a low tolerance for spammers, which you’ll quickly learn if you jump in and start posting links. Tip #20 - Create Your Own Graphics Every Associates affiliate does the same thing: jumps onto Amazon, finds the product they want to promote, swipes some images, writes some content, and then uploads the images to their site.

50. Think about that for a second. Just about every single affiliate you’re going to be competing against is doing the same thing you’re probably guilty of already doing. So how do you set yourself apart? You create your own graphics. Even if it’s taking the stock photos, and adding some of your own flare to them -- through text, borders, or backgrounds -- you need to stop using the stock photos. Customers have been trained to spot an affiliate because of the fact that they throw up the stock images, and move onto writing the next post. If you really want to set yourself apart, put your money where your mouth is and go out to buy the products that you’re going to be reviewing. Not only does this give you hands on photos that will help your readers picture themselves using the product, but you’re going to