The Bigger Picture When Considering Who To Affiliate With
I see it all the time:
"Amazon aren't the best affiliate program, they only give 4% commission and it's only a 24 hour cookie, don't waste your time with them."
It's true that Amazon only gives you 4% (but you only need 7 sales in a month to get to 6%), and it's true the cookie is only 24 hours, but I'm going to repeat what Steve (IveTriedThat) said to me once when I was a relatively new marketer, and was moaning about how lame the Amazon affiliate program was:
It would be foolish to ignore the world's biggest online retailer.
And he was, as he usually is, correct.
I've made more money from Amazon's affiliate program than I have from any other program, including ones that pay out 70% and offer a 30-day cookie. So let's not write Amazon off just yet shall we?
I'm not saying you HAVE to affiliate with Amazon, you don't. There might well be some fantastic private affiliate programs out there in your niche, and that's fine.
I just want you to consider everything and remember the bigger picture is to make the most money.
So What Does The Picture Look Like?
Here are some things to consider when scouting for affiliates:
1.) How well does it convert?
You can probably find an affiliate program that will pay you 99%, give recurring commissions, and a lifetime cookie if you look long enough, but if the product they're promoting is garbage, you're going to make nothing.
I've sent decent traffic to poor offers more times than I care to think about because of this very reason.
When it comes to Amazon, those guys have invest billions of dollars into getting conversions. Most of the time you just need to get the click to Amazon.com and you'll make something.
2.) How reputable is the vendor?
I once sent people to Clickbank to buy a DVD that they could also find on Amazon. The product is 100% the same, and cost 100% the same on both platforms, but when people saw it was also available on Amazon, they often bought it there instead. I got a smaller commission, which sucked, but it was much easier to get a purchase because everybody trusts them.
On top of that, some of those customers bought something else from Amazon at the same time, so I made a little bit more.
I'd choose the other affiliate program every time of course, but I learned that it's much better to promote products people trust.
"This dude wants me to buy some product off this clickbank thing? Never heard of it, not sure if his site is legit or not now.."
3.) Do you need to only promote 1 product anyway?
There's a lot of black & white thinking with Internet marketing (there literally are things called black and white hat SEO for a start), but the best strategy is not to think "Which one?" it's to think "Can I have both?"
Why not test products on Amazon and other products and see which ones convert better?
I helped a WA member a few months back make a lot more money by telling her to put more Amazon links on her site. She wasn't keen at first because another product offered a higher commission elsewhere, but I asked her how often it sold. It turns out those Amazon ones were selling a lot more, so when she doubled down and optimized her site for Amazon, she started making more money.
Of course, if that other program had converted well, then the best course would have been to double down on THAT one instead and remove Amazon links. You only find out which one works if you're promoting both equally.
The same was true for my shaving site, I promoted amazon products and non-amazon products, but of course I tried to steer people to the non-amazon ones because I'd make $44 commission instead of $6.
Once I realized that I was making 50x more sales from the $6 than from the $44 though, I removed the $44 product, increased my promotions of the $6 one, and made 300% the money.
In many places I promote multiple products from multiple platforms, because the end game is really to create a PANORAMA of opportunities for your site and its audience.
4.) Does your audience need to think?
Again, when you send people to some marketplaces, the audience are much less likely to hesitate on their purchase. This means the 24 hour cookie is a non-issue, because people will have bought the product or not, within that window.
If they hesitate and need more time, chances are they're going to read someone else's review and get their cookie anyway.
I'd rather a 24 hour cookie that makes money than a 90 day cookie that doesn't.
Of course, I'd rather Amazon paid me 15% on a 48 hour cookie, but c'est la vie.
I'm not going to ignore them either.
Make Your Own Choice
Reading through this post again I can see it's clear that I'm biased towards Amazon. Obviously that bias comes from the money they've made me though. I'll hold my hands up, I love making money from Amazon. You got me.
The purpose of this post is to teach you to consider more than just cookie length and commission %, because there's more at play here.
I recommend you to at least test different products from different platforms until you find what works for you, and you'll eventually learn how to do your own reasoning and dig deeper.
I know some of you are going to comment that you live in Colorado or another Amazon banned state, but again, the point of this post isn't to tell you to affiliate with Amazon. It's telling you to consider all the factors that go into making money via affiliate links.
Recent Comments
101
I am with Amazon (along with other programs that allow the customer to purchase via the retailer directly). I promote amazon more often on my site because of how well known it is. I know that personally, if I clicked on a link and it took me to the retailer's website (the company that makes the product), the first thing I would do is go to amazon to see what the cost is there. I usually have a few other things I need to get from amazon so I would get that product there as well (assuming it's available).
However, in one of my articles, I have links to a specific product going to amazon and the retailer directly. I have sold 4 of these items through the retailer and only one through amazon. I need to check to see where the links are located and if I have more pointing to the retailer.
Great post Dom. I live outside the United States. Can I join Amazon program? BTW, I'm planning to buy your ready made niche site soon.
Are you able to shop via amazon? As long as your country is available in the list, then you can check to see if there is an affiliate program. Just got to https://affiliate-program.amazon.com and see if you can apply.
Hi Dom,
I am getting ready to apply to Amazon for my hi-fi site and with the links when somebody clicks say a review and price link to check out the product what takes them to Amazon do you say on the link its Amazon or just leave it with the highlighted word.
Like my link says customer views or check out prices and reviews
I haven`t put the Name Amazon, is it ok or is it best to actually put Amazon.
Cheers,
Lou
Hey Dom. I can attest to that. I have a niche jewellery site and I used to sell through an online store on ShareASale and used to get 10%. I've now switched all links to Amazon and I get 6.5%.
The 3.5% difference is made up by the more sales I do because Amazon is a trusted, well know site, rather than a relatively "unknown" online store.
My only problem with Amazon is that there is no PayPal option yet which takes me months to get and cash my cheques since I'm outside US! :(
Hi Dom,
I think Amazon is one of those quiet, reliable and underrated engines you have running in the background that just continues to produce because it is big, well known, dependable and has endless opportunity.... I see it as the foundation and from there I may place other offers if they fit, but Amazon remains the main base for what is offered
if you know what you are doing. Amazon can also be a great base for other offers you can add that are related to the core product. What I have been experimenting with is an Amazon based site but I am beginning to add some other related products/offers that are clickbank based or private because Amazon does not offer these, but keeping Amazon as the core and backbone. All the little sales at Amazon add up, as you said in your article... but is it possible to turbo-charge Amazon??? The answer is YES!
What marketers need to think about is being more strategic with Amazon, not just in doing review comparisons on products but also think about clustering or bundling products: that is to offer the addition of an alternative cluster/bundle pack of items that sensibly fits items together with the item of interest. This can actually be beneficial to the buyer and the buyer also get a bonus with an overall discount from Amazon for all the items in buying the group. For the associate it means a bigger dollar spend overall. There is a plugin people can buy that does this automatically by selecting the products for your and generating the bundle offer in Amazon. When the buyer clicks to buy the target item they will see the bundle, what is in it and the discount, but they can still go for the single item if they want.....smart way to up-sell with this plugin.
Thinking further out of the box with Amazon, marketers can use Easyazon which I use. Basically it puts an item selected straight into shopping cart, it then asks the shopper straight up if they want to add it to the cart...the HUGE (and I add HUGE again!) advantage of this is that your go from a 24 hour window to get commissions to....90 days (3 months) if the item is added to the cart!!!!!!! If people just click on an item to buy, it does not get automatically added to the cart and so you are stuck with only 24 hours. By this prompt occurring every time with Easyazon it bumps the Amazon opportunity considerably, especially if people use Amazon a lot and are likely to be back to shop. 90 days is bound to get you another commission or more with a regular shopper even if they don't go back to your site and are looking for something in another search that is totally unrelated to what they bought from you from your site!
Being even more strategic with the Amazon opportunity - with Eazyazon - is the ability to select the same or similar items in regional fulfilment centres for shoppers in other countries. That means that if you have a site offering US based Amazon products but a shopper from France or Germany visits your site and clicks to buy, they are then taken to Amazon France or Amazon Germany to the same or similar product from their own Amazon store, so you don't lose a sale and you still get the 90 day advantage again if they use the cart. This also is good for the customer if it means the freight component is regional rather than international and many vendors do not ship internationally too. Everyone wins and you don't lose a sale if the vendor states they item is only for the US.
This is really important because if people track their stats properly they will see the pattern of visitors from other countries, English speaking and non-English speaking, that also visit the site and potentially want to shop. If you don't add this important feature you can lose a valuable percentage of potential customer sales on search engines, depending on what your site is selling and the universal appeal. An obvious Amazon centre associates want to consider is the UK as it is very large, English speaking, and fulfils orders for many other countries such as those in Scandinavia.
So.... to wrap it up... the Amazon opportunity is much richer and larger than the basic added Amazon link for a product in your own country IF you know how to extend Amazon to get the most out of it and have a good site and products to sell. You can still add related products from other programs....but for me Amazon remains the diamond amongst the other offers I may have.
Hope this helps the discussion,
Eric
Some good ideas there. Bear in mind the 90 day cookie is ONLY for the product added, and not a universal cookie, which is where 30% of my Amazon commissions come from. I'd make less money by using the 90 day cookie, so it's not a huge advantage.
Hi Dom,
I humbly stand corrected and apologise if I have mislead anyone.
Yes, the 90 day cookie is for the product added to the shopping cart only. So the advantage is that if the customer does not buy the product in the cart at that moment or day the cookie keeps the option open for the sale with commission for a further 89 days. This does mean that if the customer comes back to do other shopping in the next few months and sees the item still in the shopping cart, they may well act to buy at that moment and the commission is still active.
Seeing the item still in the cart seems to me a bit like a follow-up email. It is still there in the cart so the prompt is re-established to close the sale. This ads a sort of insurance by reminder to the customer to remember their initial interest and follow through.
I agree it will not be the bulk of sales but it does mean that some sales can be put back on the table that would otherwise be lost in the 30% bracket.
I just did make money from Amazon. The customer bought totally different items from what I shown on my sites. Well.. I am not complaining. Money is still money.
As long as you're considering all the factors and figuring out what makes you the most money, you're all good!
yeah I got excited about the ebay program once but it never made me more than a few dollars.
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Hey Dom, how do I find out if I am banned by Amazon because of the state I live in? I had heard something about Amazon being banned for affiliate marketing but at the time, I wasn't with WA, so I really didn't pay any attention to the article. I wish now I had. Can you help me find out? Probably Google, right? I always forget to turn to them first.
Per Associates Program Operating Agreement:
In addition, if at any time following your enrollment in the Program you become a resident of Arkansas, Maine, Missouri, Rhode Island, or Vermont, you will become ineligible to participate in the Program, and this Operating Agreement will automatically terminate, on the date you establish residency in that state. In addition, you must promptly notify us in writing of your Arkansas, Maine, Missouri, Rhode Island, or Vermont residency, which you may do via the Contact Associates Customer Service form available here.
Bryan
Thank you!
RaeAnne thanks for asking this question....Dick
Sure!