Accidents Can be Good
Firstly, apologies this post may jump around a bit because I have a few things that I wanted to cover.
For those that don't know, I have been a WA member before but I have recently restarted my journey from the very beginning. The relevance of this is that I have quite a bit of knowledge and hence am frequently jumping forward to activities whilst still diligently going through the OEC training from the start.
Progress Held Up
OEC Level 3 Lesson 4 requests that I add affiliate links to my site. The problem with this was that it was only yesterday had I joined the affiliate programs and I was still waiting for approval from the majority of the programs, hence I was held-up.
I decided to utilise this pause in progress by preparing my online shop, as the desired structure of my website meant that this was going to be where the majority of my affiliate links would be placed.
The Concerns
My first concern was that by preparing my online shop, I was diverting away from the training and my quality content production and over concentrating on making my site look pretty.
The other concern actually came whilst preparing the shop and I ended up posting a question to you lovely people here at WA.
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/keyword-niche-and-market-research/is-there-an-amazon-get-around-that...
Just to save you time clicking through to the question, I'll simply summarise it by saying I was having issues with how to present my Amazon products in my posts without the affiliate links because I only wanted the affiliate links to be in my shop that the posts pointed to.
The Good Accident
The first concern was actually overcome by complete accident. Due to a previous training lesson, I had already produced a post which compared / reviewed seven products that were going to be in my shop. This post did not include affiliate links but had been written with the knowledge that it would eventually link through to them.
Whilst I was preparing my shop, I realised the best way of testing it out was to create entries for the seven products that I had already mentioned. In effect by creating these seven products, I had just created (by accident) seven new posts with OKish content. Sure my product entries were not 1000 - 1500 word blogs but they were niche related 'articles' that eventually Google would index.
Google, Quora and Amazon
Whilst I did get some good answers here from WA about my Amazon concern, in my impatience I also Googled for an answer and got a conflicting reply from a Quora user.
Hence, according to this answer from Amazon.IN (not Amazon.com) I can use Amazon images as I wanted. I still think it may be a slight risk but am I now using the Featured Image from URL plugin to place Amazon Images as my product feature images my shop and also using Amazon Images in my comparison / review posts.
It should be noted that the only place on my site where prices are mentioned (for Amazon products) is within my shop via the proper affiliate text and image link.
The Final Thought
As usual, here at WA in business and in life, once you solve one challenge, along comes another.
As soon as I had posted my affiliate links to my shop, I was presented (by Kyle within training) with a new feature within SiteContent that apparently Google likes. The 'add "sponsored" to link' feature. I have posted a question in the relevant training module (https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/training/online-entrepreneur-certification-making-money-level-3/unde...) in respect of this new feature and fully expect that I will be revisiting my affiliate links once I get an answer.
Life is about learning, and here at WA we never seem to stop learning, even if it is by accident!
Thanks for reading!
Loz
Recent Comments
8
Well, I still stand by my original answer!
That response is very ambiguous, and there is no indication as to how the question was asked.
Did they specifically say, can we copy and paste images?
If your account is shut down, then you can't rely on the defence, that you "read it somewhere."
I suggest you yourself ask them very specifically if you can copy and paste the images, and then save the answer as proof, if they agree that you can.
I agree with your sentiments and concerns.
Whilst I'm being pedantic and it probably only makes a slight difference, let me make it clear that I am not copy/pasting the images, I am merely using the original Amazon HTTP image address within my site to place the image.
By doing the above, I am assuring myself and Amazon that I am not altering the image in any way or trying to claim ownership of them.
There may be still a copyright issue and a permission issue and I will check it out, but for now it's a risk I'm willing to take.
I know you were here previously, did you meet your 3 sales target and receive your final approval from Amazon?
If so, then realistically, Amazon are unlikely to visit your site.
But if you have yet to meet the target, then when you actually do, Amazon will inspect your website and remove you from their program if they find even one example of a rule being broken.
Not having the correct Affiliate Disclosure etc
Thank you for the info and the warning
No I haven't met that target and Yes I will expect a visit.
I will check it out thoroughly at the right time. No worries.
Great post! We never know what will come of something. I think the main thing I learned is just to keep going.
Jim
Yes its a learning experience for sure. Thanks for sharing. You seem to be doing well just keep improving your content. That will help. Hopefully from here on it goes well for you.
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All accidents don't necessarily have to be bad Loz!
And it's so true that the learning never ends here my friend!