Age over Beauty
Many newcomers rush to add affiliate links to their sites, thinking that the money will roll in faster (I was one of those). However, expect that your website will not be searched out by Google in the higher ranking pages until it's not so new. Some here have said, at 6 month mark, assuming the website is well filled out, their sites started making some money through their affiliate links.
Since only a small percentage of people buy, you will need thousands of impressions, and hundreds of actual clicks to be successful. Work on making your website look fantastic, and get to working on regular posts every week. Some here have said that they didn't start seeing regular income from their links until they had 80 posts! I have been here over a year, two websites now, and my first only has 30 posts but I also have 30 pages (it's a huge site). I have been emptying out my brain into my website LOL!
I am still not seeing income, except for 2 commissions.Technically, my older website is only barely at the 6 month mark because 6 months ago, it became unverified (my traffic went to zero and had to start over again). I have also come to realize that many affiliate programs do not have much patience, like Amazon in particular. If you don't have 3 sales, in 6 months, you will be cut off. It happened to me once already, I reapplied under another email address and got it going again.
I am now close to another 6 month cut off mark with Amazon. Commission Junction is also another one that lacks patience, I have gotten a warning from them. So what I am saying is, don't rush into the affiliate game until you have really gotten your website a little more 'fleshed out'. Bare bones websites are not that interesting to your readers.
For myself, I am patient mostly so I keep working....Like the Tortoise in the photo, slow and steady (I hope) will win the race! Tortoises live a very long time, and are probably not regarded as very beautiful by most people. One could compare a website to a Tortoise. I have noticed that many older websites on the Internet show up on the first page of Google but some are pretty awful! Google seems to like age over beauty! LOL!
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Google does indeed like age over beauty. I've seen lots of ugly sites do quite well.
Are you getting a lot of clicks for Amazon without any sales? You may be losing them out due to Amazon's one day cookie - unless you are promoting products that are impulse purchases, odds are that people are waiting longer than a day to buy them and you are losing the commission. CJ is also known for being hard on their affiliates with the "sale every 6 months" requirement. I work for the Awin.com affiliate network, and we don't do that to our publishers.
If your niche is focused, you don't need thousands of impressions or clicks; a small group of loyal followers who follow your recommendations and buy what you suggest can make just as much (or more) money than a large but casual reader base.
It's okay to add affiliate links early on, so you don't have to go back and add them later. In fact it improves the reader's experience if they can click through to the product you are discussion rather than having to leave your page to go find it.
Hang in there!
I think that is exactly what is happening with Amazon, sadly. A friend of mine bought an expensive gate through one of my links on Amazon but I never got the commission. My older dog focused website I think is too broad because I cover just about everything related to dogs! I cover common sense training,feeding,psychology,sports,housetraining, all dog related. I think I am going to faze out Amazon entirely, it just does not work for me. I made two commissions from Shareasale and they don't have a cut off mark, as far as I know. Thanks for the encouragement :)
If your friend had already found it on Amazon, then came back and clicked through your link, she already had an existing Amazon cookie, so you got no commission (happens all the time!).
Too broad isn't a bad thing - it is getting visitors? That's all it takes!
ShareASale has lots of wonderful pet programs. We have a few on Awin.com too, especially Etsy.com! That one does fantastically with pet owners! There's no requirement on ShareASale that you have to sell 1-3 items in a limited time period like there is with either Amazon or CJ. I know I'm biased, but work with ShareASale (and hopefully Awin too!) and you'll be much more successful. We could even look to see who else has exactly the same products you promoted from Amazon, so that switching the link would be even easier!
I really like Shareasale, especially since they made improvements to the useability of their site. I am going to go over my dog site again, and gradually replace all my Amazon links to products on other sites. I am going to head over to Awin to check them out. Thanks Jeannine :)
So sorry I missed this until now! Yes, I can PM you a code. I'll send it right now!
Again, my apologies for the delay!
Thank you. If six months is the mark, then I am halfway there!
I am sure there are averages, though.
Sheila
Thanks for the advice. I may also eventually have a large site, but for now I'm focused on getting more posts and comments on it. :)
Yes, posts and comments are more important for sure because they bring in traffic.Good luck :)
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Age over beauty ~ doesn't that bite? I have not added affiliate links yet and the more I read about Amazon, the leerier I am of them. I am thinking of trying different affiliates if at all possible. Maybe I will try the Awin.com, have you gotten good results yet with them? I really enjoyed your post and admire your patience.
riley roman
Thanks Riley, I have signed up with Awin, but have not used them yet. I have a LOT of affiliate programs, some I have not touched yet. It's hard to keep track of them.