Amazon- Friend or Foe- Verdict Delivered

I've read so many blogs about folks that either love or don't love Amazon as an affiliate partner.

Reasons why folks love them:

• Variety of products
• Easy to join
• Easy links
• Set up a customized e-store thru their site
• Instant name recognition

Reasons why folks don't love them:

• Low payouts
• Promo Banners often take users to another site
• If you don't sell something in the first 90 days, they threaten to cut ties
• They have short cookie periods
  
• Takes 90 days to pay out

While all the reasons above are valid, I wanted to share a little example of why it is always good to include a few Amazon affiliate links on your site.

Each of my sites have an average of 2 links per page. Most of my affiliate programs are with third parties that deal specifically in my niche. Even though Amazon only pays half the commission I could earn with my other programs, I also make sure to include at least three Amazon links per site. Why would I do that? It's simple...

When a visitor lands on the Amazon site through your link, you get paid commission on everything that customer purchases regardless if you have linked to it or not. For example: if someone is looking for a new barbeque thermometer, they may Google it and click on your site. Once on your site, they click on the babeque thermometer link and are taken to Amazon. They start browsing around Amazon and notice that there is a sale on Grills. They forget about the thermometer but end up buying a grill and a ton of accessories. The purchase amount is over $700.

Because that customer arrived at Amazon because of your website, you get paid on everything they buy. (some affiliate programs also give you credit for any return visits and those purchases for a designated period of time as well. That is what it means when people refer to "how long do the cookies last?")

I'm attaching a picture of my Amazon account from yesterday. It was a slow day but a great example of what I'm talking about. You will see that out of the 22 items purchased, I was only linking to 1 of the items. But, I'll get paid on everything. Pretty Cool!