Fridays with Vicky 19
Do you see the potential in promoting Amazon products?
Do you have your website up and running?
Do you have your Amazon account set up and ready to make some money?
If you do, then you are ready for this part 2, content and links that convert into Amazon product sales training.
If you are still new to Amazon and how it all works don`t miss part 1 – How to Make Money with Amazon – Get Started.
In this second part we will focus on two things:
- Content
- Links
In this article we will talk about what kind of content you should be using, and what kind of links to use for best conversion.
If you have mastered content and links already feel free to check out part 3 of this Amazon training – How to Dominate and Make Money with Amazon.
What Content Will Convert into Amazon Product Sales?
There are many ways that you can write content for your website. You can write, how to articles, do interviews, information based articles, list based articles, opinion based articles just to mention a few.
The most important thing to think about is to create value for your readers. Don`t just throw up some Amazon ads and write a few sentences, always have the thought of wanting to deliver something helpful/useful/funny… to your readers. Like my friend Kyle from WA says, write with intent.
There are many ways to write content with intent, we outline a few of them here, that will not only help your readers but they also convert well.
Product Reviews
When you write your product reviews try to be as objective as possible. The reason they are reading your review is because they are trying to figure out if the product or service is for them or not.
We are all looking for different benefits and features. We will also be using the product differently. Product 1 might not be for me but Product 2 will do the trick.
Outline the good and bad be honest but most importantly DO NOT SELL. You don`t have to if you do a good job describing the product and outlining the good, the bad and everything in between.
For each site or product type I do a review template. That way I include similar information for all products which makes it easy for my visitors to compare. It also helps me, to have a template when I do my product research.
Here`s a simple template for a product review, you can use it as a start and add other important elements:
- Introduction
- Benefits of the product (this is not the features this is WHY they might connect with a certain product, what the outcome will be if they purchase it)
- Pros / Cons
- Features
- Your Thoughts
- Conclusion
The product review is usually my exit point from the site so I will use affiliate links on my review pages. More on links later in this article.
Compare Products – Comparison Chart / Top 5
I just checked my Amazon account and there were 3 sales from yesterday, from one of my sites where I review health products. The products reviewed are all very similar but they do have their differences.
I had 3 sales yesterday from 3 different products. I do a top 10 comparison chart and the sales were from product 1, 2 and 5.
I am most excited about product sale number 5, because it means that I did a good job reviewing the products and product 5 was exactly what that person needed.
Some will argue that you should only have 1 product that you recommend… That doesn`t make sense to me. Will I ”sell” more of that one product, sure probably, because my readers don`t have any other options.
Will all my readers be happy with just that one choice, NO. Yesterday I had 3 sales from 3 different products, because each person needed something different.
To me it`s not about getting that ONE sale. I want my readers to remember the site and next time a similar product comes up they should be thinking…
I am really happy with the last product I purchased after their review, maybe they review other things too…
3 Ways to Compare Products?
There are many ways you can compare products, here are 3 different ways that I use on different sites.
- On the health site mentioned I have a top 10. I give them a brief overview, reasons why they might want to consider the product, cons of the product and who it`s for. I then link to my in-depth review page.
- On another site I have a comparison chart that links to in-depth reviews.
- I also write comparison articles between product A and product B they also link to my in-depth review.
Product reviews and to compare products as mentioned above convert really well for me. Here are two more suggestions that depending on your niche can really be beneficial.
Deals of the week/Deals of the Month
Another way to write about Amazon products is to do deals of the week or deals of the month posts. People love good prices and if you can show them a good deal, they might just take you up on that.
Amazon has a deals section where you can check out not just current deals but also what`s coming
Top Sellers of the Month
Amazon also provide top seller lists. You can take advantage of this and at the end of the month write a post about the top seller products. Personally I prefer to link the top seller products to in dept reviews if possible.
How to Link to Amazon
You can use links in many different ways. I prefer to link out to Amazon, pretty much just from my reviews. I link between my content on the site but linking out to Amazon is mainly done from the reviews.
There are different kinds of links to use, here are a few examples:
Links within the Content
Links within your content will convert well. Using the product name and link out to Amazon is not only a good link strategy it can also benefit your SEO. It tells Google that this word is important, it`s a link and that they should pay attention to it.
When you link make sure you link directly to the product that you are talking about. That will convert better than linking to Amazon.com. When you are logged into your Amazon associate account, go to the product and click “link to this page” at the top.
Buttons
Some premium WordPress themes come with button options. You can also create your own. It`s easy and it looks good. You can create them in a program like paint.net or use a free program like DaButtonFactory. Amazon also have their own “buy now” buttons that you can use.
This button took me about 5 seconds to make 🙂 using the DaButton Factory.
Pictures
Don´t forget to link your pictures. A lot of times we scroll over the pictures and they are attempting to click. This is very true for products. I didn`t make my pictures above clickable but if they were in a product review I would have. Use the custom url and place you affiliate link there.
Banners
I don`t use banners within my reviews, but it`s another way to link to Amazon.
Personally I`m not a big banner fan, on occasion I use them but very rarely. I do prefer the interactive ads instead of a static banner if I have to choose between the two.
So to sum it up, you can use links going out to Amazon from;
- In content
- Buttons
- Pictures
- Banners
To make all this easier I use a tool called EasyAzon! It saves me time while helping me maximize earnings. It allows me to insert text links, images, price blocks with just a click of a button directly from my site… Read My EasyAzon Review Here!
You will have to TEST and see what works for your site. We talk more about that in part 3 – How to Dominate and Make Money with Amazon.
I hope you found this article helpful – What Kind of Content and Links Convert for Amazon Products – Part 2. If you need some more help in this area, feel free to check out my #1 free way to make money review. I talk about a community where you can get step by step training, you can also connect and hang out with like minded people. Some of them are making it big with Amazon and you can connect with them in chat.
I would love to hear what you have to say about content and links when it comes to Amazon, feel free to leave a comment below.
Have a productive day and a great week!
See you next Friday,
Vicky
Part 3 – 10 Tips to Dominate and Make Money with Amazon Products
P.S Thought I would let you in on some good and bad going on in my online business…
Worst Online Happening This Week: Had issues with a temporary writer, annoying when you have to pretty much rewrite outsourced content, ugh.
Best Online Happening This Week: Got some great feedback on this site, makes me happy when people find my content helpful.
Also great to read your blogs and posts. This was very helpful and informative. Somewhat goes along with a key point I took away from my sales and marketing class. Thank you and I look forward to Part 3!
Hi Angel,
Thanks for your comment. Glad you enjoyed the article. Feel free to comeback and check out part 3!
Vicky
Thank you Vicky, you obviously know what you;re talking about, this is very useful. I love your point about giving your readers options; I think sometime we can get tunnel visioned and try to push this one product that your readers really aren’t interested in – they may see you as being too pushy and back off. People like to have a choice so I totally see that.
I’m with you on the use of banners too, when I first started my website I went a little crazy sticking Amazon banners everywhere – they didn’t really work and it made my site look spammy. I have found that adding Amazon links within the content works very well. perhaps linking to the title of the book or ‘read real customer’s reviews here’ for example.
Thank you for the interesting idea about the top seller lists. that is something I think I’ll have to look into more…
Although I wish the Amazon commission rate was higher (currently 4% for most products), the beauty of being an affiliate with Amazon is the wide range of products they have – I never cease to be amazed when I check my sales history, at the randomness of it. I promote books and people have ended up buying blenders and black and decker drills! Refer your readers to Amazon and let them do the rest!
Thank you again Vicky for such great info here.
Hi Simon,
Yeah products are usually not “one size fits all” :). We all want and need different things. I believe that as a marketer that review products you should make it as easy as possible for the visitor to decide if it is for them or not. Product A might be the best but if it does not have what you are looking for then it`s obviously not for you. Outline benefits, pros and cons and more so that the visitor can make an informed decision and feel good about it. For me that works the best!
The commission starts at 4% but already from sale number 7 you will earn 6%. I talk about that in part 1 – How to make money with Amazon part 1
They do have a lot of different products to promote, I totally agree with you. It`s funny how you send visitor there and they purchase all kinds of stuff. Just checked my account and somebody bought tattoo products and ink. I don`t have a site about tattoo. Like you say that`s the beauty of it, send traffic to Amazon and it will convert.
Thank you!
Vicky
Wow! I’m bookmarking this page, it’s so full of valuable info. Thank you for organizing this and laying it all out for us newcomers.
Hi Anny,
Glad you enjoyed the post!
Vicky
Hi Vicky, thanks for the tips!
I tend to follow the same principles that you mention in your post.
I never used the “link to this page” link, I was going through a way more complicated path to get my links, so thanks a lot for this 🙂
Deals of the week or months are something I never thought of doing, but I will surely try.
Do you have an opinion on how many products you can feature on a website without being to much? How many articles without links per articles with links for exemple?
Thanks!
Hi Carolyn,
Yes deep linking using the “link to this page” is probably the easiest and quickest way to do it.
I don`t use the amazon banners when I do that I just copy and paste the affiliate link.
As long as your product reviews are relevant to your site you should be good. I don`t have a ratio articles without links per articles with links. I always tend to have plenty of content without affiliate links.
If I do a top 5 comparison chart for example, I do blog posts targeting long tail keywords pointing to that top 5 page. So I might have 20+ posts or more with different angles, targeting different long tail keywords pointing to that top 5 page. The top 5 page then point to the in dept reviews.
If I do a product review, with affiliate links I always make sure I have plenty of content to point to that, often times via a top 5 page.
Hope that makes sense,
Vicky
Yes it does, thanks for taking the time to answer my question! You’re great 🙂
Vicky, I absolutely love this site. I hadn’t seen your site before I just saw a link to it. I am really interested to sit with a cup of coffee and really mull over your thoughts on content and how to let that convert into sales. It’s clear that you know a lot about content, and your site is beautiful. I’m paying you the ultimate favor and bookmarking your beautiful site and this page in particular.
Thanks
Tom
Hi Tom,
Thanks for your kind words!
I`ve been doing online marketing for a few years now and picked up on a thing or two :).
Feel free to come back anytime you want. I post mondays, wednesdays and fridays. You can also sign up for my newsletter if you would like,
Vicky
Wow Vicky, that was really valuable information, I really liked reading it and I learned something from it for my business as well, thank you very much.
Lyubomir
Hi there,
Glad you enjoyed the article and found it helpful,
Vicky
Thanks Vicky, I really enjoyed this post. For some reason the issue of affiliate links has my head spinning due to all the conflicting information out there: “just one per post”, “link from all your pictures”, “use a few, but not too many”.
I am primarily reviewing building toys on my site and often I compare about 3 options or more on one page, each with a picture. so if I use 3 products with a link from the picture and a link within the text gives a minimum of 6 links from that post. In feedback I have received I have been told that it is not obvious where they should click to go and buy the product and I have had suggestions to add buttons.
Is using all 3 options withing the comparison article a little too much? I am not focusing on getting these specific articles to rank well in Google, but will feed to them from other articles that I hope to get good rankings on.
Thanks
Les
Hi Les,
I took a quick look at your site and my suggestion would be to make sure you have plenty of helpful articles that point to the product reviews. When I looked at your main page most of them were product reviews linking out with affiliate links.
So say that you promote the lego crazy action set, my son has that one :). I would then do a in dept review just like you have done. I would link out with in text links, pictures and probably a button as well.
I would then make sure I have plenty of content without affiliate links, pointing to this review.
So possible articles could be…
“Best lego set for traveling”
“lego projects on the go”
“16 lego projects in one”
“gift ideas for lego fans”
Just making up titles here 🙂
If you have plenty of content without affiliate links you will get a good balance.
Thanks Les,
Vicky
Thank you Vicky, your suggestion is most helpful.
I am heading in the direction you propose, but getting some reviews there first to be able to point to with other articles.
Doing reviews helps out your visitors a lot so that will for sure benefit your site. It`s great to have that inbound linking as well. Linking to your reviews from other content on your site.
Hi Vicky,
All I can say is WOW!!! You really know what you are talking about and that shows on your site. Your experience over the years shines on your website. I am going to bookmark your site because I am just starting to use Amazon. It is so encouraging to see how well you have done.
On your link to WA I really liked your picture and little discussion. This made it seem very personal. You are a very good example of how internet marketing can be successful.
I am so glad I came to your website.
Thank you for your hard work,
Bobby.
Hi Bobby,
I’m glad you found the post helpful. If you are just starting out feel free to follow my Amazon case study. It will give you real insight to my Amazon site. I share traffic numbers, income, rankings, what works and what doesn’t.
Thank you for the positive feedback!
Vicky