I just finished with a 3 part Amazon series (you can access that at the end of this post) and a few things came up as far as what NOT to do when it comes to making money with Amazon.
In this article this is exactly what we will be talking about…
What NOT to Do When Promoting Amazon Products
1. Don`t promote irrelevant products
Don`t just throw up unrelated products on any site/page you have. If you are talking about soccer don`t put a banner related to house ware products on the page. It will not convert.
Do keep your site on topic, keep products relevant to your site. Your site will convert better if it`s focused on a specific niche, instead of trying to cover everything. Unless you are part of a team that focus on different topics, magazine style, keep it simple and stay targeted.
If I am searching for a baby gate for example and I land on a site that talks about baby products and I see that they review different baby gates. Then I will stick around and probably read a few of them if they are good until I find what I need.
If I land on a site that talks about a baby gate, soccer drills, baking machine and lawn mowers… well, unless it is a super article, an in dept consumer report about the baby gate I will probably continue looking for information.
2. Don`t over do it with the products
Don`t blast every single article with an amazon product. Write helpful content and point it to your reviews.
Do write reviews they convert. So say that you have a site about mixers. You write an article about great blueberry smoothie recipes. I would then in the content say something like ”for these recipes you can use the ABC mixer, it will help you create super yummy smoothies fast and easy, you can read my in dept review here” and then link to my in dept review.
3. Don`t spend time setting up an amazon store
Don`t waste your time with an Amazon store on your site. If your visitors want to brows a store they would go directly to Amazon.
Do provide helpful quality content. It will not only help your visitors, quality content also has a better chance to rank in the search engines.
4. Don`t put amazon products on irrelevant sites and think it will turn into sales
Don`t … If you have multiple sites don`t throw up amazon products unless there are relevant products to your niche. Like this site for example, it is focused on online marketing tips and I might suggest a book or so but Amazon will not be heavily presented on this site.
Do use relevant products with relevant content.
5. Don`t copy and paste the description from Amazon
Don`t just copy the description from amazon and paste it into one of your pages.
Do always rewrite the content, always be unique. Use other sources for information as well. You can find product information on other merchant sites like overstock or walmart. Go to the merchant sites, read manuals and other descriptions. Pick up a magazine or paper if it can help you with information.
If you want to read more about promoting Amazon products feel free to visit one of the below trainings.
Part 1 – Get Started – How to Make Money with Amazon
Part 2 – Content and Links That Convert into Amazon Product Sales
Part 3 – 10 Tips to Dominate and Make Money with Amazon Products
Hey Vicky,
These don’ts seem so obvious. But I have to say I’ve been to sites that have done most of these don’ts.
I think people have it in their heads that more is better and since I have a visitor I might as well try and sell them something, and in fact the end result is they sell them nothing.
And point 3 really made me say “exactly”. Why would you want to build an amazon store when everything is already on Amazon.
This is when working smart online instead of working hard really come into play.
Great info as always
Cheers
Leo
Thanks Leo,
That`s the problem, they do seem obvious but site owners till do it.
Take the first point “don`t promote irrelevant products”…
It may be an amazon product, it may be an ad put up in the sidebar totally irrelevant to the site content.
Don`t know how many times I`ve seen this.
And you`re right why build an Amazon store when they have their own, if they want to browse a store they will go to one.
Thanks for your input Leo,
Vicky
Hey there Vicky. I have seen some of these “Don’ts” Before, but I really appreciate the “Dos” you have listed in this post. Thanks for taking the time to add these!
Hi Heather,
Yes, these are common ones. They came up when I did the 3 part Amazon series so wanted to make sure I included them.
Vicky
Man these are some really great points. I read Leo’s response, and I tend to actually really disagree with #3 as a don’t. I think Amazon Storefronts are beneficial if you are helping people by looking for really great products for them beforehand, so that they do not have to search them up themselves. It definitely is a time saver for them but not for you, however, you do raise the point that it would be harder to rank with search engines for it. Also, your storefront does not only have to be limited to Amazon. There could be way more affiliate programs products on your site storefront. Only problem is that Storefronts are time consuming and you do have to go back and forth to see which items are still in stock, which could be a hassle since you could be spending your time more wisely by publishing articles full of keyword rich content. Awesome post btw. I personally tend to draw away from writing articles promoting products and prefer Universal Affiliate Storefronts. Everyone is definitely different I guess. Thanks again for this really awesome post! Hope to see some more interesting reads like these from you.
Hi,
Thanks for your comment.
Do you work with paid traffic when you do storefronts or how do you get visitors to your site? How do you provide value to the customer if you don`t write content on the product?
I`m truly curious how you make it work with an affiliate storefront. Would love to find out some more.
Until then we have to agree on disagreeing 🙂
Vicky
Hey Vicky! 🙂
Another great article. I learned some valuable information here.
I agree partially with the aStore. You can still have some links that take you to Amazon directly but then you can say something like, “If you want to buy from amazon straight from this site “click Here” “Buy Here”. It has worked for me anyways.
There are so many different views on online marketing and I believe each website has their own way of converting. I agree that you shouldn’t sound like a sales pitch though. Gaining trust with authentic, genuine content that helps whoever it is, find something they were looking for is, GREAT!
Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Mary
Hi Mary,
Yes you always want to include some call of action phrase with your content. You want to guide your visitors and tell them what you want them to do next “Click Here” for example :).
You are right there are so many different ways to do affiliate marketing and what works on one site might not be the best solution for another. One thing that all great marketers have in common though is that they do provide helpful, useful content.
Building a relationship with your audience and genuinely caring for them will benefit you long time!
Thanks for your comment Mary,
Vicky