Promotion & Marketing
Tips on generating revenue for Affiliate Sales sitesSign up as an Amazon Associate
It's simple and free. Just visit Amazon and click on the Join Associates link at the bottom of the page (here's a direct link for your convenience). Your site should already have at least the basic setup done, even if you don't have any content there yet.
Build your first link. Go to Amazon and find the product you want to review. Scroll down to Product Details and find the ASIN or ISBN. Double-click on the number itself to select it, then right-click and choose Copy. Click on your Amazon Build-A-Link link. Right-click in the search field and choose Paste. Change the selection from Served Link to You Host. Click Go. Your selection should show up. Click Get HTML. Choose the kind of link you want, select the highlighted text and copy it.
Create a Google Adsense Account
Create an account at Google Adsense. Once you finish the sign-up process, you can place the special code into your web pages. Google will automatically determine appropriate ads to place onto your site, based upon your web page's content. When someone looks at your page and clicks on the ad, you will earn a small commission. Sign up is free.
Tips and Tricks
To draw repeat visitors, create a newsletter. Frequency should depend on
how often you're posting new content. Start with monthly.
An excellent newsletter tool is
Constant Contact
(this links gets you a 60-day free trial). This is the method we use, and allows the recipient
to "opt-out" of any future e-mailings, a hot topic for privacy advocates.
If you don't have a mailing list yet, several are available for purchase.
Just search for "mailing lists" on your favorite search engine.
Web Logs (Blogs)
When you are relying on affiliate sales or Pay-Per-Click ads on your web site
for revenue, the key is to have a LOT of visitors to your site. Several
folks have made a lot of money this way, but they spend 2-3 hours everyday on
updating their web page content. Fresh content will bring repeat visitors
to your site. Write an article, share your thoughts, or start a Blog.
We can set up a blog for you, or you may setup your own at
Word Press. Make your site have
new, interesting material each day, or as often as you can, to draw repeat
visitors!
Set reasonable expectations for earnings. With Amazon Associates, You're going to make 5% on most products. To make $20 an hour, you must generate $400 worth of purchases. You get credit for other purchases made while at Amazon besides just the product you linked to, so it's not as hard as it may sound. It won't make you rich, but it's not hard to be profitable, and it builds over time.
Promote your site. The best free way to do this is to communicate with other bloggers writing about similar topics, and to participate in online communities where your topic is discussed.
Build out your site. Before you promote your site, you want to have some substantial content there. Write several product reviews. Have at least 2-3 in each category you've created. You may also want to make a categories for articles, news, and commentary about your topic. The more content your site has, the better. When adding your content, be sure to use keywords that your potential customers may use.
