I appreciate Hubpages even more, now

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   Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years ago

   After looking at my income distribution across various merchants and potential internet sales tax legislation, I decided that I had to diversify yet again. So I've spent the last week working on new websites. For the past eight months, I've really focused on Hubpages and existing websites.
   
   Wow, I had forgotten how hard it is to get a new website to rank well. I have truly been spoiled at Hubpages - "what it's been 24 hours and my hub isn't in Google yet - and making sales." (I've been working in affiliate marketing for 10 years, so I'm not a rookie at website design or google rankings.)
   
   Anyways it again showed me what I already knew, that Hubpages is a very effective place to write, work, and make a bunch of money pretty fast. It is also worth the 40% of impressions that they get, because of the fabulous Google traffic. And it is so much easier to rank for competitive niches at Hubpages than by myself.
   
   Just my way of voicing appreciation and recognition of the Hubpages great product and support.

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      ryankettposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Are you still racing me to 1000 hubs?

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         Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Yes I am. I'm not going anywhere, but need to diversify.

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   Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years ago

   I think my only safe place at Hubpages is to write hubs for adsense earnings. So I might just take another look at the Keyword Acadamy again and brush up those skills.

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      ryankettposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Have your Ebay and Amazon earnings taken a hit at all? Both have changed significantly havent they? I think that Adsense is the way forward, I got a $9 click yesterday!

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         Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         All three are great this month! I have no complaints and wish that I could be certain that everything would continue this way. It's more the state taxation thing with Amazon. If the state of Massachusetts comes back with an internet sales tax, Amazon will boot me from their program. There is talk that it will be considered again. Our neighboring state of Rhode Island just adopted such a tax and the Rhode Island Amazon affiliates are out in the cold. Ebay is just Ebay and it makes me very nervous. Alot of Ebay affiliates have been hit by bot attacks and had their accounts frozen or terminated.
         
         So I have been creating sites with merchants that don't boot affiliates because of state internet taxes. And instead of adsense, I've included Chitika contextual ads. Just trying to cover my bases.

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      Mark Knowlesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I actually do better with Amazon - but their new cookie has definitely had a negative impact on my earnings.

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         Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, it is much harder to make an Amazon sale now. I'm doing okay, but have been adding Ebay capsules to the Amazon hubs whenever possible. I think when given the choice between Amazon and Ebay, shoppers pick Ebay a lot of the time. And that is converting like crazy!

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            Mark Knowlesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            I'll be honest - I hate ebay and do not trust them as far as I can throw them. But - Amazon have basically cut me out of 20% of my referrals, which is now costing me several hundred dollars a month.
            
            But - what can I do? Not even worth contacting them. So - like you - I looked elsewhere and found another affiliate away from amazon and hubpages. Diversity. sooner or later all the programs will crap on you. All you can do is ensure as many different income streams as possible.

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         Anna Erwinposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         What new cookie is this?  I was wondering why this month I have only made one sale.

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            Mark Knowlesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            They have switched from a 24 hour cookie to a one session cookie.
            
            Use to be any referral could go, look at amazon, head off to some other merchant, come back and buy at Amazon - and you got the commission if it was within 24 hours.
            
            No more. Now - they leave the site, you lose the sale. My referrals have dropped by 20%. Not impressed.

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            Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Amazon cut it's cookie duration. Previously if a shopper put an item in a shopping cart, the cookie duration was 24 hours. If nothing was put in the cart, it was a one session cookie. They've axed the shopping cart provision, so all Amazon cookies are just one session. Which means if you send someone to Amazon they click on something and put it in the shopping cart, and they decide to visit Walmart to compare prices, and then go back to Amazon -even if it is within 2 minutes - you lose the sale.

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   Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years ago

   Mark I agree, that's why I make sure that I don't "fall in love" with any online marketing venue or program. But Hubpages traffic is the easiest traffic that I've ever found in six years. So I'm trying to make it work.

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      Mark Knowlesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Me too. But..........

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   relacheposted 14 years ago

   My eBay earnings have seemed to hold since they changed their program, and my Amazon earnings appear to be a bit on the upswing, but that's not uncommon this time of year.  I won't know how the new cookie deal really effected me until a bit more time has passed.
   
   But my AdSense earnings outpace both of those combined.

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      Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I hear you. It's hard to know what's going on with the holiday traffic in shopping in full swing. Your hubs are so unique - an eclectic combination of zany and commercial. You give my inner hippie chick girl hope for a commercial future.

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      Mark Knowlesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I am going by my conversion rate at Amazon. yes - my earnings are up compared to last month, but that is seasonal. My conversion rate has fallen by 2%.

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   Marisa Wrightposted 14 years ago

   Amazon has been doing a little better for me recently, but I think that's because I tweaked a few of my Amazon Hubs.
   
   As for eBay - I was feeling smug the first month of QCP, because my earnings had gone up.  This month they've dropped like a stone, down 75%!!!!!!  I don't have much eBay on HubPages but my websites rely on it, so it's bad news.

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   assemberposted 14 years ago

   Erm can anyone direct me to where Amazon announced this change ?
   
   To a one session cookie
   
   Its news to me

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   Ladybird33posted 14 years ago

   I have had trouble with eBay but good with Amazon.  Also, I am a big fan of Hubpages as well.  I have learned a lot from the "experts" and learn more through these forums.  Can't thank everyone enough!

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   johnr54posted 14 years ago

   Unfortunately, the internet tax deal is about the only advantage that Squidoo has over Hubpages, in that since they handle the payout you can still feature Amazon products even if you are in one of the taxing states.
   
   I've been having some good luck with Target on my other sites (not really easy to do here), who has a wide range of products (not as wide as Amazon). But they have a physical presence in a lot of states (including mine, there are 2 stores within 3 miles of my house) so the internet tax problems should not take out affiliates here at least.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Target has an affiliate program?

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         sunforgedposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         http://www.target.com/Affiliate-Program … de=3008941
         
         link (from multiple places) doesnt seem to be working right now to apply to target aff program but they are on the google affiliate network which would pay out right to your adsense account

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   Elijah Sposted 14 years ago

   What eBay did with QCP and cookies also affects affiliate earnings. Bids&purchases made on the next day after arrival bring less revenue, and those made on the last, seventh day, bring a lot less. So the seven day period is effectively becoming pointless. It's much closer to Amazon now, which is what they intended I suppose.

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    techguyposted 14 years ago

    WOW Nice Discussion

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    assemberposted 14 years ago

    I don't believe amazon has changed the cookie, tis still 24 hrs
    
    see below from current amazon "operating agreement", unless there is something I am missing
    
    
    "We will pay you (in accordance with Sections 5 and 6 below) referral fees on certain Product sales to third parties. For a Product sale to be eligible to earn a referral fee, the customer must click-through a Special Link on your site to the Amazon Site and during a single session, add the Product to his or her shopping cart, purchase the Product with digital fulfillment (e.g., digital download or streaming) in the case of Digital Products, or purchase the Product via our 1-Click feature. The session begins when the customer clicks through a Special Link on your site to the Amazon Site and ends upon the first to occur of the following events: (a) 24 hours elapses from the customer's initial click-through, (b) the customer places an order for a Product that is not a Digital Product, or (c) the customer follows a third party link to the Amazon Site that is formatted with an Associate’s tag. We will only pay referral fees on eligible Products after order, payment, and shipping or, in the case of Digital Products, digital fulfillment have occurred."

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    Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years ago

    Assember I'll try and find the other passage in a day or two. I haven't had time to wade through the Amazon TOS lately. I did a few months ago after I went to the Amazon Discoussion board and there was a cookie discussion.

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