How to Improve Your Amazon Affiliate Revenue in 2010

The new year will be here before you know it. There's something redeeming and cleansing about the idea of a new year. You can "start fresh," resolve to make this year better than the last. Many people resolve to lose weight, make new friends, read more literature, save more money. All noble goals to strive for throughout 2010.

But those are hard to do. Here's an easier resolution to keep: Increase your ad revenue from the Amazon Affiliate program on HubPages.

Here is a list of 5 simple steps you can take to improve your success rate with Amazon Affiliates. 2010 will be your year to make more money through your Amazon revenue capsules! (Below this list is a more detailed explanation of each piece of advice.)

1. Choose individual products, not keywords.
2. Research what's popular.
3. Be smarter about capsule placement.
4. Take advantage of HubPages' rules.
5. Expand beyond HubPages.

Personalized always beats generalized.

Choose individual products, not keywords. Yes, simply typing in a keyword into the Amazon capsule and accepting whatever comes up is much easier and less time-consuming. But you get what you put into it. If you don't spend time finding products appropriate to your hub and appealing to your readers, your readers won't spend the money on the items that don't cater to their interests. And by extension, you won't get the percentage of their purchase.

For example: Say that you are writing a hub on how to keep your New Year's resolution to exercise more. So, you write your hub, and as an afterthought, stick on an Amazon capsule. Your choices are to search by keyword or choose individual products. You're in a hurry to get your awesome hub published, so you just type "new year's resolution" and save the capsule.

Here are the first four Amazon results for "new year's resolution":

1. Amelia's Must-Keep Resolutions for the Best Year Ever! - an illustrated children's book
2. This Next New Year - another children's book about the Chinese new year
3. New Year's Resolution ( LP Version ) - an MP3 download by Otis Redding
4. Relieving Your Holiday Stress and Achieving Your New Year's Resolutions - a CD audio book on relaxation techniques for the holidays

If you chose to read a hub about keeping your New Year's resolution, would you buy or even click on any of these products?

Of course you wouldn't.

Instead, choose products that are more suited to the needs of someone who would be reading your hub. To continue my example, choose a combination of exercise videos and equipment with books on motivating yourself as your Amazon products.

Now, before you groan about how boring and time-consuming research is, know that this research doesn't have to be complex or in-depth. You just want to know what people are more likely to buy.

To research what's popular and what sells, take a look at what Amazon is promoting. What's on their front page? Also, observe what is on the first page of results when you search for particular keywords. Generally, the first page contains the more popular and/or relevant items.

Also, as an affiliate, you have access to some tools that I imagine many people either don't know about or don't use to their advantage. At the bottom of your Amazon Associates Home page, they list the Best Selling products, which you can browse by any category.

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Place the capsules in appropriate areas of your Hub

To figure out where would be the best area to place your Amazon capsule, think about Hubs that you've read. Where are you most likely to actually look at the Amazon capsule?

There is no single best place for an Amazon capsule. The best place for you may depend entirely on the relationship between the content of your Hub and the products you are trying to get people to buy. Which brings us to the next tip...

HubPages Lets You Post Two Amazon Capsules Per Hub

You are allowed to place 2 revenue capsules in each hub. Take advantage of that. What people are willing to buy at the beginning of your Hub may be different from what they are willing to buy by the time they've finished reading your persuasive content. If they let you post two, for goodness' sake, post two!

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Spread Your Wings and Fly Beyond HubPages

Did you know that, as an Amazon Associate, you can place Amazon links in places other than HubPages? Do you have a blog? Once you are an Amazon affiliate member, you can place HTML code on your website or blog to sell products as an Amazon affiliate.

If you look at the tabs at the top of your Amazon Associate Home page, you'll see that the second tab is titled "Links and Banners." If you click on that, you'll find a whole new world of possible advertising that you can do for Amazon. You can link to general Amazon banners or specific products, and you'll still make a percentage of what is bought from that link, just like you do from the Amazon capsules on HubPages.

This year, resolve to improve your financial life through your Amazon affiliation.

PS: For more ways to make money on HubPages, check out jimmythejock's Hub How To Make Money On HubPages.