Amazon sales are null - any advice please?

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   johndwilliamsposted 10 years ago

   My Amazon sales are dead in the water. My Amazon Caps are discrete - I have added only when directly related to a product.
   
   I am not getting much traffic at the mo, so I guess this is an issue. I posted around 60 Hubs in Dec 2014, so it should be these have not been picked up by Google as organic yet.
   
   Any advice that could help me?
   
   Cheers

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I think the key is to write about topics that encourage people to buy related products.  For example, if you wrote about how certain rackets can improve your tennis game and then placed an ad for one of that type on your post, people who want to improve their game might decide to buy it...much more so than if you simply wrote a sales oriented post about tennis rackets in general.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I'm sure traffic is an issue - of all the thousands of visitors who visit HubPages, only a small percentage will click on Amazon ads and only a few of those will actually buy.  As traffic improves so should your sales figures!
      
      I took a look at a few of your Hubs. 
      
      First point - never start a Hub with an Amazon capsule.  Identify your reader's need first, persuade them that the product you're recommending will meet that need, then insert the Amazon capsule.
      
      Second, help them choose.   On your cat collar Hub, you feature some cat collars but you don't help the reader decide which one will suit them best.   Do that and you'll stand a much better chance of making a sale. 
      
      By the way, get rid of those random bolded words in your text.  I'm guessing they're keywords - the practice of bolding keywords is VERY old school and Google may even penalise you for it.  If you're trying to highlight certain features for your readers, then  it makes far more sense to reorganise your text to make them headings or sub-headings. 
      
      Third, make sure you focus on the most important elements of your subject first.  On your junior golf Hub, you have a rather lame paragraph about choosing the right colour.  Further down the page, you give some good advice about choosing a set, but if I were a reader I would've clicked away when I got to that para about colour!

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         DzyMsLizzyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         RE: 'random bolded words,'  I've had a LOT of trouble with random, bolded, and blue-clickable-link words scattered throughout my hubs!!
         I did not put them there!!  They just appeared, on their own, and I suspect either "The Big G" or HP's ad program, using bots in either case, is responsible. 
         
         I hate it!  More especially because these links are usually to something totally unrelated to the hub topic.  I rarely use in-text links myself. I don't want my readers taken out of my hub to some unrelated site, and then be distracted and probably not return. 
         
         I spent a lot of time today editing a hub that had a broken link warning, and in the process, discovered a number of those annoying, distracting bold links, and it took me some time to de-activate the links.  In some cases, they were not only bold face, but also had become ALL CAPS, which is something I never do!

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            Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Neither of those is capable of doing that.   Maybe someone else can suggest what's happening - it may be some kind of virus on your own computer.  I have to dash off now or I'd look at some of your Hubs to see if I can see them, will try to look later.

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         johndwilliamsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks Marisa for your advice - I've removed the bold. I am not sure about the Amazon removal fro the front Para. I've heard it's a click hot spot, and some shoppers want to go straight to the shop, I've also hears that Amazon is best lower down and even near the end - until I have some sales data I can not personally say which is best.

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            Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            It is regarded as a "click" hot spot, but that means it's good for ads where you get paid for clicks.  It's not so good for buyers who haven't yet been convinced to buy.   
            
            Experience on HubPages shows that Amazon ads at the very end of Hubs don't perform well either, as most readers never get that far!

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               johndwilliamsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks Marisa for clarifying that makes sense - I'll adjust and review my Hubs.

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                  Susana Sposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  These tips I wrote in response to another forum thread might be of use.

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   tlcsposted 10 years ago

   Not wanting to disappoint  you but I have been writing on hubpages for a few years now and have never had a sale with amazon or e-bay. Why, I don't know but I haven't. tlcs

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      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      tlcs, it's because you're choosing your products badly.  I'm not surprised you've never made a sale! 
      
      When you write a Hub, don't ask yourself, "what products relate to this subject".  Ask yourself "what would a reader need to make this particular recipe or complete this particular project?" 
      
      If someone is looking for information on how to make sweets, they're not going to buy an oven or set of saucepans - or even a scale.  But if you say "it really helps to prepare your ingredients and set them out in separate bowls", they might buy a set of bowls.   They will also need a sugar thermometer, so recommend a good one for them.  And make sure the Amazon capsule for ach of those things is right next to the text where you mention it.
      
      Your Christmas family gathering Hub suggests things to buy, but your Amazon capsules feature things that aren't even mentioned!  Again, rearrange your Hub so you can recommend a nice advent calendar next to the paragraph where you talk about advent calendars - and so on. 
      
      By the way, I notice you often repeat the same photos on a Hub - personally I think that looks rather strange, especially when it makes the text line up poorly.

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         tlcsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Pretty harsh, but taken on board and noted!

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         tlcsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         In fact what you have said here is the best tutorial I have had so far! Thank you Marisa.

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   LindaSmith1posted 10 years ago

   I have my own sites, older ones and brand news ones. Even my new sites, less than a month old, are getting more sales than I have ever gotten from HP.

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      tlcsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Well done, Linda!

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   relacheposted 10 years ago

   Unless what you are writing about is keyed to the season, and a topic deemed relevant or necessary to readers at that time, it's often very hard to spur direct sales.
   
   I also have to question things like your choice on writing about the ingestion of psychedelic mushrooms for personal development.  That sort of thing can get you removed from ad programs, which can really curtail your earning potential.

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      johndwilliamsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Shamanistic uses... of Amanita Muscaria - this has been done for thousands of years. If I cam going to get censored or penalized for that then so be it.

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         Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         As Linda says, it's not about the rights and wrongs of the issue - it's practicality.   If you want to make money here, you need an Adsense account (because every other program here relies on it).   Adsense has a prudish and conservative attitude - write about subjects they don't like, and they will ban you forever with no appeal.  And that will be the end of any hope of making money here, or on most other writing sites.
         
         Save your contentious articles for your own blog and don't use Adsense on it.

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            johndwilliamsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            The article in questions is 3 1/2 years old - and it stresses potential death and liver failure if ingested - it is not a celebration of abandoned drug use. I am not censoring myself. I do not consider it contentious.

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   aesta1posted 10 years ago

   I have made several Amazon sales last Christmas and one the other day. It took time for me to have sales and my own sites have not yet gotten any. I think when you choose topics that are popular to online shoppers, you will have a better chance.

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      tlcsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      That makes total sense to me.

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      DzyMsLizzyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      In four years writing here, I've had exactly two--that's right--just two, Amazon sales!  I don't place much hope on making money that way. When it happens, great; but I regard it as a fluke.

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   earnerposted 10 years ago

   Unless you were born lucky, it's a special skill to make sales through Amazon.  There are ways to write hubs specifically to try to get those sales, to find/drive traffic to the Amazon capsule, but if you're relying on there just being a relevant Amazon module in your hub then you'll be disappointed.
   
   Sometimes I am lucky - more often not.  I don't write what're called "sales hubs", which is the term used by these people who specialise in capturing Amazon sales.
   
   I write for the generic ad revenue, seeing any ebay sale or Amazon sale as a pure bonus and unexpected surprise.

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      DzyMsLizzyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Agreed.  I have only one hub that is rather Amazon-heavy, and I've made no sales from that particular hub.
      I placed the capsules more as illustrations of the equipment I was talking about than to capture sales.  It is not a sales hub; it is a how-to hub, and the Amazon products just show some examples of equipment a person might need or want.

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   LindaSmith1posted 10 years ago

   johndwilliams   I think you missed the message.  You could lose your account here, be banned and lose earnings so far.
   
   You could lose your Adsense account.  If Adsense cancels your account you are done with them.  They won't give you another one.  If you lose your adsense account,  you won't earn anything, anywhere if a adsense account is required.

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      johndwilliamsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Linda,
      
      It's not a contentious subject - I did have a look at all of my Fly Agaric hubs and I do not suggest anyone ingests this mushroom - in fact I stress how deadly it can be. I did remove one youtube video which didn't really server a specific Fly Agaric purpose.
      
      Cheers

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   Solarasposted 10 years ago

   Wrylilt has a good hub on Amazon sales hubs.  You may find some tips there to improve your chances.

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      johndwilliamsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Solaras I'll pop over and have a look.

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         sallybeaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I have had several Amazon Sales - three last week.  I consider it a bonus as it really does help to boost my income.

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            TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I had quite a few last summer, then there was a lull and now I'm starting to see a small increase.  I've had two this month so far.

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   LindaSmith1posted 10 years ago

   I have both Wrylit and Susan bookmarked so I can go back an refer to their articles.  The various articles for writing a sales page for Amazon, SEO, Keywords, etc have a lot of information, for those who don't know much of anything yet, for a refresher, and maybe ideas for doing what we do in a different way.  I haven't done it in awhile, but I use to read articles by those who did good in sales on the various sites to get an idea as to what they might be doing that I wasn't, layout ideas. We all have our own style of writing, but we can still get ideas from others.    There is a you tube video that tells you how to choose Amazon products according to sales rank. The title is: How to use Sales Rank to Find Products to Sell on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and more!
   Some say text links are better for sales, while others say it doesn't work for them. There is a ton of information if you search how to make Amazon sales and lots of ideas along with it.  It all comes down to getting tips, ideas for improving sales, etc and experimenting until you find what works and what doesn't.

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    Millionaire Tipsposted 10 years ago

    There is a lot of excellent advice in this forum.  I received similar advice when I started here, and found that when I followed it, I did get some Amazon sales.  I still get those sales. It is not a lot, but I do get sales in December, and a few others in the rest of the year.
    
    The key is to always keep the reader in mind.  What do they need at this moment?
    
    What can I do to help them find the best product for that need? They may not know what criteria to use to buy the product so I tell them what criteria I would use, and why this particular gadget is the best out of the choices.  And I add the Amazon capsule right there, so they can click on it right away.

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