Amazon Sales Up - Maybe It's The Domain Change Thing?

1. 91

   Kylyssaposted 8 years ago

   OK, so it's probably too soon to tell, but along with getting a higher percentage of my views from Google searches, it looks a bit like my Amazon sales have increased both in number and amount since we switched from subdomains to a single domain. Is anyone else seeing this?
   
   Even if it isn't the reason, there's something positive going on here. My Amazon sales plummeted after my lenses were moved from Squidoo to HubPages. Last year at this time, I was lucky to get a sale more than once a week and even luckier if the commission was over $0.20. What I'm seeing now, while not as robust as sales on Squidoo, actually looks like a return to reasonable fall Amazon sales similar to what I'm seeing on other sites.
   
   The amounts are also higher. I haven't had many days when my ad program earnings were less than my Amazon earnings since the move from Squidoo but I'm seeing them more and more frequently.
   
   Whatever it is, I hope it's site-wide and not just a fluke I, alone, am experiencing and that it lasts.

   replyreport
2. 83

   Solarasposted 8 years ago

   I have seen an uptick in my Amazon sales as well.  On the Amazon sales pages that get relatively few views, but do produce sales, I turned of the HP Ad program for those pages, and this seems to have improved the conversion rate.

   replyreport
   1. 100

      DrMark1961posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Or, it is close to Christmas and people are buying more. But of course HP will tell you that the improved sales are because you followed their advice.

      replyreport
      1. 83

         Solarasposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         LOL - I found that the week leading up to Thanksgiving was pretty dead.  People were waiting for Black Friday to make any purchases, then the gates opened and sales started to flow again Friday AM.

         replyreport
         1. 88

            Will Apseposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Feeding frenzy time for the affiliate fiends...
            
            I could have a picture of an orca swallowing a whole shoal of silvery fishes but that would be wrong.

            replyreport
   2. 91

      Kylyssaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Have you compared this year with last year side-by-side? What I'm seeing is a much greater frequency and dollar amount in sales this year, actually going back into October through now. I'm also seeing better conversion rates, especially on the hubs I've shut HP ads off on.
      
      I hope this is site-wide. This could mean HubPages stands a decent chance of stabilizing rather than spiraling down the tubes.
      
      Thanks!

      replyreport
3. 82

   mattforteposted 8 years ago

   It's simple.
   When somebody clicks an amazon link from your site, a cookie is stored.
   This being holiday season, people are going to be purchasing more and more from Amazon. All you need is to get that cookie in there before they go on a shopping spree. And sales go up.

   replyreport
   1. 69

      Maffew Jamesposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      The cookie lasts 24 hours, or until the person enters Amazon through any other link. It's very unlikely that you'll catch a purchase that isn't directly related to your conversion in this situation.

      replyreport
   2. 91

      Kylyssaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Too bad you didn't read the words in my original post. Why bother posting to the thread if you haven't? It seems weird to imagine what you thought the words might have said and to answer your imagined words rather than to do the easy, simple thing and just read what is actually there.
      
      Yes. That is generally how it works, but compared to last year when sales were small and very, very few on HubPages they are now larger and much, much more frequent. Last year had a Christmas season, too, and that is what I'm comparing this year to.

      replyreport
4. 29

   rizwanyounis516posted 8 years ago

   keep trying it will work near Christmas

   replyreport
5. 82

   mattforteposted 8 years ago

   24 hours is a lot of time. Almost every sale I've ever made on Amazon, save a small few have been completely unrelated to my content.
   Especially this time of year, a lot of people are going to Amazon daily - and Prime is getting bigger, more and more people are doing all of their household shopping on Amazon (I'm one of them). There are lots of reasons for this - which is why using a scattergun approach (get as many people to click and get that cookie as you can, and some people will inevitably end up buying things that you get credit for)
   
   
   
   
   Or maybe I'm just more aware of the world around me.
   
   Comparing year-to-year sales is the most elementary thing you could do. Get some business analysis classes under your belt before you come at me with such bitter rhetoric for trying to help you understand something you clearly don't (Otherwise you wouldn't be asking about it).
   
   If your Google views have gone up in response to the domain change, then yes that will increase Amazon sales. There is a positive correlation (more views = more clicks, more clicks = more sales) but since that is a bit obvious, it is safe to assume you think something else is at work aside from JUST increase in views.
   
   Here's a few things for you to think about, before blasting me with such naivete:
   
   
   
   I'll point you to this:
   http://www.ledgergazette.com/thanksgivi … ds/160121/
   
   Online sales are going crazy this year. That means more people are buying online, and likely buying bigger things. This is also completely unrelated to a domain change.
   
   So I restate my point. It's the holidays, sales are going up. More people are buying online, which means they are more likely to read your article, then later on that day going straight to Amazon to purchase something (giving you credit) than in previous years.
   I'm sorry you're looking for something deeper than this - but that is something that is actually happening, and is going to positively affect your sales. Occam's Razor at work.

   replyreport
   1. 69

      Maffew Jamesposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Well if it works for you, there's no arguing with that. My account is the opposite, with most Amazon sales being the product linked to, or something closely related. I suppose it won't be the same for everyone.

      replyreport
   2. 91

      Kylyssaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      It's not bitter rhetoric to complain about someone not bothering to read a post and then talking down to me. If you don't want irritated responses from people, read posts before responding to them and avoid using a patronizing tone. You can't realistically expect a slightly irrelevant and extremely simplistic response flavored with condescension to be treated like blood-diamonds of wisdom earned at high cost and graciously distributed to the undeserving stupid.
      
      I didn't ask if sales increase for the holidays, but if others are seeing dramatically increased sales this fall season compared to last fall. I asked such a question because I have no way of knowing how everyone else's holiday sales are going and I hoped Amazon sales multiple times what they were last year were what everyone else was seeing, too.  Unfortunately, it looks like it's a fluke since others aren't reporting the same. That's a bummer, but it doesn't mean I'm stupid for asking or that a blurb saying that sales increase for the holidays and that Amazon uses cookies to credit sales answers it in any way.
      
      I know sales are supposed to increase at the holidays. I know how the cookies work. I've only been here a year, but I've been selling Amazon items for over ten years through an assortment of content farms, a few online publications, and clients' websites. I am very much aware that more sales are made during the holiday season. I didn't figure that content farms and clients just love to give me a whole lot more money when it gets cold outside.
      
      This is a conversation about what is happening this year on HubPages that is different from what happened last year. It's about putting a finger on what things HubPages did right and pondering whether or not they're responsible for a very large percentage increase in sales compared to last year. Your link suggests a 14.3% increase in Internet sales and that might be a small percentage of what's going on, but it isn't enough to explain an increase that's many times that.
      
      My biggest increases and my improved conversion rates coincided with the domain change so it's not completely stupid to speculate it might be related somehow. This is just a forum and just a casual conversation inviting speculation and sharing my hope that HubPages is recovering. People don't have to take business analysis courses to see large changes and differences and to speculate about them. I didn't claim to be an expert; I just made note of a large change I noticed and hoped others were seeing similar positive changes. Neither optimism nor a desire for others to share in good fortune indicate stupidity.
      
      I think something has changed about HubPages or about the way Google sees it between then and now because HubPages is now performing more in line with how other websites are performing. Last year, for me, it did not. So both compared to last my year's HubPages sales and compared to current sales on other websites, HubPages sales appear to be approaching something more like normal for the holiday season. That is a difference.

      replyreport
6. 83

   Protaskerposted 8 years ago

   I'm not seeing a increase in anything. I miss the creativity we had at Squidoo. Squidoo had a hard content policy but for Amazon links they didn't require 300 words!  I was like, I'm selling it, not in love with it. Then when you do find some thing to say, they say it's duplicate content. Yeah, there is only so much information on a product. I'm having a hard time and my hubs aren't as inviting as my lenses were.

   replyreport