Could something be wrong with my Amazon account?

1. 60

   Don Simkovichposted 13 years ago

   I've only made one sale ever from Amazon and that was in February. I have a dozen or so product Hubs and some have generated very good traffic - and I've made money on them through Adsense. But I'm zero via Amazon. I don't expect much but at least an occasional sale now and then -- some of my product Hubs have generated 15 to 20 visitors a day from the search engines, too.
   
   I have other informational Hubs where I thought I would have made a sale once in a while via Amazon.
   
   I'm wondering if something could be wrong - it did track a sale back in Feb though.
   
   I'll go to the Amazon Associates blog but thought I'd first get input here on Hubpages.

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      thisisoliposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Search engine traffiic is definitely the best traffic for sales, however 15-20 visitors a day is not really a huge amount.
      
      If I were you I would install Google Analytics, and check teh keywords they are using to find your site.  WHen you have the keywords ak yourself if people searching for those keywords would want to buy the items on your page.
      
      If not, think of what prooducts they might want to buy.  If you think the products are relevant, then instead try doing more SEO.
      
      If the keywords people are coming in on are not realy keywords that would generate a sale, change your text a little to find keywords which might be more lucrative.

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   2. 0

      ryankettposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      My only advice is to be very forward, in your face. Don't be scared of trying to sell something, this is my new tact and I have quadrupled my Amazon earnings this month on the month before last.
      
      If you truly want to sell Amazon stuff then write sales pages, use keywords that you KNOW people will use when actively buy.
      
      If you are very very keen to sell on Amazon, then get started on the Xmas hubs

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         Don Simkovichposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks, ryankett. Okay, I'll do!

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2. 67

   Kyrianaposted 13 years ago

   I've only been here for 2 months but I can say that I've only made one Amazon sale so far. I don't know if that helps but if your code is still in affiliate settings and you can log into Amazon then it sounds like it's ok.

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3. 84

   Whitney05posted 13 years ago

   Check your id... For a long time, I had in the wrong ID, missing a number, and once I fixed it, my sales started rolling in.

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      Aiden Robertsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Whitney
      
      When you say a number was missing was that in the affiliate set up page or in the link itself?
      
      I only ask because this thread has got me thinking and checking, my affiliate page is correct but when i check individual product links the numbers are missing of the end of the affiliate link, I thought this was just down to space? Am I wrong.
      
      Any advice is appreciated.
      
      Thanks

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      Don Simkovichposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks, my ID on Hubpages shows up as the ID on Amazon. Is it okay then? Otherwise, how would you know?

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      1. 67

         Flightkeeperposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         It sounds like it's allright.  Check out the sales hubs by habee and ryankett and write more sales hubs if you want amazon to work for you.

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4. 71

   relacheposted 13 years ago

   I have to agree with thisisoli, your traffic is very low.  You need significantly more if you expect to generate consistent or substantial sales.

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      ryankettposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      15-20 page views per day for 1 hub isn't that bad though surely? Some of my sales pages which have that sort of traffic manage several sales per month?

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      Don Simkovichposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I'd be happy with an occasional sale just to know if things are working. Correct, I know the traffic really needs to jump up for higher Amazon sales.

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   wildernessposted 13 years ago

   Are you getting click throughs to Amazon with no conversion to sales, or nothing at all?  If no one is even clicking through it could indicate a problem, but if they are, I would think the account is functioning and people simply aren't buying.
   
   Consider that if 95% don't click and of the 5% that do only 5% buy, you won't have many sales with those traffic figures (and I'm pulling numbers out of my hat, so don't go by them - just the concept).

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   1. 60

      Don Simkovichposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, I don't think any clicks are coming through. I'd be happy with a 1% conversion to sales. My Adsense right now is about <number snipped, violation of AdSense policy>% CTR.

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6. 60

   Don Simkovichposted 13 years ago

   Thanks for all the replies. I'll double check my ID. There are no click throughs to my Amazon site, even though my Google Adsense is continually increasing in revenue.

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7. 60

   Don Simkovichposted 13 years ago

   My one product Hub on massage lotion has had over 1,500 page views - most from search engines and not one sale although I made $2.00 on it from Adsense yesterday.
   
   Just FYI.

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      wildernessposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Don, I looked at your coffee maker hub and see nothing at all wrong at that end - the amazon capsule even clicks through to the proper place.  It would seem to me that it about has to be the Amazon end with a problem of some kind. 
      
      All I can think of is to check your tracking ID and the "signed in as" ID very carefully.  It sure seems that you should be getting something coming through.  Maybe someone else has been getting the credit for your sales!

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         Don Simkovichposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Alright, I will look at the traffic ID. I found I did have 6 clicks from Jan 2010 to today. But that seems unusually low.

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            rebekahELLEposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            when you sign into your amazon account, over on the top left, you'll see your tracking code. it has to match what you have here at HP exactly.

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      thisisoliposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Again, check what keywords your entrance traffic is using.  Massage is one of those words which is completely innocent but can attract the wrong kind of traffic!

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         wildernessposted 13 years agoin reply to this

           I would never have thought of that! Good point .

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            Don Simkovichposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks, thisisoli, I have checked via hubpages and some of the keywords do include the same words in the title and there are also keywords for the types of massage oils shown.
            
            But I have the same issue with the other product Hubs like buying shower caddies online and my one on spinbrushes.

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8. 70

   sunforgedposted 13 years ago

   I peeked at your links, a non-hubpage id appears in your amazon links (Yours)
   
   Seems like all is well on the technological end - just got to tweak and get more visitors looking to buy with their wallets in their hands - thats the rub

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   1. 60

      Don Simkovichposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks, sunforged. Wow, how could you tell about my non-hubpage id? I am still a bit surprised that I didn't make even one sale on the massage lotion and oil hub.

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         rebekahELLEposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         if you hover over one of your ads, the address shows up in the bottom right corner of your screen. you will see your code or HP code.

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9. 60

   Anesidoraposted 13 years ago

   Yeah it took me months and months to get my first amazon sale, another month or so to start getting daily sales, and I still have a bunch of product hubs which have never worked out. Some products or product areas just don't sell well on the web, or the market is too overflooded.

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10. 71

    thisisoliposted 13 years ago

    Keep trying is the best dvice I can give.  If I were you I would take another look at those earnings around christmas time!

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11. 67

    Flightkeeperposted 13 years ago

    Hi Don, I looked at your college football sales hub. What I would suggest is that you take one thing and give variations of it.  So for example if you want to feature a football item, choose one thing.  Concentrate on say, football jackets and feature all the college football jackets in one grouping.  Have text about your predictions of the college football season then feature say the Top 10 in the Big East.  You might do a hub like that and see if that gets more responses.

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    1. 60

       Don Simkovichposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Hi Flightkeeper, I agree with you. I didn't really expect to make Amazon sales on that particular Hub. I was thinking about writing about some of the top teams specifically.
       
       I did a Hub on Spin toothbrushes and shower caddies. I felt those were more specific.
       
       Here's one of my thoughts: Adsense may be more of an impulse and easier to click on for folks since Amazon requires getting out the credit card.

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       1. 67

          Flightkeeperposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Well, I don't think it's really an impulse buy, people look at stuff on Amazon to see if it's cheaper or difficult to get.  You should take a look at Nelle Hoxie's hubs, she's great when it comes to sales hubs.
          
          I think you're going in the right direction when you concentrate on the top teams.

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             Don Simkovichposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             Yeah, thanks. I have looked at Nellie's and I've been writing more product-specific Hubs like buying shower caddies online and the toothbrush one. The shower caddies Hub, I got a lot of keywords on dorm shower caddies around late July and early Aug but no Amazon sales. I'll bet if I only had dorm shower caddies featured then there would have been at least one sale. I'm just surprised I've only made one Amazon sale.
             
             You're right, the more specific the better.

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12. 0

    Hovalisposted 13 years ago

    It could be you are not being specific enough in encouraging the sale. This doesn't mean you have to lie or be over the top, or even not point out the flaws in a product. I have a lot of specifically targeted hubs for Amazon, and I make regular sales from about 60% of them. I do my best to be honest with a prospective buyer, because as a buyer myself, I don't want hype, but rather to make as an informed choice as possible.
    
    You do need to pick your keywords carefully once you find a product though, and have a look at how many people are searching and how many pages you are competing with as well. It could be that you are picking products or keywords which are really competitive.
    
    I'm going to be a naysayer here and say you can make regular sales from hubs which get 10-20 hits a day. Most of mine have around that, and I get 1-2 sales a month from most of the ones that get above 10 hits a day. I have a couple with significantly higher traffic that I get relatively fewer sales from. Go figure.
    
    I am already having a record month with Amazon, and on track to get around $250 in sales, double that of last month. And my sales have been steadily increasing every month, not stagnating or decreasing. The one difference I've seen of late is that I have been doing a lot of backlinking, which is just starting to reap some benefits.
    
    Also, I will add that you will have failures and hubs that despite your research, just don't perform. I have quite a few, and in retrospect I can see some of the mistakes I've made, and how my research was flawed when I wrote them. But these hubs have made me better when I've written the next, and then the next.
    
    To an extent it is a numbers game, both with having enough articles and getting enough traffic to convert to sales and in the right areas. You'll only get this with experimentation. But you do have to ask for the sale. It's all passive vs active selling.

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    1. 60

       Don Simkovichposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Yes, I'll re-write my product Hubs to make sure I'm asking for the sale. The old "call to action."

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