The secret to success with Amazon

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   Anita Haschposted 7 years ago

   What is the secret to make regular com on sales through hubpages. I was fortunate to collect com from Amazon in August. Since then nothing. What kind of ads produce the best results? Plse help as I need to succeed with Amazon.

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   Marisa Wrightposted 7 years ago

   Most Hubbers find that Amazon is a very small part of their income compared to the rest of the HP Earnings Program. 
   
   To make sales, you need to choose your Amazon capsules very carefully.   
   
   They must be directly relevant to the main topic of your Hub.
   
   You must be able to say why you are recommending that particular product or book to the reader. 
   
   In fact if you don't strictly follow those rules for Amazon capsules, you are likely to find your Hub gets unpublished.

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      Anita Haschposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Marisa, but I am sure that some products sell better than others. I would like to promote those.

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         Will Apseposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         If you want to know which products sell best on Amazon, try Googling 'amazon bestsellers'.
         
         You will need a pretty good page if you want to monetize with Amazon ads, though.
         
         Better to start with something you know about and see if there are any products that are essential to that area and that you are familiar with.

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            Anita Haschposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Thank you. I appreciate your advice.

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            Janellegemsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Great advice Will.  I have never tried Amazon bestsellers.  Thanks for that suggestion.

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               Will Apseposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               You are welcome.

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         TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

         I don't think it's a matter of products...it's a matter of what you write about.  If you write on topics that have a wide audience that may be interested in purchasing products that support their hobbies, etc., then you are likely to sell more.  For example, if you know a great deal about fishing and write articles about it which specifically discuss one aspect of it and then place an ad or two that will be helpful for your reader, you'll get more clicks than if you just talk about fishing in general and randomly place an ad on it.  HP is not a site that exists for the purpose of selling products, however, so if you are here to make money doing that, you're in the wrong place.

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            Anita Haschposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Thank you TimeTraveler2. One of my passions is writing. I enjoy writing articles. However, I also enjoy some success and looking at a round O under Amazon makes me feel unproductive. I am sure that there are some hubbers doing well with Amazon. They have discovered the 'secret' of advertising products. So, I do not write just for selling products, but as Amazon is part of the success of a hubber I would like to succeed beyond a O.

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               Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               Many Hubbers make no money from Amazon at all, so don't feel you're unusual.
               
               Not everyone writes Hubs that are suitable for Amazon products and those people just don't bother with it.
               
               I think you need to focus on learning how to get more traffic to your Hubs - and that means making them more search-engine friendly.  As SmartAndFun says, only a few of your readers will ever click on an ad or buy an Amazon product, so you need very high numbers of readers in the first place.

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                  Will Apseposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  'only a few of your readers will ever click on an ad or buy an Amazon product, so you need very high numbers of readers in the first place'
                  
                  This isn't entirely true. It is all about reader intent. Someone who searches for the 'Best Gifts for Six Year Old Girls' is keen (perhaps desperate) to buy something. A relatively high percentage of this kind of visitor will click an Amazon ad and you do not need many visits to make money.
                  
                  When it comes to pure info pages, you can have thousands of visitors and never get a click on an ad of any kind.
                  
                  Another way of looking at it: on pure info pages, Amazon ads are not serving the readers needs, will not make money and are often viewed by readers as spam.
                  
                  On product-orientated pages, the opposite is true.
                  
                  I don't know why people find these notions so hard to grasp but it seems they do, lol.

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               TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

               I happen to be one of the writers who does well with Amazon, so the advice I gave you was based on what has worked for me.  Nobody likes to see "O" on sales figures, but to me, they are an added plus, not my main reason for writing.  I also like to see people reading my work, which to date 822,000 people have done.  I make money both ways, and that is the best possible combination you can have.

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   SmartAndFunposted 7 years ago

   I agree that you need to be writing on topics yo are well versed in, recommending specific products and stating reasons why these products work better for you than the alternatives. If it is clear that you have used the product, and also if you include any cons along with the pros, readers will be more likely to trust your endorsement and make a purchase.
   
   Also remember you need views. Are your articles getting traffic? For every thousand views, you might get a few clicks. For every few clicks, you might get a sale. Perhaps someone out there has more specific statistics on this, however, the point I'm trying to make is the more views you get, the more chances there are that someone will actually click over to Amazon, and the more people who click over, the more chances you have that someone will actually buy something.
   
   Since I've had articles edited by HubPro, my Amazon sales have gone up. I'm not sure what the editors have done but it is working for me. Maybe staff or the editors would share their Amazon strategies.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I suspect that key words play a part in your success.  It's amazing the difference that even one word can make!

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         Anita Haschposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you TimeTraveler2 using key words makes sense. Not so clever in that department but will pay more attention to key words. Your advice is appreciated.

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      Anita Haschposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you so much 'SmartAndFun'. You are most probably right, my views are going up at the speed of a tortoise.

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   EricDockettposted 7 years ago

   My advice for new and flailing Hubbers who want to do well with Amazon is to forget about Amazon for a while. First learn how to create a page that gets traffic. Spend time learning on-page SEO and best practices for writing online. Read the Learning Center. Educate yourself on all the things you need to do to make a quality page for the internet. Get good at it.
   
   Once you have that all figured out and you're consistently writing pages that bring traffic, shift your focus to niches where: (a) You have knowledge and (b) People buy stuff. Not all topics lend well to making Amazon sales. You have to find the right niche where you are an authority and it is reasonable to expect people to make purchases.
   
   And not all successful Amazon pages are product reviews. Product comparisons work well, because people need to make a decision between Thing A and Thing B and they need someone who knows what they are talking about to help them make the choice. "How to" articles work well, where you are telling people how you use a certain product to solve a certain problem. People always need help solving problems.
   
   The key is to always try to be helpful to the reader. They should find value in your page even if they decide not to click through. Never try to pitch people or convince them to buy.  Think of your pages as free information with the opportunity to buy.
   
   The biggest mistakes I see some Hubbers make with Amazon are:
   
   1. Not knowing what they are talking about. You need to be an authority on the subject you are writing on, or at least more knowledgeable than your target audience. When you are not, people know.
   2. Throwing Amazon ads on a page just for the odd hope of getting a click and making a sale. Just because you wrote about a topic doesn't mean you'll sell a book about that topic.
   3. Not understanding when a product is related to the topic. A Hub about Derek Jeter's career should not have an ad for a Derek Jeter baseball card. Only a Hub about Derek Jeter baseball cards should have an ad with a Jeter baseball card.
   4. Never taking the first steps needed to learn how to write online, and then giving up when their Hubs get rejected or they don't make any money. The money-making potential of HubPages is alluring, but it isn't easy. If you put the cart before the horse you'll never get anywhere.
   
   That's what I know, or at least all I can remember right now. There is no secret. You just have to work at it until you get it right.

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      Anita Haschposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you Eric for your advice. I think 'the secret' is the knowledge of how to go about it.  You have given me some ideas of increasing my traffic.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      +1

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         Anita Haschposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you Marisa for your advice.  I am grateful to all the hubbers that
         are helping me to succeed at hubpages.

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   Chriswillman90posted 7 years ago

   I have no clue what the secret is. Personally I've been very lucky with Amazon sales with a new record last month and multiple sales for the past 4-5 months.
   
   Agree that you shouldn't worry about it so much although your niche does have a lot to do with it.

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      Anita Haschposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Congratulations Chriswillman90. I knew there must be some hubbers that are successful with Amazon. You are obviously doing something right.

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   Solarasposted 7 years ago

   I have had some success with Amazon ads, and I find that selecting 4-5 products for review works well.
   
   It can be best of categories for instance:
   
   Best value, Best quality at any price, Best looking, Best in Customer Satisfaction, Longest lasting etc...
   
   or Best for short fat people, best for extra tall thin people, best for people with high arches etc...
   
   You only need one or two capsules - Amazon will provide alternatives for you.  See what people are buying, if it is different from what you are recommending, and then replace or add that item on your list with the reasons you find for them to like it.
   
   Then impartially add pros and cons of each item - one man's trash is another man's treasure.
   
   Sometimes you just get lucky and people are in a buying mood.  I have people do their grocery shopping or project list shopping for items totally unrelated to anything I write about. Amazon can easily double your income on HP.
   
   Just be sure, as others have said, that you are providing a solution to something people need guidance to buy.  My best performers come from things I want to know about, but there is no good article out there on it already.  I do the research (sometimes for several days) and then provide a synopsis of what I have learned.  In the process of learning, I discover what points are important to me in the item I was researching and are of value to share.  Comments on your hub can give you good points for updates and improvements to the hub.

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      Anita Haschposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you Solaras for some very constructive tips. Really appreciate all the assistance and good advice.

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      Will Apseposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Worth taking note of.

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      Will Apseposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      The above advice is worth taking note of. If you are getting serious about writing an Amazon-orientated page, make sure the topic has not already been nailed by a dozen other writers. Then take the time to nail it yourself.

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