Amazon Earning Percentages

1. 92

   Jeremy Gillposted 6 years ago

   For anyone with experience regarding the Amazon capsule comfortable answering, about how much of your total percentage of earnings comes from Amazon? I've mostly avoided it, knowing how difficult it is to incorporate the capsules without feeling spammy, but I'd like to know what I could potentially be missing.
   
   If more than say, 15% of earnings for anyone come from Amazon, I might experiment with them more.

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   1. 83

      liesl5858posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I did not make much on Amazon as I only figured out how to use Amazon capsule last year.

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   2. 97

      Eurofileposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      As a new hubber, I tried putting a couple of Amazon capsules in my first article.  My article gained approval after I deleted the Amazon capsules and made a few other changes.

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2. 89

   Butterfly67posted 6 years ago

   Currently I make about 30% of my earnings from Amazon products. I get sales on most days but it has not always been this way! I would say that you need a really strong call to action for the person to want to buy the product.

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3. 95

   wildernessposted 6 years ago

   It ranges pretty widely each month, but I'd say between 1/4 and 1/2 of earnings are from Amazon.  Certainly worth going after.

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4. 95

   theraggededgeposted 6 years ago

   My Amazon is a substantial amount of my earnings - but through in-text links, not capsules. I never did very well with capsules, so I need to go through hubs and convert.

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   1. 92

      Jeremy Gillposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks to everyone for their responses. Any recommendations about whether to link to a specific product or just the keyword? Seems like finding a specific product is more helpful, but runs the risk of that product disappearing from the site; at that point, does your Amazon link simply not function any more?
      
      More insights would definitely be welcome.

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      1. 89

         lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         My experience is very similar to what wilderness said. You "have to" link to a specific product and also write a bit about it. Something that is not readily available on Amazon.

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      2. 94

         Beth Eaglescliffeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         It has to be a specific product you link to otherwise it will be snipped by the editors. The new rules mean you must have personal experience of the product. You need to write something about it (as lobobrandon said) that is not copied from Amazon.

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   2. 96

      eugbugposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      That's interesting. Why do you reckon that's the case?

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      1. 89

         lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         People are just more likely to click on them. In text links are less of an ad and seem to be there to help the user. If they see a capsule they know it's an ad and are less likely to click. That's my take on it. I see the same with my website. Image and text links do best. Image links are far better but we don't have that here.

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         1. 96

            eugbugposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            Hmm, must try replacing some of my capsules so and see if it results in more sales.

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5. 96

   eugbugposted 6 years ago

   Over all time, 10% of earnings, probably due to flurries of activity during the summer, but normally about 2% per month. It's very sporadic, plus most of my ads were removed because I don't have experience of many products. The most disappointing thing is that I wrote a hub praising a particular tool 6 years ago and it has over 5000 views, but no one has bought that tool from Amazon yet.

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6. 91

   Titiaposted 6 years ago

   Though I do have in-text links to Amazon in my updated hubs, I hardly ever sell something. I still have a lot of hubs that need updating but too little time at hand.

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7. 91

   Rochelle Frankposted 6 years ago

   My highest viewed hub and another related to it bring in  the majority of my views and also most of my Amazon traffic.
   Amazon, at least in the past year or so,  has brought 50% and often much more of my pay.
   In the past week or so Amazon and overall views have gone down a bit but still average or above."Average"  is just comparing MY past to MY present.   I have no idea what site average is, or what others make. I don't need to know. I am happy with my payouts, and appreciate the opportunity to earn with HP and Amazon.

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8. 93

   poppyrposted 6 years ago

   I’ve posted a few amazon links but never sold anything

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9. 95

   theraggededgeposted 6 years ago

   This month is a bit slow, but over the last few months, I've made well into three figures via Amazon.

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10. 96

    eugbugposted 6 years ago

    How do Amazon ads manage to get through ad blocks?

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    1. 89

       lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       Because these are not ads, but links. They are not being called via an API that is blocked by AdBlockers, they are just like any other link on a website.

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       1. 96

          DrMark1961posted 6 years agoin reply to this

          A way to get around ad blockers?

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          1. 89

             lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

             Yes, this is why I never use API served things on my own website either. Amazon images must be called through API if used, else it is against the TOS. This is why I tell people that they are not allowed to have Amazon images on their hub just because they link out to the product. Getting the image from the product manufacturer website is a different story.
             
             Use links to go around the Ad blockers and imo they are the better way to do things I know you disagree hehe.

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             1. 96

                DrMark1961posted 6 years agoin reply to this

                Actually it sounds like a great work-around for those falling impression numbers (because of ad blockers), I am sure HP is aware of this too. I wonder if that is the reason they are recommending spammy looking links instead of a more honest advertisement? (Sorry about that, just had to get that dig in there!)

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                1. 89

                   lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                   I think HP is recommending it because no one likes in your face advertisements. Imagine a TV series suddenly the actor says hey I use this, you should give it a go: Call XXXX. Instead, if the ad showed as a banner on the bottom you would be less "pi**ed"
                   
                   Also, they have a higher conversion rate than capsules, I did an experiment on my own website too. And people around the web say this as well. But every website is different and experiments must be conducted, and that is what HP did.

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11. 95

    TeriSilverposted 6 years ago

    I have an article that has an Amazon capsule, which I really thought would take off sales-wise, given the content.  I have a large niche audience for this piece, yet only got ONE sale on the DVD through the Amazon capsule in the article.  Very disappointing.

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    1. 95

       theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       Change it to an in-text link and see if it works better for you.

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12. 95

    TeriSilverposted 6 years ago

    So, instead of a capsule, I can just link to Amazon and would get credit if someone follow the link to a sale?

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    1. 89

       lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       Yes.

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    2. 91

       Rochelle Frankposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       Yes , if they follow your link and decide to buy something else you get the benefit. However, your Amazon link should relate to a particular product that you write about.
       
       I have seen a lot of unrelated products being sold from my links. My theory is that people think "Oh, yeah while I'm here I might as well order that kitchen tool I was thinking about and get free shipping for ordering a certain dollar amount."

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13. 95

    TeriSilverposted 6 years ago

    Thank, I removed the capsule and added a link but I think my window has passed; my readers that would care have already read the article. Ah, well ...

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    1. 89

       lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       If they wanted to buy they would have seen the capsule anyway. The text link is just known to convert better in general. So if you did not sell many with the capsule, it's highly unlikely you would sell any with the text link. So don't worry too much about that.

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14. 95

    TeriSilverposted 6 years ago

    Yes, that's true.  Thanks.

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15. 88

    huntnfishposted 6 years ago

    I take an overt, hard-sell approach to promoting Amazon products. I remain up-front about the fact that I'm promoting a product or products. I personally like the capsules more than text links.
    
    Just keep in mind the purpose of the capsule is to provide the reader value. If they don't need the product, pointing them towards Amazon is just a distraction from your writing, in my opinion.
    
    I've received emails from readers who have purchased the products I've promoted, fishing lures for example, and emailed me pictures of fish they've caught thanking me for the recommendation. That's the experience I'm trying to replicate when I choose to promote a product.
    
    Amazon makes up about about 80% of my earnings on HP.

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16. 85

    Bills Placeposted 6 years ago

    Since joining in 2012, I have only had a few sales. However, I've never really tried (put a capsule and left it). Since I've returned and found out about the latest set of rules and how strict it is to get hubs featured with Amazon links/capsules I have been removing them as I update my hubs.
    
    Once I update all my current hubs, I plan to test a couple product based hubs though. See where it goes.

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    1. 94

       Jean Bakulaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       I have several hubs where I know people buy what I suggest, but never made a payout in all the years I've been here. I am going to take out the Amazon capsules and just do it the other way, as a hyperlink. It seems more like a suggestion for their own good if people read your hub.

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       1. 85

          Bills Placeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

          The more I've read related forum posts/questions, the Amazon capsules seem rather pointless anymore. At this point, I'm just satisfied if I can keep the view count up, then I'll worry about amazon links later. Haha.

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