Hubpages Amazon Program

1. 74

   TheShadowSpecterposted 5 years ago

   I'm somewhat confused about the Hubpages Amazon Program.  I am showing as active in my Hubpages account for this particular program.  I was issued an affiliate code for it.  My Hubpages account is hooked up to my PayPal account.  I was approved for a Google Adsense account subsequently.  However, I am not completely sure whether or not I have done everything to enable myself to earn money through the Hubpages Amazon Program.  If everything on my earnings page is showing active and it shows that my Hubpages account is linked to my PayPal account, is there anything else that I need to do to enable myself to get paid through the Hubpages Amazon Program?  I've been reading article after article here on HubPages on how that all works, but I am not fully sure on whether or not I have been doing the right thing, because I am showing that I have earned nothing from this same program over the course of the two years that I have been a Hubber.  Can someone please help me with this?

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      DrMark1961posted 5 years agoin reply to this

      You have done things right. The reason that you do not have any income from Amazon is not because you have done things wrong. You do not have any income from them because you only have 15 hubs and even they are not very popular.
      When you are getting a lot more views, and your articles are more than opinion pieces, people might like to shop through them. If they are Soapboxie type articles, why do you think they would sell anything?
      When you read an opinion article on the internet, does that make you want to go out and buy something?
      (Another point: I just read five of your articles and did not find any Amazon products even listed. If you do not have a link you are never going to make a sale. If you do have a link it needs to be a product that you have used, purchsed from Amazon, and a product that relates to the subject and title of the article.)

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   2. 78

      TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Everything Dr. Mark said...plus...are you placing ads on your articles and are you doing so correctly and do you have articles that lend themselves to selling products?  Try writing on topics about things such as car maintenance or specific hobbies where you can insert ads and see if you do better.

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2. 92

   Kenna McHughposted 5 years ago

   In simple terms: Write about a product that you use, is worth getting, and link it to Amazon. A reader clicks on the link and buys the item you praised, and any other item the reader buys from that one click within 24 hours is part of your earnings. The more views you have, the more chances of earning money from Amazon. It takes tons of work to make this happen, but it is your hard earn money and worth it.

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3. 92

   Titiaposted 5 years ago

   Are you sure you're not mixing up Amazon with Adsense?

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4. 74

   TheShadowSpecterposted 5 years ago

   DrMark 1961?  From what I understand, the Amazon Affiliate program does require me to post Amazon links in the articles but that the HubPages Amazon Program does not require it.  Because I chose the HubPages Amazon Program, I gather that I do not have to follow the same procedures as I would for the Amazon Affiliate Program in that respect.
   
   Does a Hubber have the ability to determine which advertisements get posted on their articles?  I thought that HubPages called all the shots for that, but correct me if I am wrong.  Also, in your opinion, how many views does an article have to have before it can be considered to be popular?  I've also heard of the term "Opinion Editorial," and perhaps some of my articles fall within that realm.  I don't think that Opinions Editorials are bad things, but, at the same time, I see your point about them also not being good things if a writer limits himself or herself to such.  However, there are articles of mine for which I have done extensive research and have provided links to reliable sources of information within them.  Because you read only five of my articles, I'm thinking that perhaps you overlooked the ones that would not be considered to be Opinion Editorials (opinion articles).  I will take your criticism as constructive in that I realize that there are so many different directions that I could take my writing.  However, I just want to get this HubPages Amazon Program right.

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      DrMark1961posted 5 years agoin reply to this

      The only difference in the Hubpages Amazon program and the Amazon affiliate program is the way in which you are paid. When I used the affiliate program, I was paid from Amazon. When I changed to the Hubpages program, they included my income into my Paypal payment each month. You do have to follow the exact same procedures, post useful Amazon advertisements (related to your subject, have been used by you, etc).
      
      The reason that I make money every day from Amazon is because of my traffic. People who read my articles find an Amazon link to a product that is helpful to the area I am writing about. That does not mean that people will not read opinion pieces, it just means that you can expect very little Amazon traffic from such an article. That is not a bad thing. If you are the kind of person who feels like writing about "The best new blenders for 2019" you may have more Amazon sales. It is up to you.
      
      How many page views does it take for an article to be considered popular? That is impossible to answer since it varies so much for each of us. Some people think double digits are okay, others want hundreds, or even thousands.
      
      Best of luck with this.

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      1. 74

         TheShadowSpecterposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         DrMark1961?  Thank you for your response and information.  Now, I know what I need to do for the HubPages Amazon Program.  I understand that I have two tools that I can use to make money through that program.  I can program a link to a particular word or set of words in the text of any given article of mine so that it takes the readers over to an Amazon advertisement; and if a reader purchases an Amazon product in that advertisement, I get a commission on it from HubPages.  I'm hoping that HubPages is very sophisticated in knowing that the reader linked over from an article of mine to that advertisement in the event of a purchase.  The second tool would be the Amazon capsules that would allow me to incorporate an Amazon advertisement into any given article of mine.
         
         Your advice about any such Amazon advertisement I incorporate being related to my article and being a product that I have used makes perfect sense.  That is, if the Amazon advertisement is not related to my article, the reader may take exception to it being there inasmuch as he or she may feel that it is just slowing them down in reading the article.  And, yes, it should be an Amazon product that I have used, because I do not want to endorse a product that I don't know whether or not it is good.  In other words, if I endorse an Amazon product that I have never tried and is not good, then it may come back to bite me.
         
         I viewed your HubPages dashboard and found that you have many subscribers.  In terms of whether or not my articles are popular, I have gotten a lot of views on the majority of them.  Therefore, I am gathering that you are basing your opinion that they are not very popular on the fact that I only have three subscribers on my HubPages account.  And that's okay, because I realize that I do need to get more people to subscribe to my HubPages account inasmuch as it would drive more traffic my way.  However, I will say this.  I did get an e-mail from an official at a reputable writing site in which she told me that she had read my articles here on HubPages and she was interested in me writing articles for her site about autism.  Therefore, at least somebody is interested in my articles.  I think that it's like the proverb that says that one man's rubbish is another man's treasure.  LOL!  We all try to take pride in our writing, but, at the end of the day, I believe that making money from it stimulates our drive to put out more articles.
         
         A gentleman over at another writing site of which I'm a member once explained to me that regardless of how much investigative reporting and research a writer does for their article, that article automatically becomes an Opinion Editorial (opinion piece) once that writer injects any of their own feelings or opinions into the article.  I'm gathering that you go by that same school of thought in your definition of an opinion piece.  That is, nowadays most everything you read or hear in the press and the media is an opinion piece.  For example, Rachel Maddow Maddow on MSNBC and Carlson Tucker on FOX News both do an extensive amount of research for their television programs, but their news reports still are considered to be opinion pieces inasmuch as they inject their own feelings and opinions into them every time they appear on camera.  On the other hand, the news staff at "60 Minutes" have adhered to a standard of being impartial and brutally honest since 1968.  That is, Dan Rather has never given opinion pieces on that show when he was still there.  Believe it or not, this same gentleman over at the other writing site of which I'm a member asked me if I wanted to write articles for his separate site provided that I do so from a more Dan Rather-type of standard.
         
         Anyhow, I do thank you for your feedback.  By the way, you live in one of the most beautiful places in the world.  Brazil.  That's a good environment to write in.

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            DrMark1961posted 5 years agoin reply to this

            I was not judging the quality of your articles, only the traffic. You do not even have the 10,000 accolade yet. You need the traffic to make Amazon sales.
            The number of followers (what you call subscribers) has very little to nothing to do with traffic. If you are here for a long time more people will notice you and you will have a lot more followers. Most of the page views come from sites like Google though. Even if every single follower read all of my articles, traffic would be horrible.
            Thanks for your comments about Brazil. It is trying at times, but a great place to live.

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            1. 74

               TheShadowSpecterposted 5 years agoin reply to this

               DrMark1961?  Yeah, I didn't really think about the number of accolades I had until you mentioned it, and as you said, that is important.  The information you gave me is quite valuable.  I will keep it all in mind, and I do thank you for it.  Or as they say in Portuguese, OBRIGADO.  :-)

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5. 74

   TheShadowSpecterposted 5 years ago

   TIMETRAVELER2?  Does a Hubber have the ability to insert advertisements of their choice?  What would that all involve?  For example, would I have to contact the companies whose advertisements I wish to use?

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6. 74

   TheShadowSpecterposted 5 years ago

   Titia?  I'm not sure what question you are asking me?  From my understanding, the HubPages Amazon Program is somehow done through a Hubber's Google Adsense account; and, according to articles that I have read here on HubPages, the HubPages Amazon Program is supposed to pay better than the Amazon Affiliate Program.  I hope that I gave you enough clarification to your question.  If you are or anyone here can direct me to an article here on HugPages that walks a Hubber through the process of earning money through the HubPages Amazon Program with a blow-by-blow description, that would help me a lot.

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7. 74

   TheShadowSpecterposted 5 years ago

   Kenna McHugh?  It sounds like you're talking about the Amazon Affiliate Program instead of the HubPages Amazon Program.  However, if the HubPages Amazon Program also requires someone to place capsules into their articles exactly as the Amazon Affiliate Program does, then I would need to know that information.  On the other hand, it sounds like you may be saying that in the HubPages Amazon Program, I can attach a link to a word or several words in my article that would take the reader directly to a product description on the Amazon website and their purchase of that product would generate commission for me.  My only question in that event would be how would Amazon know that this reader clicked over from one of my articles so that I could get paid the commission?

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8. 87

   theraggededgeposted 5 years ago

   No, you are confused between Adsense and Amazon. To earn from Amazon you HAVE to include a link to a product that is essential for the topic you are writing about. Then you insert a link within the text. For example:
   
   "Liz Dean has picked up the Switchword baton, and brought the concept right up to date in her book, "Switchwords: How to Use One Word to Get What You Want." It's available in print and as Kindle download. During my reading of Liz's book, I found it easy to pick up the Switchword concept where I'd left off all those years earlier."
   
   So the title of the book is linked to Amazon, although you can't see it here. You would highlight the title, click on the link icon in the text capsule toolbar. Then click on the Amazon tab and your product should be right there. Click it and Save the capsule.
   
   It's really important that you mention the item in a natural way, as shown above.
   
   There are also dedicated Amazon capsules, but I don't use them any more. Links work better for me because anyone using an ad blocker won't see the Amazon capsule.

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9. 87

   theraggededgeposted 5 years ago

   Having had a quick look at your article page, I notice that several of your articles are 'newsy', i.e. they have a limited shelf life. It's better if you write about evergreen topics that are still useful whatever their age.
   
   It's also very difficult to work in an Amazon product into a political article.

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   1. 74

      TheShadowSpecterposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      theraggededge?  Thank you for your feedback.  Yeah, I do realize that some of my articles are a little dated.  What I have found that many Hubbers do is that they revisit their articles that are dated and they add new updated information to them.  My style would be to write follow-ups to these dated articles and provide links back to them so that the reader has the option of reading background information on my more updated articles that I will publish in the future.
      
      Yeah, I see your point about it being very difficult to work in an Amazon product into a political article.  I've noticed that what Hubbers usually do in that event is that they link some of the text in their political articles to books being sold on Amazon related to that specific political topic.  The tricky part about it is that it should be a book that they have read, because they don't want it coming back to bite them if the book turns out to be boring.
      
      Anyhow, I do thank you for the information that you gave me.  I now realize that the only difference between the HubPages Amazon Program and the Amazon Affiliate Program here on HubPages is that the HubPages Amazon Program pays more.

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