Amazon Affiliate Lesson #3 – Targeting Your Traffic

<– Back to Amazon Affiliate Lesson #2

That’s right folks, you demanded it.  It’s time for Amazon Affiliate lesson #3!

Targeting Your Traffic

This is probably the easiest of all the lessons, but is also the most important.  You need to make sure that your content, your readers, and the Amazon links you are getting them to click on actually match up!  For example, click on the following link to Amazon:

Click HERE for this awesome thing!

Ok, now what did you think?  Did that item interest you?  No?   Well no surprise really, I was pretty sure you wouldn’t like that.

How did I know?  Because this site is about cutting through the BS to earning money online and you are reading an article about making money with Amazon.  I can see what keywords bring people here through search engines and I know what forums and sites send me the most visitors.  None of them are related to that product at all.  I can look at Alexa.com data and Quantcast.com data and see that my largest demographic is largely males aged 25-45 who finished college yet make less than $50k a year.  Followed a close second by males aged 25-45 who didn’t finish college and make over $100k a year.  Odd mix, but I think it’s people looking to make more money in the first case, and already successful internet marketers in the second case.  I’m guessing at least 80% of you aren’t interested in that product.

Now try this one on for size:

Click HERE for this awesome thing that I think you’ll actually like!

See?  That is far more targeted product to you, the reader of this article.  It doesn’t even have to be an Amazon product, as long as it’s what you are looking for.   Don’t be afraid to target other products from other vendors other than Amazon if it’s better targeted to your audience.

You can take this one step further with Geo targeting by IP address.  If I knew what country you were coming from, I could show you something different, maybe from Amazon.co.uk, or Amazon.ca.

It seems obvious when you think about it, but if you don’t show people something they are interested in chances are they won’t buy anything!

But I Think I’m Targeting Already!  Why Don’t People Buy?

Now here is the biggest issue with both of those items.  YOU, the person that is currently being targeted by this article, are likely not in a buying mood.  How do I know you aren’t in a buying mood?  This site doesn’t really target any keywords that would indicate you sat down at the computer intending to buy stuff.  I suspect you are trying to MAKE money, not spend it.

You need to catch people shopping to get the biggest bang for the buck out of your Amazon sales.  That way even if they don’t buy the item you are targeting, they might buy something else and you still get credit.

An example?  Here is a short list of “buying” keywords:

• buy
• cheap
• discount
• sale
• coupon
• where to buy online
• best place to buy
• shop
• review

There are many others, but that’s the general idea.  So if you are building a site about sewing machines, you would want to create single pages targeting a buying keyword and your targeted keyword together.  Buy sewing machines, sewing machine sale, where to buy singer sewing machines, sewing machine discount, etc.

With proper targeting and buying keywords tied together, you can get people at your website that are in a mood to buy something already and are looking for information on exactly what to buy.

Make sure you Subscribe so you don’t miss Amazon Affiliate Lesson #4 coming soon -  Targeting Your Images.