There's no doubt that the mood around the Amazon affiliate community is different these past days. The commissions have changed. The dust has settled. We're now moving on.
Amazon is still undoubtedly the number one e-commerce platform that is known, liked, and trusted by millions of consumers across the world. It's actually not that surprising they changed their commission structure to be this way – after all, they are all about margins and the old commission structure didn't allow for them forecast what they'd be taking home.
In any case, the articles we highlighted this month have a small focus on these changes – however, we did want to share some tips on setting up your site to be more branded and easy to navigate. The more of a moat you can build around your portfolio – the better.
There a few things that should come out of reading these articles:
The Amazon affiliate program is still one of the best out there.
The way you structure your site can reflect on it's ability to rank higher.
It might be time to think about diversification of income sources.
Jon Dykstra @FatStacksBlog
Amazon Is Still The Best Affiliate Program – But What Are The Alternatives?
Why We Chose This.
Following Dom's recent discussion with the Amazon UK department heads, 24 hours later Amazon US changed their commission structure. People were freaking out but Dom and Jon Dykstra took a calm and collected approach to the change decided that Amazon is still the best affiliate program because of conversions – however, it's worth looking at alternatives too.
Tim Soulo @TimSoulo
How To Benefit From The Vicious Cycle of SEO With Backlink Alerts
Why We Chose This.
​Tim introduces the importance of ‘recency' into blogger outreach. You can use Google Alerts to tell you of brand mentions of your competitors or you can set alerts when the top pages in your niche are getting new links. Tim calls this the ‘vicious cycle of SEO'.
On a side note, Ahref's recently did an SEO expert roundup with Dom on counterintuitive SEO strategies and his answer is right below the fold after your first scroll down.
Perrin Carrell @AuthorityHackr
Take Advantage of Relevancy By Implementing The Silo Structure
Why We Chose This.
At first, I wasn't going to add this article into this months collection because it looks to be an older article that's been updated. However, after reading and thinking more deeply – this article gives good insight into creating a silo structure within WordPress. There's plenty of links referencing other ways of silo'ing for SEO, so keep in mind that this is just one way to follow.
Adam Connell @BloggingWizard
How To Make Your Site Brandable With Google Site-Links
Why We Chose This.
This article goes quite well with the authority hacker site on silo structure and relevancy. Not all websites will get site links, however, following the silo structure plus increasing brand awareness will help you get there. This highlights the importance of building links to your brand name and also Google's move into reducing control over your sitemap.
Doug Beney @DougBeney
Diversify Your Site Earnings With An Ebook Launch (Case Study)
Why We Chose This.
A case study on how to create and launch an ebook. This is something I think we should strongly consider as becoming owners of our own assets becomes more and more important. Read about one of the easiest ways to create an ebook just by doing blogger outreach and combining your efforts.
Jon Haver
See How Your Amazon Earnings Will Be Affected With This Tool
Why We Chose This.
A double whammy of a post! Jon has not only highlighted the changes in the Amazon associates program, but he also created a tool to help you see how the new changes will affect your current site's earnings. The instructions are pretty clear, but we know that Jon is always fairly responsive with his email or you browse the comments for some trouble shooting, if any.
Charles Ngo @Dr_Ngo
How To Get Accepted Into Private Affiliate Networks
Why We Chose This.
I was hesitant to share this article with you because of the clear monetization within the post, but I do think that a lot of people will find it relevant. Charles isn't known for Amazon affiliate marketing, but he does share some light on getting into those private affiliate networks we all know we should be striving for. Even though Amazon does give us the highest conversion rates and we still believe it's the best program, delimiting that risk once again is helpful. So cozy up to your affiliate manager and see what you can get from these private programs.
Now that you've seen a fair view of what people in the Amazon community are thinking. As an investor of digital assets – think long term about which route is good for you.
Niche sites will continue to be a worthy investment and it actually looks a portfolio of sites with narrowly focused content is the way to go. To see a few niche ideas, we've got some for you in our done-for-you niche site page.
Before you leave:
If you found any of these articles especially helpful for you – let us know in the comments. That way we can try to find more of them and of course, it helps us guide our own content.
Glad to be included in February’s ‘best of internet marketing’ alongside some IM legends! 🙂
You have every right to be included. It was great timing and an awesome case study.
Plus, who wouldn’t want to know how to make their own midi controller? lol (former audio nerd.)