Amazon Associate Update: Early January

Well, I just found out (at 1.30am, I wish Amazon updated on Pacific time!) that I made it into the 6% tier on Amazon (it's th 9th of January here, but I'm a day ahead, so actual time period here is 31st-7th Jan.)

At last, you can
quit your day job

I am both relieved and analytical - I barely scraped into the 'seven items sold' tier in Oct and Nov (my first two months)... and I do mean 'barely'. I actually made my final sale(s) on the very last day of both months! December was huge because of Christmas - but it also mucked up my stats/idea of the effectiveness of how well I was doing.

January is the test month. Do I have enough links, that are being seen by enough people? Are they being seen by the right people? Am I getting high traffic? Or high conversions? (They can even out, although for ego's sake I'd prefer a higher conversion rate). Am I actually recommending the right products? Is a separate associate account the right direction, or should I go back to concentrating on Squidoo modules alone, and abandon the flexibility? (no point if I can't get it to work!)

Will I see my cheque sometime before 2013?

On current evidence I'd say YES.

As I mentioned, I've made it into the second tier - the measure of success, in my opinion, as it means I'll be getting slightly more than from the Squidoo modules (differences of which are mostly covered in my review of whether it's time for you to try a separate Amazon Associate account or not). It's still very close, though. And I won't be quitting my real job any time soon!

Also, interestingly - I've had 245 clicks in the last week, but I see that the vast majority are looking at all the various Tangled related items on the Mother Gothel lens, most of which are either sold out (e.g. Art of Tangled), not yet available (e.g. the film itself) or more along the lines of research than ordering (e.g. possible costume/Disney villain stuff). Whether people come back later or not, or are just happy browsing and don't ever plan to buy, I guess I'll find out. 

Finally - about 80% of my orders since Christmas are items I am actually promoting, and sales are mostly of single items. This is in comparison to the roughly 50% overall 'recommended' sales in December, and the bulk orders of presents! (Sometimes one item I recommended plus extras, sometimes nothing to do with the items I linked to at all). The topics are all over the place, though.

My sales, so far as I can tell (not having bothered with tracking/different referral code stuff yet), are coming about equally from Squidoo and Best Reviewer. I also made about the same number of sales through Squidoo's own modules (eight Amazon and three eBay, to be exact).

 I love my Squidoo lenses and the former has a lot more content - but the latter is really good for extremely niche 'top ten' type lists of items. Some just become background internet noise, but others are in the first couple of results for certain searches. And the more niche you get, the lower the traffic - and the higher the conversion rate if you are recommending the right products. The more niche you get? The less leeway for the 'wrong' recommendations. So do the research, (how many reviews would YOU read through before you decided this item was okay to buy? Use that to judge when you feel secure in adding it to your list, and to decide what you'll say about it) or write on stuff you know about.

If people are interested... or heck, if I feel like it! I'll keep some kind of running update on how Amazon is working for a semi-amateur internet person. And if you found this post relevant to your interests, then you may also be interested in these posts:

How I Make Money Online: Overview of the various sites and programs I use, and their effectiveness
Is It Better To Use Your Own Amazon Associate Account On Squidoo? : A comparison of whether it's worth signing up as an Amazon Associate or just using Squidoo's modules, and my earnings immediately after signing up.