Forum Moderators: skibum
Thanks
If someone goes to amazon through one of your links and puts something into their shopping cart, that item will have your associate code on it, and when it's paid for the commission will show up in your earnings amount. If it just sits in the shopping cart, or the customer cancels the order, you don't get a commission on it.
The "cookie life" for amazon is shorter than most affiliate prgrams. I can't remember (it'd be in the info on their site, of course), but it might be as short as 24 hours. But as long as the cookie is still active, the customer can leave amazon, come back (say, through the amazon homepage), put more into their cart, and those items will also have your "tag" on them.
--unless the person re-enters through a different associate's link. Then that associate's tag would replace yours.
If a customer returns several times through different affiliates' links, and puts something in the shopping cart each time, then finally completes the sale, each associate will get a commission on whatever items have their "tag" on it - it's when the customer puts it into the cart that counts.
so, how about other book sites like Abebooks and B&N. has someone got experience with these sites as well. Which one do you suggest as the most rewarding.?
PS : Sorry, moderator, i know similar questions might already been answered here, but not able to search inside the site.
The 24-hour cookie is annoying, but the other bookstores don't convert as well. Amazon does considerably better in spite of that 24-hour cookie.
Also, you have to remember that Amazon is so well known, and has so many existing customers, that with a very few exceptions you are NOT actually getting them new customers. You are persuading an existing customer to get something they might not have known about already, or might not have been able to find on Amazon themselves.
People have been complaining to Amazon about that 24-hour cookie for years, and griping about it on the Associates discussions forum at Amazon. I take it as a fact of life, and I stay with Amazon because my site does well with Amazon anyway.
wonder how many would actually buy a book at first sight..
Also, if you're really targeting a specific book in a particular link, you can add code to the link so that the customer goes directly to the individual product page, instead of the one with "You clicked on this" and a batch of related items. In my particular niche, the related product pages are a good thing, so I don't use this code and don't know it. You should be able to find it in the associates' area at amazon, or maybe hunderdown knows it?
To link to a specific book, so that you can get the direct-link bonus (and thus earn 7.5% if they buy), the easiest code to use is this:
[amazon.com...]
Put the book's ISBN where it says, and your ID where it says. The "ref=nosim' code ensures that you land on the Amazon product page itself, not a page with "similar" books.
As Beagle says, once a book is in the cart, you will still get credit for it if they check out within the next 90 days.
Suggestion: if you are only recommending one book, put links to all the different places where someone might buy it. You'll find you do much better with the Amazon links. Look in my profile--you can see examples if you go to my site and click on the Book Reviews link on the home page.
Good luck!
The problem is that I may end up just informing my visitor that one particular book exists at Amazon. And obviously, next time he decides to buy, he might goto Amazon directly; and if this is 24 hours later, I'm doomed.
I'd suggest your approach is all wrong. If your whole intent is to set a cookie and reap sales from that, you won't be terribly successful. The vast majority of online shoppers know that amazon sells books, and if they've made up their mind to buy a book, they'll go directly to amazon. Amazon knows this, and they're not going to give you a long-duration cookie because of that. You haven't earned that sale. It's not as if your amazon link suddenly educated someone that amazon sells books and they should go there next time they want one.
People who go to other book sites and then click through to amazon are looking for information. They want reviews, synopses, excerpts, author interviews, comparisons, etc. If you can provide them that information and provide an obvious link to amazon to buy it, then you can sell books. Be aware that your content may convince them they want to read a particular book, then they may go to the library, borrow it from a friend, or go to Barnes & Noble/WalMart/Borders and pick it up there.
I've sold almost 700 books via amazon in the last 6 weeks, so it can be done.
So, the focus should be on getting him to put that book into his cart. That more than suffices to get me my money. thanks.
I do plan to set up a review section, but believe it will take a long set up time, so I plan to start off with reviewing a cople of books everyweek and building review pages along the way.
But you don't need to, anyway. If you want to have a visitor search Amazon, use an Amazon search box, with your Associate ID in the code.
Anyway, are you sure, Google doesnt permit that. I couldnt make that out from the TOS.
I don't see why you couldn't have a Google search and an Amazon search on the same page. You just need to find the right layout and accompanying text.
