Forum Moderators: martinibuster
It doesn't bother me, just a little surprised by it. I guess someone must have worked out the percentages and decided to give it a shot. Anyone else noticed this?
Roddy
Thanks though.
Roddy
Yes, this is quite common. One publisher in the summer reported three of his four ads were for the same book title at Amazon.
Given Amazon's commission levels, I would be surprised if this gave the advertiser a decent return for anything but the most expensive books and other high-ticket items.
The problem is that it is highly unlikely that you can break even. Given the CTR and pay with most affiliates and the cost of the Adwords, profit is unlikely.
Of course, for Google and for the publisher carrying the Adsense ad, as well as for Amazon and other companies, it is profitable. As more and more people try the scheme (I think the book promoting it called it "Google Cash") the bidding on the key words will increase.
I'm assuming giving the affiliate's name would be against the rules, so I won't. I guess if you wanted to you could surf around checking the url's and seeing if the affiliate names are largely the same or different. Then you'd have an idea if it's one person or lots.
Roddy
PS - I'd imagine - I'm assuming - I guess - Can you tell I'm an amateur?
I remember reading posts from one member who complained that Amazon withheld money from him as he did not have a website (part of the sign up requirements I guess) and he therefore solely made money by ppc listings.
However, I would imagine that a large amount of research, testing etc is required.
Not something I would want to spend my time doing with the likely margins.
I have wondered also if it is the same affiliate doing really well with this, or if it is just a revolving door of new affiliates testing out this technique without success.
Bingo. This is happening all over the web in one form or another.
And this profits Google all the way to their IPO in the same way in which Yahoo! make money. Plenty of companies queuing up to run an unprofitable campaign on Yahoo! :) Well they don't offer a performance guarantee do they....
(BTW i'm talking about a graphical campaign within the Yahoo portal, such as an ad in the Yahoo! Mail interface, not search listings)
I agree with previous posters that it would be incredibly hard to earn as much as 5c a clickthrough from Amazon. Maybe by bidding on numerous phrases with a laserlike focus, such as "buy the horse whisperer" - if Google lets you use that tactic.
<edit>Too many "extremely's"</edit>
That means one in three hundred people would have to buy the book after clicking on the link for you to break even. I can't see the likelihood being more than 1/1000.
And this is an example with an expensive paperback and a very cheap AdWords ad. Perhaps some people are not doing their sums properly.
I suppose there's no way to tell, but I'm guessing that given the scenario above, these affiliate adverts can't be bringing in very high ppc rates for publishers?
one in three hundred people would have to buy the book
More like 1 in 45 for the 15% commission, or 1 in 15 for the more common 5% commission.
I can't see how they even come close to breaking even.
...being commission or revenue?
;-)
ps...15% doesn't exist anymore. they just scrapped it.
So I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of electronics ads for Amazon affiliates start showing up. 7.5% of a $100 book is hard to make PPC money on, but 4% of a $4000 electronics item can be worth your time if you can find the traffic.
I think you'll find it was commission.
I've been having a closer look at these ads. I've noticed that there are a range of affiliate id's. I've also seen links that just go to Amazon's home page with text like 'Bookshop: Buy books on line. Affiliate.' which is just daft. At least before they were targeted (cookery books on food pages, etc).
Roddy
31 click throughs at 0.06 a piece.
6 orders @ 7.5% @ 1.30 a piece
Its an issue with playing the odds, finding the product and putting the right copy in the ad.
I've now upped the bid.
