Conversion Tips for Amazon Associate Sites

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I get questions all the time about how to improve the conversion rate for Amazon Associate sites.

What’s the secret to having $100++ days?

I don’t know if I actually have any “secrets” but I can tell you a few things to try. I had several $100+ days and $1,000 days. Read about the niche site process for Amazon Affiliate sites here.

The highest paid conversion experts will tell you to test. I’m not one but those experts seem pretty smart so I’ll say it too.

Test.

Try some of these strategies. Then, try the opposite. Chances are there will be a clear winner. Tweak the parameters for the winner to optimize your conversion rate.

Let’s get to it…

Disclaimer: I mention some products that I’m an affiliate for in this post. I use them and found a benefit from them. If you buy via my link, then I get a commission — thank you!

1. You Need To Have The Right Traffic

The best way to make sure your visitors convert into buyers is to target buyers. Yes, I am stating the obvious.
What does this mean in practical terms?
Your site should be targeting buyer’s keywords. These are keywords that people type into Google just before they make a purchase.

Think about the last time you bought something from Amazon or online in general. You probably searched for some reviews – just like everyone else.

Here are examples:

  • best [product name]
  • [product or specific model] review
  • what’s the best [product or model]
  • and, so on…

Key Take Away: Intercept a buyer on the way to Amazon.

2. Call To Action Above The Fold

Sometimes people just want some quick reassurance on their upcoming purchase. This “Call To Action”, or CTA, is just for them.

This CTA can take a few forms and I encourage you to test several of them. Here are the top options:

Big, bold, colorful text stating, “Click Here to See Our Top Model.” See below

>>> Click Here to See Our Favorite Model​

A Big Button stating, “Click Here to See Our Top Model.”  See below.

Click Here to See Our Top Model

A nice variation to try to get more engagement on your site is to have a CTA to see a review on the top rated product. This can help to improve your bounce rate as reported by Google Analytics.

 Key Take Away: Ask the visitor to take some action above the fold.

3. Use A Comparison Table

People love to skim information – especially websites. (You’re skimming this right now, aren’t you?!)

It’s super easy to skim & consume information in a table so help your visitor out.

Use a table to present the critical information about your the products. Add affiliate text links to the name of each of the products.

If you’re not sure about what information to include, check to see if Amazon or the manufacturer has created some tables already.

Sometimes the manufacturer will have very good information that you can leverage and present in a better way.

Don’t copy the tables you find but use them for inspiration to create your own. You can add or remove some of the fields.

You can create tables manually with an HTML generator or use a plugin like AmaLinks Pro.

Key Take Away: Use a comparison table so people can consume the data quickly & click over to Amazon.

4. Use Genius Link or Another Geotarget Solution

You can geo-target visitors using a tool like Genius Link. It’s actually easier to add links, too, and easier to outsource that part.

So if you get any traffic from other countries that have an Amazon Associates Program, it will pay off to use Genius Links.

I like to make sure you’re getting at least 10-20 visitors per day from a given country with a program. That way you’ll be able to make enough sales to be in the program.

Genius Link will also alert you about out of stock or discontinued items.

You can also use tools like AmaLinks Pro or EasyAzon for geotargeting. Or the best solution is to use Genuis Link with an Amazon Affiliate Plugin Solution.

5. Use Text Links Throughout The Page/Post

Most people end up clicking an affiliate link that is text. If you’ve done your job then the visitor is intently reading your content since it is solving his or her problem.

The visitor sees a hyperlink and wants to investigate further so they click the link. Perfect!

In fact, I have seen many heatmaps (What’s a heatmap?) that illustrate this point for specific Amazon Associate sites. Most of the time even the text links in a comparison table get more clicks than the images.

Key Take Away: Use text links throughout the content. Be sure to link to something relevant – avoid bait anchor text or using misleading anchor text.

6. Use Product Images (or Don’t Use Them)

Clearly, the web is a graphically oriented medium – so use images. A crisp product image can entice the visitor to stick around your site.

A non stock image is a way to differentiate yourself from other affiliate sites plus it can also add to the impression of authority in your space.

Images can be used as a design tool to break up content so the visitor isn’t facing an intimidating wall of text.

What do you mean “Don’t Use Them?”

Here is a test that you should experiment with in your niche. Use a comparison table and use an image column. Then, try the table without images and be sure to have text hyperlinks on the product name.

The idea is to create interest of what the product looks like but don’t provide the image in the table. You’re using curiosity to encourage someone to click to Amazon.

The visitor is then drawn to click the link. You could also experiement with some call to action like “click here to see an updated image.”

Key Take Away: Use images so your site looks well done. Experiment with including and NOT including images in a table.

Conclusion

There are two main ways to increase earnings on an affiliate site:

  1. Increase Traffic
  2. Increase Conversions.

Improving your conversion rate by 0.5% can be a significant amount of revenue.

So, once you have an Amazon Associate site getting traffic, you should look to improve your conversions.

Then, you can turn on the floodgates to get more traffic at a higher conversion rate.

You have a few ideas apply to your website. Try one and see how it works in your niche.

Every niche is different and testing is required if you want to ensure that you’ve optimized the conversion rate for your niche.

Your Turn

What conversion tips do you have? Let me know what I missed in the comments below.

About the Author: Doug Cunnington is the founder of Niche Site Project. He shows people how to create Affiliate Sites using project management and a proven, repeatable framework. Doug loves creating systems, using templates, and brewing beer (but usually not at the same time).

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Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Hieu Nguyen

    I already used all your tips on my sites, but didn’t have the idea to test including vs not including images on the comparison table. Will definitely try this.
    Thanks Doug.

  • Trampolines

    Well, everything seems fine but not including images in comparison table is a major drawback because comparison are used exactly for that – regardless if someone is comparing specs or just want`s to find nicest product out there. People mostly want to see images, as picture is saying thousand words. So while not including images will increase CTR it will most certainly decrease your bounce rate. And this is something you shouldn`t want to achieve.

    • Hey, Thanks for the comment.

    • CharlesIM

      I don’t know about you, but a 100% “bounce rate” from my site to my revenue generating source is exactly what I want!! :] I presume you meant having the links only will increase the bounce rate of the specific page… so?? The links are pointing directly to your money source… what am I missing..?

  • Hey Doug… A good post, I say. I use Dave’s theme on one of my Amazon affiliate sites and it’s great to work with. It’s currently getting about an 9% conversion rate. However, I don’t have the CTA above the fold, I’ll have to give it a try and see what improvements I get. Thanks for sharing and keep grinding!

  • Hey Doug,

    Have you ever looked into a service like ours, Geniuslink, to increase Amazon conversion by geo-localizing your links? Since Amazon is actually 14 different storefronts and 12 different Associates Programs worldwide, sending all of your site visitors to Amazon.com means sending a lot of international site visitors to an Amazon store where they’re unlikely to buy. Using dynamic links that direct each reader to their “local” Amazon store can have a significant impact on your conversion rate if you have international traffic. It’s an easy way to pick up revenue that’s being left on the table :).

    Cheers,
    Taylor

  • Hi Doug,

    Great tips, I am going to test out the CTA’s above the fold and update some of my posts. Definitely sounds like a great to intercept very ready to buy buyers.

  • Jub Bryant

    Hey Doug,

    I’m gonna try implement the CTA above the fold.

    In terms of comparison tables, is there a best place to put them or is it all the usual, test yourself?

    Would be cool to see you analyse an affiliate article (that’s not yours)

    • Hey Jub, I think the top quarter of the post is best for the table. So people can see the summary fast. And, yes, test. 🙂

  • hello,
    i just launched my new affiliate site on amazon. please suggest me call to action button for more conversion.

    • Hey, it depends on what your conversion rate was before. 🙂 But “see on Amazon” works well.

  • Hello,

    I have a Affiliate site that conversation rate in around 4%, is it okay?

    • Hey, that seems low but it depends on how much traffic you get. If you’re targeting non buyers keywords, that could be fine…

  • I found my CTR 3x when I added emotive text below my CTA. I really need to look into the effect of one theme Vs another in relation to conversion testing. Have you got a link to that theme so I can do some split testing and get back to you with the results?

  • Content does not display Doug. Please check it! I also noticed that this article was published on August 23, 2015, is it still relevance now?

  • Hey man,

    Fantastic advice for all Amazon affiliates. Especially the point about the CTA above the fold. People don’t want to read these days they want to scan and click. Having the CTA visible early on is essential. That is nearly always missed by most affiliate webmasters. They just want to pump out content and build links.

    I own a small business called AMZ Link Checker and we scan Amazon affiliates websites for issues with their Amazon links. You could not believe how many websites have bad Amazon links. Out of stock items, moved items, unavailable items, items that now have poor reviews. The list goes on and on. We actually find that most websites have between 5%-15% of their links bringing down their conversion rates and the bigger your site gets the harder it is to keep track of!

    Such a simple thing to fix but people just let these links rot! It’s madness I tell you. Madness.

  • Palash

    Great, discuss the conversion rate of the Amazon affiliate links. I would like to use aawp, so tell me something about it. Will it increase my affiliate conversion rate?

    • Palash, thanks for reading and the comment! I can’t comment on whether or not the plugin will improve anything for your site. It depends on what you currently have on your site, plus many, many other factors. I would suggest trying AmaLinks Pro for similar functionality with a focus on Amazon Associate compliance.

  • Thanks for this Doug. I really saw improvements in conversion rates once I added comparison tables.