You’ve probably seen the “autopilot Amazon affiliate shop” package advertised on Google. I’ve seen a similar one on Fiverr. For only $50/£40 you can have a ready made “plug and play” affiliate website up and running. All equipped with your affiliate I.D. and ready to go. But what’s the catch?
The main problem with these sites is traffic. They don’t have any, and you’ll have to build the traffic to bring anyone to your site in order to earn anything.
This is the biggest problem for affiliate marketers. The products and the “digital store” is the easy part. Getting people to your website is the tricky part.
Here’s how to create your own Amazon affiliate store.
Autopilot Amazon Affiliate Shop
An autopilot Amazon affiliate shop can be built pretty quickly. All you need is a plugin which connects your site with the products you want to promote. Join Amazon’s affiliate program and download the plugin by clicking on the image below.
In order to qualify to join Amazon’s affiliate program you’ll need your own blog or website and to be approved. This can be tricky especially if you don’t have a suitable website, blog, or content.
So before you do anything, you’ll need a website which Amazon can use to approve your account. Otherwise you won’t be able to get your own unique Amazon affiliate I.D. and earn from a site, however it’s created. See my article on building your own website here.
Once you’ve got a website, join Amazon’s affiliate program, get the plugin and start putting items in your “shop”.
Autopilot Amazon Affiliate Shop – Traffic
The main problem with these kinds of autopilot “instant digital shops” is getting people to your site. SO before you rush in and purchase one, be prepared for it not making anything. You need people to visit your shop and purchase things before you’ll make any money.
If you just throw up a site, or pay someone else to, expect zero traffic. Traffic (visitors) to an online store is either bought or hard-earned through content creation. Because Amazon typically pays a low rate of commissions for affiliate sales (1-11%), you’ll need free traffic.
Getting free traffic can be done through content creation and by building your site in a certain way. See create free website and make money for detail on how this site was built with traffic in mind.
A Keyword Targeted Niche Site
A keyword targeted niche site can help you a lot when building your autopilot Amazon shop. With a keyword targeted site, you can get some credit with Google and other search engines just for have the keyword in your domain. This isn’t as powerful as it once was, but it can have a bearing on whether you get traffic or not from the SERPS – search engine results page.
More on this in how to build a niche website and get free traffic.
Building Content On Your Amazon Shop Site
Sometimes it’s just the luck of the draw whether your site ranks or not but often it comes down to how you build it and the content you put on there. An authority site which has been around for years, and has thousands of back links will always outperform a 3 page site which is just thrown up.
But it also depends on the keywords which are being typed into Google search. Most keywords people will type while looking for products to buy can be fairly competitive. Here’s the results from a quick search for “camera review”, for example. As you can see, there’s not much competition (look at the number next to results – 96).
So this could be a good niche to aim for with your autopilot Amazon affiliate shop. If you look at the site more closely you’ll see they’re an Amazon affiliate too:
Amazon Review Sites
One of the best ways to create content on a Amazon affiliate shop is to build a review website and write reviews. Just have a look at dpreview.com to see how much content they have created around different cameras.
A review site is a great way to get buying customers to your online store. With a review, you’re creating content which is searched for by people looking for information on a product they are wanting to purchase. If they find your content (and your affiliate link) at the last stage of the buying cycle, they’ll buy through your site; and you’ll get the commission!
Now take a look at another topic – smart phones. With a quick Google search you can see that this is a much more competitive area. Compare the number beneath the search bar to the one for cameras! There’s also a number of sponsored adverts at the top of the search bar. So going for this topic with your Amazon shop will be much more difficult.
Alternatives To Organic Traffic
Organic traffic is your best bet with Amazon. This is because it’s very difficult to get a profitable return on paid marketing with the small commissions Amazon offers its affiliates.
Paid marketing lets you automate an online business but only if you can make a profit. To make a profit, you need products and services which offer larger commissions and a different commission structure.
With Amazon you get paid once and need to find customers continually to make an income from using an autopilot Amazon affiliate shop. With digital affiliate products you can earn up to 50% commissions on a sale. If you also use high ticket recurring commission products, your return can be far greater. This can allow you to use other marketing strategies which are faster and more scalable than competing with the many other organic results on Google.
Access a program which offers multiple earning strategies from your own affiliate digital “storefront” including:
- Recurring commissions
- High ticket commissions
- A built in sales team
- Multi-tier commissions
- a ready built sales funnel and automated website software