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fatman
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Joined: 6 Jun 2008
Posts: 127
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# Posted: 5 Jul 2008 01:45 · Edited by: fatman
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Hello everyone,
I am fairly new to this whole internet marketing thing (I didn't even hear that term until about a month ago), but have tried hard to make some money with affiliate marketing. I now have about 7 different lenses, and the main focus of them is making a review page with affiliate links in them.
But lately I have been thinking about the popular ways I read about here to make money directly with Squidoo. I read in one of the lenses (#1 total, I believe) that if you have the Amazon ads on your page and somebody buys something through your link, you get 50% of that. Is this correct?
I am actually an affiliate at Amazon (though I haven't done anything with them yet) and they get about a 4% commission for each product sold. Should I use my Amazon affiliate links to try to get sales, or should I use the Amazon modules on Squidoo? If it is indeed 50% through the modules, that seems like the obvious way to go, but I want to double check my info first. Any advice would be appreciated.
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Joined: 22 Sep 2007
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# Posted: 5 Jul 2008 07:16
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Hi fatman,
Last I heard, the Amazon commissions were around 7%. They did just restructure but I'd be surprised if the commissions are as low as 4%. Who would want to be an Amazon affiliate if they were that low? Not me.
When using an Amazon module in Squidoo, you don't get 50% of the sale price, you get 50% of the commission. So, perhaps around 3.5%.
You are free to either use an Amazon module or your personal Amazon affiliate links.
I hope that helps you to decide which route to go.
~Newbie Shield~
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fatman
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Joined: 6 Jun 2008
Posts: 127
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# Posted: 5 Jul 2008 08:39
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Thanks for the quick reply, I was hoping you'd chime in since you seem to be the Squidoo authority here. I didn't think that I'd be getting 50% of the actual price paid, so this makes a lot more sense.
Also, yep, Amazon affiliates start with only a 4% commission. I think that after you have sold X number of products you can raise that up to like 8% though. I think I will try a combination of the methods and use my own links, and the Squidoo modules. Thanks again for the info, wish me luck!
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VictoriaNTC
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Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 607
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# Posted: 5 Jul 2008 13:18
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Hi Mike!
Please let us know how it works out for you!
Of course I would try some of the higher end products.
There really are shoppers out there with money to burn!
Victoria
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fatman
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Joined: 6 Jun 2008
Posts: 127
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# Posted: 6 Jul 2008 00:50
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Thanks for the encouragement Victoria! I will wait a few weeks and then report again, hopefully with good news.  I made this lens about a specific type of product and I reviewed the best ones and had plenty of links on the page.
Since I only get a small commission I am trying to focus on high price products. The main one I focused on in my review costs about $1,000. So a commission should hopefully be close to $50. I am not trying to get rich and only want to earn a little extra money, so even one commission every other week would be nice. Although I must admit I wouldn't mind if I made more sales than that, lol.
In my last month of messing around with Squidoo, I have had problems getting them into high positions on Google. I try to update regularly and add unique content, but they still don't seem to get listed very high. It also seems to take a long time for them to even show up on Google. Oh well, persistence is always a good thing so I'll keep on working.
Take care!
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getagrip
Joined: 20 Feb 2006
Posts: 1965
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# Posted: 6 Jul 2008 01:10
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From what I understand, Amazon only has a 1 day tracking cookie, meaning that if someone finds something they like on your website, visits Amazon today, and comes back to Amazon two days later to buy the product, you will not get the commission. I think you would be much better off promoting eBay...
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fatman
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Posts: 127
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# Posted: 7 Jul 2008 23:59
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Wow, I checked and I can't seem to find any proof that it's not a one day tracking cookie. That stinks. Oh well, making one lens focused on Amazon won't hurt anything (all I might lose is some time).
I have a problem though, and any advice would be appreciated. I made that lens and published it on Saturday. I also made a different lens the day before. It is late Monday night now and neither of them are on Google. I used digg to bookmark them. Now if I do a search for my keyword for one lens, my digg is on the first page, but my actual lens is not on google. The other lens and digg are nowhere to be found.
Any help? How come the Digg is on Google, but not the lens? I know I am a Squidoo newbie, so sorry if this is a dumb question. It has only been about 3 days, so should I just wait a little longer before asking more questions? I am happy with how my lenses turned out, but they need traffice. I will be patiently awaiting any input. Thanks in advance!
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BillChechel
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Joined: 8 Jan 2008
Posts: 158
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# Posted: 8 Jul 2008 10:18
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getagrip: Amazon only has a 1 day tracking cookie
This is a good piece of info to know. Thanks!
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# Posted: 8 Jul 2008 19:29
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Yep, some of the bigger companies aren't very generous with the duration of tracking cookies or with commissions. Still, under certain circumstances it may be worth pursuing.
I use Amazon modules on my lenses and the modules are worth keeping...though I think that Amazon is a bit greedy in this regard.
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fatman
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Joined: 6 Jun 2008
Posts: 127
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# Posted: 8 Jul 2008 22:32
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Just another little update....my articles still aren't on Google. Anybody have any tips on how to get them indexed faster, if at all? I used social bookmarking sites and pinged my lenses. I joined some other Squid groups to get some exposure and now I am writing some articles at EZine that link to my lenses.
I would really appreciate any advice. Also, anybody else having problems with the tracking on Squidoo? It's been messed up for a few days now....when are they going to fix it?
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# Posted: 9 Jul 2008 22:41
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Hi Fatman,
You can try adding a press release to the mix. Considering what you've done to get your lens indexed, it shouldn't be much more than a week or a week and a half.
Have you tried the site:www.squidoo.com/yourlens command to see if it is indexed yet?
The Squidoo traffic database is temporarily inoperable. They are scrambling to fix it. We'll have to be patient.
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fatman
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Joined: 6 Jun 2008
Posts: 127
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# Posted: 9 Jul 2008 22:49
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Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it. I tried searching for my URL like you suggested and it is not indexed yet. I guess I will wait another week before really getting worried.
Also, the tracking on Squidoo was working briefly this morning. I went to my dashboard and it showed my traffic, but 5 minutes later and it was back to 0. Hopefully they'll fix it soon....not that it matters since I don't get much traffic anyway. 
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# Posted: 10 Jul 2008 21:28
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Fatman,
The traffic stats appear to be working consistently now.
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fatman
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Joined: 6 Jun 2008
Posts: 127
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# Posted: 10 Jul 2008 21:39
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Cool! Thanks for the heads up. 
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Davedbd6
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Joined: 13 Nov 2008
Posts: 5
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# Posted: 14 Nov 2008 12:30
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About the Affiliate marketing real fast....without getting off topic....You have to be sure you saturate the market as an affiliate.
By that, I mean don't just write an article or two...get up to 5 or ten a day!!
Write as many press releases and us free ads as you can.
the whole idea is to get exposure and with all the competition, you need to stand out somehow.
Write good articles, ping your blog, add new content everyday, pick products from big name affiliates to the lower rep ones with an ok gravity.
i have so much info on the subject and don't wanna take up this post......
just make sure you stand out and saturate the market.
Good luck to ya!!!
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Phil Stones
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Joined: 1 Oct 2008
Posts: 122
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# Posted: 21 Nov 2008 12:49
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yes lots of articles and pinging should help loads - keep at it...
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