When Amazon Affiliate earnings decrease, it’s a smart move to take action. If you’ve been affected by the rate changes from Amazon, here are steps to take to replace your affiliate income.
The Dreaded Amazon Affiliate Earnings Decrease
Has it hit you yet? As predicted when Amazon announced the rate changes, many bloggers have begun seeing the Amazon earnings losses.
Some of my clients in the beauty and fashion sector are earning more than they were this time last year. But with generic lifestyle sites, educational or parenting sites, or Amazon feeder websites, ouch. Just ouch.
Read on and craft a recovery plan with these tips for when Amazon affiliate earnings decrease.
1. Broaden Your Focus
Using the program itself, there are at least 4 ways to increase Amazon affiliate payouts. Don’t discount the program completely without investigating and implementing these changes, especially if you’re part of the new Amazon Influencer program.
Read that article – it really is step 1.
Having said that, I can’t think of an affiliate program whose cookies are shorter than Amazon, so let’s take a breath from our Amazon affiliate earnings dropping and move onto other things.
There are just so many ways to diversify your Amazon affiliate income! Here are my favorites.
2. Go Direct
I am amazed at how many people do NOT contact companies directly about affiliate programs (tips on how to do that below). Do not make this same mistake!
When you have a consistently selling product (anywhere), go directly to the company. Tell them how much product you’re selling (you can even give them statistics) and ask for an ambassadorship or at least, ask them if is any direct influencer work with their brand.
There are many companies who would love to see influencers promoting their products directly and will even offer click campaigns in addition to the affiliate sale.
3. Blog Niches are Goldmines
Sell products from other bloggers in your niche. I’m in a number of niche groups on Facebook because of my different sites and every one of them has a group document for blogger products.
Get out there and seek out your “competition’s” products. Test them and take the steps to properly onboard a new affiliate program to your readers.
4. Create Your Own Product
One of the easiest(ish) ways to combat decreasing Amazon affiliate income is to create your own product (eBook, PDF, guide, or course) and launch an affiliate program for yourself.
You can create a digital product and sell it on sites like Gumroad or SendOwl to offset an Amazon affiliate earnings decrease. You can also incorporate plugins like WP Affiliate and sell them on your own site.
There are also other course delivery options to the big guys (Teachable, for instance). You can even host a course right on your own site using plugins or gated (password protected) pages.
5. Pitch It, Pitch It Real Good
If you sang that, we’re gonna be the best of friends.
Increase your pitching focus and narrowly target brands to work with. The biggest fear many of my clients have might be the same one holding you back: fear.
If you’re afraid of getting a ‘No” or you just don’t know how to pitch or position yourself, get Pitching Perfection. Templates, tips, and a whole lot of extras will have you sending with confidence.
6. Influencer Networks
Conversely, if you don’t want to pitch brands directly, you can join ALL.THE.NETWORKS! There is less money for you than if targeting the brands directly but the opportunities might come easier, depending on your profile and statistics.
Remember, statistics really matter with influencer networks unless you’re in a very narrow niche. Keep that in mind and fill out your profile as completely as you can to improve your chances of being selected for a campaign.
Additional Reading: The International Bloggers’ Association’s List of Preferred Affiliates
Bonus: POD or Serviced Income Streams
Just like your first financial advisor after college told you, “Diversify!” Developing multiple income streams is smarter than relying only on one.
Explore new revenue streams like designing print-on-demand t-shirts on Amazon Merch. You will not need to source the designs yourself or hold inventory under the Merch system. There is a delay in approvals so go sign up now. And read this post on Amazon Merch to make the most of that waiting time.
Another print-on-demand service you can try to offset Amazon affiliate earnings decreases are sites like Redbubble, Society 6, or Zazzle. They offer more than t-shirts which allow you to really target your audience!
Let’s say you’re pretty good with the camera… Sell stock images on niche sites (like food images sites or those which focus on diversity). Or, go broader and sell them on Creative Market Images or Deposit Photos (two of my favorites for blog stock photography).
Summary
If you’ve seen your Amazon affiliate earnings decrease in recent months, consider incorporating these tips to replace that income. Diversifying affiliate and blog income sources is just ‘good business.’
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