There is some bigs news out of Amazon today. They have just announced an open beta of their new Context Links program.
I installed the script on the blog but I have not seen any of the new contextual links popping up yet. Let me throw up some keywords in this post and see what happens
- Keywords
- Harry Potter
- Armor
- Pokemon
- Stephen King
- Anne Rice
- Sudoku
Now comes an interesting problem. Will Kontera play nice with Amazon?
If you have not already noticed I added Kontera to the blog (all the double underlined links) and it looks like Amazon's Contextual links will be working in a similar manner. I likely will not know for sure until the end of the week as it probably will take time for the new system to properly begin working.
In regards to Amazon as a whole, I have not made any money off of them. I have had the links up on the blog for a few months and have not made any money yet.
They do have a very nice backend and I see lots of reports but, no money. Because of this I took down the generic Amazon link in my sidebar. If this new contextual system pans out than I will be very happy. The Kontera links have already begun to bring in a few dollars, will the Amazon CPA links do as well? Only time will tell.
The following is from the Amazon email:
Who Should Use Context Links?
Context Links are for people looking for an easy way to generate money from the content they write. Bloggers, review sites, and people that have archived pages that are currently not monetized are excellent candidates for Context Links.Why Should I Use Context Links?
Earn Additional Referral Fees - By identifying and linking relevant phrases in your content, Context Links will unlock new advertising inventory, thereby providing the opportunity to earn incremental referral fees.Convenience – Embed a piece of code on your page one time and automatically monetize both current and future content. This saves you the time from having to manually create Text Links.
Delight Your Site Visitors – Context Links provide your site visitors links to relevant products on Amazon.com, and the interactive preview functionality allows them to view these products in the context of your website without having to leave it.
Why Launch With a Beta?
We want your feedback. We have just completed a closed Beta, and we are proud of the results. An open Beta will allow us to gather more feedback that will be instrumental as we continue to improve Context Links.
source: Amazon email
I’ve experimented with Amazon before, but the returns were way too low for the amount of work I was doing
I agree.
The time it takes to build the link compared to the amount of money you make back does not make it worth it. If this new system works based off of some javascript in my footer… then it will be worth it.
Yes yes yes. I’m amazed at how annoying and time consuming it is to build Amazon product links.
If I’m signed in to my account there should be a button on each product page that produces the html for a link back there. I hate searching for a DVD title, getting back a list and then having to click into each to find “Widescreen edition” instead of the fullscreen. They don’t even list that info next to the name.
I’m ready to throw the Amazon aff in the trash.
As am I. I have made next to nothing from them and they have gotten tons of traffic from me (going by their link reports).
I’m sticking with Kontera, unless you see something otherwise. People are more likely to click than to buy, and when you’re talking about DVDs and books then by the time you get enough clicks to convert you probably have gained more from Kontera.
I’m trying to run them both at the same time and all I see is the Kontera links. I think these two are butting heads.
Yes, I will pick Kontera over Amazon hands down!
Sounds interesting..Keep us posted on how those ads work for you :D I’ve been wanting to implement something such as those to my site
And the winner is…seems to be Kontera. Let us know Steve.
Most people will click out of interest, not buy out of interest. Sure, it would mean more money for action, but it’s hard to get people to do it though.
Agreed. The only real way to make any money with Amazon is through product reviews with thousands of readers ready to purchase at your command.