Tiffany Washko

One of the more fun features or modules on Squidoo is the poll module. It allows you to create a poll with a question or a statement and then multiple choices for your visitors to choose from. But did you know you you can hyperlink the poll choices to Amazon products…increasing your chances for affiliate sales?

It is actually very easy to do. Just login to your Amazon affiliate control panel, choose the appropriate tracking ID, and then start creating product links. Copy a text only version of the link and where Squidoo directs you to “Enter your poll response options” you enter your Amazon link instead of plain text.

Here is a picture of the process:

And here is a picture of the poll after the page is published and you get some voters. The best part about this trick is that the full affiliate commission goes to me. I don’t share it 50/50 with Squidoo as I would with many other modules.

 In case you were wondering these two images are from different Squidoo Lenses. Hope this helps you boost your Squidoo profit!

Technorati Tags: Squidoo, affiliate links, Amazon, modules, poll

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I am an Amazon affiliate and I promote their products quite heavily. The payout out for me is usually 7.5-8% and considering that the conversion rate is high I can get past that. Well, except for maybe at years end when I see that I directed over $24,000 in sales to them and I compare that with my cut.

I made some big boo-boos in regards to properly tracking where my sales come from though. Until very recently I never really took advantage of their tracking codes so that I can see which sites, Squidoo pages, blogs, etc are pulling in the sales. Depending on the product I can pretty much guess some of the time but not all. The need to use these tracking codes became really apparent after I received several offers to buy one of my sites. I am not ready to sell for personal reasons but I realize that since all offers were nice 5 figure sums I would need to demonstrate the site’s ability to turn a profit and it is kind of hard to do that when all of your sales from your large network of sites all get pooled together. So I have started using Amazon tracking codes and will begin the tedious task of replacing existing links very soon.

It is actually pretty easy to do. When you log into your Amazon affiliate control panel you will see a blue box at the top that shows you are logged in under your affiliate ID. Beneath that it says Tracking ID and hyperlinked next to that it says “Manage”. Click on that and you will see a listing of all your tracking codes. You should have at least one. Then click on Add Tracking ID and you will get to add a custom tag that describes whatever site, page, blog, etc you will be creating links for. I just created one recently for my Squidoo pages so it had the word Squidoo in the tag.

Once you have your new tracking code you use the drop down box (inside the blue box) and you select you select the tracking ID of your choice and start building links with it. Easy as pie….if only I had done this from the beginning.

Technorati Tags: Squidoo, Amazon, affiliate marketing, tracking IDs

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Towards the beginning of the year I remember a conversation at Mom Masterminds about how much money could be made with a blog. Now of course we know some people are making a fortune with blogging…like Darren Rowse or John Chow…but those are the big dogs. So I think the question was more about whether or not a mom marketer with a comparatively small sphere of influence could make any money blogging.

Several moms shared their experiences and most felt that the profits from blogging were pretty dismal….myself included. At that point…let’s say January 2007, I was making about $50.00 a month from my green living blog. I was making about $10.00 a month from Google Adsense ads and the rest from affiliate sales. Despite the lack of money it was drawing I decided to really bust my behind blogging on that particular domain. I concentrated on adding 4-5 pieces of new content every week, monetized with affiliate links. For the most part I did green product reviews and book reviews mixed in with personal stories and newsworthy items. In addition, many of the products I reviewed were sent to me gratis by the companies who sell them. I got yoga mats, organic teas, board games, sippy cups, books, jewelry, DVDs, lotions, soaps, clothing, bedding, towels…you name it! My nearly two year old’s bedroom is decked out with organic everything.

But back to blogging….halfway through the year I added Text Link Ads and sponsored posts from ReviewMe and Sponsored Reviews.  Toward the last part of the year I added more Adsense ads, and I started displaying BlogHer ads. I got smarter about ad placement too. Simply displaying an affiliate banner in my RSS feed brought an immediate profit. I  was having a lot of fun writing for the blog but I was starting to make money too. 

I am being conservative when I say that I made $500.00 for last month (Dec. 07) and that is just the cash part. The holidays brought many free products too, as businesses were hoping for a review or a mention before Christmas. That portion could easily be another couple hundred dollars. So all in all…not bad. From $50 to more than $500 per month in a year from one blog on a sub-domain of one of my larger sites. I no longer think blog profits are dismal. On a related side note my RSS feed subscribers jumped from 46 to 365 during that same time.

I also look forward to seeing how things look next year as my readership and my profits increase. I don’t think I will ever be making the kind of money John Chow’s blog is (think $180,000 annually) but hey I am not complaining.

Technorati Tags: blog, blogging, john chow, darren rowse, money, income, Adsense

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