We had a great reaction to the launch Joomla Books yesterday butA quite a few people had questions about our monetization strategy:
"Why use Amazon when the commissions are so small? For every book you sell the reward is only a few cents on the dollar. Surely its much better to aim for commissions that pay $5, $10, $15 or more each time, right? Right? …. "
Wrong. Amazon Can Be a Great Source of Profits
Check out this list from Darren Rowse over at ProBlogger.net. He wrote three Photography book reviews and his readers earned him $130 in commissions by buying those books 62 times. The thing is, they increased his commissions by over 300% because they browsed elsewhere on Amazon and picked up over 150 other items,. Included in the list were:
- Schoolgirl Cotton Poplin tie front shirt and Stretch Plaid pleated skirt
- Wheat Germ Daily Shampoo 250ml
- Charbroil Chili Pepper Roaster
Yes, people are odd. But there’s money to be made from their oddities. Done correctly, a referral to an Amazon product is a much more personal and target way to sell a product than using Google Ads could ever be. Using Amazon inside of your Joomla site is particularly easy because there are about a dozen Amazon extensions available.
The wierdest product we’ve ever sold through Amazon?
Probably a gold wedding ring grabbed by a visitor who clicked on a North Georgia fishing book. Not particularly romantic, but we wish them well 🙂
What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever earned commission on?