Something horrible horrible just Happened and for once it did not star in The Chinese web market but rather in Jeff Bezos is dry dry hot Amazon decided To massively cut the Commission rates of Many very popular categories among Affiliates such as Holman furniture Outdoor and sports and honestly we Should have seen this coming it’s not The first time they’ve been doing it so In today’s episode Mark and I are Sitting down together breaking it down Explaining what it means for thority Site and how we think you should react To it so let’s get started hey everyone Welcome to your tobe Harker podcast Today is not the happiest day we are Going to be talking about the changes of Amazon today I think program and the Rates etc but before that I need to ask Mark how is going so how’s it going mark I’m doing okay a little surprised little You know in shock but yeah generally Generally okay I think I have a level Enough head an opinion of this that we Can we can get some logical analysis Going rather than just screaming at Jeff Bezos so not doing what’s been happening On pretty much every single Facebook Group basically okay so let’s try start To have a rational argument but before We do that let’s try to get people to Click on the subscribe button below and The like button if you are on YouTube
That will help us a lot we will try to Do these episodes when things happen Like that it does take time I can spend Half a day but I think it’s important to Address these things especially because We’ve been using Amazon quite a lot how Many years have been used have we been Abusing Amazon Associates for like a lot Oh a long time seven maybe six seven Yeah so we’ve seen we’ve seen a lot of Iterations basically we’ve seen a lot of Different things happening with this etc And I think I think it’s quite good Because it gives us kind of like a Vision of like how things evolve all the Time and what what direction they’re Taking rather than just looking at this One update rather be like you know why Is this taking us how should we adapt How does it differ from hiiis to before Right um so let’s just start with the Facts right can you just detail what has Changed exactly in unison associates Program Okay so on the 14th of April 2020 which Is a couple days ago as this goes out Amazon email dira Scioscia to let them Know of a sudden feed change The fee change goes into effect on Tuesday so that’s a 21st of April 2020 And basically a whole bunch of Categories have been downgraded in the Percentage Commission’s that they earn So the categories affected are furniture
Home home improvements lawn and garden Pet products pantry headphones beauty Musical instruments business and Industry supplies outdoors tools grocery Sports baby products health and personal Care and Amazon fresh now some have Fallen a lot harder than others health For example is down from four-and-a-half Percent to one percent as is grocery Amazon fresh all of the others are down To three percent some of them have Fallen from eight percent all the way to Three percent which is quite quite drop Others nuts Yeah pets as well pantry lawn and garden Home improvements others such as sports And baby products four and a half down To three percent which is a little bit More kind of bearable but still still Very significant certainly Tolu to a lot Of people he’s anything about three Percent still like you none of these are Above three percent however there are Some categories which did not change so First of all anything not mentioned here Which includes kitchen or automotive Fashion PCs TVs games I think games are Already quite low anyway so yeah it Doesn’t matter but and all other Categories should not mentioned here There’s there like fashion and stuff oh Yeah I already mentioned that I think That’s still up like eight or ten Percent or something crazy like Jenny’s
Still full point five percent as well Yeah yeah it’s also worth pointing out This is Amazon u.s. only for now and We’ve no indication of whether they will Roll at this to other countries in the UK for example Amazon has a scaling System so you if you earn more than a Certain amount you get higher Commissions and you actually get Different Commission’s whether it’s the Product you’re actually recommending or One of the other things which people go On to buy I as they’re shopping on Amazon if it’s A secondary sale as it’s called you earn Your unless Commission’s but we’re just Focusing on the US which will be you Know the the country or the area which Most people are most concerned about Listening to this podcast I would Imagine so what’s also interesting and What’s different from the last time they Did this in 2017 where they reduced some Commission’s they also increase some That at that time but 117 they remove The scaling as well in the u.s. like Before you have just level the scaling Thing with mobile immediate the mall Commission’s so what’s different this Time is that they’ve only given 7 days Notice which is really really short Last time it was 30 usually any time They make some change like this you have 30 days so this also screams to me like
Like they are doing this kind of as a Quite reactionary moved to the current Coronavirus situation so my view is that Because so many people right now are Buying stuff on Amazon especially in These categories which got affected you Know how many like health products are Sold I want Amazon all the hand Sanitizers thermometers all of the like Homecare stuff I mean we’ve seen it Right now sales went up seventy-seven Percent compared to January last two Weeks there’s a dot puff but it’s a Massive increase in sales actually and The other categories which have been Dropped down to one percent grocery and Amazon fresh well no one’s going out Grocery shopping everyone’s trying to Ordinary and everyone’s trying to get Delivery and this the other things are Also kind of along these lines as well So people are suddenly at home all the Time so they want to do some DIY they Want to get new furniture they need to An office chair or an office desk or a Webcam so they can work from home they Suddenly decide they’re gonna learn a Musical instrument or you know pets as Well as a big thing I hear like all of The animal shelters where I live They’re all empty because all the Animals have been taking yeah people are Adopting animals like crazy people are Because they’re at home all the time and
You know it’s I just got a dog Months ago it’s great to spend spend This time at home with your pet you know So what I’m saying is that these Categories are very closely aligned with The stuff which is selling out big time On Amazon now Amazon is a business They’re not charity they don’t owe you Anything they’re just trying to do What’s best for them what’s best for Their shareholders and at the moment if Loads of people are coming to Amazon and Everything’s getting sold out and the Third-party suppliers on Amazon and Amazon itself can’t get new products in Fast enough because of China’s closed or Because shipping lanes are closed or Whatever the issues that this pandemic Is causing means that there’s a drastic Impact imbalance in supply and demand so Amazon doesn’t need you at this point in Time to give it more to some more Traffic to send more sales because They’re already selling a Havana of Everything so what do they do well they They cut affiliate Commission’s on on All these categories the other Categories I can prove I can only Presume they are they still have enough Supply and not enough demand so they Still want once a more traffic so They’ve left those untouched now what’s Interesting is by like how much they’ve Cut these so the ones which are down
Down to 1% it really it’s the point Where yeah I mean it doesn’t really make Sense to to promote Amazon when it’s at 1% like that so health and personal care Amazon fresh grocery I mean I don’t know Too many people who promote with those As affiliates anyway but you know that That’s kind of like the extreme that the The other categories which are down 3% Are you know it’s not great it’s pretty Bad in some situations but it’s kind of Like just just low enough but just high Enough that I think a lot of people will Just be like well ok I’m just gonna kind Of leave as it as it is and kind of ride This out and see what happens also is Interesting is we’ve had no indication From Amazon whether or not this is Temporary or permanent now you’ve said That you thought it’s permanent Most people in the community of said It’s permanent I actually disagree I Didn’t this is I think part of this is Temporary I don’t think all these are Going to go back up to exactly where They are Amazon will try and he kept Some margin here I I think but you have To think that when this is all over in However long that maybe they’re still Going to want to sell stuff and you know All these companies that are ramping up Supply chains and trying to bring more Products and sell more in Salim or Salim Or maybe that supply and demand thing
Might kind of twist the other way after After a piece of time a period of time It’s also worth saying that Amazon is Not the first affiliate program not the First company to reduce their Commission’s belief Amazon India Actually cut their affiliate program Completely during all of this again they Couldn’t couldn’t supply enough products On them on the marketplace and there are Other companies I don’t have a specific List here of who have done it but most Of most physical product affiliate Programs have had some kind of impact With with this whole coronavirus thing And they’ve been reducing Commission’s Or freezing the program temporarily While they sort it all out So yeah completely unprecedented Situation in the world and this is one Of the consequences one of the effects I Believe that we’re kind of seeing so Yeah that’s that’s that’s my initial View on those things there’s a big Situation happening and things that Would be outside of companies policies Will happen because of that they will do Things that they would not normally do Etc I remember why I wouldn’t already Started I was like you know companies we Start start governments will start Forcing companies to produce this that They will need strategically because They can fight except right my friends
Were like what the hell I got like Governments would never do that cetera And now you see go haven’t seen us doing That etc so this is like this kind of Crisis that’s happening that because of The political situation and the societal Situation that would not happen Otherwise and maybe others on reducing Rates more than they would and then kind Of bring them back later it’s something That I would not see them doing normal Times but maybe could happen I would not necessarily like hold my Breath over it I think it might not come Back Every depends I think also this whole Thing is gonna develop the habits in People to buy online and maybe they just Won’t need a fake program as much as They needed before etc so I really Depends like how long this lasts how Much Habits are built from that etc you know Ultimately it’s a free market and the The filly Commission’s will go up or Down according to laws of supply and Demand so however this plays out will Will determine it if it makes sense for Amazon to to increase Commission’s they Will they don’t they’re not trying to Just like keep it low just because they Like it low they are gonna do the thing Which is optimal for their their balance Sheet for the profit and loss and and
There is a good case to say that that That may be to increase their point but I don’t want to dwell too much on the Speculation is this temporary is this Permanent it is what it is right now We’ve no indication that it’s not Temporary I know someone asked and Amazon support rappin’s of reported back But honestly like that doesn’t mean Anything I’ve said everything I Contradict each other all the time yeah But this is this is real this is Happening now the good news if you can Call it good news is that this is only Affecting Commission’s from Tuesday Onwards meaning that it’s um not Effecting your past Commission’s and Because of Amazon’s delayed payout Schedule it’s not really gonna start to Hit your your your pocket or your your Your kind of profit and loss until sort Of June time when you get your may Commissions end of June time so you do Have a little bit of flexibility there And you know it’s it’s not like the Money taps turned off tomorrow so you Know there’s a bit of time to kind of Like let the dust settle react and start Planning your next move between between Now and then now it’s also worth saying That this is not as we talked about Before the first time Amazon has met has Made such a change back in 2017 so Almost three years ago exactly they made
That they made a big change to reduce The commission rates on many categories They increased a couple others they Remove Scaling even further before that Amazon Huh currently as a 24 hour cookie which Is really quite short one of the Shortest in of any affiliate programs But it’s Amazon and people buy lots of Stuff it’s very trusted yeah but before Like way way back in the day it’s right Over 2400 cooky for essentially paying You a commission on everything people Buy which not all that favored programs Do this is kind of like well it’s short But you get Commission’s on the world Identity and I think we should go back To that yes because it’s quite important But go ahead yeah I was just gonna say That back in the day I’m a son had a Much longer cookie I think was like Sixty days at one point so you know that Gives you an idea of like how how it’s Changed over over the years so this is Not the first change they’ve done it Probably won’t be the last change they They do you know things changing are Just a part of business and a part of Life so you know you have to kind of Weather the storm and get used to and And these are the situations like how You handle your business in this Situation is it’s kind of what defines How how your business will grow and and
How you will will thrive in the in the Long term because it’s easy to coast When things are things are going well And everything is kind of stable and Predictable but it’s when unpredictable Things happen that you know to go and Gets tough the tough gets going as they As I say now you probably you’ve Probably seen already on various forums On Reddit on Facebook grooves on Whatsapp channels that people are that The general reaction people are having 90% of people having is initially Business they’re freaking out like oh my God this is like such a big deal I’m not Saying it’s not a big deal but I’m just So describing peels reaction oh my god This is such a big deal people are often Lashing out at the boogeyman Jeff Bezos Because he’s the world’s richest man and He’s an come on you couldn’t have an Easier escape go for something like this Jeff Bezos making the world’s richest Man making a ton of money Amazon having their best year ever He’s cutting affiliate Commission’s like Why why would he do that he’s so greedy So and and then you you have people Saying like Amazon sites are dead Affiliate marketing is dead SEO is dead Someone he ever updates yeah every time There’s an update it happens like There’s like you know five to seven Percent of people that would just come
Out and say so over it would never work Again etc and then like everyone just Figures it out and just progress it so If you’re that if you in that side well See you later But then you have you have people just Generally being very negative and saying Oh I knew all along this was gonna Happen I I told you so and all of these Reactions they’re they’re kind of Rational in a way because people Psychologically they need to rationalize Sudden seismic changes in their their Reality and the laws of of the universe As it were and by by finding meaning in This this is kind of like a way of like Ascribing ration rationality to the Randomness as why was trying to say but And I’m sorry to go all philosophical Here but you as a business owner can Gain a genuine competitive advantage Over other businesses and not just in Business but in life if you are able to Maintain a rational mind and make Objective assessments about situations And that’s what we’re trying to do today You we’re not speculating we’re not Trying to you know blame anyone or call Anyone out on this we’re trying to Rationally understand what’s going on Here And what it means what it means for you And what we can how we can start to Think about things we can we can do
About it and that’s what we’re we are Going to to cover today when wet well What just just before that when the Goalposts move like this and you see it Whenever there’s a big update big Google Update people always say like this is The end but if you ask those same people Okay so 2017 the last time Amazon Reduced their Commission race how much Money were you making from Amazon In April 2017 when that happened before Me before that happened yeah and then How much money are you making now is it More or less now if you haven’t touched Your site since then probably it’s less But if you’ve been working away at it Then it’s going to be much much more Despite the Commission in some of those Cases being half so you know that this Is this is the kind of way to look at Things it’s not the end you may need to Tweak them some things you may need to Make a few changes but you will survive You will get through this and you will Ultimately thrive at the end of it ok That’s good let’s just I think I think I Want to talk as well about why it’s not So bad I think and I’ve talked to a lot Of people or members etc and since to Konar various crises most people have Been making quite a bit more money from Amazon than they have before that I’ve Taught I don’t want to say who but like I know people could literally double the
Revenue I said we were up seventy-seven Percent compared to January cetera and Now I one went up this way like if you Were in camping for example that well Probably people are not buying as much Camping equipment so it depends on Initiate but if you’re in a niche where There is still demand for products the Number of the revenue went up through The fact that people are just all doing More stuff on Amazon so when they go on Amazon and buy stuff you just add more Stuff to the basket so the average all The value goes up then you get paid for Every item which is very important and Overall people who go and I wasn’t just Tend to buy more your conversion rate Went up quite a bit since essentially You should be staying at home and so you Know it’s like if we are up Seventy-seven percent in our case even If conversion rates are halved we’re Still making more money basically and It’s like I’m not saying that it’s good We would still lose money For sure compared to over in January but Not as much as what the change in Commission rates is indicating because The money you make is not just a Commission right is the conversion rate And is the value of that and so together I think it’s just not nearly as bad and A lot of the recent gains will offset The decreases that Amazon needs to is
Introducing furthermore all of your so You may think okay I have a health site My commission rates are now 1% therefore Everything I sell in Amazon I’m only Gonna make 1% of that’s not true you Whatever niche you’re in as we said People buy stuff you recommend and they Buy a bunch of other stuff on Amazon Medicine by a bunch of other stuff it Was 80 percent or something at some Point I I so I did I actually went and Here’s how you can do the analysis if You go into the Amazon dashboard I’m zone associates dashboard you Download the sales report for the period Of time you click on the fee earnings Tab and that has everything that people Have bought through your affiliate link And it has the categories for them all So you select it all you run it you in Excel or Google sheets you create a Pivot table and you put the category in The row and then the value you put the Commission some of the Commission you Don’t know how to use pivot tables go Spend 10 minutes on YouTube how to use Pivot tables it will honestly pay those 10 go on Trump Excel calm yeah it’s an H4 remember really good site actually Trump XR nothing to do with the Donald But let’s not go there anyway pivot Tables that will teach that that will From that you’ll be able to see what Percentage of your sales are in which
Category and I looked at this and one of Our sites today this is for for all of 2019 50% of the sales were in that Category and 50% were all like 37 other Categories so and again even if you’re Not in the health niche or even if You’re not in the pets niche that Something that’s gotten hit you think You’re safe if you’re in PC for example You’re still gonna suffer a little bit From this because you you’re not just Referring people to buy PC components Although that’s most of it People are buying a lot of other stuff As well so it’s this kind of a bit of Balancing because of that phenomenon as Well and you can go you know as I said Check it out yourself in the Amazon Sales report yeah it’s like that’s why You shouldn’t panic too much so now it’s Like I want to talk about whether people I mean first of all before I jump into That I want to say that what’s probably Gonna happen I know Shelton but rather no longer term Is that there would be lower competition In the SERPs as well and so this game is All about I mean as any business it’s Like cost of factors and how much money You make right and the cost of factors Which is the ability to generate traffic To an Amazon style page is going to Lower down as the payout lowers down so In recent years as many more people go
Into this game essentially became more Competitive to rank for these keywords And as a result it would cost more money To rank for like a random preview Something I think the market is kind of Like supply and demand right the market Naturally gonna add just a difficulty Back to the level of payout in the Niches where you can only monetize with Amazon which means that not now it will Take some time but in I would say in a Medium to long term I’m the these surfs art was gonna become Easier and so you will still be able to Run a business on that you just need More traffic more of the things that Even if you were just counting Amazon so It’s not it’s not all bad but I still Want to write a question I am NOT I’m Not I’m not 100% convinced that’s the Case I think sometimes it will become Easier I think sometimes it will stay The same because people will find Alternate monetization strategies other Affiliate programs that’s the next point Actually should we still use them as an Extra so yeah it might not happen if People find better ways to monetize but To be honest that was already the case Amazon was not the best paying FA Program it was the laziest way to Monetize content and you could find Better ways with we’ve had many Occasions where we swapped Amazon for
Something higher paying and made a lot More money I think it’s I just wanna I Just want to be clear though it’s not Always the case you do that now cuz Amazon converts so well and because Other people buy stuff quite often Amazon actually does end up making you More money and and I think that’s a Debate to have right it’s like should You still use Amazon Considering these things that like There’s this fact that even if you in a Low paying category probably at least Half the price would be another Categories anyway so you probably make It more effectively more than one Percent commission etc plus you get paid On all the items people buy and the Conversion rate is high and also just Know You don’t have to walk to finalisation You just get yeah that right thing you Know that right there is the crux of of Why Amazon is so good because you don’t Have to figure out any of the Monetization it says you sign up for one Affiliate program and they have all the Products and you just put it on there And you can go and like grow your site You can forget you can focus on that Growth then and this is what a lot of People actually don’t bother to do then Once you’ve actually started to grow Your site you can come back and you can
Look at some opportunities say okay well You know I make it I’m selling a lot of You know these types of products or Whatever on Amazon is there a better Solution I can go I can go to elsewhere Can i go direct to the manufacturer can I find another affiliate program is There something on some of the affiliate Networks you know so I develop your own Product right like yeah so it’s like It’s one thing that we should definitely Have done with somebody at somewhere Outside because it’s like it’s not the Case anymore but we used to sell a lot Of like these hand grippers remember Something like 25 to 50 a day or Something um and then it’s like we’re Kind of stupid for not launching our own One because we could have sold hundreds Per month and made you know fifty sixty Percent margin maybe or something like These are this can be about quite cheap In China still do the job and be sold For like quite a lot more money so these Opportunities will rise but it will it’s Like the model is not going to disappear There will be tweaked slightly with that In mind of like how do I do that Transition from something like Amazon That is I believe Amazon is gonna be Still an amazing market research tool Because what you can do is you can throw A lot of content you can see what ranks First of all what your site can rank for
And you can see what people buy and you Get paid for it still and you know all That data and once you have that data You can say okay here’s the items I sell The most how do I maximize my profit on These two items that I sell the most and And then that’s when you’re going to Start looking at other three programs Testing alternatives doing that kind of Stuff and then 80 28 basically where you Will work on a few pages that get the Most that most of the traffic and most Of the money and get off Amazon on that Because I see people on the Facebook Groups right Now they’re like oh yeah I’m gonna get Off the missile and I’m gonna move all My Amazon links function business etc I Don’t think you understand what that Means to switch an entire site with Hundreds of further categories alpha Nizam it’s an absolute ton of work most Of a problems are crap and do not Convert and will not make you as much Money as you make right now with an ism I know you’re mad I know you all of that But that’s not how it works and so You’re gonna have to 80/20 and the best Way to collect the information is to Actually see people’s buying behavior And the way you will do that is by Putting in Amazon I think looking at Your reports and actually understanding What people are buying and why people
Are not buying and were to focus your Effort on to actually making higher Commissions um and it will still be a Very viable model he was telling every Time I spent on you Amazon content it Was – it would just take a lot longer Um but you would still make money on That and then you can maximize your Profit on your best pages I think well You know a lot of people don’t realize This before yesterday that was still the Correct model they’re still the correct Way to build and grow it because it was Too good in that sense nothing has Changed except the fact that now Commission’s have have been reduced in Certain categories may actually provide The the kick up the bum that some people Need to actually take action on some of These things and make more make more Money in certain products certain Categories where they could have done Before but they didn’t because they were I’m not gonna use a word too lazy Because you know I don’t think laziness Is there it’s like you know it’s like Comfortable and like it’s just good Enough that that like you you don’t Really want to you don’t really need to Make too much effort but with a big Decrease in certain categories like this Now I think a lot of affiliates will Start looking at these opportunities Which have existed always so but before
This up before the this update and now And in the future So they may end up when we have this Next Amazon apocalypse 3.0 in 2023 they May look back on this and say actually We were making a lot more money in 2023 Than we were in the first quarter of 2020 because we did all these these These these things you know it makes me Really happy because like I was on the HP And I saw a lot of members like more the Most senior members message that they Already started diversifying after 2017 And that now it’s like it’s it’s Annoying but it’s not nearly as bad as It used to be and made me quite happy Because it’s like a glad the message It’s home at least was like some of the Most advanced members in age four and so On and yeah it is still the right way But I think the ratio of reward against Caste was too good with Amazon it’s not It wasn’t the best right but the cost Was so low all you had to do is throw an Article pics are like literally googled Type the keyword in Amazon and pick some Article some products with the best star Reviews and just throw these in there And then get paid you know sometimes Tens of thousands of dollars for like a Single page and um the reward was and It’s like the ratio of like do I do more These pages or do I actually optimize
That one page to try to make you know 30% more something it was just not worth It was better to just create more pages And keep going with Amazon and that’s What everyone’s been doing and the Problem is when you do that you don’t Diversify and you end up with this I Think people are going to start looking A lot more at things like advertising at Things like building an email list etc Because um it’s just gonna be put back In line right Amazon was here and then Like the rest was here I’m just gonna Like go back in line together basically But here’s one question I wanted to ask You if you if you only one person Category would you recommend people Still send traffic to Amazon oh no like What’s your view on that Like should people look at alternatives Right now or should you still trust the System so the first thing I would do is I’d look at my report I my Amazon fees Report and see like how how much is this Actually likely to affect me and I try And get some projections around what my New revenue level may be at from-from of Next month onwards and then yeah if You’re in the one-percent category then I would I would start to look quite Quickly for other opportunities now most Established sites you already have a lot Of traffic and you already have A lot of specific sub categories or
Types of products that you’re selling You know when you mentioned the Handgrips thing earlier so I would look Out for those and I would try and Identify what what those are and I would Focus half of my energy on looking for Better deals there so you know going to Right for manufacturers looking for you Know affiliate programs from the Manufacturers or on affiliate networks Like just better deals and then I’d Maybe be tweaking some of the content And start testing some of those out Simultaneously I would also be looking At kind of like near nearby categories That I could perhaps get get into so From health to sports equipment it’s not Too much of a bridge for example so I Might start then to look at you know new New content being around some some of These kind of keywords instead so like In a three percent category just because It’s you know slightly higher quite a Bit higher initial returns and I can I Can kind of like start start building Out the site easier that way so yeah That’s that that would be my play yeah Okay One thing I would definitely do is and Let’s talk about that is ID advertising To my site right if it’s like you can Start on like don’t just do play in Adsense to at least something like a Zoic like it’s 10,000 visits per month
Minimum so I think most people that lost A significant amount of money at least Have ten thousands of these problems McGivern is twenty five thousand and at Five is 100,000 and these are in the Order I would recommend them you it’s Like add rpms have been decreasing quite A lot with these crisis as well right I’ve checked ours we are down January Compared to April we are down around 25% So um they’re down quite a bit but They’re still the thing with other PM’s Is they are dictated by the market its Supply and demand and it’s done not just By Google’s Adsense but by many other Networks if you use this kind of like Meta network so like as a week I try the Media dine they use multiple networks For to sell the inventory So as a result it’s really very very Very much the plain diamond and we are Like pretty much at the lowest level of Economic activity that we have been in a Very long time and as things will start We opening I expect that businesses will Maybe not advertise as much as they did Before so I don’t expect a full recovery But I expect you know like when Travel Reopens for example like you know TripAdvisor and Expedia like how much do They spend on advertising and how much They rely on that and I go there I know These guys like they spend millions and Millions and so once this money goes
Back into as I expect this to go back up And actually we have found that even Putting ads on things like run the Previews etcetera we have found pretty Much no decrease at all in so yeah Definitely definitely test it on your Site but on on all of them that we’ve Tried this design has had almost no Effect and and same with our extra Members all of them have done I mean Kevin who was in his pocket is the Several members that have like massive Sites are doing it too and have found The same results as long as you know Overly aggressive on your layout magic It he has done it and found the same Result so if you are not doing this yet I think there’s a there’s a big chance That you could have set a lot of your Amazon revenue who is putting display as Long as is something you can do this Week like it can happen like really Quickly and you can offset it before you Even start losing the money from Amazon Which can be a relief if you’re paying Salaries or that kind of stuff so that’s Definitely one thing that I would be Looking at the second thing is I would Rethink my content strategy a little bit In the website content obviously what’s Done is done Um but if we’re considering that kind of New approach which is using Amazon as a Way to do market research because we
Just can’t sign up for 300 individual Programs not knowing how well they will Convert like if I’m playing a site Before I would maybe do like you know 10 15 different types of products but this Time maybe I will develop one hub like Really deep so I don’t know like if we Do the paintball niche again let’s go Back to his niche then I will do only Guns right I will talk talk of me about Paintball guns are only about paintball Protection or whatever it is but like I Would pick one of these not talk a Little bit about protection a little bit About guns a little bit about that Because what allows me to do is that Once I’m doing well let’s end Dressed on us on the beginning once I’m Doing well unable to find to testify Programs from e-commerce selling Paintball guns and once I have found one That converts pretty well I’m able to Replace Amazon in multiple articles and It’s really painful to find a good Athlete program outside of Amazon that Actually makes you good money so once You found one you really want to make Sure that it’s like you maximize it and You do the best and you do that by Thinking about it ahead when you plan Your content and focusing on one Category so instead I would write like Best paintball guns for left-handed People best paintball guns for kids best
Paintball guns for I don’t know like Shot people whatever I’m not even sure They exist or best sniper paintball gun Or whatever something like that and and And then and then not talk about these Things and once you will find once you Replace episode you will be able to see Massive uplift and you do quite well um The second thing I would do is I would And it’s something that we will probably Recommend people in tests do as well is I would change the ratio of info content To commercial content so historically We’ve been recommending for people who Start new sites to be going quite Aggressive on commercial content simply Because that was what was making the Money right um but now that essentially That ratio is falling back up for a Commercial like commercial product Preview based content will make less Money and ads out like slowly improving We’re kind of like getting to that level Where they’re getting closer I think Osakan we still make a bit more but not Not the gap will not be as big um an Info content allows you to build things It allows you to do skyscraper allows do Of that so you’ll be able to build in For content get more links to your site Monetize with ads which is going to be Not nearly as big as the difference as Monetizing with Amazon and what I will Do is because you get more links to your
Site you can through internal linking Rank your commercial page is higher Which hopefully will offset some of the Loss in terms of commissions I think you I don’t need server no I mean the other Benefit of course is when you have a lot Of traffic and you Start building out stage two and stage Three Authority sighs then where you Know you start building an email list And really a real audience then you know A lot of traffic equals a lot of Subscribers a lot of following a lot of Audience and so it’s it’s kind of like Faster to grow that part of part of Things as well yeah um I think the last Thing that will definitely come people Is to do the CRO work on their site Earlier so one easy way to offset some Abdullah’s not all of it some of those Will be to create better product tables Etc so that you get more clicks on them And we’ve done that we’ve done see our Work on some sites and go up to 40% Increase in in revenue so that was a big Deal and you know if your commissions Get divided by so it’s still not enough To upset it but I will have set some of It if you had the couple that with that Etc there is definitely a way where you Can actually end up making the same Money who is the same side and yeah so We’ll talk we will definitely be talking A lot more about product tables and all
That actually in each Pro I have a Plug-in that’s really soon Where we’ve actually have these product Tables that are done for you with AWP Which is quite cool um like makes them Co-op tonight’s basically so there are Several ways you can address that and Essentially offset some that was yeah it Sucks because if you need that stuff Before you would just have made more Money right but right now we’re trying To needy the damage rather than actually Like do better and then after that you Can just grow your site from that I Would also say you know about actually Developing your own products so that Could be you know getting into like Sourcing sourcing your own products Doing like FBA type things getting into A bit of ecommerce and info products Like courses memberships yeah these These kinds of things as well it’s Obviously very niche dependent but yeah Huge huge huge up size from from those Things it’s not gonna like it’s a lot of Work to build them it’s a lot of work to Update them as a lot of work to figure Out all the things which you haven’t Done before build sales pages manage Stock and inventory and you know all This kind of stuff but ultimately it’s Quite Wording and your your much less Dependent on Amazon or any other
Affiliate program for that matter as Well so if you do have plans to you know One day get into these kind of things You might consider doing that sooner Rather than later as well Yeah there’s once you know it says well I think I think there’s a massive Opportunity right now which is echinacea And figure out what is the best Alternative to understand that pays more Money and what you can do is you can go To your competitors and buy their sites I have massive discount right now and Then it just swept the fa program Because you know which one works and They don’t and I actually increase the Value and you can either be flip it or You can just hold the site this is a Massive opportunity it will take up Front work because you need to figure Out what you’re gonna put on that site So it’s better if you have a site that’s Already in a niche but if you put that Work and usually you might lose some Money by like doing some trial like Cetera but if you do figure it out then You have kind of like a closed window of Opportunity where people haven’t figured It out yet And I’ll desperate because of the Current situation where you can buy Really discounted sites and actually Make pretty good money that’s actually What happened we skip up when here book
Was sold here’s what happened I’ll tell The story now because in a while and Because actually now this effect program Is open but there’s a website that is Pretty popular in us called Chiba calm That I had an affair program that was Closed at the time and the guys who Bought here pub had access to that Program but like people that were like Karen and other people could not sign up So they let me just about the site and Put here pub I put a shoe is a fit Program on here Bob and revenue Increased by about 40% of the night and So all the night just by doing that one So it’s not being by being magicians With a CEO not by doing anything like That to be honest most traffic increase Plans actually failed with that site but Because they did that one thing if they Made a lot of money and so you have the Opportunity to pull that same trick Today if you pick one ish you figure it Out and then you buy as many sites as You can on a discount that you can make A lot of money so I think that’s how you Use this and turn it on its head and Actually make good I actually spoke to Gregg from Empire Flippers just before this podcast they Kind of get his initial take and you Know it’s only been so 24 hours since This happened but to get a feel for how This is affecting the buying and selling
Side of websites and what they said is Basically they have a procedure in place Which the same procedure they had in 2017 when this happened but basically All deals which are on the marketplace Going into the marketplace or even in Progress at the moment are being Revalued and reassessed based on a Formula that these these new race have Kind of thrown up so yeah anyone who’s Just in amazon at the moment who’s Trying to sell their site they the value Of those sites has gone down a fair Amount and there could be some big Opportunities if you’re a buyer if You’re a seller and you were just about To sell your site you’re in the process As a shell on your site you got very Unlucky with the timing we’ve been there Before so don’t don’t worry don’t worry Too much about it like these things These these things happen Don’t feel bad yeah anything else to add On the topic yeah so this really just Reminds me of playing video games in the Sense that you know in most of the Makers RJ analogy right now I am indeed So in most mmo’s how it works is I’m in Stands for massively online massively Multiplayer online role-playing games so Gayle was big into lineage 2 back in the Day I was into EVE Online Internet Spaceships basically and you you would Establish like a meta would be
Established so what are the best Spaceships to kill the other spaceships And more the best strategies and tactics And all this kind of stuff and based on The rules of the game that would become Established you know over a period of Time then the developers would come and Have a big patch and they would Rebalance a bunch of stuff change or Change a bunch of numbers change some Mechanics and then the whole thing would Be up in the air again and as soon as They did that Everyone will be cursing them out god These developers don’t care about us Lawyer player I hate that they don’t Understand the game there they just want To make money off of us terrible is Terrible it’s terrible The dust would settle the changes were Going people would adapt people would Start to figure out how it works in the New with the new rules and then it would Build up and improve it further and Further and further and if the devs got It wrong they was updated in the next Patch if if not this would become the New meta and the new normal and the game Would go on and life would life would go On so it’s a very similar kind of you Know experience that we’re having right Now with with the reaction I think to to To Amazon and with how some people are Choosing to handle it or or otherwise as
The case may be on these wise was we’re Going to be closing this podcast but Before that don’t forget to click on a Subscribe button like us and subscribe On the pad of your podcast channels if You prefer listening to audio podcast Where everywhere we’re on Apple podcast Google podcasts Spotify Sun Club Everywhere you want thank you for this Just to say just to say as well so this Is our actually a bonus episode so we’re Recording this on the Wednesday I think This is going out on the Friday Thursday Friday Thursday hopefully Thursday Hopefully if we get it all edited in Time they’re still going to be a podcast On on Monday as well so stay tuned for That one as well so see you in a few Days have a good weekend stay safe have A good week [Music] You [Music]