Create Your Own Amazon Product Review Website
A website to review, compare and market Amazon products is how to make money with a website and one of the most lucrative ways to earn money online.
A review website is inexpensive to start and a business you can build that will provide lasting income.
You can do this one of two ways. On your own, which can absolutely be done depending on your computer and Internet skills and experience. Or, you can join a program and follow detailed training. I chose option two and I will share more about that later.
My intention here is to give you the basics of how it is done with some tips and tools to get started.
You will need a website to become an Amazon Associate. Signing up for the program is fast and easy when you are ready. If you already have a website, then you are all set.
Click to sign up with Amazon Associates.
How to Make Money with a Website
If you want to make money on the Internet, you need a website. You must learn how to make one. It is not hard to do, but it does take a willingness to learn and stay the course.
There is no push button way to earn a living on the web. Sure there are tricks of the trade, but it takes learning to build a website and learning how to market in order to be able to take advantage of them.
Spend your precious time and money building a business for yourself. Stop throwing your time and money away on information products and systems that promise easy passive income. Depending on your skills and drive, you can put a website together fairly quickly with little money.
There is no fast, easy, super secret way to earn money online. I have wasted a lot of my own precious time and money chasing make money online systems. Believe me, most of the information is no more usable than what you can find online for free.
Stay away from slick advertisements. These guys know how to lure and reel you in like a fish to shiny bait. That is how they are making money online.
Build a website and learn affiliate marketing. Once you do that, you can continue to grow and build more websites. You must commit yourself to learning. You can do this!
Create Your Own Amazon Product Review Website
What Your Website Will Be About – Your Niche
Take out a pen and notepad and write down some ideas for products you could write about, review, and promote. These are ideas to get you started on picking a niche (a small market segment).
Please do not limit yourself to cheap or bargain basement thinking here. People that buy online are from all walks of life and there are many people who buy high-end and multiple products at a time from Amazon. Think quality and what you like or would like.
Also, think about what business owners shop for. Water coolers may not sound exciting, but there is a guy with a website making a killing in this very niche. That is because, with Amazon, you get credit for anything purchased via an affiliate link from your website. So not only is he making money on the water coolers, he also is earning commissions on paper, toner and ink cartridges, and coffee supplies!
Pick Your Domain Name
You will need to purchase a domain name for your website. They are not expensive. Most cost about $8 to $13 per year at NameCheap. Choosing your domain name is one of the most important things you will do and you need to learn about keywords.
SERP: Search Engine Results Page
When you are researching niches and their related keywords and domain names, be sure to check out the SERP’s.
Make sure you are not competing against big established sites to rank. Search Google. If your search for a potential keyword or domain name results in a page filled with links to eCommerce sites like Amazon, Best Buy, and eBay and authority sites like PCMag, Wikipedia, and CNET, you need to continue your research. Also, look for other big competitors in your niche.
Deciding on a niche and finding low competition keywords and a great domain name is exciting. Just check the SERP’s before you invest your time and money. You need the best possible rankings, and the goal is always page 1 of Google, in order to get traffic to your site.
This is an example of why training and having mentors is so vitally important. Invest in and take time for training and pay attention to the SERP’s!
WordPress and Web Hosting
Build your website using a WordPress platform. Affiliate marketing links are not welcome on free blog building sites so you will need to upgrade and purchase hosting whatever platform you choose.
WordPress is the most widely used, supported and flexible website platform available. Do yourself a favor and commit to learning WordPress. There are several different ways you can get started:
- You can go to wordpress.com and create a free site to start building out your chosen theme and content initially for free, then buy your domain name for it and upgrade to use WordPress hosting. They have instructions and support.
- You can go to wordpress.org and download the free software and choose to pay WordPress or another service for hosting such as NameCheap when you buy your domain name. They have instructions and support.
- Or, you can join Wealthy Affiliate and have hosting included for up to 25 unique domain names and build your websites using their WordPress platform. I chose this one and it works great plus they have detailed training on how to do all of this, a great community to work with, and 24/7 technical support.
Website Elements
Amazon will review your site for approval. Before you sign up with Amazon Associates, you need to add pages and posts containing content. Build your site first with the following elements:
Pages
- About
- Contact Form
- Privacy Policy
- Affiliate Disclosure
Posts
- Write general Information about products. If you are going to review and promote digital cameras, then write blog posts to help readers understand how to determine quality, use features, photography techniques, and photo editing.
- Use keywords in your blog posts to rank in Google search return listings.
- Write no less than 500 words and 750 or more words is better. Google ranks quality posts best. They want to see value in your content for your readers.
- Add video and images legally. Read more below.
How to Make Money with a Website
Website Rules
While learning how to make money with a website, it is important to also learn good business practices. Google penalizes for poor quality and use of duplicate content. There are guidelines to follow to protect your good standing with Google.
Do write your own original content. You will find article writing services on Fiverr and other websites, but the content will not be as good as you can write and very often they are copied content you should not and cannot use for the health of your website.
Do not plagiarize or copy and use content from other websites. It is okay to get ideas from others, but be sure to use your own words and style. Google does check for duplicate content and they can bury your website into oblivion.
Also, website owners routinely check for content theft using software and will come after you. Do not make this mistake. If you are quoting a source, then make it clear with quotes and give credit.
Do not use “black hat” techniques. Google knows every trick in the book, they do manually review websites, and they will deindex your website and never allow it back.
Do embed useful informative videos you create, or from YouTube unless they are designated as private. Google likes media.
Do use images that are listed for public domain and include credits as required by the usage rights. There are many websites that offer free stock photographs. My favorite is Pixabay. There is no reason to ever use someone else’s image without permission or paying for it.
Google images are not public domain. Companies, photographers, and artists will come after you for illegally using their logos and images. Always check the rights and rules before using images.
Don’t be too hard on yourself when starting out. Your writing skills and techniques will develop and improve over time. You can always fix typos and edit your work to improve upon it.
You are going to invest your precious time and money building a business. Commit to learning. Provide value at every opportunity. Go the extra mile and build a website you can be proud of.
Still with me?
Here is a free eBook you can download as a thank you from me to you Affiliate Marketing Success Tips!. (Please note, the author mentions cloaking affiliate links in this eBook. You cannot cloak Amazon affiliate links because it is against their operating agreement. Please check the terms and conditions of affiliate networks to avoid issues.) For more about Amazon’s affiliate program read my post-Amazon Affiliate Program Rules for Your Website.
Thank you for reading How to Make Money with a Website. Have a question or a helpful note? Leave it in a comment below!
Thanks a lot for your kind guidance to all. You have really helped those gullible people who are taken for a ride.I am very lucky in coming across your info.God bless you and your family with plenty of good health,peace and prosperity.Today is a good day because I came across a good sincere person who cares more for others too.gnrao
Hi Gnrao, This is the kindest message I have received in a very long time. Thank you for taking the time to leave your comment for me. I do try to keep it real and point out pitfalls the best way I know how. In truth, I am terrible at sales! I just think a person should have all of the facts possible before they spend time and money on things. All the best to you.:) ~Gina
Hello Gina and an excellent review.
It really does lay it all out with good instruction for anyone who would like to earn an income online but not too sure if they have what it takes.
I believe everyone starts out thinking this way because like anything else that they haven’t tried before it’s going to be a learning curve and affiliate/internet marketing is quite a steep one.
I see you mention wealthy affiliate as a starting point and as I am a member I can vouch for this platform to get anyone who can dedicate and commit themselves to learning will find all they will ever need within this program to make that income from home they perhaps have only dreamed about up until now.
Have a nice day.
Regards
Robert Allan
Hi Robert, I was apprehensive myself and it took me a while to get started. I hope I encourage others that are on the fence so to speak. I finally had to just try and was fortunate to find WA. Building websites is lot of work but it is rewarding and I am proud of my efforts. Also, I am not flying blind since I have the WA community and training to help me. Learning at WA has been the number one best thing I have chosen to commit to in years. I truly believe in the program and proudly recommend it. Thank you for leaving a comment for me! ~Gina
This is a really good post informing anyone new to online marketing how to go about making money. I joined Wealthy Affiliate three months ago and I am very happy with their membership site. I don’t really want to be an affiliate marketer but I do want to know how to market online and I think Wealthy Affiliate is great for anyone wanting to educate themselves on this. That’s probably why they often refer to themselves as a university. 🙂
Regards
Deb
Hi Deb, I am so glad you mentioned that you do not want to be an affiliate marketer, but want to learn how to market online. Wealthy Affiliate is an excellent tool for anyone who wants to make a blog or website. Even experienced marketers use it to create websites to promote their existing online or local businesses. Also, I want to point out that WA does not require members to promote WA. I choose to because I believe in it and I like sharing it with others, but many members choose not to mention WA at all and focus strictly on their business at hand. Having a website is having a presence online and can be utilized for whatever is needed. The training at WA covers it all. Thank you so much for reading and your kind words! Gina
Hello Gina. You have done a great job here giving your readers information about how to monetize their website or blog post using Amazon. The videos gave good information about how to set up an Amazon Associate account so that your readers will see that it is an easy task to complete and the tips were good also when it comes to what types of products to promote. As was the information about what content you need to put on your site with excellent advice about not copying or plagiarising content from other sites or sources and to always reference or give credit to others as and when required. Great information 🙂
Hi Peter, This means a lot coming from you! I know you are excellent at marketing and I enjoy learning from you at WA. Thanks so much for reading and leaving a comment. ~Gina