I just received this e-mail from Amazon.ca, so I thought I’d pass it along to anyone who is interested.
Dear Amazon Associate:
The Amazon Associates Program is thrilled to announce the release of two new products: Context Links Beta and Product Previews Beta!
Context Links. You create the content. We’ll link it.
Context Links are a quick and convenient way to add links to your Web site and monetize your content. Context Links automatically identify and link relevant phrases within your page content to Amazon products, unlocking new ad inventory and saving you the time from having to manually create links. You can add the links to your pages in minutes, and we provide a wealth of options to customize how they are displayed.
Why should you add Context Links to your site?
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.ca, and the interactive preview functionality allows them to view these products in the context of your website without having to leave it.
To add Context Links to your page today, go to Associates Central >> Build Links >> Context Links. You can learn much more on the Context Links FAQ Page.
Product Previews. A portal into Amazon.ca – directly on your Web site.
Product Previews are a portal into Amazon.ca – directly on your Web site. When users hover over a preview-enhanced link, either a text link or image link, a small window appears containing valuable content and information about the product you’re advertising, including an image, new and used price, average customer review and availability. It also gives your visitors the ability to add the item directly to their Amazon.ca shopping cart. Visit the Product Previews page today to learn more.
To add Product Previews to your Basic Display text or image links today, go to Associates Central >> Build Links >> Product Previews. You can learn more about Product Previews on our FAQ page.
We are very excited about of these new products. Both products will remain in Beta for a period of several months to ensure we launch the best products for you. Help us do that by sending us your feedback on these or any of our products!
Best regards,
The Amazon.ca Associates Team
Amazon was where I first started making some serious money online. The ability to use their content was the best part. Unfortunately over time I have moved away from them, as the commissions are now very low and just not the same it used to be. However, it would be cool to see them start making people some good money again.
Advertisement email is always nice… 😛
Amazon was one of the decent gateways for making money. But as zac specified, commissions are not enough for todays marketing.
It looks like Amazon is getting more serious about helping people make money online. I am interested to see where this takes us…
More like serious about helping themselves! As the other posters said, I really don’t trust their payouts. I think the big boys are really surprised by how much money the smaller startups are making and are trying to cash in on it. But it looks like a copycat program, no new features or anything to really give it any value. I”ll stick to my Kontera.
so, it’s CPA, correct? We’ll if it really brings money 🙂
Yes, CPA (Cost Per Action). In this case the action would be ordering something.
With Kontera you get paid per click, but with Amazon, your readers still need to buy a book or whatever for you to make any money, and since commissions are so low, I won’t be trying it anytime soon.
i support kontera, but its payout is not that huge unless you have 500 visitors/day