So far in this series, I’ve discussed why the Amazon Associates Program is such a great place for affiliates to start and described how to go about setting up as an Amazon Associate .
I’ve also touched on many of the ways in which Amazon helps its associates to sell more products and, in turn, earn more commission.
In this article, I’m going to look at what you’ll need to consider in order to set up your own Amazon Review site.
Okay – so you’ve signed up to the Amazon Associates Program, now these are the next steps:
- Create a website (blog)
- Sign up with a hosting company to get your website online
- Choose the products you’re going to promote
- Write reviews for those products and post them to your site
- Generate traffic (visitors) for your site
The first two points are basically technical matters and generally only need to be tackled once, at the outset. The other three points are more involved, yet crucial for the success of your site. Therefore, I’ll be covering each of them in more detail in later articles.
For now, let’s talk about the set up of your site.
By far the most popular blogging platform (software) is WordPress, and with good reason. It’s an open source software, which means it can be downloaded for free. It also means that any programmer can create and release compatible plugins and templates, and that there’s a large online support community.
For your Amazon Review site, there are a wide range of suitable templates to choose from. Templates are pre-designed formats which make it a simple matter to have a professional-looking site without the need to worry about coding it yourself.
Many of these templates are free to use, while others charge a fee. It’s your decision depending on your taste, but you might want to consider a professionally designed theme that has been shown to improve conversions for a review site format.
If you want to have a look at some examples of effective templates, I’ve put together a shortlist of current WordPress themes that are popular with Amazon Review site owners:
1. WordPress Review Theme
This is a long-established theme and features:
- Dynamic Reviews
- Flexible Specifications
- Filter Management
- Easy search engine optimization
- Rating system
- Tab management features
You can read more about this theme and view samples HERE
2. Pro Review Theme
A popular, advanced premium theme that features:
- Easy to use Options Control Panel
- Easy layout selection
- Customizeable header and shortcode generator
- Cross-browser compatibity
- …and a lot more.
Check out the details HERE
3. eStore eCommerce Theme
An elegant, product-oriented theme with many features, such as:
- Ease of configuration
- Secure settings
- Perpetual updates
- Banner management
- SEO Control
Read more about this theme HERE
4. Flexsqueeze Theme
This is a highly professional and versatile theme with a host of features, such as:
- Facility to create one-of-a-kind sites.
- Facebook template and Post thumbnail support
- Secondary navigation menu & Breadcrumb navigation
- Custom header images on specific pages
- Different sidebar configurations page-by-page
- Full drop-down menus & transparent header
- Settings exported to multiple FlexSqueeze blogs in seconds!
- Easy addition of custom scripts to your footer
- Webmaster Tools
- …and plenty more.
To get a better idea of the full scope of this flexible theme, have a look HERE
The other advantage of using the WordPress platform for your site is the wide range of associated plugins available. A plugin is a piece of software that is intended to enhance an application, and there are many that have been created specifically to improve Amazon Review sites.
You can select specific plugins to customize your site and enhance its features. Here are some you might like to consider:
- YARPP Plugin (displays related product reviews)
- Amazon Affiliate Link Localizer
- Amazon International Link Localizer
- WWSGD Plugin (stands for “what would Seth Godin do” and allows you to install user-friendly features such as a welcome box)
- Amazon Simple Admin (Makes it easier to add products)
- WP-Table Reloaded (adds a product comparison table)
- Affiliate Product Comparison (another comparison table plugin)
- WordPress Post Tabs (allows you to show content in tabs)
Now you’ll need a host to get your site on the internet and visable to all your potential customers. There are tons of hosting companies to choose from at all price levels, although the most important factors to consider are reliability and security.
Here are a couple I can recommend from experience, as well as one I’ve researched based on client feedback.
So that covers the basics about site creation and hosting. Don’t forget that Hyaroo.com offers a “done for you complete Amazon Review site service“. We’ll build your site using a state-of-the-art WordPress theme, add all the plugins you’ll need and take care of your hosting requirements. All you have to do is relax and count the profits.
