Time to Try Making Money with Your Own Amazon Websites
In my previous post I wrote about how to make money with Amazon without spending a dime.
This post is about how you can make money with Amazon if you are happy to make a little investment.
The One Reason to Own Your Own Website
One of the negative aspects of using websites that you do not control, is that the company could decide to change the way they run their site.
This could have an adverse effect on the type of articles you have written. These websites could also choose to cancel your account without warning.
I remember when Hubpages decided that you could no longer promote Clickbank products on their site. Quite a few people had built up a huge amount of articles based on that business model.
One day they were making bank and the next day, all their articles were frozen or they had to delete the links, making them worthless.
Tools You Need
- An Amazon Affiliate Account
- Your Own Domain
- A Hosting Account
An Amazon Affiliate Account
To become an Amazon associate, just sign up to their website and you will be able to get your own affiliate link with which to promote Amazon products.
- Click Here To Sign Up With Amazon USA Affiliate Programme
- Click Here To Sign Up With Amazon UK Affiliate Programme
How To Get Your Own Domain
When you make the decision to get your own domain, you have to consider several factors. You have to decide whether you want to promote a particular product or product range.
You have to decide whether you want to create a general website so that you can write about a wider range of things.
The answers to these questions will affect the type of name that you will choose for your website. If, for example you wanted to promote gardening products, you could choose to concentrate on a certain gardening tool and look for a website name like Small Gardening Forks.com. Or you could choose a more general name like Tools for The Garden.com.
The cost of a website name is about $5-10 per year.
A Hosting Account
Once you have decided on the name of your website, you will need somewhere to host it so that the whole world will be able to come visit your online home.
There are lots of hosting companies to choose from, like Bluehost, which is what I use.
The cost will be around $5-10 per month.
Concentrate On One Website or Many Websites?
Now you have to decide whether to create a bunch of mini websites or whether to put all your efforts into one website.
There are lots of courses that will teach you how to create these sorts of websites. They teach you all about keyword research, how to choose a website name, the best ways to write article reviews and how to improve your ranking potential in Google searches.
The best advice I can give you is to do some research into all the different methods available. Then see what will work for you. Again, you will find that people have had great success creating a series of small websites while others are making good money by concentrating on only one or two sites.
My Own Experience Making Money with My Own Websites
After creating lots of articles on the frees sites like Hubpages and Infobarrel, I decided to try my hand at creating niche websites. I was following a few bloggers who were having great success with this business model.
I enjoyed doing the keyword research and then putting these websites together. It was fun to see how quickly I could get everything together.
I ended up with around 70 niche websites promoting products like Disney Toddler Beds, Balance Bikes for Kids, Insulated Lunch Bags and lots more.
These sites were doing OK but the upkeep was a nightmare. All those WordPress udpates.
As soon as I got through updating them all, WordPress would come out with another update and I would have to go through the whole process again. 
I think I hit my target of making $1,000 per month two or three times. Those were great Amazon cheques to received. Then Google changed the waythey rated and ranked websites and my little sites lost a their rankings and most disappeared from the top 100 Google search list.
Where I am Now
I decided to get out of the niche website business and have slowly allowed the sites to expire. I have a few left which I am watching to see if they will return to their former glory. If they do, great but if not, so long niche sites.
So now I am left with one Amazon specific website. It is called Top Gifts for Children and, well, I think you can guess what this site is promoting. lol.
I haven’t added a new article since November 2012, so the poor thing has been neglected. I know that it needs a lot of work. At the moment, I am trying to think of ways that I could improve its earning potential.
I need to have a clearer idea of the focus of the site, meaning I need to be able to answer the following question: Why should people visit this website? What will the see that is of value to them when they get there?
As I work on this website, I will write about the experience and report any successes along the way. Oooh, I feel a case study coming up. This is definitely something to add to my To Do list. 
Have Your Say: Do you have lots of Amazon niche websites or are you concentrating on a few sites? Are you seeing a nice return for all your efforts? I would love for you to share your thoughts in the comment section below.
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Victoria,
I just checked out your toy site. It’s really worth saving if you think you have the time. I have an idea for something I’m going to do since I have not come up with anything as yet. I want to curate some information from the participants in this challenge and present it in my blog posts. If it’s ok with you, I will put some links to you (no strings) and others, with what your site offers.
Ruth Clark recently posted..Day 1 of the Freaking Fantastic Blog and List Building Challenge
Ruth, I would be honoured to be a part of your blog posts.
You think that you do not have anything to write about but sharing what you did with your day is great for a post. You might think that your life is uninteresting but sharing your day can be insightful to others. give it a go
Victoria @ My Daily Cuppa recently posted..Make Money With Amazon – Create Your Own Websites
I have one very narrow niche site that’s making me a little money – averaging maybe $20-$25 a month for the past couple of months. I have a few more that I need to get some content up on.
I’d also like to try the more generalized site model and see which one does better for me.
I have no idea how you kept up with 70 sites. I have enough trouble getting 5 up and running.
Katie S recently posted..Where Did You Get That Blog Post Idea?
Katie – I didn’t really keep up with those 70 sites. I added content then forgot about them. I couldn’t be bothered with tweaking and fixing. Tooo much work.
Now I am going to concentrate on the toy site and see if focussed effort will pay off.
Glad to hear about your earnings with your site. Every little bit adds up.
Victoria @ My Daily Cuppa recently posted..Make Money With Amazon – Create Your Own Websites
“Why should people visit this website? What will the see that is of value to them when they get there?” Both great questions Victoria.
As newbies, we often focus on the content and the money we’ll make and not the value our websites will provide for others. You hit the nail on the head, cause when the website benefits someone, they’ll visit and return.
Great post Victoria! You and I think a lot alike. Cheers!
Cynthia Dixon recently posted..Here’s a list of Autoresponder services to help you get started
Cynthia – when you start onnline, everyone always talks about the money and never about the service to others. That question gets thrown by the wayside.
Doing this challenge has made me seriously re-think what it is I am doing so I am happy to be rid of the niche sites.
Glad to find a like minded soul.
Victoria @ My Daily Cuppa recently posted..Make Money With Amazon – Create Your Own Websites
Niche websites never appealed to me, even when we could make money with AdSense. Just too much work to keep them all up to date.
And, if they aren’t producing cash, they are useless. Good tutorial though on how to create one, but they’re not for me.
Bonnie Gean recently posted..A CommentLuv Review: Is It Worthwhile?
Bonnie – it is nice when you get into the rhythm of creating niche sites, but the upkeep is boring.
Also the whole “providing a service to others” gets completely lost when you are in the pursuit of the cash, cash, cash.
Victoria @ My Daily Cuppa recently posted..Make Money With Amazon – Create Your Own Websites
I like the idea of niche sites, but I’ve never reallyy tried them because I just have so much on my hands and 70…! I have no idea how you did it. I might try one and see how it goes though; seems like a good idea (if I can move past the ‘idea’ stage.
Sharon recently posted..Are you a Bird or a Mouse?
If you can find the time, and you pick a product that you have a real affinity with, then I would say go for it. Even if you are only adding one article per month. Sometimes slow and steady wins the online marketing race.
70 sites? wow! i just started my first. hopefully i can break even with all of the site expenses.
I would love to see a case study with tips for keyword research and getting rank on G. please please move it up on your to-do list
Carol recently posted..Should Your Kids Go Gluten Free?
The 70 sites have all but expired. Far too much upkeep for me. However I would like to work on the ones I have kept so a case study is definitely in my future, hopefully with helpful tips on research and ranking