Using the Amazon aStore to Make Cash!

Amazon has developed a wonderful new application for their Associate program (affiliate program to the rest of the world). They call it the aStore, a fully functioning ecommerce website. I actually used something similar to this in the late 90's called the VStore and it is a great way to generate incremental income.

You need to join the Amazon Associate Program to have access to this great money making tool. Referral fees start at 4% and can go all the way to 8.5%. In my case within 2 days of opening my store I hade earned $6.25 It doesn't sound like much but my AdSense account took nearly a month to generate $8.25

For the blogging community, it is a great way to introduce your readers to products that you think they will be most interested in. I created then Blog Utopia Store. I chose the products I thought would be best suited to my audience. There is no need to overwhelm the reader with the entire product breadth of Amazon, just take a little time to merchandise to your specific crowd.

Remember, in order to generate money on the web you still need to have a sizable audience, so continue your marketing efforts to bring in new readers. If you set your profit expectations at the low end even $6.25 is cause for celebration.

A few tips once you get started:

• If you currently purchase items from Amazon but don’t have a store for yourself, make sure and buy your next item from one of your friends in the MyBlogLog community. You will still get the great deals offered by Amazon and your friend will make a little cash too.
  
• Once you open your aStore make sure and tell your friends and family about it. Why would they start their product search on Amazon directly if they new you could benefit from their purchase?
  
• Link your blog to your aStore so that regular readers can make purchases through your store.

I will update you on how my store is doing as I move forward, you might want to make your next Amazon purchase through one of my stores (thanks in advance) to see how it works and then get started on your own store.

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