Squidoo Tips And Tricks #3: Amazon Modules

I try to put an Amazon module on every lens I have. Why? Several reasons.

* Commissions: Obviously, Amazon modules sell stuff and you get a commision on every sale.

* Lens Rank: Amazon modules help your lensrank in two ways. First, everytime someone clicks on an Amazon module, you get a "clickout" the more clickouts, the better your lensrank. Read more about why clickouts are good. Second, if you earn a commission, that also improves your lensrank.

* Diversity. An Amazon module has pictures and adds interesting diversity to your page.

But which is the best Amazon module to use? These days I prefer the classic Amazon module. I no longer use Amazon Spotlight UNLESS I am listing a book. Why?

In most cases if you select the products, the product will change within 1 year and you will have a deadlink. If you select the products, you must check the links every few months to make sure that they are still active. This is not so difficult if you have 2 or 3 lenses. But if you have over 100, you will not be able to check all of the links.

In this case it is best to use a classic Amazon module and select "Let Amazon Choose". In this case you will seldom get deadlinks. The problem with letting Amazon choose is that sometimes Amazon chooses the wrong products. It can be difficult to find the right keywords to use and often takes some trial and error. For example, on this lens about Christmas 2011, I have Amazon module about Ride On Cars. I selected the catagory Toys and put Ride On Cars into the keyword space, however, instead of Ride On Cars, I got a variety of toy cars, most of them not the type I was interested. After I looked at the cars, I noticed that most of the Ride On Cars I was interested in had MP3 players. So, if I use the keywords Ride On Cars MP3, I got the type of cars I was interested in displaying.

Why will I use Amazon spotlight if I am listing a book? Because when you are listing a book, you use the ASIN number for a book. That number will not change. So long as the book is being sold, if you have used the ASIN number that book will always appear in your module. I actually prefer the spotlight modules for books because the image is large and it looks nice. So, unless you have alot of books you want to sell, use the spotlight module for books and the traditional Amazon module for everything else.

This is my third in the series of Squidoo Tips And Tricks. I wonder if these are helpful to anyone? Is there anything else you would like me to cover? If I get a good response, there will be more. If not, this idea will probably die out.