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The number of times this article was shared on Twitter. Shows estimated monthly search traffic to this article according to Ahrefs data. The actual search dealings ( as reported in Google Analytics ) is normally 3-5 times bigger. Shows how many unlike websites are linking to this piece of message. As a cosmopolitan rule, the more websites link to you, the higher you rank in Google. Heard a distribute about Amazon affiliate websites but have no theme where to start ? Take inspiration from these seven examples.
Amazon consort websites make money via commissions from their consort program : Amazon Associates. here ’ s how this works :
- A person visits an Amazon affiliate site.
- They click on an affiliate link to buy a recommended product on Amazon.
- Amazon pays the site owner a commission.
In this mail, we ’ ll share some revolutionize Amazon affiliate websites, why they ’ ve done so well, and how you can replicate their achiever. Let ’ s get things started .
Key stats
Domain Rating: 36
Number of referring domains: 901
Number of keywords it ranks for: 40,600
Estimated organic traffic: 31,900
Site age: 2 years
Estimated revenue: Unknown Founded by John Ramey and John Adama —former advisors at the Obama White House—The Prepared is a survivalism web site that publishes practical guides on preparing for emergencies ranging from potential cable car accidents to war .
Why they’re doing so well
For starters, the judgment day prepper marketplace is huge. According to Finder.com, an estimated 160+ million Americans have either recently purchased survival gear or are already in possession of some. Of course, The Prepared is not the alone web site focused on survivalism. There are tons of websites in this niche. The success of this particular locate falls largely down to its owners ’ stress on creating content about evergreen topics. evergreen topics are those with coherent pastime and search volume over meter. For exemplar, we can see that The Prepared targets keywords like “ best tarpaulin. ”
According to Google Trends, this is a subject with increasing interest over meter :
They ’ re besides committed to updating their message regularly to keep it evergreen. After all, a list of the best tarpaulin won ’ triiodothyronine stay clean forever since new products are released all the time .
If they update something, they ’ ll mention what changed in the post :
The benefits of this access are obvious :
- They don’t have to worry about waning interest in their topics. People will still be searching for “best tarp” 5 years from now.
- They can get consistent organic traffic over time. Google tends to favor fresh results for queries like “best tarp” because old posts are out of date and no use to searchers in 2020. By publishing regular, minor updates as new products become available, the guys behind The Prepared can maintain rankings long term.
What besides makes them stand out is the choice of their content. For their reviews, they test every product before publish, and they ’ re crystalline about the test march .
basically, this is the Wirecutter model ( we ’ ll talk more about them late ! ). The Prepared plainly took the mind and focused on a individual niche .
How to replicate their success
Focus on creating “ best [ x ] ” posts for evergreen product categories. These are things that people will still be looking to buy in years to come. For exercise, a list of the best dishwashers has longevity since there are always people in the market for a fresh appliance. That ’ sulfur why Google Trends shows reproducible search demand over meter .
Of course, some topics are seasonal such as “ best tents. ”
This international relations and security network ’ t an offspring because its popularity is coherent class over class. You ’ ll equitable experience more sales during certain parts of the year. What you want to avoid are non-evergreen topics with waning interest, like “ best fidget spinner. ”
The benefit of creating content about evergreen product categories is that it has the potential to attract constituent dealings long condition. Just make sure your SEO scheme is sound and you keep the posts updated. Learn more about how to do this in our guide to evergreen content .
Key stats
Domain Rating: 63
Number of referring domains: 1,320
Number of keywords it ranks for: 136,000
Estimated organic traffic: 244,000
Site age: 3 years
Estimated revenue: Unknown Homegrounds is a site that teaches “ home baristas ” how to brew and enjoy better timbre coffee .
Why they’re doing so well
I reached out to the locate ’ s collapse, Alex Azoury, to find out. here ’ s what he said :
first, we commit to publishing content that is better than our competitors. This is because the coffee brew market are switched on, and they decidedly appreciate content that actually solves their trouble, rather than message built to just target a keyword. second, we reverse engineer our competitors via Ahrefs ’ Site Explorer to uncover content and backlink opportunities that are working for them. If it works for them, it will most probably work for us. finally, we dig deeper into keywords and think about search captive, rather than precisely looking at search volume. The topics that finally perform the best from a fiscal position are rarely the ones that look the best on face prize. Again, Ahrefs ’ Keywords Explorer has been an invaluable resource for this .
How to replicate their success
If we distill what Alex said above, we see that what worked for the Homegrounds team is to focus on the basics :
- Do keyword research and find topics with traffic potential.
- Create content that aligns with search intent and trumps everything else on quality.
- Build links to the content by replicating competitors’ link building strategies.
Learn how to do this in our template to ranking on the first page of Google .
Key stats
Domain Rating: 76
Number of referring domains: 5,890
Number of keywords it ranks for: 203,000
Estimated organic traffic: 594,000
Site age: 11 years
Estimated revenue: Unknown DogFoodAdvisor is a site that helps pet owners make better decisions when buying frank food .
Why they’re doing so well
The pets market is enormous. It ’ randomness estimated that $ 75 billion was spent by favored owners in 2019, with $ 31 billion on positron emission tomography food alone. And therein lies the key to this site ’ mho success. rather of writing broadly on pets or even favored food, they chose to focus entirely on frump food. It besides helps that the keyword “ andiron food ” has a global search volume of 117,000 searches per calendar month .
This stress helped them to stand out in a saturated niche, and about surely besides helped them to rank for thousands of cad food-related keywords .
How to replicate their success
There are enough of things to emulate, but lets drill down on two aspects :
1. Create content hubs
Their page on the “ best cad foods ” ranks for over 1,300 keywords, sending them an estimated ~20,284 US research visits per month .
Given that there are thus many types of dog foods available for different breeds and for assorted purposes, it would be impossible to answer the question of “ what is the best chase food ” in a one article. rather, what this page does is internally link to more specialize articles on the subject, allowing readers to choose the one that applies most to them. This is known as a “ capacity hub. ”
Besides creating a better user experience, “ hub ” pages are besides beneficial for SEO. This is because more “ authority ” is transferred to DogFoodAdvisor ’ s most important pages as subpages link back to hub pages and vice-versa ). This is about surely function of the cause why this page is ranking so well. Learn more about the types of contented hub in this position .
2. Create useful content that attracts links
Dog food recalls are amazingly common but besides easy to miss. DogFoodAdvisor solves this trouble with their up-to-date list of andiron food recalls .
To date, this page has links from 390 websites .
Takeaway: Don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate focus entirely on “ best [ ten ] ” keywords. Create useful, informational content that attracts links and boosts your assurance. Learn more about how to create content that attracts links .
Key stats
Domain Rating: 74
Number of referring domains: 8,810
Number of keywords it ranks for: 785,000
Estimated organic traffic: 3,100,000
Site age: 9 years
Estimated revenue: Unknown many people want to build their own personal computer, but the action international relations and security network ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate that straightforward—particularly for newbies. This is where PCPartPicker excels. Choose the parts you want for your personal computer, and PCPartPicker will provide compatibility guidance and up-to-date pricing. They besides publish “ build up guides ” for those who are diffident how to start building one .
Why they’re doing so well
PCPartPicker is interest because it deviates from the traditional affiliate model of targeting “ best [ ten ] ” keywords. alternatively, it ’ s a cock. Knowing which components to buy is a big problem in the “ build your own personal computer ” worldly concern. PCPartPicker solves this by letting you shop for the latest personal computer parts based on performance and budget. It then automatically cross-references them to check for compatibility. then, based on what you ’ ve configured, you can purchase immediately from Amazon ( with PCPartPicker ’ second affiliate links. )
The most remarkable contribution about this is how much reliance the site has built with its consultation. A big issue with affiliate sites is they frequently recommend products based on the highest commissions. This “ scheme ” cursorily erodes reliance, causing many affiliate sites to fail.
But PCPartPicker ’ s tool is indifferent. It doesn ’ triiodothyronine push any detail products. All it does is allow users to choose their own configurations, and then make commissions off those choices. Because the instrument is sol useful, it markets itself via viva-voce .
Along the way, the tool page itself has picked up 835 referring domains—many of which come from authoritative, high-DR sites like The Verge, PC World, etc .
How to replicate their success
not all Amazon affiliate websites must be “ message sites ” to do well. There are other ways to excel. Is there a big problem in your niche ? Can you build a loose tool or resource to help fix that trouble and potentially make some affiliate income along the way ? sometimes, you have to think outside the box. Learn more about how to find these opportunities in this template ( jump to exercise # 4 )
Key stats
Domain Rating: 58
Number of referring domains: 2,560
Number of keywords it ranks for: 722,000
Estimated organic traffic: 354,000
Site age: 5 years
Estimated revenue: Unknown Equipboard is a site that showcases the gearing, tools, and products used by celebrated musicians. message on the site is partially user-generated. The founders ( Giulio and Michael ) review products and create subject targeting “ best ” keywords, and users contribute capacity about the gear their favorite artists use .
Why are they doing so well?
As an affiliate locate, Equipboard targets “ best ” keywords in their niche. That ’ s to be expected. But they besides tackle the consort model from a unique angle. A bad separate of their site is the breakdown of the gear and tools that celebrated musicians use. That ’ south reasonably ache. In the music world, people want to be more like their idols. They want to play the guitar like Slash, rap like Eminem, or sing like Ariana Grande. not only that, they want to use the same gear as these people. In fact, Giulio, the co-founder, says this is how Equipboard started .
As musicians ourselves, we understand how musicians search for a certain sound and workshop for gear. That led us to create a web site around the way people explore gear, specifically by looking up to the pro musicians they admire .
This is besides where Equipboard takes it to the following degree. Think about it : there are thousands of musicians from every possible genre. It would take them everlastingly to cover every one one of them. The solution ? Enlist the avail of their consultation. On Equipboard, anyone can add content related to their favored artists ’ gear. then, with the help oneself of a few community moderators, the founders fact-check sources and ensure the suggestions are accurate. This allows them to scale content product at a relatively low cost. It besides helps them to :
- Get traffic. Most of these musicians are famous, so there’s plenty of search volume for relevant terms (e.g. “jimmy page gear”.)
- Get affiliate link clicks. Since fans are already interested in the gear of their favorite musicians, it is likely they will click on their affiliate links.
- Get backlinks. Since they’re the most credible source for musicians’ tools and gear, they get tons of links from Wikipedia and other reputable sites.
How to replicate their success
Equipboard ’ s key to success is their unique sell point ( USP ) : the breakdown of tools and instruments that celebrated musicians use. But here ’ s the cool part : you can apply this same concept to other niches. Run a golf site ? There are batch of people searching for what ’ mho in the bags of celebrated golfers .
Run a book revue site ? People want to know what books celebrated people recommend .
The examples are endless. You equitable need to find them, which is where a keyword research instrument like Ahrefs ’ Keywords Explorer ( pictured above ) comes in handy .
Key stats
Domain Rating: 26
Number of referring domains: 275
Number of keywords it ranks for: 27,700
Estimated organic traffic: 26,600
Site age: 4 years
Estimated revenue: ~4‑figures per month Territory Supply helps people find hike, camping, packing, and locomotion adventures in the US, while besides showcasing the best outdoor gear they should use .
Why they’re doing so well
The first thing you ’ ll notice when you visit district Supply is how much it looks like an on-line magazine, preferably than a typical affiliate web site. And indeed, they do run their site like a magazine. As an affiliate site, they have articles targeting “ best adam ” keywords. But they besides cover batch of other topics that don ’ t radio link to any products. They ’ re besides committed to linking to the best products, even if they can ’ t make money from their recommendations. For exercise, their military post on “ DIY tear camper kits ” generates an estimate 1,800 search visits per month, but has only one link to an consort product .
Dustin Christiensen, the laminitis, reaffirms my thoughts .
I think one reason we ’ ve had success with Territory Supply is that we ’ ve tried to provide more value than your average affiliate web site. For case, a fortune of our product recommendations come from small brands or retailers that don ’ metric ton have an affiliate program any. But, those brands make some of the best products, so we ’ ve included them in our content because that ’ s what ’ s most valuable to our readers. We don ’ t fair find five Amazon products and call it a day—we ’ ll put a batch of research into each product class to find unique products and brands that no one else is discussing since most sites can ’ t make money off of them. second, we ’ ve invested heavily in our post and appearance. rather of putting up a brassy WordPress subject, I spent thousands of dollars on a custom-made designed web site with some singular outdoor aesthetics that work well for the outdoor residential district. We tried to build something that didn ’ triiodothyronine look like a cheap, sparse consort web site and alternatively, wanted something that looked trustworthy, valuable and impactful. concluding, we besides do a lot of content that international relations and security network ’ triiodothyronine related to products or consort marketing at all — like hiking and camping guides that include the best locations to explore in different areas. These articles are research-intensive and we try to find writers who live in or explore the areas we write about so that they have real, accurate value for our readers. We do sol a lot more than just product-based content that I think it helps find an hearing that a set of affiliate sites might miss out on .
How to replicate their success
not every district Supply lector is cook to buy. sometimes, they ’ re just curious. And when they read articles like “ 10 Stunning Hikes in Death Valley National Park ”, they might be inspired to start exploring the outdoors more often. Or they might even be fired up to start hiking on the coming weekend. This will lead them to wonder about the gearing they ’ ll need for hike, which Territory Supply besides helps with. The takeaway: just because you run an affiliate site doesn ’ thyroxine mean you should only cover “ best ” or “ inspection ” topics. You should target topics at every stage of the commercialize funnel. Learn how to do this in our lead to receive and map keywords to the buyer ’ s travel .
Key stats
Domain Rating: 82
Number of referring domains: 23,100
Number of keywords it ranks for: 3,700,000
Estimated organic traffic: 4,100,000
Site age: 8 years
Estimated revenue: ~ $ 10 million ( 2016 ) Founded in 2011 by Brian Lam, a early Editorial Director at Gizmodo, The Wirecutter has grown into possibly the most celebrated and long-familiar Amazon affiliate site on the satellite. Frustrated with the ceaseless furrow for pageviews in traditional media companies, Brian quit Gizmodo and started The Wirecutter as a minor review site focused on gadgets. It was acquired by the New York Times in 2016 for $ 30 million .
Why they’re doing so well
short fib : they rank on the first page for 62,000+ “ best ” keywords in the U.S. alone :
The longer floor : they ’ re the absolute champion of product reviews. When it comes to “ best [ merchandise class ] ” type posts, most affiliate sites merely curate whatever ’ s presently selling well on Amazon. not The Wirecutter. For every category, they ’ ll thoroughly sample and quiz every major merchandise. Where needed, they ’ ll hire professional reviewers .
They ’ re besides transparent about how they test the quality of those products. farther, to prevent bias, the staff writers are not informed about what commissions the web site receives for different products. And that ’ s not all. The Wirecutter understands that not everyone wants to read a drawn-out review. They just want a authentic and trustworthy beginning to tell them which product to buy. so, in the first paragraph of every station, they get straight to the point. They build your trust by telling you how they researched it, then telling you exactly what to buy .
For the impatient, this is perfect. They can click through immediately and make the purchase. But flush if they don ’ triiodothyronine buy right off, it ’ second o. For Amazon consort sites, the suction stop itself is authoritative. After all, Amazon has a 24-hour cookie, which means that the web site owner will receive committee on anything the person buys in the following 24 hours. That said, The Wirecutter doesn ’ thymine equitable cater to the urge buyer. For those who are obsessed with researching every aspect of a buy, there ’ s plenty of research to read .
How to replicate their success
Focus on creating exhaustive, well-researched posts for “ best [ category ] ” type keywords in your industry. That means testing the products yourself where potential, and potentially even coming up with advanced ways to do sol. If you ’ re starting out and can ’ metric ton afford to purchase every product in the class, focus on delivering in-depth research. not only does this approach build confidence with readers and entice consort link clicks, but it besides helps to attract backlinks .
That said, while the quality of content surely plays an crucial function here, we besides suspect that employing an inhouse SEO team doesn ’ thymine hurt matters .
And that brings us to a all-important period : You shouldn ’ thyroxine try on to replicate this model like for like on a site that reviews everything under the sun. Niche down and do things on a smaller scale. Coming full circle, that ’ s what The Prepared did in the preppers niche—and it worked out pretty well for them.
Final thoughts
Most successful Amazon affiliate sites follow roughly the same formula :
- They target commercial investigation keywords like “best [category]”;
- They create best-in-class content by actually reviewing products;
- They work hard to build and attract backlinks to improve rankings.
none of this is rocket skill. It just takes hard work, doggedness, patience, and a focus on long-run over short-run results. Did I miss any good sites ? Let me know in the comments or ping me on Twitter.
