Interview With Amazon Affiliate Rick
In The Home Appliance Niche
Welcome everyone to another AMZ Link Checker blog interview. We talk to real amazon affiliates that are ranking and banking just like you. In this post we interview Rick who runs Home Appliance Geek, a website which aims to give customers buying advice and tips on everyday home appliances, such as Dishwashers and Vacuum Cleaners.
Welcome to our humble little blog. Firstly can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Hey! I’m Rick and I’m from the UK. I’m a huge fan of keeping active with Snowboarding and Surfing being my two favourite hobbies (is there two greater weather contrasts?), but I’m also a bit of a techie at heart and love building things or taking things apart to see how they work.
Tell us about your website and don't worry there's no shame in a little self-promotion here!
I’m the owner of Home Appliance Geek, a website which aims to give customers buying advice and tips on everyday home appliances, such as Dishwashers and Vacuum Cleaners. The website is about 1.5 years old and has so far been a rewarding challenge for myself. It surprised me how much writing for the website has contributed to my own education. I recently finished a guide that explains what the different dishwasher symbols mean, only to find that I’ve owned a dishwasher for the last year and didn’t even realise how to use it to its full extent myself!
What made you decide to start an Amazon affiliate website?
To be totally honest, I fell into it by accident! The first website I built was around fitness and was built without any monetisation plans in mind. I used the website as leverage to contact suppliers and ask for free equipment, which led them to introduce me to their affiliate programs. I realised I was naturally reviewing and promoting products already, so the transition was pretty natural from there!
Is this your first Amazon affiliate website or are you fairly experienced at this?
As mentioned above, this isn’t the first time. I own 3 websites in total, but I wouldn’t say I’m highly experienced - I’m constantly learning.
In this your full-time income or do you have a 9-5 too?
I’ve got a 9-5 (unfortunately!). I’m part of the Senior Management team for a Digital Agency, which is the same agency I’ve worked at for over 7 years now. I initially joined the company as a developer, so I’ve worked my way through a variety of job roles in that time, and have learned a lot about websites over the years. The job is highly rewarding and I work with a lot of very big digital brands which means I’m always learning from highly skilled people in my industry.
Do you have any other online ventures currently running?
Nothing at the moment - I find timekeeping hard as it is!
What do you feel is the best quality of your website?
The website is constantly growing and it has a long way to go to compete with some of the bigger players in the niche, but I’m starting to feel much more content about the design and content on the website than I used to. In the early days it can be easy to just pump out content and worry about polishing things later, but you have to remember that user experience should be your #1 goal, and it feels great when I publish an in-depth guide that is well structured and doesn’t just feel like a boring wall of text! I’m sure there’s a lot of old content that needs revamped, but I’m proud of my latest content and feel it serves user intent pretty well.
Where does most of your traffic come from?
Organic traffic accounts for the majority of traffic for all websites I own. I dabble in other areas, but long term sustainable traffic from search engines will always be my primary focus.
Any little SEO tips you think Amazon affiliates would benefit from?
Everyone always talks about how important content length is, but to me the number 1 factor should be user intent. What’s the point of writing a post that’s over 3,000 words, but is poorly structured, isn’t appealing, and doesn’t serve the user’s search intent? True, you need to keep in mind what works for Google, but you also want to write compelling posts that will answer the readers query. If the user is landing on your page and hitting the back button within 10 seconds then your job is not complete! If you do have a decent social following how did you grow it? One day I hope to be able to answer this question, but I really haven’t put any focus on growing a social following yet!
In terms of SEO are you a white hat or a black hat?
I’m white hat all the way and I’m way too risk averse to be anything otherwise. I don’t think I’ll be rewarded as fast in the short term, but I really hope it pays off in the long term. With another website I own I have done a considerable amount of guest posts, and I do often pay (or ask for) a publishing fee, depending on what has been agreed.
You could argue this counts as buying links, but there will always be a time investment from someone to edit, format and publish content, so I believe the website owner should be paid for their time.
Have you ever had a Google penalty? If so what for and did you manage to fix it?
Never had one. I guess that means white hat is going well for me?!
How do you plan to grow your website going forward?
For me the focus is always on two things; content and outreach. My growth plans are always to focus on ‘silos’ within any website I own. This means putting a lot of effort into content writing for a certain topic on my website, and then when I am happy that I have a considerable amount of content on one topic, I can then reach out to promote that content elsewhere on the web. The goal is to grow backlinks, but I also hope to gain quality referral traffic at the same time.
Do you outsource any tasks? If so which ones?
I always outsource logo / graphic design, and have recently started outsourcing certain types of content writing. I’ll only outsource a task if I can write a quality brief for it. I really wish I could outsource link building more, but it feels like an are which is full of snake oil salesman so I’m very cautious about that right now.
Have you ever been banned from the Amazon affiliate program, if so what for?
I have not, no.
Do you feel its important to be passionate about your chosen niche or do you think great content can be created either way?
Great question! It’s no surprise to hear that I am more passionate about other websites I own (these match my hobbies), but I am still interested in my chosen niche. I believe you do need to have a certain level of interest in your niche. If you really dislike it, how are you going to keep yourself motivated when researching and writing for it??
What do you wish you'd know now because you started your website?
Luckily for me this isn’t my first rodeo, but there’s certainly a few pitfalls that I wish I knew right at the start.
A few quick tips from me:
1. There’s no point worrying about design, logos and polishing your website when you have no traffic yet. Focus on growing traffic, then worry about that later.
2. Every time I’ve outsourced work cheap, I’ve not been happy. Paying reputable rates will always be worth it, especially when it comes to content writing.
3. Stop thinking and start. Everything I have learned is by doing. You’ll never get it right first time, so stop worrying and just start.
Our reader's love stats. Would you be willing to share any?
I’m not going to share any specific stats of my own, but I would recommend people read into bounce rate, as it’s a metric that is poorly understood by many people. One site with an average bounce rate of 90% may be more successful than another site with a bounce rate of 10%. It all depends on the website and the specific user journey.
Do you have an exit strategy?
I have no plans to sell right now, but I guess you never know what will happen down the line. I find time management difficult, so if I find I am no longer able to contribute enough time to the website then I’d perhaps reconsider. As an aside, I wouldn’t want to sell any site I own for less than 30x monthly earnings.
And finally is there anything else you feel like your fellow Amazon affiliates would benefit from knowing?
When I find people struggling with affiliate marketing I always recommend places for further reading. For beginners, I would recommend the Ahrefs and Backlinko blogs which have tons of information on them. For more experienced people I’d recommend getting stuck into conversations with other like- minded people. There’s a ton of great Reddit subs you can find these people engaging with, I’m always finding nuggets of valuable information hidden away in these threads.
Hey! I’m Rick and I’m from the UK. I’m a huge fan of keeping active with Snowboarding and Surfing being my two favourite hobbies (is there two greater weather contrasts?), but I’m also a bit of a techie at heart and love building things or taking things apart to see how they work.
Tell us about your website and don't worry there's no shame in a little self-promotion here!
I’m the owner of Home Appliance Geek, a website which aims to give customers buying advice and tips on everyday home appliances, such as Dishwashers and Vacuum Cleaners. The website is about 1.5 years old and has so far been a rewarding challenge for myself. It surprised me how much writing for the website has contributed to my own education. I recently finished a guide that explains what the different dishwasher symbols mean, only to find that I’ve owned a dishwasher for the last year and didn’t even realise how to use it to its full extent myself!
What made you decide to start an Amazon affiliate website?
To be totally honest, I fell into it by accident! The first website I built was around fitness and was built without any monetisation plans in mind. I used the website as leverage to contact suppliers and ask for free equipment, which led them to introduce me to their affiliate programs. I realised I was naturally reviewing and promoting products already, so the transition was pretty natural from there!
Is this your first Amazon affiliate website or are you fairly experienced at this?
As mentioned above, this isn’t the first time. I own 3 websites in total, but I wouldn’t say I’m highly experienced - I’m constantly learning.
In this your full-time income or do you have a 9-5 too?
I’ve got a 9-5 (unfortunately!). I’m part of the Senior Management team for a Digital Agency, which is the same agency I’ve worked at for over 7 years now. I initially joined the company as a developer, so I’ve worked my way through a variety of job roles in that time, and have learned a lot about websites over the years. The job is highly rewarding and I work with a lot of very big digital brands which means I’m always learning from highly skilled people in my industry.
Do you have any other online ventures currently running?
Nothing at the moment - I find timekeeping hard as it is!
What do you feel is the best quality of your website?
The website is constantly growing and it has a long way to go to compete with some of the bigger players in the niche, but I’m starting to feel much more content about the design and content on the website than I used to. In the early days it can be easy to just pump out content and worry about polishing things later, but you have to remember that user experience should be your #1 goal, and it feels great when I publish an in-depth guide that is well structured and doesn’t just feel like a boring wall of text! I’m sure there’s a lot of old content that needs revamped, but I’m proud of my latest content and feel it serves user intent pretty well.
Where does most of your traffic come from?
Organic traffic accounts for the majority of traffic for all websites I own. I dabble in other areas, but long term sustainable traffic from search engines will always be my primary focus.
Any little SEO tips you think Amazon affiliates would benefit from?
Everyone always talks about how important content length is, but to me the number 1 factor should be user intent. What’s the point of writing a post that’s over 3,000 words, but is poorly structured, isn’t appealing, and doesn’t serve the user’s search intent? True, you need to keep in mind what works for Google, but you also want to write compelling posts that will answer the readers query. If the user is landing on your page and hitting the back button within 10 seconds then your job is not complete! If you do have a decent social following how did you grow it? One day I hope to be able to answer this question, but I really haven’t put any focus on growing a social following yet!
In terms of SEO are you a white hat or a black hat?
I’m white hat all the way and I’m way too risk averse to be anything otherwise. I don’t think I’ll be rewarded as fast in the short term, but I really hope it pays off in the long term. With another website I own I have done a considerable amount of guest posts, and I do often pay (or ask for) a publishing fee, depending on what has been agreed.
You could argue this counts as buying links, but there will always be a time investment from someone to edit, format and publish content, so I believe the website owner should be paid for their time.
Have you ever had a Google penalty? If so what for and did you manage to fix it?
Never had one. I guess that means white hat is going well for me?!
How do you plan to grow your website going forward?
For me the focus is always on two things; content and outreach. My growth plans are always to focus on ‘silos’ within any website I own. This means putting a lot of effort into content writing for a certain topic on my website, and then when I am happy that I have a considerable amount of content on one topic, I can then reach out to promote that content elsewhere on the web. The goal is to grow backlinks, but I also hope to gain quality referral traffic at the same time.
Do you outsource any tasks? If so which ones?
I always outsource logo / graphic design, and have recently started outsourcing certain types of content writing. I’ll only outsource a task if I can write a quality brief for it. I really wish I could outsource link building more, but it feels like an are which is full of snake oil salesman so I’m very cautious about that right now.
Have you ever been banned from the Amazon affiliate program, if so what for?
I have not, no.
Do you feel its important to be passionate about your chosen niche or do you think great content can be created either way?
Great question! It’s no surprise to hear that I am more passionate about other websites I own (these match my hobbies), but I am still interested in my chosen niche. I believe you do need to have a certain level of interest in your niche. If you really dislike it, how are you going to keep yourself motivated when researching and writing for it??
What do you wish you'd know now because you started your website?
Luckily for me this isn’t my first rodeo, but there’s certainly a few pitfalls that I wish I knew right at the start.
A few quick tips from me:
1. There’s no point worrying about design, logos and polishing your website when you have no traffic yet. Focus on growing traffic, then worry about that later.
2. Every time I’ve outsourced work cheap, I’ve not been happy. Paying reputable rates will always be worth it, especially when it comes to content writing.
3. Stop thinking and start. Everything I have learned is by doing. You’ll never get it right first time, so stop worrying and just start.
Our reader's love stats. Would you be willing to share any?
I’m not going to share any specific stats of my own, but I would recommend people read into bounce rate, as it’s a metric that is poorly understood by many people. One site with an average bounce rate of 90% may be more successful than another site with a bounce rate of 10%. It all depends on the website and the specific user journey.
Do you have an exit strategy?
I have no plans to sell right now, but I guess you never know what will happen down the line. I find time management difficult, so if I find I am no longer able to contribute enough time to the website then I’d perhaps reconsider. As an aside, I wouldn’t want to sell any site I own for less than 30x monthly earnings.
And finally is there anything else you feel like your fellow Amazon affiliates would benefit from knowing?
When I find people struggling with affiliate marketing I always recommend places for further reading. For beginners, I would recommend the Ahrefs and Backlinko blogs which have tons of information on them. For more experienced people I’d recommend getting stuck into conversations with other like- minded people. There’s a ton of great Reddit subs you can find these people engaging with, I’m always finding nuggets of valuable information hidden away in these threads.
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