Amazon launches "Context Links"

[Czar]

I'll let Amazon's official announcement do the talking in relation to this. Suffice to say, this is one of the most interesting extensions to Amazon's popular affiliate program to be launched in the program's history:

Dear Amazon Associate:

The Amazon Associates program is thrilled to announce the release of the Context Links Beta!

Context Links are a quick and convenient way to add links to your website and monetize your content. Context Links automatically identify and link relevant phrases within your page content to Amazon products, unlocking new ad inventory and saving you the time from having to manually create links. You can add the links to your pages in minutes, and we provide a wealth of options to customize how they are displayed.

You create the content. We'll link it.

Who Should Use Context Links?
Context Links are for people looking for an easy way to generate money from the content they write. Bloggers, review sites, and people that have archived pages that are currently not monetized are excellent candidates for Context Links.

Why Should I Use Context Links?
Earn Additional Referral Fees - By identifying and linking relevant phrases in your content, Context Links will unlock new advertising inventory, thereby providing the opportunity to earn incremental referral fees.

Convenience – Embed a piece of code on your page one time and automatically monetize both current and future content. This saves you the time from having to manually create Text Links.

Delight Your Site Visitors – Context Links provide your site visitors links to relevant products on Amazon.com, and the interactive preview functionality allows them to view these products in the context of your website without having to leave it.

Why Launch With a Beta?
We want your feedback. We have just completed a closed Beta, and we are proud of the results. An open Beta will allow us to gather more feedback that will be instrumental as we continue to improve Context Links.

How Do Context Links Work?
After you embed one simple piece of code on your pages, Context Links will identify and link contextually relevant phrases within your content to Amazon.com products. If you enable the preview functionality your site visitors will see a preview of an Amazon.com product relevant to the phrase we selected. Clicking on the link will send your site visitors to the product detail page on Amazon.com, and you will earn referral fees just as you would with any link you hand-picked.

Setting up Context Links for your website is quick and easy. Simply:

1. Visit Associates Central->Build Links->Context Links
2. Specify the maximum number of links you'd like on each page
3. Optionally customize the display of the links with a couple clicks
4. Copy/paste the generated code into your pages


Can I Customize the Links?
Yes, we have provided numerous customization options for Context Links allowing you to control:

the number of links on each page
which portion of the page will be linked
which Amazon product categories are linked
the matching of exact product names only
if preview windows will appear when your site visitors hover over the links, and the style of those windows
the options of single underline, dashed underline, and double underline link formats to indicate to your site visitors that they are Context Links.

Where Can I See Context Links Action?
Here are a couple of sites that participated in the closed Beta where you can see Context Links in action:

Muppet Central.com (single underline links are Context Links)
Thought Garage (double underline links are Context Links)
Log in to Associates Central to try them out today, and let us know what you think. Thanks for your continued support of the Amazon Associates Program!

Sincerely,
The Amazon Associates Program

[njpete]

Ah well couple things from mine and many other affiliates experience Amazon pays very little and being this is contextual you can't have this on the same page as Adsense or any other contextual programs. So to earn 5% give or take on a smaller sale you give up running a program that you will make money with. Not worth the time of putting a link up.

[tresmom]

Originally Posted by njpete

Ah well couple things from mine and many other affiliates experience Amazon pays very little and being this is contextual you can't have this on the same page as Adsense or any other contextual programs. So to earn 5% give or take on a smaller sale you give up running a program that you will make money with. Not worth the time of putting a link up.

I agree. My experience with Amazon has not been very good. I don't see myself signing up with this.

[Larwee]

njpete, Google made some changes a while back in relation to other contextual ads on the same page as AdSense. They now allow it provided the other program allows their ads to be on the same page as AdSense and the other ads don't look like AdSense.

There are a lot more details in this link http://www.jensense.com/archives/200....html#comments You might need to scroll up to read the actual information.

[emmzee]

Yea, AFAIK you can use this on the same page as AdSense. Though I'd check with Google first just to make sure.

I think this is a good idea, there was a 3rd party service that offered contextual Amazon ads awhile back, but this is much better. If/when I redesign my site I'll probably try this out (along with AdSense).

[njpete]

Originally Posted by Larwee

njpete, Google made some changes a while back in relation to other contextual ads on the same page as AdSense. They now allow it provided the other program allows their ads to be on the same page as AdSense and the other ads don't look like AdSense.

There are a lot more details in this link http://www.jensense.com/archives/200....html#comments You might need to scroll up to read the actual information.

OK, thanks for pointing that out. Amazon was at the start of the internet affiliate industry so hopefully they can restore things to the way the were heading in the beginning. If they take the right steps they would be taken more serious and could provide a lot of value.