Category: Monetize

Buy and Sell WebsitesMonetize

Micro Website Investing Roll Up Files IPO – Onfolio IPO Thoughts

The Content is for informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Do your own research.

The business model of buying cash flow producing websites at lower multiples 2x-4x, rolling them together and then taking the larger combined entity public at a much higher multiple is a VERY appealing business model. 

A few have pulled it off VerticalScope while many more of these roll-up plays have failed (some spectacularly – IncomeStore). I started to attempt this in 2017 before the founding team got sucked into the crypto rabbit hole. The Amazon FBA world has seen a surge of this type of roll up activity over the last couple of years. 

So… it has been with great interest that I have followed Dom Wells and OnFolio with interest as they work to take their portfolio public. I have known Dom since 2014 and it has been fun to follow along with his various online projects including this incredibly ambitious one. 

Recently OnFolio has filed with the SEC to have an IPO and has therefore revealed a lot of information related to its operations for us to dig into and learn about website investing. 

This post looks at the performance of OnFolio to date and what we can take away from it as we build our own strategies in this space. 

TLDR:

  • Running a portfolio of sites can be VERY financially rewarding! The estimated performance for OnFolio website investing is…
    • ROCE = 72%
    • ROI = 116% over ~2 years
  • Doing it at scale and turning it into an investable vehicle is REALLY HARD!
    • Net Loss of $1.9M on revenue of $1.8M due to very high SG&A expenses.
  • Roll-Up Financial Alchemy Could be a Massive Wealth Generating Event
    • Total funding estimated at ~$3.1M (shown as accumulated deficit) spent over 2 years results in an implied pre-money valuation of $59M for the IPO (20x return if they pull it off… likely even better since a lot of that $3.1M was debt)

Source of Information:

This article will look at…

  • What is OnFolio
  • The Simple Math of a Roll-Up Business Model 
  • OnFolio Performance
  • Implied Valuation of OnFolio
  • Conclusion

What is OnFolio:

OnFolio buys and/or manages online businesses (content websites, ecommerce businesses and productized services). 

From their filing “We acquire controlling interests in and actively manage websites that we believe (i) operate in sectors with long-term growth opportunities, (ii) have positive and stable cash flows, (iii) face minimal threats of technological or competitive obsolescence and (iv) can be managed by our existing team or have strong management teams largely in place. Through the acquisition and growth of a diversified group of websites with these characteristics, we believe we offer investors in our shares an opportunity to diversify their own portfolio risk.”

The Simple Math of a Roll-Up Business Model

The math is incredibly compelling…

Buy online businesses, using debt ideally to not get diluted, at 2x-4x the earnings and then go public and get a 20x+ valuation on the “rolled up” assets. 

Simple enough in theory but does it work in the real world? 

OnFolio Performance:

This is the new information that was fun to dig into. 

Overall Numbers:

2021

  • Revenue = $1,808,543
  • Cost of Revenue = $1,073,509
  • Gross Profit = $735,034
  • Expenses = $2,687,345
  • Income (Loss) from Operations = ($1,952,311)

So on $1.8M in revenue, $0.7M in gross profit was generated but expenses crushed that resulting in a $1.9M loss. 

I believe these massive expenses are a reflection of the effort needed to go public… look at the length of the filings! Those would be some scary legal/accounting bills!

The Seller and General Administration expenses are huge and potentially a large portion of this are one-off costs associated with going public. In the filing, it shows $553,651 in costs estimated in the efforts to go public representing a significant chunk of the expenses. 

A more interesting and potentially fair way of looking at OnFolio is how has it done with the sites it has.

Portfolio:

  • 5 – wholly-owned content/ecom sites
  • 1 – wholly-owned productized service
  • 10 – websites with a management agreement (OnFolio gets paid to manage the site)
  • 2 – productized services being managed (OnFolio gets paid to manage the business)

Looking at the 100% owned websites and the provided purchase agreements we can then estimate their performance based on the organic traffic from ahrefs…

NOTE – The MASSIVE drop of 90% for PrettyNeatCreative occurred in the first month and has climbed back so although it looks terrible this drop may have been calculated into the purchase price based on the APA and relatively low purchase price?

So traffic across the 100% owned portfolio is up 9.06% for the sites we have all the required information for.

This shows the strength of the portfolio model where several sites can drop but the overall portfolio performs better. 

Return on Capital Employed

One of the best measures for a roll-up is how profitably can it deploy capital in acquisitions. 

Basically has Onfolio created value through its acquisitions and website operations? 

Looking at the revenue breakdown… 

  • Website Management $940,779
  • Advertising and Content Revenue = $204,910
  • Product Sales = $661,154
  • Other = $1,700
  • Total Revenue = $1,808,543
  • Gross Profit = $735,034

Then considering the net cash used in investing activities in 2020 and 2021 of $1,020,496 we have a ROCE = 735,034 / 1,020,496 = 72% which is huge!

Or another way is the ROI if the assets purchased were liquidated at a 3x multiple

  • Portfolio value with a 3x multiple = $735,034 x 3 = $2,205,102
  • Investment = $1,020,496
  • ROI = 116% over ~2 years

So the portfolio performance despite some sites dropping appears to be very positive. A couple of things to note would be how much of the cost of revenue is not fully captured in the cost of revenue declared such as…

  • Management time building/running productized services from scratch (not a repeatable activity at scale)
  • Strategy/sales for the website management agreements potentially not being fully baked into the cost of revenue.

Implied Valuation of OnFolio:

I am no financial advisor/investment expert etc so I hope I am calculating this correctly. 

Amount of Cash Being Raised:

“We estimate that the net proceeds from this offering will be approximately $13,246,349 , or approximately  $15,316,849 if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full, after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.”


Cost Per Share:“14,127,125 shares (or 14,564,018 shares if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full), at an assumed price of $5.14 per share.”
So the final value of OnFolio would be 14,564,018 x $5.14 = $74,859,052 which would include the assets of ~$15M cash raised plus the existing portfolio of assets. 

This is the financial alchemy that makes rollup business models incredibly attractive…

  • Deploy ~$1M in capital
  • Buy assets for 2-3x
  • Have those assets perform reasonably well
  • Go public at an 84x multiple on Gross Profit? (74M – 15M cash = 59M non cash value of the business / 0.7M Gross Profit = 84 X)
    • Even though the overall business is losing money and will continue to lose money. 

Overall this seems like a shocking valuation to command especially given some of the very scary wording in the filing… “Our independent registered public accounting firm has expressed substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern;” I don’t read enough of these filings to know if this is boilerplate risk communication or a red flag… certainly sounds like a red flag! 

Summary:

  • Running a portfolio of sites can be VERY financially rewarding! The estimated performance for OnFolio is…
    • ROCE = 72%
    • ROI = 116% over ~2 years
  • Doing it at scale and turning it into an investable vehicle is REALLY HARD!
    • Net Loss of $1.9M on revenue of $1.8M due to very high SG&A expenses needed to go public. 
  • Roll-Up Financial Alchemy Could be a Massive Wealth Generating Event
    • Total funding estimated at ~$3.1M (shown as accumulated deficit) spent over 2 years results in an implied pre-money valuation of $59M for the IPO 
    • Dom with 5,550,000 shares at $5.14 would have a very good day!

I am impressed with the ambition of this strategy and wish Dom and all involved the best!

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Jon May 12, 2022 0 Comments
Amazon

Amazon Affiliate Requirements – Disclosure and other Rules

A few years ago I shared my story about my Amazon Affiliate Account getting closed and costing me a painful $100k in affiliate advertising program earnings! 

Today I'm sharing a detailed analysis of the Amazon Affiliate Requirements and what you need to do to stay compliant so that your Associates Program account doesn’t get closed. 

Most importantly, I'm sharing a completely free new WordPress Plugin that helps you get your site compliant with Amazon in seconds!

Specifically, I'm going to go over the updated disclosure recommendations for 2020, how the free plugin makes it easier then ever to be compliant, and a detailed audit process that we can execute as affiliate marketers. 

If you have had your Amazon Associate account closed we will get into how to appeal to get it re-opened, and if all else fails, the critical steps to open a brand new one. 

Think about this post as covering 2 parts… 

  • First: Prevention (what to do to not get your account closed) 
  • Second: Recovery (how to get your account re-opened or create a new one) 

Prevention Sections:

  1. 7 Most Common Reasons for Getting Banned by Amazon Associates
  2. Amazon Affiliate Disclosure Template
  3. Complete Amazon Affiliate Requirements (including checklist) updated for 2020

Recovery Section:

  1. Appeal and Reopen Your Closed Amazon Affiliate Account
  2. How to Start a “New” Amazon Associate Account

To read the Amazon Associates Program details (highly recommended - but tough read), here are the 2 links:

My $100k Loss Backstory & Why I Care So Much About This Topic

Very shortly after I left my day job and had planned (in part) on my Amazon Associate earnings as being one of my main sources of income to support my family, I received the dreaded email saying I was no longer welcome to participate in the Amazon Associate program. Yikes!!! I had just made the entrepreneurial jump and then immediately took a HUGE hit. No longer being able to run my Amazon Affiliate websites was going to be an issue for my business. I needed to figure out a way to fix this.

The reason... myself and a partner had just purchased an Amazon Affiliate niche site and one of his other partners was doing some sketchy things with Amazon. 

This impact was PAINFUL and wiped out well over six figures in value very shortly after I left my day job. The silver lining is I'm now able to help other Amazon Affiliate store owners by sharing details about the process on this blog post.

This is what Amazon said in both their emails ...

During our research, we have determined that an account belonging to you (or a person affiliated with you) has previously been closed for violations of the Operating Agreement or one of the other Associates Programs operated by our affiliates.

Based on the analysis I was able to identify that the bad actor was a partner of one of my partners resulting in 3 accounts I was associated with (and all connected) getting suspended.  

From that, the process and tools shared in this post were born.

This post, as well as additional research, has led us to create this list of the 7 most common mistakes that people are making with their Amazon Affiliate sites that could lead to their accounts getting suspended or closed! 

But what I am most proud of is the best, fastest and completely free wordpress plugin dedicated to helping ensure you stay compliant with Amazon - check it out!

7 Most Common Reasons an Amazon Associate Account is Closed

In this post I have tried to stay on the conservative side, however, I fully realize people may choose to dial up the risk in order to generate more clicks/sales since this is affiliate marketing. I understand the need to try and find the right balance between risk and reward, and in this post have tried to present the “ideal” low risk plan.

Now that we’ve had the Amazon audit process up and running for a little while, we are able to analyze the data and see the biggest problems with our sites and the sites we have reviewed. I hope this post provides you with 7 actionable items to consider regarding your Amazon Affiliate website and the Amazon associates program.

See below for the 7 most frequently failed Amazon Audit questions that could result in your associate account being suspended.

ONE - Use of Logo at all or Trademark without Disclosure Statement

Update - Thanks to Matt Allen AMALinksPro for providing feedback and based on his research and interpretation of the Operating Agreement this section has been updated. 

Everyone knows to include an earnings disclosure but what about a trademark ownership disclaimer? 

Amazon Logo and Trademark Disclosure Template:

The correct disclosure to use on every page of your site that has Amazon or an Amazon.com logo is “Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.”

Your Amazon Affiliate Account can get shut down pretty fast if Amazon thinks you’re violating their Trademark and Logo policy. The tricky thing with Amazon is that they actually own the rights to other Trademarks and logos, such as Kindle. 

This question comes from probably the most clear requirement on the Amazon Affiliate Program Rules and Trademark Guidelines. You can find them here, or see the snapshot below.

So basically if you have anything that looks like this on your site then Amazon could shut you down:

Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc, or its affiliates

  • TIP – Most people have the earnings disclaimer on their site but people (myself included) usually miss having the trademark disclaimer on the required pages.

  • TIP – Although it looks ugly, if you want to be on the very safe side don't include images and do include the Amazon trademark disclaimer on every page and not just the disclaimer page! This free affiliate plugin gets you setup properly in seconds!

So to answer the question ...

Can I use Amazon logo on my affiliate website?

No, although the operating agreement contradicts itself and there is an argument for being able to use it. I would recommend to NOT use any image for Amazon OTHER than the ones provided and only if you are using an Affiliate link. So what are the images provided by Amazon? Just these beautiful ones from 1994 when Amazon got founded 🙂 ...

Buy from Amazon buttons

To read a much deeper analysis of this and an interesting chat transcript with an Amazon customer support checkout this great post...

https://amalinkspro.com/can-i-use-the-amazon-logo-or-the-amazon-prime-logo-on-my-website/

TWO - Incentives

The second most common issue is the following question:

“Does the site offer affiliate advertising incentives (including any money, rebate, discount, points, donation to charity or other organization) for using Affiliate Links on the site?”

Many of the niche website affiliate marketing tricks need to be dialled back when it comes to staying compliant with the Amazon Affiliate Program Rules.

 

We have been finding that some of the sites that we have audited provide incentives, especially in the form of money rebates for using their link. Most of the offers we found were clearly only to incentivize the click and had no substance to people looking to claim the “rebate” or “save an additional x%”.

The clean and simple rule is DON’T do it! Incentivizing people to click on a link to Amazon is a slippery slope and a very easy way to get your account shut down. Including text like “ Click here to get 10 dollars off this product” are no good.

Here are some images of what NOT to do (not images from any sites we have reviewed):

THREE - Incorrect Use of Pricing or Product Images

The third most common issue that people have with their sites is incorrectly using product images and/or prices.

 

Here is the general rule of thumb – don’t include images from Amazon or pricing UNLESS you are pulling them with the Amazon API.

Comparison tables are great but don’t include the price on your site because Amazon products change their prices all the time. Including an old promotion price without realizing that the promotion has expired could also be seen as “inaccurate or misleading advertising” which will also get your account shut down.

Tools such as AMALinks Pro and AAWP will use the Amazon Associates API to automatically pull the price and images.

Below are a couple examples of what not to do ...

Example: You still have this on your site after the promotion ends

Remember: ONLY pull the price or product image using the Amazon API. 

FOUR - Link Cloaking

You will not cloak, hide, spoof, or otherwise obscure the URL of your Site containing Special Links (including by use of Redirecting Links) or the user agent of the application in which Content is displayed or used such that we cannot reasonably determine the site or application from which a customer clicks through such Special Link to the Amazon Site.

– Program Participation Requirements, Section 6. (v) “Content on your Site"

The fourth most common issue with Amazon Affiliate sites is the question “Are any links on the site using a link shortener in a manner that makes it unclear that we are linking to an Amazon Site?”. This is listed as 4th but is certainly the most debated issue when it comes to Amazon.

A lot of people do this! I’ve done it. Basically, Amazon doesn’t want you to make it unclear that you are sending a user to Amazon so they have words in their TOC’s that make it questionable to use link shortening/cloaking services.

So can you use Bitly, PrettyLinkPro or Geni.us Link? The truth is it is not 100% clear! Many many people do and Amazon knows they do so it is likely a lower risk (if you take some additional steps), but still not 100% compliant with Amazon. 

If you do use one of these URL shorteners you need to take an extra step to ensure that it is clear the link will direct people to Amazon.  Here & here is how Geni.us links discusses the use of its tool to stay compliant with Amazon Associates.

The short version is DO NOT use link shorteners like Bitly and PrettyLinksPro. If you are going to use tools like Geni.us links, then use your judgement based on how they recommend you use it.

FIVE - Off Page Promotion (social, email, print, etc)

The fifth most common issue with Amazon Affiliate sites is the question “Does the site engage in any promotional, marketing such as printed material, mailing, SMS, Facebook Ads, Youtube videos, MMS, email or attachment to email, advertising activities on behalf of Amazon or their affiliate sites?”.

This one gets a lot of people flagged because it is very easy for Amazon to check! It is tricky because this essentially makes it impossible to do any kind of email marketing with a link in it.

Even if you are emailing just one friend, be sure to not include an affiliate link in that email.

One solution if you want to make money from Amazon Associates from your email list is to funnel them through a squeeze page (for example a review post for the product on your site).

  • TIP – If you send out the content of your post in an email newsletter automatically, make sure links are turned off just in case you have an affiliate link in the first paragraph of the article.

“Are any amazon Affiliate Links shared on other social platforms/networks such as Twitter or Facebook?”.

This is a tough one because there are some instances where you CAN share your links on social pages and some where you cannot.

Personally, I recommend just to stay away from all of it.

Many bloggers and influencers get this one wrong trying to generate passive income from their audience. 

If you really want to do it, I would go here to learn more about what is acceptable and what isn’t in terms of social sharing.

SIX - Use Star Rating and Reviews

The sixth most common issue with Amazon Affiliate sites is the question “Does the site display or otherwise use any of Amazon’s customer reviews or star ratings, in part or in whole?”.

This is something we see A LOT (and did a lot!).

We see many people using reviews as testimonials, which makes a lot of sense since it gives honest and accurate reviews on a particular product. It also seems tempting because it can add really valuable content to your site which helps your reader.

Another thing that people like to do is use “Star Ratings’. Using star ratings on your site that look like Amazons can be perceived by Amazon as using “their” star ratings and yet another way to get your account closed.

SEVEN - Associate Yourself With Someone Whose Account was Banned

Another tough one to avoid and one we see a lot of sites doing. People will be added as a user to an account and then when that account gets banned, so does theirs. 

Here is what the email from Amazon will say:

An account belonging to you (or a person or entity connected or affiliated with you) has previously been closed for violations of the Operating Agreement or one of the other Amazon marketing programs.

The best way to avoid this is simple: DON'T associate yourself with anyone who has had their account banned. If you associate yourself with someone who has had their account banned, it can result in you becoming banned.

 

Amazon Affiliate Disclosure Template and How to Install

The simplest and fastest way to get the correct disclosure in the proper spot on your website is this free Amazon plugin I had created. 

The most commonly discussed topic in terms of staying compliant with the Amazon Associates Agreement is the need for showing you are part of the Amazon Associates program.  

It is a critical part of staying compliant and therefore I would not be doing you justice if I did not include the current thoughts on how to maintain compliance. 

For an in depth analysis on what Amazon Associate Disclaimer to use, check out Doug form NicheSiteProjects' post here or what Dom Wells wrote at Onfolio here.

There is a surprising amount of debate on how best to handle the Amazon Disclosure requirements.

The Amazon Agreement States:

You must clearly state the following, or any substantially similar statement previously allowed under this Agreement, on your Site or any other location where Amazon may authorize your display or other use of Program Content: “As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.” (Section 5).

Most people therefore include some version of this in the footer or a disclaimer page and think they are good. 

Then… Amazon shared an email in 2019 stating:

This is a reminder of your disclosure obligations under the Operating Agreement. Any time you share an affiliate link, it’s important to disclose that to your audience. They will trust you more if you are transparent about where you are directing them and why. To meet the Associate Program's requirements, you must (1) include a legally compliant disclosure with your links and (2) identify yourself on your Site as an Amazon Associate with the language required by the Operating Agreement.


To comply with Federal Trade Commission FTC regulations, your link-level disclosure must be:


  1. Clear. A clear disclosure could be as simple as “(paid link)”, “#ad” or “#CommissionsEarned”.
  2. Conspicuous. It should be placed near any affiliate link or product review in a location that customers will notice easily. They shouldn’t have to hunt for it.

In addition, the Operating Agreement requires that the following statement clearly and conspicuously appears on your Site: “As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.” For social media user-generated content, this statement must be associated with your account.

(Amazon email Oct 2019)

Associates should also consider the relevant social media platform’s guidelines. For example, Associates may use Facebook's Branded Content tool.

 

So what are you to do now? Where do you place the FTC and Amazon required affiliate earnings disclosure?

The options on where to include the disclosure are shown below along with our recommendation. 

  • Footer Only - Not enough since it won't be above the first affiliate link

  • Top of Sidebar - Not enough since it won't be above your first affiliate link on mobile

  • Hello Bar - One solution, but likely overkill as again, it may not show on all mobile and impact user experience.

  • Identify Each Link - This seems to be what they are after but I would think this HAS to be overkill. Anytime you link to Amazon you include “Commissions Earned”... seems excessive!

  • Top of Each Page - Safest, but be careful to not end up with your search result showing the disclaimer text instead of your first paragraph or meta description. 

How to include your affiliate disclosure but not have Google index it?

Over the last few months I have seen several search results with the top part of the page indexed with the affiliate disclosure. This hurts SEO and provides a poor user experience. The solution to this is to use Google On/Off flags

<!--googleoff: all-->As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.<!--googleon: all-->

To learn more about google on/off flags, check out this Google Search Help article.

Make sure to not end up with this as your search result:

Below is the tool I had created to install the affiliate disclaimer as well as the trademark disclaimer.

Option 1 - Install Disclosure for Amazon Affiliate Plugin

Under 30 seconds to be compliant (free plugin)

This plugin was developed to help us ensure all of our Amazon Affiliate sites are 100% compliant with the FTC disclosure and Amazon earnings disclosure requirements.

The Amazon Associate Disclosure plugin is the fastest and easiest way to get your Amazon Affiliate site fully compliant with both the:

  • FTC and Amazon required Affiliate Disclosure
  • Amazon Trademark disclaimer

It places the pre-loaded disclosure text from Amazon in the right locations on your website with the bonus of tagging it so search engines will ignore the disclaimer and rank your content. 

Benefits of the Amazon Associate Disclosure Plugin

ONE - Simple Fast and No Setting Changes Required

It is rare that you can use a tool that achieves everything you need it to with so little effort on your end. 

With this wordpress plugin in seconds you can have a compliant disclosure properly setup on your site. Simply...

  1. Install
  2. Activate
  3. Done - You are compliant

TWO - Proper Google On Off Tags

Many people have recently and correctly moved their affiliate disclosure to the top of their articles. This affiliate disclosure text is incorrectly now being picked up by Google as the page description. This is a large problem for both search rankings and click through rate. 

The solution is that using this plugin the Google Off / On tags are properly placed so that the disclosure text will be ignored by Google and your great content will be why they rank your page. 

THREE - Fully Editable Text and Customizable Appearance

Although it is not needed and comes installed following your sites design with the text provided by Amazon you can both…

  • Change the text to add additional disclosures or modify the words however you see fit
  • Fully customize the section however you see fit  

FOUR - Control Globally or on the Page/Post Level

Not every one of your posts/pages likely need the disclosure and you may not want them on every website. 

You can easily and efficiently control which of the posts & pages see the disclosure text blocks. 

Both global and local level controls are available.


Install Free Plugin

Option 2 - How To Easily Install Affiliate Disclosure on Your WordPress Site with Ad Inserter

Another popular option to ensure each page has the right disclaimer, which takes a little more work but gives you more flexibility, is shown below. This process uses one of the most popular WordPress plugins Ad Inserter. Like the method above it should work with any existing plugins like Yoast SEO, RankMath or Woocomerce plugins. 

Ad Inserter plugin is originally developed to inject ads to any pages/posts on WordPress sites. It can also be used to automatically add affiliate disclosures to every post. That's what I am going to walk you through belwo.

Step 1: Log in to your WordPress dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New and search for "Ad Inserter" then click the "Install Now" button.

Step 2: Click the "Activate" button.

You will be directly taken to your Installed Plugins page

Step 3: Click "Settings"

The Ad Inserter settings page will be opened

Step 4:  Copy the following HTML code and paste it in the block editor

TIP: a lot of sites are currently having their Amazon Associate disclosure appear in the description within search results. The Google Off/Google On tag solves this problem.

<!--googleoff: all-->
<p>As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.</p>
<!--googleon: all-->

NOTES:

 

  • The two Google off and Google on tags are to prevent Google from indexing the text or the code in between.
  • Optional: If you would like to change the space around the disclaimer text or to change the font size. So it looks different from the post content. You can select "Custom CSS" from the "Alignment" dropdown box, then click the "Show" button and scroll down until you see the CSS box. Then paste the following CSS code:
margin: -10px 0px 20px 0px; font-size: 80%;

Step 5: Click "Save Settings"

That's it!

Adding text in the site footer

We can also use the Ad Inserter plugin to add this text to be compliant with Amazon trademark terms.

Step 1: In the Ad Inserter plugin settings page, click on a new Tab. In our case here, Tab #2

Step 2: Paste the following code in the block editor:

<!--googleoff: all-->
<p>Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc, or its affiliates</p>
<!--googleon: all-->

Step 3: Select all checkboxes here to display the text in ALL site pages. Then select "Footer" and in alignment dropdown list select "Center"

Step 4: Click "Save Settings"

Complete 35 Question Amazon Affiliate Requirements List (Updated 2021)

Now that you have some context on what Amazon is looking for in terms of compliance, here is a step-by-step procedure you can use to ensure you are staying compliant with Amazon.

If you want to go deeper than the most common issues and be as fully compliant as possible, here is our attempt at turning the Amazon Associates agreements into an actionable list.  

To make this process even easier I have had my team turn this into a 100% free to use Google Sheet that you can make a copy of and edit. 

After reading every word several times and having my team update the procedure we have been using for the last few years to ensure our sites are staying compliant with the amazon associate program, we were able to come up with some actionable steps.  

Here is the complete list of 35 questions to turn the Amazon Associates Operating agreement into an actionable questions list. 

There is a service that can complete this task for you here - brandbuilders.io/amazon-associate-audit/

  1. Are there any affiliate disclaimer links that do not include this disclaimer: “Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates"? 
  2. Has the site displayed or used any trademark or logo of any third party seller on the Amazon Site in connection with any of our Affiliate Links without permission from the seller? 
  3. Have any privacy links/affiliates’ trademarks or logos that are included in a Special Link been removed, obscured, altered, or made invisible, illegible, or indecipherable to visitors of the site?
  4. As the user of this site, will you be linked or redirected to any other forms of monetization that include Amazon Affiliate Links other than the Amazon site? 
  5. Does the site engage in any promotional, marketing such as printed material, mailing, SMS, MMS, email or attachment to email, advertising activities on behalf of Amazon or their affiliate sites?
  6. Does this site display content that requires us (the website owners) to sublicense or otherwise give any rights in or to any content to any other person or entity?
  7. Do any pages on the site get redirected to a different URL that are not an Amazon Associate IDs or Tags? 
  8. Are any Amazon Affiliate Links shared on other social platforms/networks such as Twitter or Facebook? 
  9. Within the site’s content, are there any names used within that content, in a manner that implies a person’s or company’s endorsement or sponsorship of, or commercial tie-in with, any product, service? 
  10. Have any keywords, search terms, or other identifiers that include the word “Amazon,” or “Kindle,” or any other trademark of Amazon or its affiliates been purchased or registered or used in domain or subdomain, Associate ID’s or Tags?
  11. Does the site offer incentives to increase the conversion rate (including any money, rebate, discount, points, donation to charity or other organization) for using Affiliate Links on the site?
  12. Is the operation of any buttons, links, or other features of the Amazon Site modified, redirected, suppressed, or substituted?
  13. Are there any Affiliate Links used to link to the Amazon Site from references to items on the site that are not products?
  14. Does the site take any action that could reasonably cause any customer confusion as to our relationship with Amazon or as to the site on which any transactions (e.g., search, browse, or order) are occurring?
  15. Are any Affiliate Links or content used in connection with any spyware, malware, virus, worm, Trojan horse, or other malicious or harmful code, or any software application not expressly and knowingly authorized by users?
  16. Does the site frame the Amazon Site, or any part of it, including by display within an integrated web browser (e.g., WebView) within a Mobile Application?
  17. Does the site post any Affiliate Links or other content promoting the Amazon Site within any pop-up or pop-under windows, transitional page ads, or layer ads around or with the display of any site that does not belong to us? 
  18. Does the site include any Affiliate Links in any content that you place on the Amazon Site?  
  19. Does the site contain functions that might artificially increase advertising fees? 
  20. Does the site request, collect, obtain, store, cache, or otherwise use any account information used by customers in connection with any Amazon Site (including any usernames or passwords of Amazon Site customers)?
  21. Does the site have functions that will attempt to intercept or redirect traffic from or on, or divert advertising fees from, any site that participates in the Program.
  22. Does the site artificially generate clicks or impressions or create sessions on the Amazon Site, whether by way of a robot or software program or otherwise?
  23. Does the site display or otherwise use any of Amazon's customer reviews or star ratings, in part or in whole?
  24. Does your site hide, cloak, spoof or otherwise obscure the URL of your site containing Affiliate Links (including by use of a redirecting page)?
  25. Does your site knowingly collect, use, or disclose personal information from children under 13 years of age.
  26. Is the link used on the site missing an Associate ID or “tag”?
  27. Are any links on the site using a shortening service in a manner that makes it unclear that we are linking to an Amazon Site? 
  28. Are there any links on the site that are related to limited time promotions that are now expired? 
  29. Is there any content that could be perceived as overly promotional or inaccurate advertising?
  30. Do you clearly state the following, or any substantially similar statement previously allowed under this Agreement, on your Site or any other location where Amazon may authorize your display or other use of Program Content: “As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.”?
  31. Does the site have any content relating to products offered on any site other than the Amazon Site, in accordance with the Associates Program Policies? 
  32. Within the site’s content, are there any names used in a manner that implies a persona’s or company’s endorsement or sponsorship of, or commercial tie-in with, any product or service?
  33. Does the site state any testimonials from Amazon or third-parties?
  34. Does the site contain functions that cause any page of the Amazon site to open in a customer’s browser other than as a result of the customer clicking on an affiliate link on the site?
  35. Does the site disclose accurately and adequately, either through a privacy policy or otherwise, how they collect, use, store, and disclose data collected from visitors, including, where applicable, that third parties (including Amazon and other advertisers) may serve content and advertisements, collect information directly from visitors, and place or recognize cookies on visitors’ browsers, and providing information on the visitor’s choices with respect to opting-out from online advertising where required by applicable law?

How to Recover Your Account

Sometimes despite your best efforts, there is a misunderstanding with Amazon. In those cases, here is an approach to re-open your Amazon affiliate account. 

 

Below is a story shared with me by a reader (and with permission sharing). It is the most in-depth process I have seen. 

Make sure to check out his site with more details shared on the steps he took here.

Great post Matjaz and congrats on getting your account re-opened

  • 13.2.2020: email from Amazon that my account was terminated. Reason: -The sources of your traffic are obscured in such a way that we cannot reasonably determine on what Site(s) your Special Links are displayed.

  • 13.2.2020: my first email to [email protected] with the list of my affiliate ids and websites where I’m using them plus my findings of noreferrer attribute.13.2.2020: my second email to [email protected] with two screen recordings showing my two biggest websites and data of clicks/traffic from Google Analytics plus how I’ve fixed noreferrer attribute.

  • 13.2.2020: combined these two emails in an appeal through Associates Customer Service Support page

  • 17.2.2020: got an email from Amazon: We received your appeal regarding the termination of your Associates account. A specialist has reviewed your account, and the decision to terminate your account was found to be correct. As stated previously, under the terms of the Operating Agreement (https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/help/operating/agreement), we may terminate your account at any time, with or without cause. This termination is final and not subject to appeal.

  • 17.2.2020: been on the phone with Amazon Customer Support regarding my problem. No help at all. We don’t have details, and the team that does works only through email. Write to them or appeal again.

  • 17.2.2020: tried to send an appeal through Associates Customer Service Support page only to find out that the Subject option of “Associates account terminated option” now returns not valid or something similar when you want to submit the form

  • 17.2.2020: wrote my combined two emails to the boss himself 🙂 [email protected] … with the subject “Not an appeal, but additional information, please read”

  • 18.2.2020: reapplied to Amazon associates with the same email and data as before, fixed links to new affiliate ids on my biggest website only to find my account closed with no email a few hours later

  • 18.2.2020: wrote my combined two emails to the boss again 🙂

  • 19.2.2020: got a reply with the subject “Your E-mail to Jeff Bezos BC – Re: Not an appeal, but additional information, please read” and message: Thank you for reaching out regarding your concern. We’re currently looking into this issue to make sure the matter is taken care of properly. Please expect a response within two business days.

  • 19.2.2020: got an email from Amazon Associates 1 hour later: This message is to advise you that your Associate account and your previous Advertising Fees have been reinstated. Please accept our apologies for the closure error.  We appreciate your patience and understanding in this matter.

  • To see each step broken down in more detail checkout his post

How to Start a New Amazon Associate Account

So you tried your best not to get banned, you got the nasty letter from Amazon, and even after attempting to plead your innocence, you still are not able to get back into the advertising program. 

So time for the last resort … start a new account!

This is not what you need to do if you are opening an Amazon Affiliate account for the first time. It's only something you want to consider if you are starting a new one after your account got closed.

 

Here are the recommended steps when all else fails:

1. New Computer

  • Tracking the Mac address of a computer that logs in to Amazon Associates is possible. Having a dedicated Chromebook ONLY for logging into Amazon is a reasonable risk mitigation step.

2. New Internet Connection & VPN using the Incognito/Privacy Browser Tab 

  • A dedicated internet connection for checking your affiliate account is a great option. Instead of needing to “buy” another internet connection, use a coffee shop wifi that is not one of your usual work locations.

3. New Entity, Email, Address, Name, Bank Details

  • Having all new details when you sign up is obviously critical. Having a new entity, email, address, name, phone number and bank details along with any other information is critical.

4. New Websites and Cross Domain Rel=Canonical Link (don’t 301 redirect)

  • Sometimes people choose to dial up the risk and 301 redirect a website that has been burned to a new website. Obviously, the 301 redirect can be followed, but isn’t ideal. To be safer and still get the traffic benefit of the old site I recommend a safer approach of using rel=canonical cross domain linking. This process tells the search engine the page that should be ranked is on the new domains BUT if (I think unlikely) someone from Amazon were to visit the burned/banned website it would still appear as normal since it was still live. Here's a great tutorial on cross domain rel=canonical link by Moz here.

This is a last resort ... the recommended path is to be compliant, appeal if you have an issue, and then as a very last resort create a new account for a new entity with new URLs. 

Summary

This post was written to provide you with some tips and knowledge about the most common Amazon Affiliate site compliance offences. Have a look at your site and see if you’re in violation of any of these! If you have any questions feel free to reach out!

Other resources:

  • AMALinksPro & a breakdown of what 7 successful affiliate sites are doing wrong. Special thanks to Matt Allen from AMALinksPro for reviewing this guide and providing some recommended changes to stay safer. He has definitely thought A LOT about the Amazon Associates Operating Agreement! His level of knowledge definitely gives me more confidence using AMALinksPro! 
  • Free Amazon Affiliate Disclosure Plugin

If you have any thoughts or comments on the plugin we would love to hear your thoughts. 

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Jon September 9, 2021 9 Comments
Lead GenTools

Dux-Soup vs. Octopus Review for LinkedIn Automation

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a specialized software that enterprises use to enhance communication with their consumers and potential clients.

The CRM system helps an organization to strengthen its relationships with the customer along with building streamlined processes.

Ultimately this system assists a company in increasing sales and revenue and enhances profitability by providing customer satisfaction.

You may also use this system to generate leads through LinkedIn Automation or any other platform.

LinkedIn is the largest professional community that connects more than 200 countries and territories across the world. Their official records also state that more than 660 million professionals have registered themselves on this platform.

Besides providing several opportunities to job seekers, LinkedIn is valuable for generating new customers and leads.

Approximately 15% of digital marketers are creating content for LinkedIn.

Let us see which CRM software is more efficient in terms of LinkedIn Automation.

For a complete tutorial on B2B Lead Generation checkout our guide here – https://websiteincome.com/b2b-lead-generation/

Dux-Soup vs. Octopus CRM

Here, we will compare two famous CRM software head to head based on their features, pros and cons, pricing, and efficiency. Let us see which is the better option for B2B lead generation.

Both the software are excellent automation tools that are optimized for Chrome only. You can automate the prospecting funnel on LinkedIn. However, Octopus has an additional feature that allows you to check the status of your performance on LinkedIn.

On the other hand, Dux-Soup includes several unique features like customization and personalized messaging that give this software the edge.

Octopus and Dux-Soup CRM seem to be equivalent in developing market funnel, linking campaigns, activity control, and integration. 

Again, Dux-Soup seems to be the better choice based on its main feature, which is automation. Octopus is a great automation tool as well, but when it comes to LinkedIn, Dux-Soup can automate actions more efficiently.

The free version of Octopus has a limit of 10 targets. Whereas the Dux-Soup free version does not have any limit on the targets, but it excludes most of the advanced features.

The premium plans of Octopus start at $99 per month that offers 11 targets. You will need to pay more if you need more targets. They have several premium plans, and its price keeps increasing with the number of targets.

The paid subscription for Dux-Soup is not based on the number of targets. They have only two professional premium plans and turbo. The professional program is priced at $11.25/ month, and the turbo plan costs $41.25/ month. You may like to get the annual subscriptions to save a handsome amount.

Dux-Soup- Our Favorite LinkedIn Automation Tool

You can download Dux-Soup for free, but you will need to pay a monthly or annual fee to use the advanced feature. 

This tool is one of the best performers in the market in terms of lead automation. The Dux-Soup Chrome extension helps you to set lead generation on autopilot.

This mode will automatically perform leads generating tasks such as profile research, inviting candidates, and private messaging to the connected groups.

Please take note that this automation tool is considered a black hat according to LinkedIn terms and policies. If they find you misusing an automation tool or set the parameters too high, you may receive a warning message from their administrator.

However, most people who have used Dux-Soup for leads generation on LinkedIn did not face any problems.

It will take a while for you to get familiar with this software as the learning curve is too steep, especially for the advanced features.

You can quickly download the Dux-Soup extension from their official website. As the plugin is optimized exclusively for Chrome, make sure you are using the Chrome browser and log in with your Google account.

Dux-Soup is enriched with advanced features, unlike other automation tools. The main features of this lead generation software are:

  1. Prospecting

Professionals mostly use Dux-Soup for generating qualified leads and establish strong relations with them. It helps you to blend some personal touch with automation. It will need a certain level of expertise for this, but you can try your best as the extension runs on autopilot.

This CRM is used for enhancing and automating search prospects so that it meets specific criteria.

View Profiles, you can use this feature of Dux-Soup to browse listed profiles automatically and capture the available data. Remember that the people will be able to see who viewed their profiles.

It is an engaging way to start attracting prospects to view your profile, which is also available on its free version.

Visit and Connect. This feature is quite similar to the previous one. It is also used to visit prospects automatically.

Also, it also sends that user a connection request that can be customized so that it may seem personal. 

You might also use the Profile Scanner to scan user profiles without notifying them. This feature is valuable as it efficiently gathers information and export it to your CRM.

  1. Outreach

Once you are ready with your prospects list and sent the connection requests, the next step is to prepare for follow-ups and segmenting lists. 

Generally, follow-ups and list segmentation are done through tagging.

Dux-Soup has automated tagging that will allow you to visualize your leads’ position in terms of interest, follow-up, and outreach.

You are free to decide which tags you want to choose and how to use them. This will offer you or your sales team freedom to act on their will to generate maximum revenue.

  1. Automation

The automation features of Dux-Soup are what make the software stand out. You do not have to waste any time and energy on reaching out to prospects manually.

Besides, this software can effectively group your prospects on the basis of their industry, past engagement, and mutual connections.

You can automate the following tasks with Dux-Soup:

  • InMail
  • Follow Up
  • Invitations
  • Profile Viewing
  • Endorsements
  • Sending 1sr degree connections

Moreover, you may also integrate Dux-Soup free version with other automation tools and APIs. However, you will not need to rely on third-party tools if you are subscribed to the Pro version.

  1. Customization

Customization is a mere luxury for most of the software, but Dux-Soup customization will allow you to operate under the watchful parameters of LinkedIn.

You are free to customize several automated actions of this software to improve your sales outreach. It has a unique feature that automatically skips a profile if it matches some specific criteria. It will help you to avoid sending multiple invitations to the same prospect.

The extension includes a throttling tab that allows you to fine-tune the speed and behavior of profile visits. For example, you can use this feature to increase or decrease the number of profiles that it visits per hour.

You may also set a limit to the requests that you can send per day, along with profile viewing and direct messages.

  1. Customer Support

Dux-Soup customer support was not that great till the last few years. You will be pleased to know that the company is making genuine efforts to address and resolve this issue.

They have released a knowledge base to support their customers who are facing some issues with the software.

If you cannot find a solution in the knowledge base, you can talk to their customer care executives.

The company has introduced live chat support for US and EU business hours and an email support system.

Moreover, you may request a support call where an executive will try to resolve your query directly on the phone. These customer support calls have a time limit of 15 minutes.

  1. Pricing

The free version of Dus-Soup can be helpful for you to prepare internal notes and organize LinkedIn profiles.

However, you need to buy the Pro plan of this software to use all the features. The Dux-Soup premium plan offers excellent value for your money. It also includes a turbo plan that offers additional features and tools.

Besides, you may cancel the subscription within 30 days of your purchase. This serves as a warranty for the plan in case you are not satisfied with the service.

The professional plan is priced at $11.25 per user per month. It is suitable for leads generation.

The turbo plan comes at $41.25 per user per month. This plan is the best option to scale up your leads generation system.

Pro User Tip

There are three types of connections on LinkedIn: first, second, and third-degree. People that you have already contacted are considered to be first-degree connections.

Whereas the people on your prospects list, with whom you have not connected yet, are the second-degree connections.

Finally, the potential customers that are not on your network are known as third-degree connections.

This is where Dux-Soup offers you maximum value by automatically sending personalized messages to your second-degree connections.

You will find an option named ‘action’ in the control panel, and you have to click on that to send a connection request. Carefully watch the case-sensitive markers to identify which function they denote to make sure there is no error while sending connection requests.

Octopus – The Trusted LinkedIn Automation Tool

LinkedIn has become a compulsory network for all levels of employees, managers, and business owners. If you are an active user, use this platform for your company’s lead generation.

Octopus is designed to automate the leads generation process that you can efficiently use on LinkedIn.

If you are trying to reach the potential customers manually and send them a dripping message individually, you are probably investing a lot of time into it.

Automation tools are designed to make it easier for you to turn your prospects into warm leads without putting in a lot of effort.

The primary features of the Octopus CRM are:

  1. Automation

Octopus can automatically send personalized connection requests to first and second-degree connections.

It also allows sending personalized messages to hundreds of first-degree connections simultaneously.

This software can be used to automatically endorse up to seven skills on LinkedIn profiles of your contacts.

This software can perform basic automation tasks efficiently, like auto-visit thousands of profiles on LinkedIn.

  1. Develops Marketing Funnel

Once you are ready with your lead generation funnel, the software allows you to add, remove, and merge features.

The marketing funnel will let you save all the prospect details to your dashboard.

  1. Additional Features

Besides the basic automation features, Octopus offers a wide range of additional features to organize your prospects and generate revenue for the business.

The additional features of Octopus include:

  • Import and Export data
  • Activity control and link campaigns
  • Appraising performance and stats
  • Integration to other tools like Zapier and Hubspot.
  1. Customer Support

Octopus is dedicated to serving its customers with anything they need. They have focused on developing and improving their customer support team over the years.

If you face any issue with the Octopus automation tool, you can quickly contact any customer care executives by creating a ticker on their contact us webpage.

  1. Pricing

There is a free version available for Octopus CRM that includes many advanced features. But it has a target limit of 10.

If you want to increase your targets, you will need to buy any of their premium plans starting at $99.00 with 11 targets.

Octopus CRM has several packages with different target limits, and you must choose suitable plans according to your limit.

Pro User Tip

The software has restricted the number of messages and connection requests that you can send daily. 

If you are using a free account on LinkedIn, you are allowed to send up to 100 private messages and 50 connection requests per day.

For premium users, the invitation limit is 100, and you can send up to 200 private messages.

Summary

Both Octopus and Dux-Soup are popular automation tools that you can use for leads generation on LinkedIn.

However, considering all the features, prices, and efficiency, Dux-Soup seems to be the better performer.

But you should decide which software is suitable for your needs. 

Checkout our in depth B2B Lead Generation Guide that includes LinkedIn automation – here

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Jon March 16, 2021 0 Comments
Amazon

Amazon Affiliate Earnings (April 2020 Change) – How Much Will You Make

Amazon has drastically changed their Amazon Affiliate Program payouts as of April 21, 2020. It is not good for many of us! The net worth of people reading this has been cut by millions of dollars.

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Jon February 11, 2021 40 Comments
Buy and Sell Websites

Sell Your FBA Business Fast!

Want to sell your Amazon FBA Business Crazy Fast??

If you need to sell your FBA business and either need to sell it fast or it is too small to sell via brokers fill in the form below and I can be in touch to review if selling to me/my contacts is an option.

When I was selling my FBA business I learned it took a LOT of time to sell a business!

FBA business

What Are Your Selling Options:

  1. If your business is making over $4k/month average for the last 12 months then contact Coran at TheFBABroker.com (if you can be patient for a sale 1-3 months)
  2. If your business is making $2k-$4k/month average for the last 12 months then contact EmpireFlippers.com (if you can be patient for a sale typically 1-3 months)
  3. If your situation is any of the following you have fewer options…
    1. Under 12 months old
    2. Does under $2k/month profit
    3. Need to sell fast (regardless of size)

If you meet ANY of the 3 criteria above your options are limited, I have put together a business, systems and funding to help sellers sell their business.

If you are interested in a fast sale please enter the information below…

Sell Your FBA Business Today – Enter Your Details Below…

    What Information Will Help With A Fast Sale of Your FBA Business:

    Important – If you need to sell fast simply fill in the form above and I will be in touch as quickly as possible and we can review what information is needed. 

    • Profit and Loss Template – Fill in the template here (and share with [email protected])
    • Monthly Income & Expense Statement (Create Trailing 12 Month Reports)
      1. Login to SellerCentral and go to Reports>Payments
      2. Select Date Range Reports click generate report
      3. Select “Summary” report type and range select “Month”
      4. Select the month you need and click generate
      5. Repeat for every month and download labeling each file appropriately

    Use these reports to input to the profit and loss template above.

    • Monthly Units Sold Report
      1. Go to Reports > Business Reports and click “Detail Page Sales and Traffic”
      2. Include the last 12 months and change the view to month
      3. Download the CSV
    • Supplier/Manufacturer Info – Provide information about the relationship with the manufacturer. Contact, terms, MOQ, volume discount, lead time, landed cost and include an invoice or email to be able to validate COGS.
    • Website – If you have a website be sure to include the URL and any traffic and earnings data

    Read More
    Jon February 10, 2021 0 Comments