The Importance of Having a Wide Range and Variety of Publishers

There’s no denying the success of the Amazon Onsite Editorial Program. With this program, people can go right onto the search engine results page of Amazon, where they can easily see recommendations for the products they are looking for. Among the many benefits of this program one stands out above all else. People are able to gain access to opinions from a third party, which can often give them a little bit of a push when they are looking to make a purchase. One of the biggest benefits of Amazon’s program has been its ability to entice people with real opinions from authoritative voices placed directly on the search engine results page. Here, people are enticed to click right away to read about some of the best products available on the site. It’s been a game-changer in many ways for Amazon.

It’s, therefore, no surprise, so many other eCommerce sites are looking to replicate the success of the Amazon Onsite Associates Program. However, there are several factors an eCommerce website should bear in mind if they are interested in putting their own Editorial Recommendations program in place. Among the many things to note is the variety of publishers working on the Amazon Onsite Associates Program. Hundreds of publishers are now working in the Amazon Onsite Associates Program in a wide range of categories, crafting Editorial Recommendations on everything from camping gear to parenting products and the best snacks found on Amazon. This in itself is among the many reasons the program has done so well, and one of the many details an eCommerce website looking to replicate this success would be remiss to forget in their own pursuit of a similarly successful program. 

Publishers Need Competition to Maintain Their Credibility

It’s easy to fall into the trap of using only a single publisher when working on an Editorial Recommendations program. However, this can have numerous downfalls. Among the biggest problems with using only a single publisher to post Editorial Recommendations is this can give off the illusion of the articles being advertorial in nature rather than simply being recommendations for products the individual may be interested in purchasing. 

It’s important to note with the Amazon Onsite Associates Program, one of the many reasons it is so successful is the third-party nature of the articles posted with the program. People do not feel as if the products being posted and recommended by the program are being advertised to them. Instead, they feel that these products are genuinely being recommended and, therefore, can feel as if they can reliably purchase the products. The publishers posting these articles are authorities who have been posting within certain niche subjects, whether they write about automotive products, tech gear, parenting products, or other types of items. 

On the other hand, a lack of competition devalues the voice of the publisher. This can undermine an Editorial Recommendation program as a whole. It is not just individual articles affected by this issue. People may feel they cannot trust any articles they read and will be unlikely to purchase any items recommended to them. Publishers who post articles within these programs are likely to end up seeming as if they are in the pocket of the retailer, and their reputation may even be at risk when writing Editorial Recommendations if they do not face any competition.

People need to feel as if publishers are coming at things from a place of honesty and as if they are giving their own true opinions about products, whatever those opinions may happen to be. It is here where the Amazon Onsite Associates Program truly soars and where so many programs from other eCommerce companies truly falter. 

Retailers Need Lots of Publishers to Choose From

Another detail to note is most eCommerce companies will need publishers writing within numerous categories to cover the numerous categories of products they sell. As already mentioned, most publishers do best when they focus on a niche category. This shows the people reading those articlesthe publisher is truly an authority on a subject, and they have the expertise necessary to make a recommendation regarding the items they are speaking about. 

When a publisher writes about a wide variety of items, people may not feel they truly have the ability to make recommendations and tell them whether an item is worth purchasing. When an eCommerce company sells various types of items – for example, fishing gear, electronics, and groceries – they do not want the same publisher writing Editorial Recommendations for all of these items. Instead, they will want to have a different publisher focusing on a specific niche to write Editorial Recommendations for. 

Likewise, even within each category of items, it is still good to have different publishers working on Editorial Recommendations. This not only helps keep content fresh and exciting but ensures buyers have different opinions to turn to so they can get different perspectives as they are shopping. This competition also ensures the Editorial Recommendations stay fresh and exciting and helps keep everything well-written. Relevance is also a key factor, as you want to be sure the Editorial Recommendations being written within different categories are staying on point and are staying true to the mission of the company. 

Having a variety of Editorial Recommendations written by different publishers can also do something else for eCommerce websites – something capable of vastly improving an Editorial Recommendations program. With a wide variety of Editorial Recommendations posted, a website can begin performing A/B testing on those articles. By doing this, an eCommerce website can gain valuable information regarding key details such as the best content to use for specific keyword searches as well as information on factors such as the best content to use for different user profiles. This is all incredibly useful marketing information an eCommerce website can use for a variety of needs.

In Conclusion

Overall, it is quite easy to see the importance of using more than just a single publisher for an Editorial Recommendations program. Websites using only a single publisher publishing under their own name are taking significant risks with their programs. People who read the Editorial Recommendations simply do not trust what they are reading as they would if they had a pool of articles to choose from, all written by publishers with authority and a proven track record. 

Of course, not all eCommerce websites are Amazon. However, it is still possible for a website to begin building a relationship with publishers now to begin creating authority on their site. When people read Editorial Recommendations, they do not want to feel as if someone is trying to sell them something, and they want to know the person recommending an item to them has the knowledge to make a real recommendation. 

This is where Amazon truly excels, and many other eCommerce websites still have quite a bit of catching up to do, though many websites are starting to pick up the pace. It will be interesting to see in the coming months and years just what websites can do with their own Editorial Recommendations programs.