While wandering through the Mount Tamalpais Watershed yesterday and finding my way via the capable maps created by guide book writers Don and Kay Martin, I figured I ought to take a few minutes and give some props to Hiking Marin: 141 Great Hikes in Marin County
Then it occurred to me I might as well do what I’ve been fixing to get ready to do for ages: set up an online bookstore at Amazon.com pointing to guidebooks, maps and such for folks who read Two-Heel Drive. If you buy one, I get a buck or two. Click here for the initial iteration of this online store.
I tried something like this before with hiking gear last year but didn’t have much luck because there isn’t much in the way of Bay Area-specific gear. There is, however, quite a bit of hiking-related books, maps and such.
Right now it’s just the product of an hour or two of fiddling around, but it should get much better the more I fiddle with it.
Nice job, Tom! You’ve got entrepreneurial sensibilities, I can see that! (I’m developing an entrepreneurial curriculum at UC Berkeley Extension!)
An Amazon store that is really focused on just SF Bay area books/guides could be right on topic for your viewers, but they buy a lot more stuff than just hiking books.
In your blog on the right where you show the Amazon Store link, why don’t you put a little note that says help support this blog or “Contribute to the Dollars for Tom Fund” by making any Amazon or REI purchase through the following buttons. And have an Amazon affiliate button and an REI affiliate button just below.
You’ve got a Google ad for REI that might pay you 2 cents if someone clicks on it, but if they buy a tent with your REI button you will make a few dollars.
A number of those other outdoor vendors that advertise on your blog also have affiliate programs, but I don’t know if volume is sufficient to make adding them worthwhile
Ralph: Thanks for the tips. I tried the affiliate marketing thing last year and didn’t have much luck with it. Generally I need to say “buy this, it really rocks” to make any money at it.
Incidentally I added your wife’s books to the bookstore.
We’ll see how it works.
Tom, I like the idea, and I like Ralph’s suggestions. Make it explicit that your readers can help you out by clicking on your affiliate link before they do their Amazon shopping. This is actually a good idea for my blog and other outdoors blogs.
I didn’t have much luck with affiliate sales either, so I went with Google adsense, with very modest results so far. People have bought my two hiking guides through Amazon from my website, so I get the Amazon commission plus my royalty payments from The Mountaineers Books.