Using the Amazon capsule - pros and cons of Keywords vs Specific Products
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Find out here how to use the Amazon capsule to your advantage in Hubpages. Putting Amazon into your hubs is easy with the Amazon capsule. There are two ways to use the Amazon capsule: i) keywords or ii) specific products. Here we’ll find out which method to use in which situation.
First let’s quickly re-cap the difference between keywords and specific products for the Amazon capsule. Keywords lets Amazon select the products for you, after you specify one or more keywords. Specific products means that you pick the exact product(s) which appear the capsule. Click here for a step-by-step tutorial on the Amazon capsule for how to use each of these different methods.
Which Amazon capsule method is best for a particular hub?
Depending on the topic of the hub and the products you’d like to feature, one of these methods will be better suited than the other. Remember, if you’re not happy with the results you can always go into your Amazon capsule and change the method you’ve used, so all is not lost.
Below are the pros and cons of each method.
Some examples...
The down side of keywords…
You can get content that doesn’t relate to the hub.
For example, if someone was writing a housewares hub about salt shakers, the person might enter the keywords ‘salt shaker’ in the Amazon capsule.
While this indeed will show a range of salt shakers, it will also (at time of writing this hub) show an MP3 music download entitled “Salt Shaker (Feat. Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz) [Explicit]” - this is probably not what was intended!
The up side of keywords...
On the other hand, keywords can work well to your advantage by auto-updating your Amazon capsule to the latest trendy product.
For example to feature fun board games, I entered “party board game” into one of my Amazon capsules. After the Angry Birds trend appeared, my Amazon capsule auto-updated itself to feature the board game version of Angry Birds - a product which at the time I didn’t even know existed!
Pros and cons of the keyword method
The keyword method has strong advantages and equally strong disadvantages. It all depends on whether you are able to select good keywords.
Advantages of keyword method
- Your Amazon capsule keeps up with the latest trends automatically: it auto-updates the products
Disadvantages of keyword method
- You don’t have control over what your Amazon capsule picks - you may get some inappropriate content
- If your keywords are too specific then it may not find anything and your Amazon capsule will feature a message to readers that no products were found.
Pros of and cons of specific products
Specific products is often the less risky choice, but it can be more limiting in some ways. However it does offer you a lot more control.
Advantages of the specific products method
- You get total control over which product(s) are featured in your Amazon capsule.
Disadvantages of specific products method
- If the product is no longer stocked then you don’t get an alternative and your Amazon capsule will indicate that the product no longer exists. (The keyword option doesn’t have this problem unless the keywords are so specific that nothing is found.)
- It is more time-consuming for the writer to go in and hand-pick the products to be featured, compared to simply entering the keywords.
Aaaarrghhhh! What do I do?
Decision helper table
When should I use the keyword method?
| When should I use the specific products method?
|
|---|---|
When you want the capsule to keep up with new products in the area. For example, tech-oriented hubs about electronic gadgets where different models may get outdated quickly.
| When you’re reviewing a certain product or book. You’ll want to be certain you’re featuring the exact product you’re reviewing.
|
When there is a wide range of equally good possibilities in the keywords you picked. For example, party board games.
| If you want as much control as possible. For example you may wish to feature only the budget-friendly options out of the available Amazon options, or only the ones which appeal to a certain type of personality. This requires the personal touch that can only be obtained by hand-picking the featured products.
|
Inspiration for this hub
Thanks to fellow hubber anusha15 for inspiring this hub by requesting this topic!
Help! I still don't know which method to use!
If still in doubt, the specific products method is a good default if you’re not certain which way to go, especially for a beginner. This is because you can be certain that the products will match the content of the hub. In contrast, successful application of the keyword option requires careful and judicious use of keywords.
With that said, don't be afraid to try both methods and see which one gives you better results in that particular situation.
Amazon capsule poll
Do you tend to favor one method over another?
See results without votingConclusion
This article shows you how to use the Amazon capsule to your advantage by choosing the method most appropriate for the content of your particular hub.
Some situations lend themselves better to the keywords method (e.g. when you want your products to auto-update), while others are more suited to the specific products method (e.g. if you want the most control over the featured products).
© 2011 Giselle Maine
More for hubbers...
- How to Use the Amazon Capsule in Hubpages: a step-by-step guide
This step by step guide explains how to use the Amazon capsule in Hubpages. Suitable for the beginner, it is complete with illustrated examples. Find out exactly how to set up this capsule so you can feature Amazon products on your hub!
- Speed Up Your Freelance Writing
Speed up your non-fiction freelance writing by making specific changes to common writing problems using these easy tips. Whether you write articles, product descriptions or web content, these solutions will help you write faster. - 16 months ago
- How to Make a Good Article Become Search Engine Friendly
Improving a good web article to get it better picked up by search engines is simpler than it sounds. The important areas to address are title, keywords and summary description. Make your article SEO-friendly with these helpful tips. - 13 months ago
- The Best Way to Calculate Keyword Phrase Density for a Text Block
Many types of keyword phrase density calculator exist, but most are designed for websites and not a block of text. Most manual methods are not suited to a two word or longer keyword phrase. How to best perform this calculation is shown here. - 20 months ago
CommentsLoading...
Hi Flora, this is such a great point you raised: that when you have lots of hubs it isn't always practical to go back and check that all the Amazon capsules are doing OK. This is not something I had thought to mention in the hub, and I wish I had! However, this is one of the great things about the comments section - we can bring up new ideas here.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read and comment, and of course for bringing up your very helpful idea.
thanks for this article with the great simple instructions and usefull tips, voted up
Hi icciev, it was great to receive your comment. I'm glad you found this hub useful, and I appreciate you taking the time to stop by.
I am looking forward to using Amazon for a couple of hubs I will be writing, so this is very timely information. By the way, I believe HubPages is looking at creating a warning flag when Amazon capsules have no product to show. That will be an enormous help.
Thank you this is an excellent hub.
Interesting article. I appreciate the decision-making table; that sums it all up nicely.
Maralexa, I hope you are right about the warning flag for empty Amazon capsules.
I did not know that about the keyword option. Thanks!
Maralexa, thanks for updating us on the warning flag idea which is being considered. If that indeed eventuates it will certainly be a big help - not only when creating the capsule but also if the capsule becomes empty later due to products being out of stock, which FloraBreenRobison brought up. But for now this issue is something hubbers have to keep up with by themselves. Thanks Maralexa for contributing so valuably to this discussion.
Hi L.L. Woodward, thank you for your input and I'm so glad that you liked the decision-making table - adding it in was a last-minute decision (no pun intended!) so I'm glad that it was helpful. I really appreciate you taking the time to read and comment.
Hello NiaG, I'm glad this hub was useful for you. You may like to try out the keyword option next time just to see how it works. If it doesn't suit, you can always change the capsule back to specific products. Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by!
really good info for a newbie like me...thanks for taking the time to do this.
Charles, glad you liked this hub. However, you will probably also be just fine using the Amazon capsule without any guidance, because you are obviously very good at generally figuring things out and making them work (I'm thinking of your technical/engineering oriented hubs here).
Thanks for making the time to read and comment on my hub, it was great to hear from you. Best wishes for your writing!
I don't really care for the keyword option. Sometimes unrelated products come up. If I am looking for can openers, I don't want parts to fix them. I usually know the exact product I want for my hubs, so I just go with specific products.
Note: If you check your amazon associate account and if store has product in hub, Amazon automatically removes discontinued, sold out products etc. So it may be a good idea to place items for hubs in an amazon store. This way you don't have to check every product on daily basis to stay updated.
Good article for those who do not understand the capsules for Amazon. I was interested in the info for
pros and cons of using keywords vs exact product.
Hi Linda, your comment was very interesting. I found myself intrigued to hear more. Can hubbers (or anyone with an amazon associate account) have an Amazon store and what is it? Is it a 'shortlist' of all the products you are featuring? If so it would be fantastic to be able to check all the products in one place like that to stay updated! You may even want to consider writing a hub about it, informing hubbers like myself and others about how to do that process. I think a lot of people would be interested in that.
Anyhow, thank you so much for stopping by and adding this captivating new idea. And I hope I understood your comment properly, if not please correct me.
Thanks Giselle. Yes, it is called an Amazon A store, where you choose your own products for each category of choice. You design it, name it, the whole nine yards as long as you are an amazon associate. Up to 100 A stores are permitted under one account.
Hi Linda, thanks for your prompt response to my question. That helped clarify things a lot. An A store sounds like a great way of keeping on top of product availability all in one spot. However, I'm wondering if this is something Hubbers could still use without needing to own their own separate blog or website? If so, it's a great idea and one I will have to check out! It could also be an idea for a hub topic for you if you happened to be interested in writing about it!
Giselle:
Yes, using the link to store itself. Not html by the way
And it can also, with html code, be placed on a blog or website., the entire store
Yes, good idea. Maybe this week end.
Unfortunately, because I live in IL, I can't use Amazon :(
Still, I found this an informative hub and plan to read the others you have listed at the end of this one. I can never read too much on the subject of keywords, SEO and so on. I'm either always learning something new or being reminded of something I thought I understood.
Thanks for a clearly written hub.
Great topic for a hub. I use the specific products function almost exclusively. I've had good results with the keyword function for eBay. I plan to continue to use these capsules as such in the future.
Hi Danette, sorry to hear you can't use Amazon, that must be frustrating. I'm thrilled that you took the time to stop by and read my hub nonetheless. Thanks so much for commenting!
Hi Randomcreative, I'm glad to hear that the eBay keyword function has been working well for you. Thanks so much for stopping by my hub!
Hey Giselle, great work! When I read the title for the hub and the name of the author in my notifications email, I said, WOW! And your presentation, explanation etc. are as usual awesome.
It's interesting how your last minute decisions play an important role in the quality and value addition to your hubs :) So you now know that I read through the comments too. (I generally do at your hubs)
I wanted to suggest something - many people, including me, generally won't read all the comments. And some hubs, yours specifically, get great comments, many of which are informative - further enhancing our knowledge. So how about adding a new section to your hub after few days of publishing? Say, "Valuable Updates by Readers". Here you can mention the reader's name, his/her comment's summary (highlights at real important ones) and then may be you could post a link to the comment too. (with # and comment number - I don't know if this bit will be too much - we get this link in notification email for hubs we follow)
Even if you skip it, user can search for the comment by the commenter's name.
I would like to point out that updating your hubs like this could be really advantageous to readers as well as authors - Google loves updates :)
And thanks for the mention, I'm glad I you could use my suggestion :)
Anusha: What a unique idea. Not only could updates be done here, but at any article submission site where we can go back and edit our articles after they are published.
Anusha - as usual you have come up with a superb idea, as Linda also noticed. Thanks, I will definitely do a 'reader update' to the hub to add info that has been discussed in the comments. And you have also pointed out that it is advantageous to the author too because updates are Google-friendly!
I might wait a few days first just in case there's anything else yet to come in that I might want to include. Of course, the update can be an ongoing thing.
And thanks so much for suggesting the topic in the first place! And of crouse I was happy to mention you in the hub. I didn't quite anticipate how popular this topic became (which again goes to show how good your ideas are), and I'm thrilled with how well the comments section is working at producing constructive help from different hubbers.
Linda - thanks for continuing to be such a helpful contributor to the discussion. I really like your suggestion of applying Anusha's idea to our writing elsewhere if we have edit privileges like we do at Hubpages.
Thanks Gieselle. I am not implying her idea is a dumb idea, but it makes me think of an old saying: Dumb ideas have created millionairs!
Google constantly changes. So we have to change too. Any idea that makes sense is worth trying or at least testing. Who knows what the results will be.
cool stuff
Hi Backporchmoth, thanks for stopping by and commenting. I'm glad you liked this hub on using the Amazon capsule.
Interesting hub. I had not understood the advantages of specific products. I use keywords when I include an amazon capsule. I usually just limit it to product types mentioned in certain hubs. For example, if you use the word charcoal grill and limit to search to "home and garden" I get a focus charcoal grills and accessories in the Amazon capsule. I just have not had any sales from the capsules, just a few clicks. I will bookmark this hub for when Amazon becomes more productive for me.
Hi Leroy, I'm glad you liked this hub. That is such a superb point that you raised about limiting the keyword search to certain departments to keep things as relevant as possible. This is not something I had thought to specifically mention in my hub, and I now wish I had! You are so right that this will make it easier to ensure that relevant results always appear when using the keyword option.
However, certain fashion items and things like book reviews for specific books may still benefit from the personal touch given by the specific products option.
By the way I very much like your new avatar!
Thanks again for your constructive contribution to this topic.
Very informative, however this capsule does not work for me. I am a seller on Amazon as well as a buyer and Amazon shows to be active on my account here. I have tried listing by item and by key word, but sample ads will not appear nor will the ads appear when I click save. However, should it ever start working, this article is one that I will revert back to for advice! Thanks!
I have resolved this issue, so I am back, and reading more in depth now. The issue was nothing appeared in the capsule for a preview, however when I clicked "done editing" the ads appeared in the published hub with no problems. Still learning the steps here. It is hubs such as this one that help me, as a newbie, very much.
Hi Dale, glad you managed to resolve the issue. You should still be getting something appearing in the Amazon capsule for a preview (or when you hit save), but it's good you are still able to successfully use the capsule in your hub. I'm guessing this may be some sort of a glitch - I will have to check this out.
Thanks for your kind words about my hub - I'm glad you found it helpful.
Dale - I've tested out the Amazon capsule myself just now, and I'm getting the opportunity to preview and save, so it is all working normally for me.
Your issue may have been a temporary glitch which is hopefully over now. If not, you can mention it on the 'Report a problem' thread on the Forums (you should mention what browser you're using too, in case it's browser-specific). For the record I'm on IE7 and the capsule was working fine for me. But basically, you should be able to preview the products in the capsule and save - sorry to hear that the Amazon capsule is working less than perfectly at your end.
Thanks so much for a detailed look at the pros and cons of Amazon options. Very well done--voted up.
Hi RTalloni - thanks for the vote-up! I am glad you liked this hub. The Amazon capsule can complement what we are writing about, and in some cases even help illustrate it (in the case of a book or product review). Thanks again for stopping by and commenting.
This is really good information. Thank you!
Hi lifelovemystery, I'm glad this hub on the Amazon capsule was useful to you! I appreciate you taking the time to stop by and comment.
FloraBreenRobison 7 months ago
I use amazon for my movie and book hubs. As such, I use keywords as I am looking for anything Agatha christie, or golden age of mystery. Any title will work. I did find on my Golden age of Mystery that I ended up with an updated list that included the Golden age of science fiction instead of mystery, but I dread the thought of a message coming up that nothing exists for the readers when I get so I have so many hubs that it is hard to keep track of them.