New Media on Ulitzer

Amazon and Google announced on Wednesday partnership between Amazon’s self-service advertising program, and Blogger, the award-winning blog platform from Google.

This new collaboration enables Bloggers to monetize their content by adding relevant Amazon products to their blog posts without interrupting the blog editing process.

Available immediately, the new tool allows Bloggers to add links and images to their blog posts in just two clicks using the integrated Amazon Product Finder.

Neither Amazon nor Google made any statements how much a well-read blogger should expect to earn but the program is guaranteed to generate good advertising for Amazon and a new revenue stream for Google from Amazon.

The Blogger simply needs to highlight the relevant text and the Amazon Product Finder will search Amazon’s millions of products and recommend the ones that are most closely associated with that text. Bloggers can then insert a link to or image of that product that includes their Associates ID, enabling them to earn up to 15 percent in referral fees from Amazon.

Bloggers will also be able to show dynamic content in their blog Sidebar using a new set of integrated Associates Sidebar gadgets, such as gadgets for MP3 clips from the Amazon MP3 DRM-free music store, an Amazon Deals gadget, and an Amazon Search box.

Also as part of this new integration, Bloggers who don’t have an Amazon Associates account can create one from directly within Blogger.

Similarly, Amazon Associates who don’t have a Google Blogger account can set up a Blogger account with their Associates ID and start earning right away.

“Making it easy for our Associates to advertise relevant content on their websites is the foundation of the Amazon Associates program. Our goal is to help our Associates earn the trust of their followers by giving them the tools to search through the millions of products on Amazon and select those that are most relevant to their audience,” said Dave Cotter, General Manager of the Amazon Associates Program. “If you’re a Blogger and you’re writing about the new Michael Crichton book, ‘Pirate Latitudes,’ you simply highlight the text you want linked to Amazon, click on “Go” in the Amazon Product Finder, and click ’Insert link.’ Setting up Associates links to Amazon and earning referral fees is now that easy.”

“This is something that Bloggers of all shapes and sizes will benefit from as they look for ways to add compelling content to their blogs and make money," said Rick Klau, Product Manager, Google Blogger. “Our goal is to do more than simply give our bloggers the easiest tools in the market for creating blogs, it’s to make Blogger the easiest platform for bloggers to make money on. This integration is a testament to that commitment.”