The Amazon affiliate program is a great way to make money with Amazon.
You can earn commissions on any products that you sell by linking your site or blog to the product through an affiliate link.
Interestingly, you don’t need to place the products on eCommerce sites such as eBay and Etsy. You can sell them on your own blogs and other informational websites like this one.
To help get you started, we’ve compiled steps to help you sign up as an Amazon Affiliate and make money.
What is the Amazon Affiliate Program?
You get paid on the Amazon Affiliate Program when customers purchase items or complete other tasks like signing up for newsletters and trial offers.
Any website with content about shopping could use the affiliate link because it’s so versatile in its application.
Amazon has a very flexible commission structure, which makes it one of the most desirable affiliate programs to join.
Amazon also has other offers available for certain products, including books and DVDs among others through its associate’s program, which gives an additional commission of ten percent.
This can be a great opportunity for those who have more than one website or blog because it offers different commissions rates through multiple websites instead of just the standard four to eight and a half percent on sales from each individual site.
Incentives are also available if you do well as their affiliate marketer.
Becoming an affiliate of Amazon is not only a great way to make money, but also gives you the opportunity to earn benefits that can keep your business running smoothly.
There are many ways to make money with this program as well which will be mentioned in detail later in this article.
Amazon Affiliate Program Rules and Requirements
Amazon has guidelines that must be adhered to when a person participates in this affiliate program.
These rules are not complicated, but before applying for an account, a person should understand what is acceptable.
- The first rule of the Amazon Affiliate Program is that any website or blog must have appropriate content along with valuable information to be accepted into this program.
- You can not use trademarked or copyrighted images on your site unless you have permission from the owner of that image. This includes photos and screenshots of products that are sold through Amazon.com, which is against their rules for using these types of images on websites other than Amazon.com
- You are not allowed to use any affiliate links in email campaigns, newsletters, or other types of commercial electronic messages that you send through services such as Aweber and Mailchimp unless prior approval is given by Amazon.
- You can’t place the affiliate link in an ad where it’s more prominent than the actual product and you can’t place the link in a page where it’s the first thing that people see.
- You must disclose your Amazon affiliate status on all of your personal social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. if those accounts are related to your website or blog content about technology products (or any other product).
You will find the full Amazon’s Affiliate Program Agreement and other affiliate guidelines on the Amazon Associates Site.
How to Become an Amazon Affiliate
1. Create a Website or Blog
To join the Amazon affiliate program, you will need to create a website or blog.
The site can be on any topic and should provide value by offering relevant information.
This is your chance to show off your expertise in a certain field and drive traffic to that particular niche of interest.
There are many different blogging platforms available today such as WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, Wix, or Weebly. You can even start a free blog on Amazon.
If you don’t have any programming knowledge but want a lot of flexibility, you can use WordPress as your blogging platform.
If you are a beginner, it’s easy to install and get started with this open-source software. The great thing about building an Amazon affiliate site on WordPress is that there are several different plugins available for free.
You won’t have any issues finding a solution if you run into problems along the way.
However, this isn’t the case if you use a platform like Wix or Weebly. You’ll have to pay in order to get any additional functionality which will quickly add up over time.
The good news is that both platforms are easy-to-use and won’t take too long for anyone to master them even if you’re a complete beginner.
2. Sign up for the Amazon Affiliates Program
The next step is to sign up for an Amazon Affiliate account, which you can do on the official website: Amazon link affiliates program.
You need a unique affiliate ID as well as four pieces of important information that will help track sales: your bank details, tax information (including Social Security Number), contact details, and the last four digits of your credit card.
a. Enter your website address
Select the website(s), YouTube channel(s), etc., you want to promote on. Add your Amazon Associates tagline and hit save.
This is a very simple process that will take less than one minute of your time but is very important to the success of your business.
b. Choose your preferred ID
Remember to choose whether you want to be an Associate of Amazon US, UK, Canada, or France.
This will determine which store ID your links should use when sending traffic to any product pages on Amazon.
You can change this at any time if you wish by editing your Associates Central account settings for that country.
For your store ID, it is best practice to use a name that is relevant to your website or blog.
For example, if you were an Amazon affiliate for technology products then using ‘Tech Blogger’ as your store ID would be much better than just ‘Amazon’.
If you are creating links to different product categories on the same page (e.g. one link pointing at a camera and the other pointing at books) then you should create a different Associate ID for each product category.
c. Set how to Drive Traffic to your Site
Amazon would ask you how you intend to drive traffic to your website.
You can choose to drive traffic either through content marketing or paid advertising, which are two of the most popular ways these days.
You need not worry about this step though because they won’t turn you down if you don’t have a particular method in mind at this point!
d. Choose your Payment Method
The next step is to select how you would like to get paid.
There are three different payment options for an affiliate: monthly recurring payments (check), bank transfer, or Payoneer.
I personally recommend choosing a check as it always takes a few days before your money enters your account so if something goes wrong with your application you can still contact Amazon and get it sorted out.
Payoneer is also an option but I don’t think it’s the best one as they take a huge chunk of our earnings ($25 per month).
You will also need to set your tax information and in most cases, you will need to enter your social security number so Amazon can send you a W-BEN form at the end of the year.
3. Create Amazon Affiliate links
Finally, once you have your website and affiliate account all set up with affiliate links, the last thing is to create Amazon Affiliate links.
These are what you will place within your content in order to generate the affiliate commission when they are clicked.
To create an Amazon Affiliate Link, first, go to the Amazon Affiliate Page and sign in. Then, select “Links & Banners”.
Next, choose a product you wish to promote from your inventory list (or type it into the search). Then enter whatever name or title you would like for this link.
When you are done click on submit and voila! You will now have a link that you can place in your content.
How to be Successful on the Amazon Affiliate Program
The hardest part is not signing up for an affiliate account on Amazon. It is how to rake in enough sales from an affiliate and start earning commission checks from your website or blog.
These few tips will guide you on what to do to make money as an Amazon Affiliate:
1. Pick your Niche Wisely
When it comes to earning money, there’s no denying that some niches will make you significantly more than others.
So how do we pick our niche? We stick with what we know and like.
Picking a niche is all about picking an industry that you know and like, so it makes sense to pick something you already have some knowledge of.
It’s also a good idea to stay away from super competitive niches such as weight loss or dating because there will be thousands of other affiliates trying to sell the same product.
Save yourself some time and pick a less competitive niche, such as home improvement or any other topic that interests you.
You can use a tool like Jungle Scout to simplify the process.
2. Blog your Review of Products
One of the best ways to make money with Amazon affiliate programs is by blogging your review for products.
It is very easy, you just have to find a product that fits into one of our categories and write about it on your blog or website.
You can also include images from Amazon on each post along with different banners which are provided by Amazon.
For example, if you are a blogger who writes about fitness, then it would be great to review the latest Fitbit on your blog and make money with the Amazon affiliate program for this product.
Another way is that instead of writing reviews you talk about products in general that are related to your niche.
You can also make money with Amazon by helping other bloggers in writing their reviews on products.
One of the most important parts of making money as an Amazon affiliate is linking quality content with your affiliate links.
3. Make your Content Pretty
The first step to a successful blog post is a pretty design.
If you have a good-looking site, it will attract more readers and keep them on your page longer which means they are going to see your Amazon link.
It can be as simple as using the default theme that comes with WordPress or choosing from one of many free themes available online if you don’t mind a little customization.
Your theme and your Amazon link need to be consistent throughout the site so that visitors will know exactly where they can click for all of their online shopping needs.
This is especially important when you have multiple links in one post, which we’ll talk about below.
It’s all about your readers and providing them with what they want.
4. Promote Your Affiliate Products in the Content
Promoting your affiliate products in the content of blog posts is an effective way to drive traffic and sales.
The most obvious way I found was to include a product under each post as an example or comparison, but there are so many other ways you can do this.
Start with one idea per article/post then continue writing with that concept in mind.
Make sure your site is producing high-quality content that serves a real need or desire by readers and search engines alike before promoting Amazon products within it.
Write informative blog posts related to the Amazon affiliate program that will be useful to readers.
5. Turn Your Visitors Into Affiliate Customers
If you already have a blog and visitors, then let your readers know about the benefits of shopping via Amazon.
If they like what they read on your site and decide to make one purchase from Amazon through their affiliate link, then you will earn a 15% commission for that sale (unless otherwise stated by the vendor).
You can also create landing pages (or post specific affiliate links) on your site to make it easier for visitors to find the product that they want.
There are different ways you can drive traffic to Amazon. One way is to link your visitors directly to the product page.
Another way is by adding text links within your content so that you don’t distract readers from reading through the whole blog post.
You can also create widgets or banners for different products in order to highlight specific items on each of your pages.
While you are at it, encouraging more sales and affiliate commissions since people are much more likely to buy something when it is right in front of them.
Another way you can drive traffic towards Amazon is to host contests or giveaways on your blog.
You could also promote the products through social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. You could even use Reddit where there are subreddits that are dedicated specifically for affiliate links/products.
You can also get creative with Amazon’s Affiliate Program by using related items to link towards other Amazon pages or adding your own content in a blog post about an existing bestseller.
6. Grow Affiliate Revenue from Your Email List
You can also start your affiliate journey by promoting Amazon products directly to your email list.
One of the best things about Amazon is that you can send people to the product page and they will buy it immediately.
Therefore, start with a simple email list of your subscribers or even better by asking them for their emails on an opt-in form during a webinar you’re hosting as part of your online business strategy.
Then, create some nice-looking graphics and send them a personal email with your affiliate link attached.
They will get the chance to see what you have been talking about on-air while getting an offer from Amazon that is likely to be interesting for them at the same time.
Over time, add more products from different categories by creating another graphic or two for each product, and sending an email to your list with another affiliate link attached.
This way you can create a steady stream of income month after month by promoting Amazon products in the form of graphics that contain links pointing to each product on Amazon.
Don’t forget about your subscribers when creating these emails either; make sure they are useful emails that provide value to your subscriber base.
You don’t need many subscribers or a large list in order to make good commissions from each sale; it’s all about the product you’re promoting and how well it converts.
You can even add an additional bonus for someone coming from your email list only, so people have an incentive to buy from you rather than somewhere else.
You can use an email marketing tool like Mailchimp or Aweber to build your list.
Then you just need products that are relevant and will interest them, with affiliate links right in the emails.
7. Promote Your Amazon Affiliate Site
If you want to get more sales and commissions, then you have to promote your affiliate site.
There are a number of ways that you can promote your Amazon affiliate site and get more sales.
One way to do this is by using social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Google+.
These sites allow you to share links with others who have an interest in the same type of products as those sold on Amazon.
Another way you can promote your site is by doing guest posts on other blogs that are related to the products sold at Amazon or have a large following of people who would be interested in them.
This will increase traffic to your blog and, as result, it should also lead more people back over to your affiliate site where they may purchase the product.
You can also get traffic to your site by writing reviews of products or answering questions in public forums.
Reviews are always helpful when people are trying to decide which items they want to purchase and they will follow the trail to your own website.
It is a good idea for anyone with an affiliate site to do this in order to increase their traffic to their own site.
How do Amazon Associates get paid?
You can also choose to receive your monthly payouts via direct deposit or check.
Also, you don’t need a minimum payout level, so if you only earn $0.75 for one month it will still be deposited into your account.
They will pay you as soon as they receive payment from the customer who purchased an item through one of your affiliate links, but this can take up to 60 days after the end of each month that you are getting paid for.
Final Words
In summary, the Amazon Affiliate Program is a great way to get started with earning money online.
It’s free and easy to join, so there’s no reason not to sign up if you want extra income from your blog or website.
Remember, this is not a get-rich-quick scheme and it will take time to see results.
However, once people begin clicking on your links or banner ads, or following the RSS feed from your blog or website, what happens next may surprise you.
