Amazon is one of the largest players in retail worldwide. It commands 40% of the online sales made in the United States.
The best part is that anyone can access Amazon's profits by just having a website, a significant social media presence, and customers who will buy from Amazon via the links you will provide.
Amazon Associates program is also known as Amazon's Affiliate program. It allows users to monetize their blogs and websites or even their social media.
Before you decide to join the Amazon Affiliate marketing program, you need to do extensive research to ensure you make money.
This post will give you all the information you need to know before you join the program.
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Before we take a deep dive into the Amazon Associates program, we need to understand what affiliate marketing is.
Associate or affiliate marketing is an arrangement between an online seller such as Amazon and affiliate websites. The websites receive a commission when they send traffic to their website.
It is important to note that affiliate marketing is performance-based, meaning affiliates get paid if the desired action occurs.
Affiliates get to be involved in e-commerce without having to establish their stores. It is also a great way to monetize your website, social media, or blog by earning commissions.
There are three types of affiliate marketing. These include payment per:
· Click
The affiliate gets paid by the number of visitors who visit the seller's page using the affiliate link. The affiliate gets paid whether or not the visitor buys anything.
· Sale
In this arrangement, the merchant pays the affiliate when the customer purchases using the affiliate link.
Some sellers pay a fixed amount for every sale, while other sites such as Amazon pay a percentage of the sale made.
· Lead
At this point, the affiliate gets paid based on the number of visitors who sign up as leads or fill in a requested form on a website.
What Is an Amazon Affiliate Program?
Also known as the Amazon Associates program, Amazon's affiliate program is a free program where bloggers and website owners can join.
Amazon affiliates advertise products from Amazon on their websites by creating links. When customers use the links to visit and buy the products, they earn referral fees.
How Does Amazon Affiliate Marketing Work?
Associates in the Amazon Affiliate program earn commission by creating unique links and advertising the links on their websites. The aim is to drive traffic to Amazon.
Here is how the process works:
- Amazon affiliates create an Amazon Affiliate account on the website;
- Each Amazon affiliate has a unique Associate ID;
- After approval, the affiliate can start creating affiliate links from their Amazon portal;
- Associates then place the links on their blog posts or other parts of their websites;
- When a customer clicks on the link and purchases the products, the associate earns a commission.
How Much Can You Earn As An Amazon Affiliate?
On average, you can earn anywhere from $100 to $20,000 from the program. The amount you make all depends on how many referrals you generate for Amazon.
Amazon's Affiliate program operates on a commission basis, that is, you get paid based on the sales made.
It is important to note that you might not make as much money at the beginning of your Amazon Affiliate journey, so be sure to have another source of income before you start earning good money.
Before you sign up, be sure to review the Amazon Affiliate Program commission rate for every product category. This way, you will calculate how much money you stand to earn based on your website's niche.
What You Should Know Before Joining Amazon’s Affiliate Program
Joining the Amazon Associate program is a great way to monetize your passion project and supplement income for your brands.
However, there are few guidelines that you have to follow as an affiliate. You have to understand these rules and regulations before you decide to dive in.
This is because, if you do not comply with these rules, you might get banned from the program.
Most of these rules are in place to ensure products' ethical promotion. Here are the rules that you need to keep in mind:
- You have to disclose that you will earn a commission if they buy using the links;
- It would be best if you were truthful with your recommendations and claims;
- Avoid referring to their prices since their prices keep changing;
- It would be best not to use the Amazon Affiliate links on offline promotions, emails, and eBooks;
- Do not use link shorteners on the affiliate links.
You can read more about Amazon’s policy here. The program is one of the most popular affiliate programs. However, it is not the only one.
How Do You Become An Amazon Affiliate?
Here is a look at how to become an Amazon Affiliate.
Create a blog or website
To join Amazon's Affiliate program, you need to have an active website, app, blog or YouTube channel.
Your site should be prepopulated with content to appear authentic and active to Amazon and other users.
As part of your application process, you have to describe the purpose of your website. You have to know why you are creating the website and who your target audience is, and how you'll bring traffic to the site.
Sign up on Amazon Associates homepage
You have to create an Amazon Associates account to become an Amazon affiliate.
Visit the Amazon Associates program home page and click "Sign Up.".
You will then be prompted to log in to your existing Amazon account or create one.
Enter your account information
At this point, you'll be required to enter your basic information. These include things like your name, phone number of the payee, and address.
Enter your website address
You will need to enter your website address, YouTube channel, or app.
Enter your store ID
Your preferred store ID is mostly the same as the primary website name.
You then need to enter what you hope your website will accomplish and then select the Amazon topics you’re planning to target.
Explain how you drive traffic to your website
This step involves you explaining:
- How you drive traffic to your website;
- Building links;
- Using your website or app to generate income;
- Attracting many visitors to your site brings income every month.
Select a payment method
You can choose to either enter your credit card information and tax ID at this point or a later one after you can proceed to the dashboard.
Create Amazon Affiliate Links
Once you are done creating your account, you will be directed to your Associate homepage. Here is where you will find your performance dashboard, which has your
- Total clicks;
- Earnings overview;
- Monthly summary.
On the dashboard is where you will search for the relevant product links for your content.
How Do You Create Amazon Affiliate Links?
Log to your Amazon Associate Account
Using your Amazon affiliate login, you can access your Amazon Associate account.
This ensures that the link's text is generated in a way that it promotes your account.
Go to “Product Links” on the top banner to select Product Links
This will prompt a page that will help you create your link.
Add the ASIN or search for the product on Amazon
ASIN stands for Amazon Standard Identification Number and is a ten alphanumerical code assigned to a product on Amazon in their product catalog.
The ASIN of a product can be founded in the product information section of the product’s Amazon listing. You will therefore need to get it from another window.
If you cannot find the ASIN of a product, Amazon allows you to search the catalog for promoting products.
Click the "Go" button
This generates results at the bottom, so be sure to verify if that is the product you want to promote.
Click the "Get Link" button on the right
Once you do that, it will copy the Amazon Affiliate link to your clipboard.
You can now use the link for your product promotion.
Using Amazon Associates SiteStripe to generate Amazon Affiliate links
Another more straightforward way of generating Amazon Affiliate links is by using the SiteStripe bar on product pages when you log into the Amazon Affiliate Panel.
Click on the Get Link selector, then copy the generated link provided on the pop-up.
Follow Amazon’s rules and regulations on how to use the generated link
Remember that Amazon prohibits the use of the associate link for offline promotions, eBooks, PDFs, and email.
Make sure you attract your audience with great content and share the relevant affiliate links on your site for them to use.
Every link has a cookie that will follow your website visitors after they click on the link. This increases the chances of you getting a commission after a sale. However, the cookie lasts for a limited amount of time.
The Amazon Affiliate cookie lasts for just a day after the visitor clicks on the link. The cookie stays on their browser for 24 hours. If they check out anytime within 24 hours, their purchase will earn you a commission.
The cookie is one of the great ways that the Amazon Program helps you make more money.
Next, let’s see how you can earn money using the Amazon Affiliate Program.
Tips On How To Make Money With The Amazon Affiliate Program
Creating an Amazon Affiliate account is not the hardest part. The hardest part is making enough sales to make enough money from your passion project.
Here are some tips you can follow to make loads of money from the Amazon Associates program:
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Pick a niche for your website
Before becoming an Amazon Affiliate, you need to choose a single ecommerce niche to increase the rate of success for your website.
It is not a good idea to mix up your niches since you might confuse your readers. Also, ensure that you pick a niche that is of interest to you. It needs to be something that you can constantly write about without getting tired.
When you have great content, you can naturally insert the product links without becoming too salesy.
Choosing a niche will make your site authoritative to visitors. This is mainly because if your site is about one thing only, you’ll look like an expert.
If you write about different topics, it will look like you are doing so for the sake of putting out content to sell. Therefore, you’ll increase your chances of success when you have a website about a specific topic that is not touched upon by others.
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Post consistently on your website or blog
The core of the Amazon Affiliate marketing includes the links of the products mentioned often. The best way to ensure you do this is to blog consistently.
Try to post content once a week while still making sure that you do not overlook quality. Writing a few well-researched posts will deliver more traffic than many poorly written posts.
Come up with a content strategy that will help you create blog posts relevant to your niche. Also, be sure to use SEO strategies to ensure you optimize your website for online searches.
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Write comparison posts and product reviews
Writing product reviews is one of the best ways to make money from the Amazon Affiliate program. Product reviews give you a chance to post links to the products you are reviewing.
Another reason for opting for product reviews is that the person looking up the content is looking to buy the products. After all, no one would look for a product review if they do not intend to purchase something.
Writing comparison posts offers visitors an opportunity to decide which product is for them and which isn't. This is a win-win situation, since either way, it will drive traffic to Amazon.
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Create a storefront for your site
You can create a store for your website rather than relying on editorial mentions to drive traffic to Amazon. The only difference is the link on your store, which will refer your visitors to Amazon.
Storefronts are a great idea since they require less attention than content writing. Visitors shop from your site and get to see a product that might be buried within other content.
You will, however, need to keep checking the store links to ensure they drive referrals to Amazon. Sometimes products and pages move, which can affect the accuracy of the association.
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Promote your site on search engines and social media
If your website does not have any traffic, you will not be able to drive any referrals. Having good content and linking your products is a great way to keep your website active.
However, you will need to invest in paid social ads and Google ads as well.
Advertising may sound expensive, but it is an excellent and affordable investment if you use the PPC methods. This means you only pay if a person clicks on your ads.
You can also set a budget to ensure that you are not overcharged.
How To Get Paid As An Amazon Associate Program
Now that you have set up your Amazon Affiliate website and account, it is time to know how you will get paid.
How Amazon Associates get paid
Amazon Affiliates get paid via direct deposits. You receive the funds directly to your bank accounts.
You can alternatively opt for a check or an Amazon card to get by mail.
When do Amazon Affiliates get paid?
Amazon Affiliates are paid monthly. However, you’re paid 60 days after the end of the month you are getting paid for. For example, the payment you receive in May is for the commission you received in March.
When does commission get attributed to Amazon Associates?
You fully earn your commission when the order has been fully shipped. If a customer cancels an order before it is shipped, you will not receive your commission.
Also, if a customer returns the item, the commission will be deducted from your earnings.
It takes 180 days for your Amazon Affiliate account to get approval. During this period, you have to make a sale for your account to be approved.
Should You Join The Amazon Associates Program?
The Amazon Affiliate program is a great way to monetize your passion project, i.e., your website, app, or YouTube channel. This means you can quickly turn these projects into effective sources of passive income.
However, if you do not have a website, you can create one from scratch, which can be time-consuming to populate with the required content. However, it will be worth it in the long run.
You will, however, need a great strategy to ensure that you drive referrals to Amazon. You will need to choose a niche to write about, blog consistently, and advertise your website on social media and search engines.
Affiliate marketing is more than posting a few affiliate links on your website or blog, it will require you to provide information and resources that your customer needs.
Tags: amazon, amazon associate, amazon program
