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The Amazon Affiliate program, also known as "Amazon Associates," is an easy way to monetize your website or blog. Just sign up, get approved instantly, and place an Amazon affiliate link on your website. When someone buys something on Amazon through your link, you get a commission - it's that simple.
But how do you get started? Below you'll find a step-by-step guide to becoming an Amazon affiliate, complete with screenshots. Whether you're looking to become an entrepreneur , start your own business , or just get a foothold in a small business , I hope you'll find this guide a useful starting point.
What is the Amazon Affiliate Program?
Amazon Affiliate program or Amazon Associates is an affiliate marketing program. Website owners and bloggers can become Amazon Associates for free. They advertise products from Amazon.com on their website by creating links. When customers click on a link and buy a product from Amazon, they earn a referral fee .
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a marketing strategy in which online retailers enable niche website owners to create unique product links (called affiliate links). The site owner must promote the link; in exchange, the site owner automatically receives a commission when someone visits the link and makes a purchase. As an affiliate, you can only make money if you use the link in a transaction.
If you already have a website or blog and your content provides opportunities for product mentions, then affiliate marketing is for you. For example, if you own a recipe blog, you can create links for product ingredients.
If you're selling products directly on your website, this isn't the best way for you, although you can make money using a mix of product sales and affiliate sales.
Read: Amazon Seller Tips
How does the Amazon Affiliate Program work?
In the Amazon affiliate program, employees earn commissions by creating unique product links, promoting links on their website, and driving referral traffic back to Amazon. Here's how it works:
- The website owner creates an Amazon affiliate account on the platform.
- Amazon provides each website owner with a unique Associate ID.
- Once the application is approved, employees can start creating affiliate links in their Amazon portal.
- Employees then place the link in a blog post or other part of their website.
- Once someone clicks the link and makes a purchase, the employee earns a commission.
Commission rates vary by product category. For example, if you run a car blog, you can earn 4.50% on every sale. If you sell three auto parts for $1,000 each in one day, you'll earn $135 from those three transactions. If you sell the same product 30 times a month, you can earn $1,350 a month.
These numbers may be low at the beginning of your Amazon Associate journey, so make sure you have other forms of income in addition to being an Amazon Associate.
Before signing up on the platform, it’s important to check out the Amazon affiliate program’s commission rates for each product category . This way, you can calculate how much you might earn based on your website's niche.
Amazon Affiliate Program Rules and Requirements
Becoming an Amazon Partner is a great way to monetize your passion projects or earn extra income from your brand. However, Amazon has guidelines for employees to follow, so it's a good idea to know those guidelines before you start. Failure to comply may result in being banned from the program.
Most of the rules are for moral promotion and to prevent employees from playing with the system.
Here are some important things to keep in mind:
- You must disclose on your website or newsletter that you may be eligible to receive benefits from your referrals.
- You may not make false or deceptive claims in your referrals.
- Avoid mentioning prices (with some exceptions), as prices change frequently.
- Do not use Amazon affiliate links in offline promotions, ebooks, or emails.
- Don't use link shorteners on affiliate links.
- You can read Amazon's full policy here . Note: The Amazon Affiliate program is one of the most popular, but it's not the only one. If you don't qualify as an Amazon Partner , there are other affiliate programs worth checking out.
How to start Amazon affiliate marketing program?
1. Create a website or blog.
To become an Amazon Partner, you must have an active website, blog, app or YouTube channel. It's also helpful if you've pre-populated the site with content, so it's active and authentic to both users and Amazon.
Remember, you must be able to describe the purpose of your website during the application process. So, get a clear understanding of why you created your website, your target audience, and how to drive traffic.
2. Navigate to the Amazon Associates home page and click Sign Up.
In order to become an Amazon Affiliate, you need to create your Amazon Associates account. To do so, visit the Amazon Associates home page and click Sign Up . From there, you'll be prompted to log into an existing Amazon account or create one.
3. Enter your account information.
Enter your account information (including the payee's name, address and phone number).
4. Enter your website address.
Enter your website address, app, YouTube channel, etc.
5. Enter your preferred store ID.
Enter your preferred store ID (usually the same name as your main website), explain what your website wants to achieve, and choose the Amazon theme your link might be for.
6. Explain how you drive traffic to your website.
Explain how you drive traffic to your website, how you use your website or app to generate revenue, how you typically build links, and how many visitors your website brings in each month.
7. Select your payment method.
Choose whether to enter your payment (credit card) and tax ID information now or later. Then continue to your dashboard.
8. Create Amazon Affiliate Links.
After creating an account, you will be sent to your Personal Assistant homepage. Here you can find a performance dashboard (including an overview of earnings, monthly summaries, and total clicks).
You can also search this dashboard for related products to link to from your content. That's it:
1. Log in to your Amazon Associate account.
Doing this ensures that the link text is generated in a way that associates the product you're promoting with your account.
2. Click Product Links in the top banner and select Product Links.
This will take you to a page that prompts you to create a link.
3. Add the ASIN of the product or search for the product on Amazon.
An Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN) is a 10-character alphanumeric code assigned to a product by Amazon to identify it in its product catalog. You can find a product's ASIN in the Product Information section of the product's Amazon listing. This means you have to grab it in another window.
Or, if you can't find an ASIN, Amazon will allow you to search the catalog for the product you want to promote.
4. Click the Go button.
This will generate a result at the bottom. Be sure to confirm that this is the intended product you are promoting.
5. Click the Get Link button on the right.
This will copy your new Amazon Affiliate link to the clipboard, which you can now use in promotions.
6. Alternatively, you can use Amazon Associates SiteStripe to generate Amazon Affiliate links.
An easier way to generate Amazon Affiliate Links is to use the SiteStripe bar that appears on product pages when you log in to the Amazon Affiliate Panel.
Just click the "Text" button in the "Get Link" selector. Then copy the build link provided in the popup.
7. Use links or other promotional materials generated on your website in accordance with Amazon's standards.
Remember, Amazon's guidelines prohibit the use of this link in offline promotions, emails, and eBooks or PDFs. As with most marketing and sales, high-quality content is at the heart of success. Make sure you engage your audience with quality content and share the affiliate link with them on your website or YouTube channel.
Each link you generate will have a cookie that is tracked after your website visitors click on the link. This is very beneficial to you as it increases your likelihood of earning commissions on sales. The only problem is that it only lasts for a limited time.
How long are Amazon Affiliate cookies valid for?
Amazon affiliate cookies persist for 24 hours after a site visitor clicks an affiliate link. The cookie remains in their browser for the entire time. That way, if they check out at any time within those 24 hours, the purchase will be credited to your account.
Amazon Affiliate cookies are just one of the ways the Amazon Affiliate program can help you make money. But first, you have to get the visitor to click the link—and for that, you need the visitor first.
How to Make Money with the Amazon Affiliate Program
Generally speaking, applying for the Amazon Affiliate program and becoming a partner isn't really the hard part. The problem is to make enough sales so that you can turn your passion project into a revenue stream.
Here are some tips on how to make money with the Amazon affiliate program.
1. Choose a niche for your website.
If your website involves home improvement, beauty products, and fiction writing at the same time, becoming an Amazon partner is not a good idea. To make sure you can get the most out of your affiliate partnership with Amazon, choose an ecommerce niche for your website .
Whether it's ancient cooking or DIY educational activities for teachers, the niche must be of particular interest to you - you can keep writing without getting tired. This gives you plenty of opportunities to insert product links naturally without overselling.
By choosing a niche, you can also make your website more authoritative to your visitors because talking about one thing all the time will make you look like an expert. Covering a wide range of topics can make it seem like you're writing content for the sake of writing. Your competition will also generally decrease if you focus on highly specific topics that few others cover.
2. Write product reviews and comparison posts.
One of the best ways to make money as an Amazon Associate is to write product reviews and posts comparing two or more products. This gives you the opportunity to link to the product you are reviewing.
The best part? These are usually high-intent posts, meaning that people looking for reviews are about to buy the product (if not ready to buy yet). After all, no one is looking for reviews of products they have no intention of buying.
Product comparison posts offer a greater chance of making a sale because if a visitor decides a product isn't right for them, you're giving them multiple options to choose from. It's an overall win-win and a surefire way to drive more referrals to Amazon.
3. The blog stays the same.
At the heart of a strong Amazon Affiliate strategy is a blog that gives you plenty of opportunities to include product mentions and links. For this reason, I recommend sticking with blogging.
Try to publish one blog post a week, but quality really matters more than quantity. If you write two well-researched posts per month, you're likely to drive more qualified traffic to Amazon than if you write eight poorly written posts.
Implement a content marketing strategy to help you create topic-related blog posts. You need to learn the basics of SEO to ensure your website is optimized for online searches.
4. Create a storefront on your website.
You don't have to rely solely on editorial mentions to drive recommendations for Amazon. You can actually create a storefront similar to an online store - the only difference is that each link leads to Amazon instead of a checkout page on your website.
Storefronts are a good option as they require minimal maintenance and content writing. Once visitors visit your website, they can easily browse products. Another benefit is that links are not hidden in other content.
One thing you need to do is check your links monthly to make sure your storefront is driving referrals. Occasionally, product pages are moved, or products are removed from Amazon entirely. You want to make sure that all products are still available on the retailer's website.
5. Promote your website on social media and search engines.
Without traffic, you won't be able to attract Amazon referrals and earn commissions. Writing good content, learning SEO, and developing a content marketing strategy will get you far. But you want to make sure you cover all the bases.
Invest in paid social ads and pay-per-click ads on Google . While advertising may sound expensive, the investment is quite affordable, especially when you're using the PPC model. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad, and the best part is that you can set a budget so you don't overcharge. It's an easy way to drive traffic to your website.
Get Paid as an Amazon Partner
Now that you've developed a strong strategy to get your Amazon Affiliate website off the ground, it's time to get paid.
How do Amazon employees get paid?
Amazon Associates get paid by direct deposit. You will automatically receive funds in your bank account. Alternatively, you can choose to receive an Amazon gift card or check in the mail.
When do Amazon Associates get paid?
Amazon Associates get paid monthly, but there's a catch: You get paid 60 days after the end of the month when you get paid. For example, you will be paid at the end of March for the commission you earned in January.
When do commissions officially vest in Amazon Associates?
Amazon Affiliates officially earn commissions after an order is shipped. If a customer cancels an order before shipping, you will not receive a commission. If a customer returns a product after a purchase, the commission will be deducted from your earnings.
After applying for the Amazon Associates program, your account will be approved for 180 days. During this period, you must make at least one sale or your account will be closed. That's why it's so important to have a strategy for your Amazon Affiliate efforts. However, you can reapply for the Amazon Associate program after making adjustments to your website.
The Amazon affiliate program is a great way to turn a hobby into a passive income source. Pick a niche, write product-focused content, and include contextual affiliate links, and you're sure to grow your Amazon Affiliate revenue to astronomical amounts.
Things to do In Developing amazon affiliate marketing in amazon affiliate program
Once you have identified the product you want to sell, there are still few of works to be done and set out as an amazon affiliate marketer
Profit
This is obviously the first thing you should look for in any product you want to sell as Amazon affiliate marketer.
Amazon affiliate Marketing program business, and like any other business, has significant profit. So all decisions have to come down to this foundation, and if you, after all the research in the world you find that the product is useless, there is no need to go further.
This is the reason why there are a number of people who could start with Amazon affiliate marketing, but would have to give up half way, because no money will be made.
This is also the main reason why newbies in Amazon affiliate are advised to go in search of those products that are already selling well. That way not many decisions have to be made about the product.
So you will only need to focus on improving your ranking on Google and while the competition is also very tough, you will know at least that if you can sell, it has nothing to do with the product.
It is important to make a distinction between profit and profit. Most people go with high interest rates, which means they get high-end jeans for sale.
While this may be a good way to earn money, it may be a good idea to look at the lower part, the higher volume part.
Most of the time the sale price will be in such a way that your total profit will be more than low-end products than high-end products. For example, trying to sell an eBook for $ 60 a book might give you a $ 5 commission per auction but if you only earn 20 sales per month, you only earn $ 100.
Instead, if you choose those that sell for $ 10, your commission may be only $ 1, but if you can make 200 sales, you earn $ 200. This is just an example but it works to clarify the point.
Marketing
The first point is related to this. You need to find products for sale. Unless there are people who will buy what you have to sell, there is no need for you to try to sell it. You need to verify that there is a market for your product before you try to join Amazon affiliate program.
For many of us, selling products that already have a market is the only way out.
Stick to the materials used.
This is good advice because only edible items will give you repeated sales.
For example, dog food may not seem appealing, but there are more than 1,500,000 people who need it every month, and they will have to buy dog food next month and beyond. This way, even if the market size is low, you are guaranteed a repeat sale because as long as you offer a good deal, buyers will get back to you and you be making money as an Amazon affiliate marketer
There are always fears that repeat customers will go straight to the home site, but your advantage as a co-operative is that you do not stick to just one product. You can have as many products as you want and as long as you make sure there is something different about your site or your affiliate marketing homepage, like a new product that feels better, or something else, people may try different products for you.
Quality
This is important because even though the net gives you a lot of anonymity, purchases are still dominated by prices in old fashion as a product quality. You risk your reputation by saying that the product is good quality, so make sure the product is really good as you say, or review it honestly. Either way you will need to try the product to build consumer confidence on your site.
You do not have to sell only high quality products. Higher quality usually means higher price but most people are satisfied with high quality, but low product product. Do not just say that something good is missing. For example, if you are selling cameras, there is a low cost, enough cameras are enough to make bread and butter for your sale.
You cannot afford not to sell them as they are expensive and do not sell very often.
However, you need to make sure that the buyer gets a good price, so escalating details, as well as giving opinions as something very good otherwise, should be avoided. To put it bluntly that something is only for a specific purpose, and that if you want more work you have to go with another model, it is much more valuable than if you say it is the best that can be bought with money.
Many sites Like Amazon offer customer reviews as their marketing strategy. assuming that a customer who receives a review from another customer will be inclined to believe you. Unfortunately, not all customers leave a review, which means that many of these sites turn to posting reviews under different names just to strengthen their site. This also means that you will have completely inaccurate updates, which means you yourself are lowering the value of your site.
The easiest and most effective way to provide a reliable review and as long as you take the time to review the product properly, you will find people respecting your ideas. This may take a long time, but over time, it becomes easier.
Popularity
See product preferences first. Amazon Affiliate marketing is not as easy as just making a site and becoming an Amazon affiliate marketer partner. It takes a lot of work and just because you find a searchable product does not make it a good niche to be in. For example, there are large number of people who want anything "Labrador". However, this is useless because most of these people want information.
Few people buy puppies online, and although you have the option to market a variety of dog products, it is still not a very profitable place to be. Even people who love their dogs often find what they need in a store, unless they can give you a really good deal on your products, they will not buy it.
This is just an example of something that is really popular, but it does not give you anything in the way of money. Well, if this is the place you really want to be, you can do some analysis to find out why people don't buy, and create a site that takes into account all these issues. This is not only time consuming and expensive, and there is no guarantee of success.
Conclusion
Amazon affiliate marketing and Amazon affiliate program is good for anyone, but it needs hard work.
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