You might have heard a lot about the Amazon affiliate program. It is one of the best affiliate programs out there.
Amazon is one of the world’s largest online marketplaces. Although there are hundreds of other platforms, but Amazon remains to be the favorite.
This is because, over the years Amazon has established itself as the best in the industry. When you join Amazon Affiliate, you have an existing market ready to buy the products.
” According to recent industry figures, Amazon is the leading e-retailer in the United States with close to 232 billion US dollars in 2018 net sales. The majority of the company’s revenues are generated through e-retail sales of electronics and other products, followed by third-party seller revenues, subscription services and AWS activities. Due to Amazon’s global scope and reach, it is also considered one of the most valuable brands worldwide.”
The Amazon Associates Program is open to all. It is the world’s largest affiliate network that helps you monetize the traffic.
Are you eager to get started?
Read this detailed guide on setting up your Amazon Associates account. Learn how you can start a profitable business from home and earn money on Amazon affiliate.
Table of Contents
What is Amazon Affiliate?
It is an affiliate marketing program that allows you to create links and earn referral fee. You can earn when customers click and/or buy the product through your link.
Amazon Associates Program, also known as Amazon Affiliate is an easy-to-use platform. Plus, it is completely free.
Why Sign Up as An Amazon Affiliate?
For starters, you don’t have to work on pushing the products into the market. Amazon has made a name for itself. Thus, buyers do not hesitate to purchase.
All you need to do is provide the buyers with relevant information that will help them make the purchase. When they click through your affiliate link, you earn commission.
Here are some reasons why Amazon Affiliate should be your first choice –
Amazon caters to a huge audience. You can leverage on their reach to build your customer base.
The entire process is easy and organized. You get full access to an affiliate dashboard.
The commission rates are high. You can earn 10% or more referral fee. Plus, additional commissions on conversions.
You get access to analytics, tutorials, and guides that will help you learn and grow.
There are no Bosses or geographical restrictions. You can choose to work as per your terms.
Amazon Affiliate Advertising Rates
You earn advertising fee each month for qualifying purchases. Amazon calculates the advertising fee as a percentage of qualifying revenues.
Check the table below for standard rates –
Product Category Kindle Devices & eBooks Consumer Electronics & Accessories (excl. Data Storage Devices) Mobile Phones* iPhone 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus Mobile Accessories* Televisions Apparel & Shoes Health & Personal Care Books Music, Movies, Video games and Software Cars, Motorbikes and Industrial Products Toys and Baby Products Watches Jewelry (excluding Gold and Silver coins) Gold and Silver coins Home and Kitchen Personal Care Appliances Fire TV Stick & other Amazon devices Luggage and Bags Sports, Fitness and Outdoors Office and Stationery Musical Instruments Grocery and Gourmet Data Storage Devices Major Appliances Pantry Tyre, Bicycles & Heavy Gym Equipment Others
Amazon keeps running special programs for affiliates. Keep a track of those on your Affiliate dashboard.
Getting Started
Signing up for an Amazon Affiliate account is straightforward. All you need is one approval, and you’re ready to start your affiliate business!
When applying, make sure to sign-up according to your target audience’s geographical location. For example: if you want to sell products to the Indian audience, you should sign-up for an amazon.in account.
Click here to sign-up for an Amazon Affiliate account.
Once you click on the above link, you will be guided to the Amazon Associates homepage. You can select the preferred location from the drop-down menu.
Select the Locale from the drop-down menu
On the next screen, use your existing Amazon login details or create a new user account.
Amazon Affiliate Tools: A Quick Introduction
Once you sign up to the Amazon Associates program, you will have access to the affiliate dashboard.
Under the Product Linking tab, you will find different link-building tools that you can use. These links are also called affiliate links or associate links.
We’ll talk about these links in a while. But, before that, it is important to decide on a niche or category.
If you have a good knowledge on gadgets, and like reviewing new products, you can create links for consumer electronics, mobile phones, video games etc. Or, if you are into fashion, you can create links for clothes and accessories.
Product Linking
Use this feature to build links to any specific product page in Amazon. You can search the product by keywords or ASIN/ISBN numbers.
**ASIN stands for Amazon Standard Identification Number, and ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number.
Product Link
To create a link, all you need to do is type in a keyword and click on Go. You can conduct an all-product search or search within a particular product line. You can also search across Amazon and its subsidiaries. Alternatively, if you have it, you may enter the product’s ASIN or ISBN.
Let’s say I’m writing a buying guide on Sneakers and would like to add a link. Here’s how I use the product link feature :
Example of search by keyword: sneakers
I would like to promote the Converse Unisex Black Sneakers in my blog. So, I click on Get Link, and select from my preferred option. If you use website to promote links, you can use a text link like this.
Alternatively, I can use the Build Link button and promote the link as below-
Or, I can add this product to a widget and display it on the sidebar. The choice depends on the type of content you promote.
Banners
Banner ads are offered at no cost by Amazon. You can choose from sizes 300 x 250, 728 x 90, 160 x 600, and 300 x 600. The same banner ad might show a new creative each time a new visitor comes on your site.
Amazon does this to figure out the best ad to show to your visitor and to maximize your earning potential. No action is required on your part once you’ve implemented the code on your website.
Here’s how a banner ad (728 x 90) looks like –
Amazon Banner Ad Sample
Link to Any Page
You can use this tool to build direct links to popular product pages. You can also add links to the results of your own search within Amazon.
Here’s how it works –
I would like to promote games and accessories for PS4. But, instead of promoting one product at a time, I would like my readers to view the entire collection. So, I select the Product Line and Sub Category. Then, I name the link under Link to favorite Destinations tab.
I can further go on Link to Search Results tab, and create an affiliate link with keywords . This feature is great if you want to funnel down and provide more value to your readers. In this example, I filtered the display results by using keywords “ps4 games under 2000, playstation 4 games under 2000“.
Open both the links in different tabs to see the difference.
Using keywords is best when you want to target specific groups.
Widgets
Widgets are embeds that you place on your website. It allows users to browse products without leaving your site.
All you need to do is select the layout that best suits your web page. Amazon will provide you the HTML code that you can use on your site. You have the option to customize the widget as per your needs.
You can use the Search widget to let your visitors search Amazon’s vast inventory of products right from your website. Or you can use, the Flash widgets to get your viewer’s attention. Under Flash widget, you can select the carousel widget or the slideshow widget.
SiteStripe
Link to any page on Amazon using the Associates Site Stripe. The Associates Site Stripe lets you build your Associates links right from the Amazon page itself.
The Site Stripe will appear at the top of every Amazon page and provides quick and easy access for building links and sharing links easily on social media platforms.
It is a convenient alternative to using some of the Associate Central linking and reporting tools.
Here’s how SiteStripe works –
Use SiteStripe to generate links for website and social within the Amazon store.
I searched for “Red Dead Redemption – 2” within Amazon as a buyer. The SiteStripe features allows me to generate a link and send it as a message or social share without having to open another tab.
I can generate an HTML code directly and use it on my website (see below image).
So, this was all about the tools that Amazon provides you to grow your affiliate business.
Next comes the question – how can I monetize the links?
Well, the preferred way would be to build a niche website and write blogs, articles, product reviews, buying guides, product comparisons, etc.
But, this requires some investment on your part. We’ll discuss about building a profitable niche Amazon affiliate website at length. It deserves an article of its own.
In here, I will be telling you 3 ways to start monetizing your affiliate links with no investment at all.
How to Earn Money on Amazon Affiliate?
Most of the affiliate marketers would say that having your own blog or website is the best way to earn money. This is the same with Amazon affiliate.
But, if you’re just getting started, and do not want to invest right away, here are a few hacks that you can try –
Make use of Effective Platforms
When you’re new to affiliate marketing, you should start by writing content and reviews on platforms that run on user-generated content.
You can use Quora to answer relevant questions and put in a link within your answer. You can pin images to Pinterest with the source URL as your affiliate link.
The reason I recommend Quora and Pinterest for beginners is because users are active on these platforms. You can get more clicks as user’s trust these domains and it automatically builds trust for your content.
Leverage on Social Media
If you don’t have a website, you can still earn money through Amazon affiliate.
Build a page on Facebook, and post quality content. Use in-content links or direct image links to promote products. You can also use Instagram to promote links and drive traffic.
When it comes to promoting on social media, you will need to invest time on research. You need to understand the target audience and competition.
If you are someone who has hundreds of contacts on WhatsApp/Telegram, this process might work wonders for you. In fact, I have close friends who earn hefty commissions by promoting their links on these platforms.
All you need to do is generate a link and send it to groups or channels that you manage.
There are different ways to earn money using Amazon affiliate marketing. However, choosing the platform to promote your links is an individual decision.
I would vouch for a WordPress website for promoting your affiliate links. Amazon Associates program provides Link Builder Plugin for WordPress that makes it easier for you to promote products.
I hope that this article will help you get started with Amazon affiliate. In the next few articles, I’ll be telling you about FREE tools that you can use to boost your Amazon Affiliate business. So, make sure you to subscribe to the notifications.
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Need help selecting a profitable niche? Drop me a question and I will try my best to help you.
