What would you say if I told you that there is a way to make a lot of money online? Sounds too good to be true, don’t you think? Well, there is a way to make money on the internet. All you have to do is partner with the world’s largest e-commerce company – Amazon’s associates program, also known as the Amazon Associates program, which allows you to leverage your online presence and earn a steady income.
However, this is easier said than done – there are many things you need to do to become a successful Amazon affiliate. Let’s take a closer look at the details to understand the program and learn how to become an Amazon affiliate.
What is the Amazon Associates Program?
Like other affiliate programs, the idea behind this program is simple. An affiliate marketing program is a mechanism through which an online store pays its affiliates. In the case of Amazon affiliates, the affiliate is paid if the referred user purchases an Amazon product within 24 hours.
This is a win-win situation for all parties involved. The seller benefits from increased sales and increased visibility, while the affiliate earns additional income.
Affiliate returns are based on results under the pay-per-sale model. Therefore, affiliates benefit from optimizing their websites and content to drive sales. So, sellers who are worried about affiliate marketing, don’t worry! Affiliate marketing can be effective. It’s a great way for affiliates to take advantage of the booming online retail market – Amazon accounts for over 40% of online shopping, making it an ideal partner for the retail giant. You just need to learn how to handle Amazon affiliate marketing.
How does Amazon’s affiliate program work?
Under the program, affiliates are only paid if redirected users purchase an item from Amazon. Here’s the detailed process:
- Affiliate redirects the user to Amazon (usually a product page) via an affiliate link
- Redirected user purchases products from Amazon within 24 hours
- Affiliate is paid a percentage of each sale within the 24-hour period.
Notes: Affiliates are also paid for products added to the cart within 24 hours and purchased before the cart expires.
Your commission as an affiliate for each sale depends on the product and category. For a detailed breakdown of partner commissions, you can refer to the partner’s website.
Note that you will only earn a commission if the customer places an order within 24 hours of being redirected to Amazon via your affiliate link. Also, if the customer re-enters Amazon from another affiliate link, you will not earn a commission; the 24-hour purchase period is updated each time a customer is redirected from your affiliate link.
Why you should become an affiliate marketer for Amazon
Everyone likes to have a second income. There is no doubt about it. However, Amazon’s affiliate program is better than any other affiliate program. Here are some reasons why you should sign up to become an Amazon affiliate.
- The start is very easy: All you need to do is sign up – it may take a while for Amazon to approve your registration. But once you become an Amazon affiliate, you can start sharing affiliate links right away.
- Amazon is a trusted brand: Amazon is the world’s largest online retail platform. It is a trusted and well-known brand. Your website users/visitors know exactly where your affiliate link leads and will not hesitate to click the button. Credibility counts for a lot in the virtual world!
- Options, options and more options.: You don’t have to worry about what to advertise – with over 120 million products available on Amazon, you’ll have no problem finding the right products to promote on your platform. Products aren’t the only thing you can promote as an affiliate, so you have plenty of options. We’ll show you your options as an affiliate later in this section.
- 24-hour profit. Remember when I told you that you get paid for every product purchased by a consumer within 24 hours of selecting your affiliate link? Well, that’s a good deal. What does that mean? If a consumer clicks on your affiliate link and buys a moisturizer, you get a percentage of that sale. Good so far? It can get even better. Within 24 hours of clicking your link, you’ll receive a discount on all other products that customer buys. Did you buy batteries? You will receive a percentage of that sale. How about a toothbrush? Yes, you get paid.
Amazon affiliate marketing: Disadvantages
While partnering with Amazon has its advantages, there are a few drawbacks.
- Income depending on the category: Depending on the product and depending on the category, commissions can be very low. For example, if you run a blog that talks about video games, there is bad news. Physical copies of video games and purchases of video game consoles from affiliate links will earn you a 1% profit on sales. Amazon’s affiliate program, not all products are the same, so before you embark on your affiliate journey, be sure to read the detailed commissions Be sure to read the details.
- Wait: You can only make money as an affiliate if you have good traffic to your site. This is not a way to make money fast. If you already have an online platform with high traffic (website, mobile app, social media), this is a good opportunity to make some money out of your pocket. Otherwise, starting from scratch requires a lot of time, effort and discipline.
So with these disadvantages, who should consider becoming an Amazon partner?
The answer is “anybody” This is a great way to make money if you are willing to put in the extra effort. If you already have a website or social media channels and a large number of followers, then this program is perfect for you. All you need to do is add affiliate links and support products you love. Word of mouth marketing is amazing social proof and with a trusted reputation, you are sure to get conversions.
How to become an Amazon affiliate: Step-by-step guide
So far, we’ve covered the good, the bad and the ugly of being an Amazon affiliate. Now let’s look at how you can become an Amazon Associate – a simple process that starts by visiting the Amazon Associates website. This is the process after you click the “Sign Up” button.
1- Enter your account details. This is simple and involves entering your name, address, phone number and other information about you.
2- After you submit your account information, you will be asked to list the websites or mobile apps where you want to advertise on Amazon. You can enter up to 50 website and mobile app URLs in total.
3- Once you have added all possible affiliate sites, you will need to provide detailed information about them. You will also need to create an affiliate store ID (usually the site name) and indicate which products you plan to advertise or promote.
4- Then you have to convince Amazon that you can generate sales. Explain how you drive traffic to your site, how you use your online assets to generate revenue, and how you typically generate links. You should also let Amazon know your monthly traffic.
5- Once you’ve entered all the necessary information, wait for Amazon’s automated voice, which will send you a four-digit PIN number that you can enter to confirm the information you’ve provided so far. After that, simply read the Terms and Conditions and click “Done”.
Once you submit your application, you will receive a unique partner ID. Please remember this number as it will be used to verify your account in the future. You will be notified by Amazon if you have been approved as an affiliate, usually within 1-3 days.
Once you become an Amazon affiliate, you must make a sale within 180 days.If no one buys any products from your affiliate link for 180 days, your account will be closed. Therefore, you should be systematic when signing up to become an Amazon affiliate. Note that even if your account is closed, you can reapply to become an Amazon affiliate.
Amazon affiliate eligibility guidelines
Amazon has strict policies about where you can promote its services and products. Sites and platforms that are not suitable for affiliates are referred to as “no-match” sites.If you want to become an Amazon affiliate, you must make sure your platform or site is a “no-match” site.
1- Promotes or contains sexually explicit or obscene material.
2- Promotes or contains material that promotes violence or abuse.
3- Promotes or contains material that is false, misleading or defamatory.
4- Promotes or contains content that is hateful, harassing, harmful, invasive of another’s privacy, offensive or discriminatory in any way.
5- Promotes or participates in illegal activities.
6- Violating intellectual property rights.
In addition, the website and its content should not be directed at children. In addition, no information may be collected or disclosed about children under the age of 13 (in the United States).
How to create Amazon affiliate links
Once you’ve created your Amazon Associate account, it’s time to start making money. The most common way to make money as an associate is through affiliate product links. The most common way to create affiliate links is by using the “Product Links” tool. The method is as follows.
1- Log in to your Associate Central account.
2- Navigate to the ‘Product Links’ drop-down menu and click on ‘Product Links’.
3- Search for your product on Amazon using the provided search bar. If you have a specific product, you can also directly enter the ASIN.
4- Click on the ‘Get Link’ button to the right of the relevant result to get the link.
5- Use the generated link to promote the product on your own website or social media.
6- Ads can be customized to be text-based, image-based or a combination of both.
You can also create links directly from the Amazon retail platform using the SiteStripe feature.To use the SiteStripe feature, you must have the same account on Associate Central and the Amazon retail platform. This tool is located at the top of any Amazon (retail) page; you can use the SiteStripe tool to create affiliate links for any product, all you need to do is visit the product page.
SiteStripe allows the creation of various types of links, including text, image, text + image and custom native shopping ads. In all of these cases, the store ID and tracking ID are already included in the link.
Notes: You can also use SiteStripe to view the earnings summary report. You must be logged into your Associate Central account to ensure privacy.
Amazon affiliate commission
There are three payment methods available to affiliates:
- Direct deposit: You can get direct deposits if you provide Amazon with your banking information. You need to earn at least $10 before Amazon will deposit the money.
- Cheque: You can get a cheque from Amazon if you provide your mailing address. The minimum payment for cheques is larger. You need to earn at least $100 and it will cost you a $15 cheque-processing fee.
- Amazon gift card: Amazon will send gift cards to your primary email address. The minimum amount that Amazon will send you is $10.
Notes: Funds earned through affiliate programs are credited or transferred within 60 days of the end of the calendar month.
How to earn money as an Amazon affiliate
A lot of work is needed to ensure a successful affiliate partnership with Amazon. Remember that payment is dependent on conversions. You will not be paid only for clicks. So if you are serious about becoming an Amazon affiliate, you need to be smart about promoting Amazon and related product listings.
The first thing to check is that your content and website follow Amazon’s strict guidelines. It’s a long list, so we recommend you read it carefully to make sure you’re not missing any important details – once you’re sure you’ve complied with all of Amazon’s guidelines and policies, it’s time to start optimizing your content.
Find your niche
It’s important to find the right place to write and create content. Once you find a place where you can create content regularly, you need to find a product or product category that matches your interests.
Don’t know anything about home decoration? If you try to create a website on this topic, you will be led to oversaturation and uninteresting content. Do you like video games? Write about it. Be sure to create affiliate links for game-related products, such as video game consoles or physical copies of video games. Many affiliates tend to create review-focused content to promote products directly on their platform. You don’t have to follow this, but it’s always good to keep an open mind when starting out as an affiliate.
Keep creating content regularly
To be successful as an Amazon partner, you need to build a large number of followers who will keep coming back for your content. The only way to keep people coming back is to keep responding to those requests. This is why you need to upload new content regularly.
Innovate with different mediums
Keep innovating with different types of content to attract new audiences. Whether it’s blogs, video content, or list posts, the key is to make sure your content doesn’t get stale. If you’re a blogger, try a new video format that reviews Amazon products. Remember that Amazon partners are always trying to generate sales. There are many things you can do to endorse products in an engaging way. Just don’t keep doing the same thing all the time.
Keyword research
Each search engine relies on keywords to provide users with the most relevant search results. Once you have found your niche, the first thing you need to do is find your target keywords. Even if you already have a large audience, it’s never too late to expand your influence – you can use tools like Google Keyword Planner and Ahrefs to find the right keywords for your website or blog. Are you reviewing a specific product? Use long-tail keywords related to the product or the right keywords in the URL so customers will knock on your door to get information about the product.
For keyword research on Amazon, you can sign up for SellerApp. This platform combines actionable data from Amazon with expertise to provide sellers with the best keywords.
Final Thoughts
We hope you now have a good understanding of how the Amazon Affiliate Program works and the benefits it offers. While the idea of earning a steady income from the comfort of your home is very appealing, you need to understand that Amazon affiliate marketing is not easy. Your incentives are all based on conversions. That means you need to tailor your content to sell more. This is easy for those who already have a reliable website and a large social media audience. For those starting from scratch, it’s a much more difficult endeavor. However, as with all things in life, smart work and persistence will quickly lead you to affiliate success.
How much can you earn from affiliate marketing? Well, the sky’s the limit!
