Home / Article / How to Become an Amazon Affiliate and Make Money
If you’re considering getting into the lucrative world of affiliate marketing, then learning how to become an Amazon affiliate is a great place to start. Students, stay-at-home parents and entrepreneurs can all make money online and earn passive income by joining the Amazon Affiliate Program.
The best part of helping sell Amazon products through affiliate marketing is that you can do it from anywhere as long as you have some form of online presence like a website or WordPress blog. Considering how many different items are sold on Amazon every day, there’s really no shortage of product links you can use to promote the brands you love while earning some extra money on the side.
Basically, affiliate marketing is a form of digital marketing where a company pays people to advertise its products and services to help generate sales. These people are known as “affiliates,” and in today’s online world, they’re often bloggers or webmasters.
Affiliates place ads marketing certain products or services on their websites. These ads might be prominent banner ads on a web page or an embedded link in a blog article related to the product or service.
When a visitor to these websites, blogs, or mobile apps clicks on an ad or link, it generates a lead for the company. The company then pays the affiliate a commission for generating those leads. Sometimes commissions are paid solely on a click (Pay-Per-Click). In other cases, the lead must convert into an actual sale (Pay-Per-Sale) for the affiliate to receive a commission.
The Amazon Associates Program is a free affiliate marketing program for bloggers, website owners and other social media content creators like YouTubers. Affiliates who join this program receive a unique “Associates ID.” This ID can then be used to generate unique product links (called “affiliate links”) that take visitors to different product pages on Amazon’s website.
The affiliates then place these Amazon links on their web pages and blog articles. When a visitor to their blog or website clicks on the links and buys products from Amazon, the affiliate earns a referral fee or affiliate commission.
So, what do you need to become an Amazon affiliate? Basically, anyone with an online presence can potentially monetize it with the Amazon Affiliate Marketing Program. Anyone with an eligible blog, website, mobile app, or YouTube channel will be able to create affiliate links and earn affiliate income.
However, you do need to be aware of the affiliate rules and requirements stated in Amazon’s terms of service before you start including links in your blog posts and web pages. Violating these rules could result in a loss of your unpaid commissions and even get you shut out of your Amazon affiliate account.
To keep this from happening, make sure that you:
Becoming an Amazon affiliate is a very simple process. The first thing you’ll need to do is create an Amazon Associates Account. Here’s a step-by-step guide for doing just that.
Naturally, you’ll first need an online presence to showcase your Amazon affiliate product links. This can easily be accomplished by creating your own website or blog. WordPress is a free blogging platform and website builder that enables you to quickly set up your own website or blog. You can even use WordPress to create multiple blogs and affiliate sites if you want to create content and offer affiliate links for many different products.
While you can create a website or blog for free, it’s recommended that you buy hosting and a domain name for your WordPress blog. Doing this lets you personalize your domain name and stand out from other bloggers. You’ll also be able to keep your established Google rankings and traffic even if you decide to move your blog to another web host. And since you own your blog, it can’t be taken down without warning like blogs on free platforms.
Luckily, it’s very inexpensive to host your own site, with some plans ranging from $10 to $15 a month. You’ll also be able to enjoy special deals or introductory offers, making hosting more affordable.
If you’re creating a blog for the purpose of Amazon affiliate marketing, it’s important to choose a niche that provides opportunities to discuss Amazon products. For instance, a photography blog offers plenty of opportunities to write articles on different types of camera equipment (and include affiliate links for each product you recommend). Be sure to employ effective SEO strategies so people can find your affiliate blog posts easier in online searches.
Once you create your website or blog, you’ll need to sign up for the Amazon Associates Program. Here’s how:
After being approved for the Amazon Associates Program, you’ll be assigned a unique Associates ID and given access to a personal Amazon Associates account. From here, it’s easy to create Amazon affiliate links for your online content in one of the following three ways:
You can generate Amazon affiliate product links using the Amazon Associates SiteStripe tool. This time-saving desktop link-creation tool lets you build affiliate links to any page on Amazon without having to go to Amazon Associates Central.
To enable Amazon SiteStripe:
You can also get Amazon affiliate links using the Amazon Associates Homepage. To do this:
Finally, you can download multiple Amazon affiliate plugins for your WordPress website or blog that will let you generate Amazon affiliate links for your online content. Some of the most popular plugins include:
When choosing an Amazon affiliate plugin, take into account the type of features each plugin offers, how easy the plugin is to use, and the license cost.
Okay, so how much money can you make from the Amazon Associates Program? As it turns out, the commission or referral fee you receive from product link clicks varies greatly depending on the type of content creator you are and the product category you focus on in your blog or website, according to the Associates Program Standard Commission Income Statement.
Let’s say you have a popular automotive blog that runs regular articles on the best car parts to buy online. Amazon Associates currently offers a fixed standard commission income rate of 4.5% on automotive products sold in the Amazon marketplace. So, if your articles and affiliate links get people to spend an average of $1,000 a day on car parts, then you’d make $45 a day, or about $1,350 a month.
On the other hand, if you have a website that deals with pet products, Amazon only offers a commission rate of 3% on such items. And since most pet products aren’t as expensive as car parts, unless your website is very popular and generates a lot of Amazon sales, your affiliate income will be lower.
Keep in mind also that your Amazon affiliate income will also rise or fall based on how many affiliate links you have on your website or blog, the popularity of your online articles, and the likelihood that visitors to your site will want to purchase the products you promote. It often takes a while to generate enough content and promote your site for your affiliate income to rise, so plan to invest the necessary time.
That being said, it’s been estimated that you can make anywhere from $100 to $25,000 from your Amazon affiliate links if you generate enough traffic to your website or blog.
When it comes to becoming a successful Amazon Affiliate marketer, providing useful online content that converts your readers into buyers is key. To increase your conversion rates, keep the following tips in mind:
While it’s tempting to promote high-ticket items in hopes of scoring a big commission, it’s better to focus on creating content in your area of specialization that your readers find valuable. Match product links to the types of articles you write. Are there niche novels that readers of your book blog will absolutely want to purchase? Can you promote specialty items people will buy from Amazon to create a craft project?
Every blogger is writing generic articles about the Top 10 Luggage Sets. To stand out from the crowd, offer articles that cater to a more specific audience: Top 10 Affordable Luggage for Backpacking College Students. You’ll attract a more targeted group who will be more receptive to buying the products you recommend.
Your gift guides, review articles and product comparisons don’t have to be limited to only expensive or inexpensive items. Include product links that spotlight items at multiple price points. People are always looking for more affordable batteries and ink cartridges, and once you become a trusted source of information, they’ll also be willing to accept your recommendations for high-end laptops and web cameras.
Keep in mind that at this point the Amazon Associates Program will let you earn commission income on any qualifying items that customers place in their shopping carts within 24 hours of their arrival at Amazon.com using your affiliate link, provided that the customers actually complete their purchase. That means regardless of the item you’re promoting, you’ll receive a commission for all the items in the shopping cart. And in today’s era of free shipping, it’s actually more likely customers will continue filling their carts to save on shipping costs.
So, is it worth becoming an Amazon affiliate and monetizing your blog or website? In the end, it all depends on what you expect to get.
If you want to just build a quick website, fill it with Amazon affiliate product links and expect it to generate a lot of passive income, then — no. Becoming an Amazon affiliate will probably disappoint you.
However, if you’re interested in using the Amazon Associates Program as a way to get started in the affiliate marketing business and learn more about ecommerce, then becoming an Amazon affiliate is a good way to learn first-hand how affiliate marketing works. It’s fairly inexpensive to build your own WordPress website, create blog posts and include affiliate product links in them. You likely will be able to make some commissions and generate some passive income to get a taste of how this business model works.
That being said, Amazon has slashed commissions on its affiliate links in the past, meaning it’s not a good idea to rely solely on the Amazon Associates Program to generate all of your affiliate passive income. Because of this, you should diversify your affiliate websites and blogs by including ads from other affiliate networks and programs. You’ll be able to use the same basic affiliate marketing model that you learned with the Amazon Associates Program while finding affiliate programs that pay more.
The Amazon Associates Program is a great way to begin learning about the lucrative field of affiliate marketing. After building an eligible blog or website through an easy-to-use platform like WordPress, you’ll be able to join the Amazon Associates Program and receive a unique Associates ID that will let you create affiliate links for different products in Amazon’s online marketplace.
You can then place those affiliate links in the product review and gift guide articles on your blog. When visitors to your site click on those links and purchase different products from Amazon, you’ll receive a commission. This lets you generate a stream of passive income that can range anywhere from $100 to $25,000 depending on how popular your site is and how many Amazon referrals it generates.
Becoming an Amazon affiliate lets you learn how the affiliate marketing business model works. To become a more successful Amazon seller and affiliate, be sure to diversify the types of products you promote on your site and offer valuable relevant content that targets a niche audience. While Amazon has cut commission rates on many of its affiliate products, the size and reach of its platform still makes the Amazon Associates Program an excellent way to learn about affiliate marketing and eventually include other affiliate networks on your blog or website.
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