Amazon is a great platform for buyers and sellers. Sellers from all over the world meet on Amazon to sell different items. Buyers from all over the world meet on Amazon to purchase different items. This means that the platform is crowded by individuals with the goals of buying and selling. Amazon sellers have found a great platform from which they can make good sums of money monthly.
Most people believe that the only way to make money on amazon is by selling items. However, this is not true. There are many different ways through which people can make money on Amazon. Just like the selling business, you don't have to be physically present at the Amazon's headquarters in Washington DC to make money on the site. You can make money on Amazon right from the comfort of your home, even using a hand held device like a mobile phone. In this article, IO Scout will guide you on how to make on Amazon through the Amazon affiliate program.
What is Amazon Affiliate Program?
An affiliate program involves marketing products from companies who in turn pay you a commission for each sale made through you. What happens is that the company gives you a link to the item to promote. Anytime a sell is made through that link, you earn a commission.
Amazon Affiliate Program, also known as Amazon Associates, is simply an affiliate marketing program. It can be termed as the mother of all affiliate programs and the best way of earning money through affiliate marketing. The good news is that Amazon has a wide range of items from all its marketplaces. Due to this, you can find an item to market from all its product categories.
If you own a blog or a website, you can become and amazon associate for free. You will get links that you can use to advertise your Amazon items. Anytime a customer clicks that link and makes a purchase, you will be given a commission, commonly referred to as referral fees.
How to Become an Amazon Affiliate
The following steps will help you become an amazon affiliate:
Step 1: Create a Blog or Website
For anyone to become an amazon associate, they must an active blog, website, YouTube channel or app. It's good for the site to look authentic and active. This means that it must be already populated with content.
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However, you can't create a website with the sole purpose of become an amazon affiliate. There must be a purpose for your website, and amazon will inquire about this before allowing you to join the amazon associates program. Why will visitors come to your website or blog? That is the what they expect you to answer. For example, you can create a blog or website to give visitors information about sports. You can then become an amazon affiliate and use the blog or website to market sports attires listed on Amazon.
This means you must an idea as to why you are creating a blog/website, the kind of audience that you will target and how you will bring traffic to the blog/website.
Step 2: Visit Amazon Associates Homepage
This is the step where you create your amazon affiliate account. You simply have to open the Amazon's associates homepage found at the following URL:
https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/
The page looks as follows:
Next, click the "Join Now for Free" button. Amazon will prompt you to log into your Amazon account. You can also create one if you don't have.
Step 3: Build Amazon Associates Account
Noe that you have signed into your account, you need to build it or create your profile. To do this, click "New Customer" button.
You will be prompted to enter information for your account. You will have to enter your personal details including names, address, etc.
You must also provide the address or URL of your website/blog. This can also be the address of your YouTube channel or apps, which is what you will use to promote your affiliate links.
The preferred stored ID must be provided. Most amazon associates prefer to use an ID that is similar to their blog's primary name. Give an explanation about what your blog needs to accomplish. You must also choose the Amazon topics that your links will be targeting.
You will be asked to explain the mechanism that you use to drive or attract traffic to your blog/website. Also, explanation is required on how you generate income from the blog/website. The process of creating links is required as well as the number of visitors that your site receives monthly.
You must also enter and verify your phone number. Simply enter the phone number and click the "Call Me Now" button. Amazon will call you immediately. Listen to the four-digit code read to you and enter it. If you type it correctly, they will approve your account immediately.
You will have the opportunity of providing details of your payment method now or later. The payment method is normally the credit card. The Tax ID information is also needed. After that, you can go to the dashboard.
You will be directed to your associate homepage. This is where you should create links for the items you need to promote. It's also where your performance dashboard will be shown. Details about your earnings and other data will be shown.
It will allow you to search for relevant items then link them to your content.
You will be given a chance to make your first sale within 180 days. If your account doesn't make a single sale within that period, it will be closed. However, they will allow you reapply for the amazon affiliate program, provided you have made some significant changes to your blog/website.
Note that quality contributes significantly to your success as an amazon associate. With quality content, you can drive huge traffic to your website. You can take advantage of that to share relevant affiliate links on the blog/website. You will then make money from them.
How to Create an Amazon Affiliate Link
To market the item, make sales and earn your referral fees, you need an affiliate link. This comes after you've created your account. The link can be created from Associate homepage. To create an amazon affiliate link, you can choose either of the following:
- Quick Links: Search for Product
- Browse for Product.
With the Quick Links: Search for Product, you will be allowed to search for a particular item keyword. With Browse for Products option, you will be allowed to search for items based on their categories like Books, Videos etc.
Once you have identified a relevant item, click "Get Link" button. The link should be customized further. You can achieve this by choosing either add with text only, widget, image only, etc.
The background color can be customized depending on the type of link. The image size, the title and the color are also customizable. It ill be good for you to have a preview of the link before you can add it to your website. This will ensure that you add a correct link to your website and that potential customers won't experience challenges after clicking the link, which may make you lose sales.
To transfer the link to your website, you can shortlink, copy and paste or HTML copy it to the blog/website.
Ways of Promoting Amazon Products
Once you have joined the Amazon affiliate program, you will realize that there are different ways of generating affiliate links. Amazon offers three ways of adding ads and links to your blog/website:
- Text links
- Banners
- Native shopping ads
Text Links
Currently, text links are the most effective way of referring visitors to Amazon from the website content. Research shows 99% of conversions result from text links. You simply create your regular text and links within them. Once the user clicks a link, they will be taken to Amazon from where they can make a purchase.
The following steps will help you get text links:
Step 1: Log into your account, choose "Product Links" from "Product Linking" tab found in the black bar.
Step 2: Search for item that you need to link.
Step 3: Click the "Get Link" button located on the right side of the item.
Step 4: To obtain the short link, click the down arrow located beside the "Get Link" button then click "Shorten URL."
Step 5: You can then choose whether you need text only, widget, image only, etc.Also, you choose the color options and set it to open in new window or not.
Step 6: Copy the HTML code and paste it where you need on the blog/website.
Banners
A banner ad is an easier way of getting an affiliate link on your blog/website. However, research shows that it's not a very efficient way of generating sales. The following image shows an example of banner ad:
The following steps can help you get a banner link:
Step 1: Log into your account and click "Banners" below "Product Linking" tab. This is on the black bar at the top.
Step 2: Scroll down while looking for the category where you need to get the banner from.
Step 3: You can select the size banner that you need. Just click the size below the category you've selected. Also, you can scroll throughout the list and find the banner that you need.
Step 4: Cope the provided HTML code and paste it where you need on your website.
Native Shopping Ads
These good and provide site visitors with nice-looking ads. However, their conversion is not good compared to that of text links. They look like ads, generating only a few clicks.
To get a native ad link, do this:
Step 1: Log into your account, choose "Native Shopping Ads" from "Product Linking" tab found in the black bar.
Step 2: Click "Create Ad Unit" then choose the Native Shopping Ad that you want to get. You will get three options:
- Recommended Ads- these automatically show the relevant item recommendations from Amazon depending on the content of the page and the people who visit the page.
- Search Ads- these allow your the website visitors to gain advantage over Amazon's search results directly on your blog/website. The product recommendations are determined by keywords or search phrases that you select or those the visitors enter.
- Custom Ads- these ads allow you to choose the items that you need to promote then you add the ad unit within the product article posts.
Step 3: Choose the items or categories that you need to have in the ads and the Fallback. You can also set other settings like size.
Step 4: Copy the HTML code and paste it where you need on your blog/website.
What are the Best Products to Promote?
You will find all types of items being sold on Amazon. People in need of purchasing different items visit Amazon. However, you cannot wake up and begin to promote just any item on your website. All amazon associates must promote items that are related to the content offered on their blogs/websites. Remember the example of sports. If your website is about promoting sports contents, become an amazon affiliate and promote sports attire. If your blog/website promotes health content, promote health related items.
You need to have a look at the Best Sellers page. You can browse through all departments shown on the left side and choose the items that are relevant to your site content.
Make sure you go with items related your site's niche. Select a broad niche and category down to certain items and target visitors that are looking for certain items. With that, it will be easy for visitors to click through then make a purchase.
Also, the price of the items is important when looking for items to promote. It is recommended that you choose items with middle prices. If you choose to go with low priced items, you will have high chances of making more sales. However, you will earn little commission. High-end products give amazon associates a high amount of fees. However, these items are somehow difficult to sell.
You should target to promote items priced between $50 and $200. Items within this price range attract a great amount of sales. Again, you can earn good commissions from selling items within this price range. This means that dealing with such items will help you run a smooth business as an amazon affiliate.
Also, the quality of items is important when choosing items to promote. Only promote items of high quality. You must do an investigations which items are of high quality and which ones are not. This means that you must consider the reviews and ratings left by users on the various items that you are targeting.
Creating Content
After knowing the type of items that you can choose to promote, you need to work on the content. The idea is to create content that will help you attract visitors who are ready to purchase the item to your website. Keyword research is good, but the best think for you to know is the type of articles that work well as far as amazon affiliate marketing is concerned.
Here are the articles that work well:
Product Reviews
These are the common types of articles most amazon associates to make money through affiliate marketing. You simply need to identify an item within the niche you've chosen then write a review about the item. If you write a quality review about an item that's found in your niche, you will have high chances of generating many click-throughs and generate more sales.
This technique is becoming more popular each day. There is no doubt that customers like knowing an item in-depth, especially when the review is done by a real person who is not part of the company manufacturing the item.
Best Products
Every online shopper is looking for the best items to purchase. Such shoppers are ready to spend more purchasing items, provided they are the best.
Also, content of this nature gets more traffic if you manege to rank it higher on search engines. It is actually believed by may bloggers that this type of content generates a higher traffic with high chances of conversions.
Product Comparisons
When buying online especially on Amazon, buyers are confronted with many options. This is because Amazon is a huge marketplace, offering many variations for the same item. Due to this, buyers usually find it difficult to make a sound decision o which item to purchase. You can hijack this moment to rescue them and reap some benefits from it.
Every buyer loves doing comparisons before making the final decision to purchase an item. You can help them compare items that are related before they can make a purchase. After comparing the items, provide links to any of those items. If both items offer almost similar benefits, provide Amazon links to both. If one of them is better, promote a link to that item. This will increase chances of the reader clicking the link and making a purchase.
One thing to remember, don't sound biased. Ensure that you remain neutral and only which is true about the items. Sounding biased will ruin the reputation of the article and the blog/website in general.
Sales. Discounts, Promotions
You will find items on promotion each day on Amazon. Keep watching such items as the deals could be too good. Also, ensure that you only target items that are relevant to your blog/website content. Don't just write about any item simply because it's on promotion.
Choosing Guides
When a person is purchasing an item for the first time, they will be filled with a lot of questions because they are newbies. You can take advantage of this and help your readers know how to choose a particular item. The content of such an article should take the readers from one step to another in choosing the item. They will read it keenly and obey your sound advice. Obeying here means that they will click the link you've provided and purchase the item.
Product Launches
Any new item being launched is hot. Of course, every blog/writer will want to write about such items, meaning there is much competition in such content. However, there are many people who need to consume information concerning new items that are being launched. This means that there is still a chance for you. If you manage to grab the attention of a percentage of such audience, it can push your affiliate marketing amazon efforts to the next level.
Pros and Cons of Amazon Associates Program
The Amazon Associates Program has so many reasons why it’s worth the shot when it comes to making extra money. But it does come with its pros and cons. It’s important that you know what to expect before making a decision of whether or not this program is for you.Â
Pros for Amazon Associates Program
- Free to join
- Amazon is one of the most trusted websites in the world
- No traffic thresholds needed
- Countless products that you can promote
- Armed with tools that you can use to your advantage to sell the items you’re promoting
- An in-depth reporting tool that gives you all the stats including views, sales, etc.
- Direct deposit payments available
- Excellent customer service
- Even if the product is not what the customer expected, it’s not your fault since the product didn’t originally come from you
Cons for Amazon Associates Program
- Your commission rates will run anywhere between 6 to 10 percent. These are quite low for those who want to make a decent amount of money from affiliate marketing
- Cookies last about 24 hours
- No affiliate links are allowed in emails
- No PayPal option available
- Minimum payout is $100Â
How to Promote your Amazon Affiliate Products
As mentioned before, you can’t use Amazon Affiliate links in your email. However, there are ways to go about using them properly. Let’s take a look at how you can be able to utilize them properly so you can earn as much money as possible:
Blogging
Blogging is by far one of the most common ways to promote affiliate products. Most of the review posts that you see online will always have an Amazon link to the products they are reviewing. Blogs will always come in handy, especially if you have enough traffic coming to it.Â
Your reviews can be for example the “Best Kitchen Knives of 2020” or some other product of interest. From there, you can be able to describe the product in detail, list the pros and cons, and what people like about it. There are so many different ways to write a detailed product review post.Â
Social Media
Social media is a good tool for affiliate marketing links. However, there are two ways to approach this. One, you can promote the blog post (i.e-- the review posts) or directly include the link in a social media post. Either way, you will need to disclose to your audience that affiliate links are included so you don’t upset them. It’s no secret that people don’t want to be sold all the time.Â
YouTube
YouTube videos are great if you have a solid subscriber base. You can include Amazon links to the products you’re reviewing or have mentioned in your video by adding them to the description. This can definitely help you earn more money if you are not getting enough monetization.
If you’re not a fan of YouTube’s monetization procedure, then Amazon Affiliates is a good way to make more money without having to be paid a specific amount per 1,000 views.Â
Final Thoughts
Amazon is a great platform for buyers and sellers. Buyers meet on Amazon, all looking for different types of items. Sellers meet on Amazon to sell different types of items. Some people think that the only way to make money on Amazon is by selling stuff on the platform. This is a lie. Amazon, being a world re-known platform for e-commerce presents people with many opportunities to earn money online other than selling stuff.
The good thing with making money on Amazon is that you don't need to be physically present at their headquarters. There are many people making money on Amazon from the comfort of their homes. These people are found on all corners of the world. This shows Amazon is a great platform.
One of the ways to earn money on Amazon is through the amazon affiliate program. This program involves marketing the items listed on Amazon. When you become a marketer, you earn by being paid a commission. To work as an amazon associate, you must have a blog/website. You get a link that leads the product's page on Amazon. You then add this link where you want on your blog/website. When a seller clicks that link on your website, it takes them to the product's page on Amazon. If they purchase the item, you will earn a commission, commonly referred to as referral fees.
It's a good way of earning on Amazon for blog/website owners who create great content and attract huge amounts of traffic.
