The majority of Affiliate Marketers have at some point in their online endeavours have either sold on Amazon or have at least contemplated selling on Amazon as an Affiliate. In this post we are going to look at what it means to be an Amazon Affiliate marketer or as an Associate as Amazon prefer to call it.
I recently recorded a series of tutorial style videos on Affiliate Marketing for the “Newbie Affiliate Marketer”. The 13th and final video in the series was all about promoting on Amazon and Niche research for Amazon products. If you want to see the video, you can watch it on Youtube. Here is the link – Promote On Amazon
The Amazon affiliate program, also called “Amazon Associates” can be an easy way to monetize your website or blog. Simply sign up, receive immediate approval, and place Amazon affiliate links on your site today.
When someone makes an Amazon purchase via one of your links, you get the 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. Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, starting your own business, or just looking for a small business side hustle, we hope you’ll find this post a helpful place to start.
Everything You Need to Know About the Amazon Affiliate Program
With Amazon’s affiliate program, also known as Amazon Associates Program, you can monetize your online presence and earn a regular income. It’s not as easy as it sounds though. There’s plenty you’ll have to do in order to be a successful Amazon affiliate.
Let’s have a closer look at the details to understand the program and learn how you can become an Amazon associate.
What is the Amazon Associates Program?
Like any other affiliate program, the idea behind the program is simple. Affiliate marketing programs are arrangements where an online merchant pays an affiliate for online traffic or sales, depending on the agreement. In the case of Amazon affiliate marketing, associates are paid when a referred user purchases a product from the ecommerce giant within 24 hours. This is a win-win situation for everyone involved.
Sellers benefit from the additional sales and visibility, while affiliates get an additional income. Returns for affiliates are based on performance under the pay-per-sale model. Therefore, it is also in their best interest to optimize their website and content to drive sales.
So, if you’re a seller apprehensive about affiliate marketing, you can be assured that it works! For affiliates, this is a great way to profit from the burgeoning online retail marketplace. Amazon accounts for more than 40% of all online purchases, so the retail giant is a perfect partner. All that’s left is for you to master Amazon affiliate marketing.
Amazon Affiliate Program Rules and Requirements:
Being an Amazon Associate is a great way to monetize passion projects or make supplementary income from your brand. However, Amazon has guidelines for associates to follow, so it’s best to understand those before you dive in. Noncompliance may result in being banned from the program.
The majority of the rules are in place for ethical promotion as well as preventing associates from gaming the system. Here are some of the big ones to keep in mind:
- You must disclose on your site or in your communication that you may be
eligible to earn from your recommendations. - You must not make false or deceptive claims in your recommendations.
- Avoid referring to prices (with some exceptions) since prices frequently change.
- Do not use Amazon affiliate links in offline promotions, eBooks, or email.
- Do not use link shorteners on affiliate links.
Why you should become an Affiliate Marketer for Amazon?
Everybody loves an additional income. That is a no-brainer. Amazon’s affiliate program is better than most though. Here are some reasons you should sign up to become an Amazon associate.
- It’s easy to start: All you need to do is sign up. Amazon might take a while to approve your registration. However, once you’re an Amazon associate, you can jump right in and start sharing affiliate links.
- Amazon is a trusted brand: Amazon is the biggest online retail platform in the world. It is a trusted and well-known brand. Your website users/visitors will know exactly what your affiliate link redirects to, and will not be hesitant to click that button. Credibility counts for a lot online!
- Choices, choices, and more choices: You’ll never have to worry about what you want to advertise. There are over 120 million products being sold on Amazon, so you’ll never have trouble finding the right product to advertise on your platform. Products are not the only things you can advertise as an affiliate, so you’re spoiled for choice. We’ll look into your options as an affiliate later.
- 24 hours of profit: Remember when I said associates get paid for every product purchased by a consumer within 24 hours of clicking the affiliate link? Well, that is a good deal. What does this mean? If a consumer clicks your affiliate link for a moisturizer and purchases that product, you get a percentage of the sale.
Great so far? It gets better. You get a cut for every other product that customer purchases within 24 hours of clicking your link. Did they buy some batteries? You get a percentage of that sale too. Maybe a toothbrush? That’s right, you’re getting paid!
How to earn money as an Amazon Affiliate?
There is a lot of work that goes into creating a successful affiliate partnership with Amazon. Don’t forget that getting paid depends on conversions. You don’t get paid just for clicks. So, if you’re serious about being an Amazon associate, you need to be smart about promoting Amazon and relevant product listings.
The first thing you need to ensure is that your content or websites follow Amazon’s strict guidelines. This is a long list, so it is suggest you read it thoroughly to make sure you don’t miss key details. Once you make sure you are compliant with all of Amazon’s guidelines and policies, it is time for you to start optimizing your content.
Find your niche.
It’s important to find a niche you are comfortable writing or creating content about. Once you find a niche for which you can regularly create content, you need to find products and product categories that align with your interests.
Know nothing about home decor? You’re going to burn out and end up creating uninteresting content if you decide to pivot your website around the topic.
Love video games? Write about them. Make sure you create affiliate links for products related to gaming like consoles or physical copies of video games.
Many affiliates tend to create review-focused content so as to promote products directly on their platforms. While you don’t necessarily have to follow the beaten path, it’s always good to keep an open mind about how you want to kick start your affiliate journey.
Keep creating content regularly. To be a successful Amazon affiliate marketer, you need to create a large
following that always comes back for more content. The only way to keep people coming back is to keep up with that demand. This is why you need to put up new content regularly.
Innovate with different mediums.
Keep innovating with different types of content to attract a new audience. Whether it is blogging, video content, or even listicles, the key is to make sure your content never gets stale. If you’re a blogger, you could try out a new video format to review Amazon products. Don’t forget, an Amazon affiliate is always trying to make a sale. There’s plenty you can do to endorse a product in an engaging fashion. Just don’t keep doing the same thing forever.
Keyword research.
Every search engine depends on keywords to provide users with the most relevant search results. The first thing you need to do after finding your niche is finding your target keywords. Even if you have a large following already, it is never too late to expand your influence. You can use tools like Google Keyword Planner or Ahrefs to find suitable keywords for your website or blog. Are your eviewing a specific product? Use product-related long-tail keywords or the exact keyword in your URL to make sure customers knock at your doorstep for
information about the product. For all things related to Amazon keyword research, you can sign-up to SellerApp. The platform combines actionable-data from Amazon and expertise to provide sellers with the best keywords for their listings.
The Step-by-Step Guide on How to Use Amazon Affiliate Marketing.
We’ve spoken about the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to Amazon affiliate marketing. Now let’s look into how you can become an Amazon affiliate. It’s a simple process that begins by going to the Amazon associates webpage. This is the process after you hit the ‘Sign up’ button:
1. Enter your account information. This is straightforward and you’ll have to enter your information, including name, address, and phone number.
2. After you’ve submitted your account information, you will be directed to list the websites or mobile apps where you plan to advertise for Amazon. You can enter up to 50 websites and mobile app URLs in total.
3. Once you’ve added all your potential affiliate websites, you need to provide more information about them. You also need to create an associate store ID (usually the name of your website) and highlight what kind of products you plan to advertise or promote.
4. Now you need to convince Amazon that you can bring in the sales. Describe how you drive traffic to your websites, how you use your online assets to generate income, and how you usually build links. You also need to tell Amazon your monthly traffic.
5. Once you’ve entered all the necessary details, wait for an automated call from Amazon. You’ll receive a 4-digit PIN that you need to enter to verify the information you’ve provided so far. All that’s left after this is to read the ‘Terms and Conditions’ and click on ‘Finish’.
Once you’ve submitted the application, you will receive a unique Associates ID. Make . Make a note of the number, because you will need to use it later to verify your account. It’ll usually take 1 to 3 days to get news from Amazon on whether you’ve been approved to become an associate.
Once you become an Amazon associate, you have 180 days to make a sale. If no one purchases a product from your affiliate link for 180 days, your account will be closed. This is why you need to have a plan when applying to become an Amazon associate. Don’t worry, even if your account is closed, you can apply again to become an Amazon affiliate.
Amazon affiliate eligibility guidelines.
Amazon has strict policies on where its services and products can be advertised. Websites or platforms that do not qualify to be affiliates are referred to as ‘unsuitable’ sites. If you are planning to become an Amazon affiliate, you need to make sure that your platform or website DOES NOT:
1. promote or contain sexually explicit or obscene materials
2. promote violence or contain violent materials
3. promote or contain false, deceptive, or defamatory materials
4. promote or contain content that is hateful, harassing, harmful, invasive of
another’s privacy, abusive, or in any way discriminatory
5. promote or are involved in illegal activities
6. violate any intellectual property rights
Additionally, your websites and content should not be directed toward children. It should not collect or disclose information about children under 13 years of age (in the US.) It should be compliant with all local child protection laws.
If you follow these guidelines you should stay clear of the Amazon “police”.
