What is Amazon Associates?
Launched in 1996, Amazon Associates is one of the first online affiliate programs. It is one of the largest and most successful affiliate marketing programs in history.
First of all, joining is free and easy for anyone, including people who are focused on blogging and building an online audience with affiliated sites.
The process is easy and you don't need approval from a third party advertiser either.
Here is a screenshot of the simple enrollment process:
You can choose which Amazon products you want to link to. These products can be linked to blog posts and articles you write about or have expertise in.
By providing thoughtful reviews and creating links to Amazon products in your niche, you can make money when people buy products from your links.
When website visitors click on the link, they are redirected to the Amazon product page. If they make a purchase, the website owners receive a referral commission.
Fees may vary depending on the type of product you are advertising.
For example, the commission is 5% on digital music and videos, 7% on Echo and Fire TV, fashion, shoes, and jewelry, 8% for Kindle and Fire Tablet devices, furniture, home, and garden categories, and 10% on high-end beauty products.
Millions of products have similar classifications in their program.
Overall, this huge platform allows you to choose any product and provides you with unique, trackable links for each one.
How can I continue to make money with Amazon Associates after the pay cut?
The following Amazon product categories experienced payment discounts on April 21, 2020:
- Furniture, home improvement, lawn and garden, home, pet products, pantry: 3% (was 8%)
- Beauty products, headphones, musical instruments, commercial and industrial supplies: 3% (was 6%)
- Outdoor, tools: 3% (was 5.5%)
- Groceries: 1% (was 5%)
- Sports: 3% (was 4.5%)
- Baby products: 3% (previously 4.5%)
- Health and personal care: 1% (versus 4.5%)
- Amazon Fresh: 1% (was 3%)
If you're an affiliate that recommends products and generates sales in one of these categories, you should consider joining business affiliate programs directly.
For example, you can do a Google search like: “site:dickssportinggoods.com affiliate program” to see if Dick's Sporting Goods has an affiliate program that you can sign up for outside of Amazon.
If you can join the company's affiliate program outside of Amazon, you'll most likely have higher commission rates.
If you need ideas about other affiliate programs to join, check out my guide to 67 best affiliate programs.
How do I make money as an Amazon affiliate?
Anyone can make money using Amazon Associates. However, the affiliate marketing is a numbers game - you need a large number of followers and a good amount of traffic in order to convert enough visitors into buyers.
Here are a few tips to help you make money as an Amazon affiliate:
1. Select your niche.
Even with technical knowledge, one of the most important factors that will determine your success will be choosing a niche.
The task will be easier for you if you already manage a website or a blog. Naturally, the Amazon products you link to should be related to the topics you cover on your blog. If your site is already up and running, you can skip this step because you may already have a dedicated group of readers.
However, if you are starting a new blog, the task is more difficult.
First, you need to find a niche idea for your site.
So how do you choose a profitable and relevant niche?
Look for specialty products.
It is best to take advantage of highly specialized products.
Take shower gels as an example. While this market is experiencing intense competition with global leaders like Olay, Ouai, Sol De Janeiro, Dove, etc. - all competing for market share, the organic shower gel market has much more potential than that for regular shower gels.
The number of customers is low, and the demand is considerably lower. So this is a great topic for your website.
Knowledge of the audience.
There are numerous websites that provide relevant information about what is popular in the market.
Take the website of Quantcast, for example:
To use Quantcast, log in to the website and choose the “Top 100" option. The 100 most popular websites on the Internet will appear, regardless of the domain.
You can get an idea of where the wind is going from the first page. But it's further down, on the 2nd or 3rd page, that you really start to discover niches.
Here are some of the common niches you might find:
Travel, clothing, and health are all very popular, as you can see.
But these are all general categories. For affiliate marketing, you need to choose a more specific “niche.”
So none of these three categories will work unless you're interested in something smaller.
One way to do this is by doing research on platforms like Quora.
After a quick search on Quora with the keyword “travel,” you'll find that “travel tips” is one of the most used terms.
There you go! Now you have a slot!
But that's only half of the work done. The other half is coming: monetization.
Monetization potential.
At the end of the day, your goal is to make money through affiliate marketing. If the subject you choose isn't ideal for monetization, it's never going to work for you in the long run.
That's why it's critical to identify monetization potential.
One of the best ways to do this is to use Clickbank.
After signing in, click on the “Affiliate Market” option.
You'll find a multitude of pre-existing options to choose from:
You can choose from all of these categories. If you can't find your topic, you can type in the search bar and find it.
You'll find something like this:
If you are not familiar with Clickbank, you may be a bit confused.
To put it simply, each search here will give you products that you can sell for your niche.
This site also offers you a great way to filter your search and get the best results thanks to the “severity” option.
When you use the keywords “travel tips” and do a search, the results are pretty amazing!
It's a safe way to identify items that people are interested in, easy to monetize, and have potential.
This offers you perspective and can help you reach the right niches, instead of browsing the internet aimlessly.
If you don't want to follow all of these steps, you can also use tools like Moz that can help you identify the right niches based on keywords.
RECOMMENDED READING: Best alternatives to ClickBanks
2. Write product reviews.
It is not wrong to say that online reviews have the power to influence a buyer's decision.
In fact, 84% of customers trust peer product reviews as much personal recommendations only.
Product reviews are a great way to drive sales and earn commission in return.
Many affiliate marketers contact manufacturers and sellers and ask them directly for product characteristics. Once all the details are in hand, they write in-depth product reviews to encourage potential customers to head down the sales funnel.
The good news is that most shoppers seek reviews of tech products before making a purchase.
Thus, it can help you optimize the SEO of your site and achieve better rankings in search engines.
By implementing the appropriate evaluations, you can recover a percentage of this traffic, which will increase your visibility.
3. Create a product comparison grid.
Product comparison grids can put you in the spotlight, which is important in any affiliate marketing program. With posts like this, you compare the different characteristics of all the products in your niche.
The advantage is that it allows you to put all of your options on the table at the same time.
Here is a example of a product comparison grid :
So how do you make one?
Find the best products.
Finding the best products to compare is the first and one of the essential steps. You need to do market research and make sure that you are choosing the best products in your niche to compare them. Here is a great guide to help you get an idea of how to select the best products by a simple keyword search.
It's not possible to use all of the products yourself before choosing the best ones, so rely on accurate and reliable sources to form an opinion. However, don't just copy reviews entirely, as this can lead to problems later on.
Characteristics to compare.
A product can have dozens of characteristics depending on how you look at it. The question you need to ask yourself is: which ones are relevant to you?
Let's say the subject is safety razors. What characteristics would you take into account?
Here's an example from this niche site for safety razors:
Here, the reviewer mentions the price, size, type, and ranking of the different types of razors.
However, when you're an Amazon associate, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. Under the agreement with Amazon, you cannot display product prices or reviews from the Amazon website. It could even get you kicked out of the program.
Create the grid.
Now that you know which products to choose and which features to use, it's finally time to create the product comparison grid.
There are plenty of plugins available to help you get it done quickly.
Tablepress is one of them.
It is decidedly easy to use. Once you've used it a few times, you'll get the hang of it.
- First, gather all the data you need (preferably from the Amazon website) and export it to a spreadsheet or Tablepress.
- Manually insert your links
- If your account information is in a spreadsheet, export it in CSV format to Tablepress.
- Reorder rows and columns as needed.
- Omit columns and rows that Amazon doesn't allow, including price, reviews, size, and so on.
- Finally, optimize and customize the graph
And you will have your product comparison grid.
It can help you significantly increase traffic to your website and positively influence conversion rates.
4. Read Amazon's monthly list of best sellers.
In case you didn't know yet, Amazon regularly posts content about the top-selling products on its platform.
You can consult the Amazon monthly bestseller list here:
Why not take advantage of it? You are not violating any agreement by doing so.
Here's how you can make money using it:
- Go to the “amazon.com/bestsellers” page.
- Look at the top 10 products in your niche
- Be careful not to choose products from other niches, as this may harm your business prospects.
- Publish a monthly blog about bestsellers
- Be sure to update your website with the new best sellers list.
Visitors are likely to trust you more if you show them the top-selling products in their categories. This can boost your business in the long term and contribute to your affiliate marketing efforts.
5. Improve the layout of your website.
It's hard to hold a reader back for more than a few seconds. In this case, the visual appeal of websites also becomes essential.
Here's how you can improve the layout of your website:
Optimize your landing pages.
Always choose an attractive home page that includes visuals and videos. Also, adding an appealing header and an interesting slogan can do wonders.
You can also incorporate CTAs and insights into your blogs to further engage visitors. It will also help you increase your conversion rates.
Take the Uber landing page, for example:
The homepage is clean and has a clear CTA, which makes Uber stand out.
Visually engaging exam pages.
We talked about product comparison grids. Although they are beneficial, sometimes you need to support them with the visual appeal of the pages.
Take the example of popular assessment platforms like Capterra.
The Capterra cover page features appropriate fonts and colors, separates and color codes different product categories, and more.
Take a look at this Capterra review:
Here, the web page is well-designed and properly presents all the relevant details. It also has appropriate empty spaces and different categories so that users can easily navigate through the review.
The right kind of visual appeal can captivate customers and lead to higher conversion rates.
6. Create links to products in your content.
Linking products to your website or blog content is a great way to bridge the gap between marketing and sales.
If you don't include these links between your content, you're missing out on a great opportunity to redirect it to the right place. Naturally, this can cause you to lose potential customers.
Here's an example of how you can link products in your content:
Note that the author of the article created a link to the product page in the first paragraph. Additionally, product links are visible, making it even easier for your reader to access the product page.
Many prospects visit websites and blogs for the sole purpose of reading information on a topic that interests them and immediately consulting it through the link provided.
They don't always want to read the whole article. In that case, if they don't find what they're looking for in seconds, they're likely to leave.
Your website's bounce rate is a great indicator of the health of your site. If it is very high, you have problems.
That's why you need to give viewers what they're looking for right away.
7. Use YouTube.
The good news is that the Amazon Associates program allows you to place your links on your YouTube channel. This allows you to make money on YouTube using the Amazon affiliate program, even if you don't have a website.
And YouTube can help you reach a massive audience.
After all, the statistics say that over 1.3 billion people watch nearly 5 billion YouTube videos every day. Its scope may be the exposure you need.
Follow these steps to use Amazon Associates and YouTube in unison:
Create a YouTube account.
Joining YouTube is free and easy. You have access to the Creator Studio, where you can create and edit videos, provide descriptions, and more.
Video editing software.
You'll need to get video editing software to create high-quality videos. The software you use should match your level of expertise. Some of the best include Adobe Premiere Pro CC, Final Cut Pro X, and more.
To choose the best option, you can consult this list of some of the best video editing software. I reviewed these video editing tools based on a variety of factors including ease of use, editing features, file transfer options, and more.
Create videos that are relevant.
The key is to keep it simple and make videos that the audience can relate to. Don't create long, overloaded videos. Instead, get to the point quickly.
Even statistics suggest that short videos are the most successful on YouTube. For example, the average length Of the 10 best YouTube videos is usually 3 minutes.
Insert the Amazon Associate link.
Don't use the link in a way that is obvious to your audience. Instead, be a bit subtle. You can put the link in the description field or include it directly in the videos. The idea is to encourage them to click on links without being too obvious.
However, be sure to always include an affiliate statement to inform your users of the presence of affiliate links.
Here's an example of a YouTube video that has two affiliate links:
When you click on one of the links and make a purchase, you are taken to the main product page and the content creator receives the expected commission.
8. Do email marketing the right way.
When you sign up as an affiliate, you can't use email marketing directly to reach customers.
But you can run an email marketing campaign that directs targets to your website, containing affiliate links.
Here are a few steps:
Create a list of email addresses.
Try to convert as many visitors to your website into subscribers as possible. Statistically speaking, 80% of visitors will leave your site without subscribing to your blogs or newsletters.
So you have your work cut out for you.
Your goal is to get as many subscribers as possible and keep them coming back to your website. That's because the affiliate links to Amazon products are there.
Here are some of the ways you can refocus them:
- Boost engagement with your content and engage your subscribers.
- Give them something that they will appreciate. It could be a product description, a comparison grid, or something else.
- Reengage inactive subscribers and ensure they know the value of your offer.
- Conduct segmentation and targeting studies and send more personalized emails
Email types.
There are three main types of emails you can send: promotional emails, relationship emails, and transactional emails.
Since you can't directly promote Amazon products in your newsletters, promotional emails won't work here.
You also don't promise recipients things like gifts or vouchers. So relational emails are not an option either.
What you are looking for is a transactional email, in which you offer the best value in exchange for your subscribers to visit your website.
Here's how to get started.
Write catchy subject lines.
A catchy subject line is essential if you want to increase the open rate of your emails. On the one hand, the optimal length of a subject line should be between 41 and 50 words Anything that takes longer or shorter may not have the desired effect.
Essentially, you want subscribers to open your emails.
Here's an example of an eye-catching subject line:
Besides the optimal length, you should also be careful to choose a catchy title that will arouse their interest.
Personalize your emails.
Personalized emails generate 6 times higher transaction rates, but 70% of businesses don't use them.
Additionally, personalization helps you dramatically improve email open and click rates. That's why it makes sense to send personalized emails. There are numerous email marketing tools that can help you automate the entire process, including Mailchimp, GetResponse, MailerLite, etc.
Leveraging data analysis
Understanding the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign, what you are doing well, and what is wrong are important things to know going forward.
Additionally, details like CTR, open rates, mail transfer rates, and unsubscribe rates provide critical information that can help improve your business.
You can use analysis tools like Google Analytics to generate actionable information and improve traffic to your site.
Proper execution of these steps can help you divert more and more traffic to your website, which will ultimately result in more clicks on your Amazon Associate link.
9. Use native shopping ads.
As an affiliate, you can use native ads wisely to increase your CTR and conversion rates.
Native Shopping Ads provide dynamic product recommendations with responsive advertising units
You can place ads within or at the end of your content to create better buying opportunities.
Here is an example:
The process is fairly simple: Let's say you have a visitor called James. James visits your website and clicks on the native soccer shoe ad at the end of the website, and he buys a $200 shoe.
If the commission on the shoe is 5%, you earn $10 sitting at home. The good news is that even if James buys something else unrelated to soccer, you still earn the commission.
The concept is the same as for your affiliate link.
So how do you set it up?
Here's how:
Visit the Amazon page here and click on “Create an advertising code.”
You can choose between three types of ads:
- Recommendation
- Research
- Personalized
For this example, let's take a look at referral ads.
Now you need to select the category in which you want to show ads. If you already have a website, it makes sense for ads to be about the same topic.
Scroll through the list after selecting ad categories.
Here, you'll find plenty of options to choose from:
All you have to do is copy and paste the advertising codes on your blog.
The task becomes much easier if you use a plugin. If you are working on a WordPress website, you can use Ad Inserter to integrate ads.
The ads will appear once you have completed all the steps correctly.
You can check out this detailed step-by-step guide that can help you insert Amazon Native Shopping ads.
10. Know some basic notions of HTML.
Having a blog or a website doesn't mean you know how to code. However, if you want to optimize your website and reduce your operating costs, a bit of technical knowledge does not hurt.
Learning basic HTML can help you with simple tasks like creating hyperlinks, inserting text and images, and basic formatting.
A link or a hyperlink allows two web resources to be connected transparently. The link can be text, an image, or a combination of both.
La basic syntax is as follows:
<a href=”url“>Link text</a>
Here, the part between the tags <a>and</a> is part of the link. You can change it according to your needs and with the combination you want.
Here are a few examples:
You don't have to be a pro - you just need to have some practical knowledge so you don't need someone else to do it for you.
It can help you improve your user interface from time to time and make it more visually appealing, which can actually help increase CTR and conversion rates.
Amazon makes it easy for you by giving you the exact links to place in your content.
How do I use an Amazon affiliate link?
It's easy to use the Amazon affiliate program and enter your links.
Here are a few key steps to take:
1. Create your Amazon Associates account
The first thing you need to do is create your own Amazon Associates account. The registration process is simple and completely free.
All you have to do is go to the Amazon Associates home page and click on the “Join us for free” option.
2. Create partnering relationships with Amazon.
Go to Associates Central Under the “Product Linking” tab, you can create a link to any specific Amazon product page that you want. You can also insert the link in your website's text editor.
There are two ways to create the product link:
- You can enter a search term from the available items.
- You can also enter the “Amazon Standard Identification Number,” also known as ASIN, for the product in the search field.
Then, click on the “Go” option to get to a specific result. You can also click on “Get Link” for more options.
It is possible to customize the link according to your needs. With the “Text and Image” option, the link displays a small product box with a product image and a CTA button, displayed in your front-end.
If you only want a text link, click on the “Text only” option. On the other hand, if you want an image link, click on the “Image only” option.
3. Use SiteStripe
If you don't want to bother creating a link from scratch, you can use the SiteStripe feature. La Amazon SiteStripe function allows you to create links directly from Amazon.com.
You will encounter this toolbar as soon as you enter the Amazon store page as a program participant. Then, all you need to do is create a simple HTML code and paste it onto your website.
You also have the option to select specific codes if you need a text link, an image link, or a link with both text and an image.
Basically, SiteStripe provides you with a shortcut that allows you to create the links directly on the store page. You can also send them to your social media pages to share and tweet without having to visit Associates Central at all.
Here are the processes for building all types of likes with SiteStripe:
Text links.
You can use this tool to create an automatically tagged link for a text link on any store page. You can click on the “Text” icon to automatically include a tracking ID in the link, which acts as your store ID.
If you have multiple tracking IDs, make a selection using a dropdown menu. You can also use the text link overview to determine whether you want to use the partner's full link or a short link.
The options for creating a text link vary depending on whether you are on an Amazon product page or on an Amazon product page. For a text link to a product, you must already be on the corresponding product page. You can place the created link directly in the text editor of your website.
Image links.
You can create an image link directly from the product page by clicking on “Image” and choosing the correct size. The toolbar will automatically include the latest Tracking ID, or you can select a different Tracking ID from the dropdown menu.
Text links + image.
You can easily create an HTML code for a link box with a product name, the corresponding product image, and the current price. All you need to do is click on the “Text+Image” option.
The text and image link will also include the Amazon logo and a “Buy” button. As in the previous cases, the last Tracking ID used is automatically inserted into the link. You can click on the dropdown menu to select a different Tracking ID if you wish.
Can you share Amazon affiliate links on social media?
You can either post directly or enrich it with a text message on your end. However, the only social sharing options you have are Facebook and Twitter.
4. Use widgets.
Widgets are a critical part of the visual appeal you want to create. You can create and customize widgets to suit your needs in Associate Central by clicking on the “Widgets” option.
You can use “your choices” to highlight your favorite products on your website. Additionally, you can use the “Search” widget and allow visitors to your site to search for products on Amazon directly. Simply place the link in your website's text editor to add this functionality.
Can you use Amazon to work from home?
Being an affiliate marketer allows you to work from home.
But affiliate marketing isn't the only way to Make money with Amazon. There are a multitude of other ways you can make money from home.
Look at this:
1. Customer service.
Available in many states in the US, it's a simple way to make money. To be eligible, you must have a high school diploma, one year of work experience in customer service, an Internet connection at home, and a good command of English.
Your job will be to answer critical customer questions and solve simple problems. At $15 per hour, for a total weekly job of approximately 30 hours, you can earn $450 per week.
2. Amazon FBA.
If you haven't heard of theFulfilment by Amazon (FBA) business, you don't know what it is.
Thousands and thousands of people use it all over the world to make money. You can sign up for $39.99 per month, plus referral fees. In this sector, all you need is a keen eye and a gift to identify products that have high sales potential.
Here's how the entire Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) process works:
You need to find products that can have a high online sales volume, and offer them to Amazon. They'll take care of the packaging, storage, shipping, and the final purchase—and you'll earn a decent commission. In some cases, you can ship the products yourself.
3. Amazon Mechanical Turk
Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is a crowdsourcing marketplace that allows businesses and individuals to outsource jobs and processes to a distributed workforce to perform virtual tasks.
This can range from running simple codes to data mining, moderating content and conducting surveys.
All you need to do is create a worker account and start working on assignments. The amount of payment depends on who assigns the tasks.
Even if you won't make a lot of money, it will definitely come in handy as extra income.
This opportunity is also open to non-US residents.
4. Sale by Amazon.
If you have an eye for art and design and are looking to earn passive income, then Merch by Amazon might be perfect for you.
All you need to do is upload your T-shirt design, choose the color and type of product, and set a price for your work.
Amazon takes care of the rest, including printing the T-shirts with your design, packaging, shipping, and sales. You'll get a commission every time a T-shirt is sold.
5. Publish an e-book.
If you have a passion for writing and have the required skills, you should definitely find out.
With Amazon, you can publish your own paperbacks and e-books.
You can easily earn 60 to 65% royalties on your books, set your price, and have exclusive publishing rights.
The specific advantage of e-books is that they are delivered directly to Amazon Kindle, allowing you to reach thousands of people around the world. Not only do you earn money, but you also build your image and identity.
6. Amazon Vine.
Amazon Vine allows you to get free gifts in exchange for unbiased Amazon product reviews.
Amazon invites customers to become Vine Voices based on their review rankings. This ranking is a reflection of the quality of the reviews and how useful they are for Amazon customers.
That means you can't just decide to sign up. But if you participate regularly and provide very objective reviews, Amazon could choose you.
Summary.
The Amazon affiliate program remains one of the most popular programs.
However, it does have flaws — low payment rates and short cookie windows make it harder to win compared to other programs on the market.
However, if you're a blogger or YouTuber with a big following and you recommend high-priced physical products that sell well on Amazon, you can make this work for you.
It's also a good solution if you want to work online and earn a small extra income while working full-time.
Amazon Associates is open to anyone in the world, making it a platform accessible to anyone on Earth.
While there are a lot of restrictions on how an associate can market affiliate links and increase conversion rates, you benefit from Amazon brand recognition and brand safety.
Another advantage is that Amazon ensures reliable and timely payments - they are certainly not about to run out of money. You can also choose an endless amount of products to promote, as Amazon has a wide range of products to choose from.
