I know you have heard the term affiliate marketing and jumped right here to know, how you can make money with amazon associates.
You are at the right place. In this post, you will understand all the in’s and out’s of affiliate marketing with amazon associates.
Amazon is the largest e-commerce store with millions of products and offers. 89% of the users agree are like to buy products from Amazon than other e-commerce sites.
Why Choose Amazon Associates?
Amazon has more than 12 million products listed on its website and it is one of the most popular and trusted e-commerce websites.
It is suitable for almost every niche who are looking to start their blog. To get into Amazon Associates with no previous experience and a huge audience to get approved. It is suitable for every affiliate marketer who is just starting out.
Popular Amazon Associates Niches
- Electronics
- Home Decor
- Fashion/Beauty
- Home Appliances
These are some of the most popular niches and most competitive ones which are promoted aggressively by other affiliate marketers. Not only these but also some other niches which do really well on Amazon.
Cookie Period
Amazon has 2 kinds of cookie periods which basically means when someone clicks on your amazon link a cookie is saved in your browser
- 24 hour cookie period means if someone clicks on your link and buys within the 24 hour period you get paid.
- 90 day cookie period is when someone clicks and adds the product to cart, so when the user buys within the next 90 day you get a commission.
Not only you get paid for a product you are promoting if someone buys multiple products after clicking on the link you get paid for all the products.
Amazon is pretty good at upselling products in bundles so you can expect to see commissions from multiple products.
- Debbie Carter from TheFlooringGirl.com makes $20,000 per month in passive income with amazon associates.
International Markets
Amazon is now available in almost 17 countries and with the help of OneLink, you can direct users to their local amazon markets.
Right now you can only link to 7 different countries with OneLink. Amazon is trying to expand it to all the available markets.
Commission Rates
Amazon keeps changing the commission rates on all categories. These are the list of commission rates for 2020.
Not only you get paid to promote the products there is also a Bounty Program for Amazon Prime Membership, Audile Membership, and other amazon services.
For a full list of commission rates & bounty, events click here
Requirements to Join Amazon Associates
Beginners who are just starting out with blogging and affiliate marketing can easily apply for amazon associates.
You need to have a blog or a youtube channel to get approved with amazon associates
I recommend you to start your blog because you can make money passively over time with a blog and become a full-time blogger.
Before you apply for the associate’s program pre-fill your blog with 10-15 blog posts so that your application is approved easily.
Things to remember
Due to many no. of associates using black hat techniques to drive traffic to their affiliate links Amazon has become strict with their policies and started to ban accounts.
I will list out some out the things that you shouldn’t do with your amazon associates links.
- Using links in the e-mail newsletters.
- Using URL shortener services.
- Encouraging your family or friends to buy from your link.
- Having more than one affiliate account.
- Using reviews from the Amazon website on your blog.
- Cookie Stuffing using plugins or redirects.
- Paying for traffic from Google Adwords on branded keywords.
Amazon will be constantly reviewing our blogs and traffic to links. If they find any misleading activity with their links your account will be banned for not following all the policies.
Sometimes you can appeal to get back your account by replying to the email received from Amazon.
FTC Disclosure
Because of the recent Federal Trade Commission(FTC) statement, Amazon has made it mandatory to disclose a disclaimer saying as an amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases from the links on the website/blog.
Check out the Associate’s Program Operating Agreement in Section 5 which clearly says
Affiliate Disclosure Placement
It is recommended to place the affiliate disclosure right after the title or before the title of the page and also in the footer of your website.
Any other places like sidebar, below the post, or any other places in not a good practice by the FTC guidelines.
Also, link out to your full affiliate disclaimer page from the post. This can be either above or below the post title.
How to Put a Disclosure on Every Page?
If you are already having a blog with more than 20 posts it is difficult to add it on every blog post.
Instead, use a plugin called WP Affiliate Disclosure this helps to insert disclosure statements on all of your previous posts and also on the new posts.
How to Sign Up for Amazon Associates?
After you have finished setting up your blog or YouTube and written or created at least 10 blog posts or videos you can now apply for Amazon Associates.
As a beginner blogger, your application might be rejected because of lack of content So I recommended creating at least 10-15 pieces of content.
It is best to have a blog to promote products from amazon and high chances of getting approved instantly. So I recommend you to start your own blog.
Related Posts: Ultimate Guide to Start Your Own Blog and Make Money Online
Click here to apply for Amazon Associates
Once your Amazon associates account is approved you will get access to the dashboard and SiteStripe which allows you to create your affiliate link to any product.
Making Money with Amazon Associate Links
Once everything is setup now its time to use your affiliate links to start making money from amazon associates.
You just can’t post your affiliate links everywhere and expect someone would buy from the links.
Did you buy something just like that?
Just because there is a link to Amazon doesn’t mean someone is going to buy from it.
You need to give a purpose and provide value to drive the user curiosity to click on your affiliate link and buy from it.
Useful Tips to Promote Amazon Products
• Provide Solution:
People mostly come on the internet to find a solution to their problems. Provide solutions for people who are searching for problems.
How-to articles and guides help to drive visitors to your blog posts.
Ex: If someone is looking to buy a “New laptop under $1000“. I write a blog post on “Best Laptops under $1000 to buy in 2020” and link out to the laptops under $1000 on amazon.
Below is the example from cnet.com where they link out to their amazon associate links by providing a solution.
• Reviews:
You can also review a product and link to the product on amazon. This works both with Blog and a Youtube Channel.
If you are looking to start your own blog make sure to check out How To Start Your Own WordPress Blog.
But remember do not copy reviews from amazon as it is a violation of affiliate policy which results in termination of your account.
• Roundups:
Round up posts drive more traffic and sales according to top bloggers and mostly on Pinterest, you can see pins that have numbers on it.
Ex: “Top 10 Fishing Rods” or “10 Mother’s day gift ideas”
Conclusion
You need to drive traffic to your Amazon Niche site in order to generate commissions. You can focus on building your SEO or growing your Pinterest, focus on a single platform, and start driving traffic.
Be consistent and post new articles every week. If you are not good at writing reviews & articles you can always hire writers on Fiverr. You can get the best ghostwriters from Fiverr.
Got questions? Let me know in the comments below.
