With inflation rates rising globally, the safest way to become financially secure is by adopting multiple income streams. Thankfully, the internet provides a vast market for online businesses like the Amazon affiliate program which also serves as a viable passive income stream.
Regarding affiliate marketing, Amazon associates stand out for many reasons. In fact, those who have gotten it right, have made a fortune from the Amazon affiliate program in 2022.
What is Amazon Associates?
Amazon is currently the largest online market where goods and services are sold. Currently, there are more than 12 million products on sale on the platform. These products are sold on an hourly basis totalling an estimated $17m per hour and a projected revenue of about 400 billion per annum.
Regardless, Amazon is not just amassing money from sales for itself. With more than 900,000 members, up to 45% of the site’s market share goes to affiliate marketers.
Meanwhile, Amazon Associates is the company’s affiliate marketing program. Bloggers, content creators and online marketers earn a commission from the sale of Amazon products through their sites.
A link is given to affiliate marketers who sign up for the program for free. The link is placed
within content and visitors click on it to make purchases after they are redirected.
Amazon’s affiliate program is very lucrative for publishers, social media influencers and content creators. Given the variety of products on the platform, both new and old affiliate marketers thrive in the business.
How Amazon Associates Work
Amazon Affiliate program is about the promotion and sales of goods and services via websites or social media platforms. Bloggers or content creators who sign up for the program are given a link to display on their platform. The link contains a unique Amazon product.
Affiliate marketers earn a commission when visitors to their site click on the links to make
purchases. The commission depends on the percentage tag on the product or product type. In addition, marketers only earn a commission if purchases are made within 24 hours when their links are clicked.
When a customer clicks on your link, they may visit Amazon, add an item to their shopping cart, and then leave without making a purchase. You will still receive a referral fee if the order remains in their cart after it expires (usually after 90 days). The reward will be credited to your account only after the buyer purchases the item, accepts delivery, and fully pays Amazon.
Amazon Associates Earnings
The number of visitors on your site, the quality of your content and sometimes your online
marketing activities will determine your earning power. According to research, affiliate
marketers on this platform earn $55,434 per annum on average. However, there are those who earn way less than $20,000 while others ramp up millions of dollars in a year.
Do not expect to earn as much as a super affiliate if you are just starting out. Starters who are determined can work their way up the ladder of earners. It takes time and effort to grow your earnings as an affiliate marketer on Amazon.
The best way to grow your earnings is to learn about the products with the highest commission and promote such. However, it is not just your commission rate that determines your income but your rate of conversion.
Conversion rate means the number of visitors who buys a product after clicking on an affiliate link.
Who qualifies to be an Amazon Affiliate?
Amazon Associate affiliate program is open to everybody who is interested in making money.
Registration is free of charge. Those who are interested are required to sign up and if they meet the requirements, they are given the affiliate links to start promoting products.
However, you can only become a successful affiliate marketer if you have a platform. The
platforms are as follows:
Website
One of the best ways to advertise products is through websites. Amazon only approves websites with unique and up-to-date content. Your last content must not be more than two months old. In addition, content must not
- Infringe upon the rights to intellectual property.
- Contain sexually explicit content.
- Display discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, and age.
- Incite violence or criminal activity.
Apps
It is also possible to sell goods and services via mobile apps. If your app meets the requirement of Amazon, they will allow you to sell their products using the app. The criteria for apps include:
- Be freely accessible on the Amazon, Apple, and Google Play stores.
- Contain unique content.
- Different from Amazon’s shopping app.
- Lack of price tracking capabilities.
Social media
Instead of whiling away your time on social media, you can make money through the platforms especially if you have many followers.
Amazon’s products can be advertised on the platforms below.
- Facebook (must be a business or a public group page)
- YouTube
- TikTok
- Twitch.tv
Application Process for Amazon Affiliate Program
To get an associate account as an affiliate marketer on Amazon, you need to follow a step-by-step procedure.
Go to Amazon Associates
Get on the website, go to Amazon Associates and click sign up. You can log in if you already have an account.
Fill out your account details
Information required includes name, address, email address and contact information.
Enter the URL(s) of your website(s), social media channels, and apps
On Amazon, publishers are allowed to sign up with multiple websites or mobile apps.
Choose a store ID
Your ID store is also the name of your website.
Describe how you get people to visit your site
This involves explaining your source of traffic. You have to show your traffic is organic and
your link-building effort.
Decide on a payment
Specify your tax ID and payment information. Later on, you can add more payment information. Go back to your dashboard and input the 4-digit PIN provided by Amazon.
That’s it. You now only need to wait for Amazon to approve your application. If your website satisfies the criteria and you correctly complete all essential fields, you should soon be admitted into the program.
You’ll have access to your Amazon Associates page once you’ve been accepted. You’ll have
access to more details via the dashboard, like monthly summaries and commission overviews.
Now you may start creating affiliate links
You need to go through the registration process for each Amazon region separately if you want to apply to more than one of them. For example, you must sign up for the Amazon Associates program on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk, respectively, in order to advertise products on Amazon.com in the United States and the United Kingdom.
How To Create Amazon Affiliate Links
Amazon has a strict policy that guides the placement of their link. They provide affiliates with a product linking tool that guides them.
Product Link Tool
Used to create images and texts using the tool.
- On your Associates Central dashboard, select the Product Linking tab.
- Pick “Product Links” from the drop-down menu.
- Assign an ASID to each item (Amazon Standard Identification Number).
- To obtain a fresh affiliate link, click the “Go” button.
- To generate an image-only URL and access more options, click “Get a link.”
Banner Creation Tool
The banner creation Tool is used for making unique banners that are used to promote Amazon products.
- Launch the drop-down menu for Product Linking.
- Select “Banner Creation Tool” from the menu.
- Choose from a wide variety of banners that are arranged by size and genre.
Site Stripe
The Site Stripe is thought to be the most user-friendly by Amazon affiliate marketers. This is because it enables affiliates to build links from an Amazon page directly.
- Go to Associates Central.
- Select “Site Stripe” in the Tools menu.
- Before selecting the “Learn More” option to open the display settings box, read the brief
description. - Turn the knob to “Enable.”
A specific FAQ page on link building is provided by Amazon. Once you have the photos and
affiliate links, you may use them in your marketing campaigns.
Amazon Associates Guidelines
Amazon has strict rules/policies for affiliate marketers which must be followed. The guidelines are divided into six groups. Chances are that you will be kicked out of the program if you violate any of the policies.
Although, the policies are so many, below are the most important policies to keep in mind.
Make three sales in six months to avoid account deactivation
If your website isn’t getting steady organic traffic, it might be a waste of time to apply for this program. You can only generate sales if you have steady traffic.
It is also against the policies to make personal sales using your own affiliate link in order to
avoid deactivation. In the event of rejection after the application, you can reapply in the future.
Put a prominent Amazon affiliate disclosure
As an affiliate of Amazon, you are required to declare your partnership on your website.
Amazon Associates requires their affiliates to disclose the partnership on their websites. These disclosures are required by the Federal Trade Commission. Thus, it’s essential to provide a disclaimer. Make sure it is simple to read and comprehend. Amazon accepts the following straightforward clause as a disclaimer to make things even simpler for associates: “I make money from eligible purchases as an Amazon Associate.”
Avoid masking Amazon affiliate links
One of the reasons why a lot of people sign up to become Amazon affiliates is because they
value transparency. You do not have to use a URL shortener because of readability. Ensure you disable cloaking if you use an affiliate plugin to inject affiliate links.
Stay clear from pricing promotional products
Amazon prohibits specific pricing on products that are promotional. Since prices fluctuate
frequently, it seems sensible that the online shop doesn’t want its affiliates to unintentionally disseminate misleading information.
There is a workaround for this rule—use a price reference. Use $, $$, and $$$, respectively, for inexpensive items, medium-priced items, and pricey ones. The use of the Amazon Associates
API, which updates the price in real-time whenever it changes on Amazon, is another good
solution.
Avoid self-hosting product images downloaded from Amazon
You cannot host a product image that you have downloaded directly from Amazon on your
server. However, as long as the image loads from Amazon’s servers, you can use the image on your marketing platforms if you create an image and link straight from the site or use the API.
Although you are allowed to use your own photos, you are not permitted to directly connect to them using an affiliate link. Instead, place a customized button next to the picture that contains your Amazon affiliate link.
Use caution when including affiliate links
Amazon prohibits using its affiliate links on certain promotional materials such as offline
marketing supplies, emails, eBooks, PDFs, and private Facebook groups.
Practical Ways to Improve Your Amazon Affiliate Program
My favourite part of affiliate marketing is cashing out commissions. With the Amazon Affiliate program, you can easily monetize your website or blog by creating the right amount of traffic on your site. All you need to do is sign up for the Amazon Affiliate program for free and insert Amazon affiliate links on your site.
The heavy-lifting part of Amazon affiliate marketing is creating traffic on your site that will
prompt people to click on the Amazon sites and purchase stuff. Of course, the more followers you get, the more people are swayed to click your Amazon site infusion and purchase. So the big question now is how to keep people glued to your site and eager to buy Amazon products from your site.
Take a look at practical ways to improve your commission with the Amazon affiliate program.
Pick a niche you are passionate about
Your success as an Amazon Associate is tied to the speciality you choose. As a new affiliate, it will be super easy to talk about things you are passionate about on your website or blog.
However, before the commission motivates you, your passion will have to fill in the gap and
keep you writing or engaging your website until you get the influx of followers. Also, your
fervour about a niche will draw people that share a like-mind with you. Finally, your passion
for a niche is necessary because the product link will be related to your niche.
Give reliable product reviews
You should build a reputation for giving credible reviews to your followers. Imagine having the site people visit to make final decisions about purchasing a product. It is convenient for your followers to be convinced about a product, and before they get carried away or change their minds, they have a link that takes them directly to the product. Writing a product review is a great way to boost your Amazon affiliate program.
Consistency in content delivery
Readers will come to your site or blog because you have information and content that captivates your readers’ minds. So, you should put creative content and be very consistent. The traffic you create on your site brings you, regular potential buyers. You must resist the urge to sacrifice quality content for quantity because you will lose readers if you put up shabby content. Whether you’re writing about trends, politics, showbiz or education, make sure your content is relevant, credible and effective. If you’re posting once or twice a month, be consistent.
