For the past few years, there has been an upsurge in the popularity of affiliate marketing, an easy, convenient and effective way of making money. And the Amazon affiliate program is a must-try service with a lot of benefits as well as space for growth. This article will provide you a holistic overview of being an Amazon affiliate: what, why and how.
1. What is an Amazon affiliate?
1.1 Affiliate marketing
According to Investopedia, affiliate marketing is an advertising model in which a company pays money for third party publishers to increase traffic and lead to the companys’ products and services. The third party publishers are affiliates, and the commission fee they get is the compensation to encourage them to find new ways to promote the company.
Affiliate marketing is a rising trend with an estimated 80% brands using this method, 94% of publishers use multiple affiliate marketing networks, it also accounts for more than 15% of digital media revenues.
1.2 Amazon affiliate
In the Amazon affiliate program, website owners will create unique product links and promote them on their website in order to get commissions when customers click to the links and buy products on the Amazon platform.
This is an effective way of not only making more earning but also building your personal brand as you can recommend your customers to a reliable site where they can immediately purchase the products you are advertising. With a small link and you can get a 10% referral fee, the Amazon affiliate program offers you another great chance to make more money by taking advantage of your existing followers.
1.3 How does this program work?
So how does the Amazon affiliate program work?
Firstly, you need to create an Amazon affiliate account on the platform.
Once you are approved to be an associate of this affiliate program, you are allowed to create affiliate links in your Amazon portal.
Choose suitable products and services and then place the links in your blog posts or other parts of your website.
It is of critical importance to find creative ways of promotion in order to make your followers more likely to click on the link and purchase the product.
When someone decides to make the transaction, you can earn your referral fee.
So let’s understand more about what you may gain and lose when you become an Amazon affiliate in order to make informed choices.
2. Pros and cons of the Amazon affiliate program
2.1 Pros Amazon Affiliate Program
2.1.1 A well-reputed brands
There is no doubt about the popularity and trustworthiness of Amazon, a global well-reputed brand being one of the fastest growing companies in the world.
The diversity of product range, high quality customer service, robust delivery time, all of these contribute to the rising reputation of Amazon. Not only its ecommerce business but the Amazon affiliate also experiences an upsurge in users, which indicates a worthy investment of your time.
Trust is one of the most difficult things to gain when it comes to online purchase, however, Amazon can handle this part for you, it mainly depends on your promotion method to get a high conversion rate.
2.1.2 A wide variety of products
With the aim of being all things to all people, Amazon has owned an unbelievable catalog of more than 12 million products and services, which paves the way for the rise of Amazon affiliate marketing. Whatever themes and topics of your website/channel are, you can easily find the compatible products to promote.
Especially when you want to target a niche market, Amazon has the capacity to support your business to the fullest with all kinds of weirdest products. This sheer variety of items will give you the freedom to build your websites as well as grab every chance to generate more profits when being an Amazon affiliate.
2.1.3 A greater source of income
This is, of course, the most critical factor when doing online business. With the access to millions of items and services, it is highly likely that you can easily increase your profit each month with the right marketing strategy on your website. Taking advantage of your current followers will bring a lot of benefits to both sides when customers are recommended high quality products and you can gain commission just by a click to the link. Being an Amazon affiliate is considered one of the easiest ways to diversify your revenue flow.
In addition to that, Amazon affiliate program also offers you other extended benefits when you can not only get referral fee from the products you choose, but also from other items on Amazon website.
If people follow your link and buy more than what you refer to, you can get more commission from that, therefore, all you need to do with Amazon affiliate is attracting more customers to this site.
Just make use of all resources you have and you can easily have another source of income.
2.1.4 Secure and supportive
Amazon is well-owned for its reliability and security with millions of customers and affiliates each year, the key success factor for its business model. As an Amazon affiliate, there is no need worrying about payment as you will receive the commission fee within 60 days from the pay day thanks to the strict governing payment process. This is a big plus point for Amazon affiliates as many people end up not knowing when their earnings will come even if making very successful affiliate marketing
So what are some disadvantages that you need to take into great consideration when choose to join the Amazon affiliate networks.
2.2. Cons
2.2.1 Low commission rates
The Amazon affiliate program offers a wide range of commissions with different types of products and services. This may be a hindrance for many affiliates who want to target their niche market with a lower rate of commission.
You will be offered from 4% to 10% referral rate when you successfully generate a transaction through the link on your website or channel. Frankly speaking, Amazon affiliates earn the modest commission rate when being compared with other online platforms. In this case, it seems Amazon does not follow the standard in the industry.
However, taking a holistic approach, Amazon affiliates can reap unbelievable benefits from all of its services which other affiliates can not have access with. It is quite difficult to find a platform with all the diversity, transparency, and authenticity like Amazon. Even if you can have a higher commission rate in other companies, maybe the conversion rate will not be as high as in Amazon and they may lose trust in your site somehow.
2.2.2 Short cookie length
Another thing you need to bear in mind when deciding to be an Amazon affiliate is the short cookie length.
In most cases, it is highly unlikely that when people visit your blog, then click to the link you attach and buy the products right away. Your followers will visit the link but not purchase immediately. And Amazon will remember the cookie for only 24 hours, which is a lot shorter than most affiliates programs as they allow 30-day-minimum cookie setting.
2.2.3 Limited payment methods
Last but not least, limited payment methods are the final important factor you should contemplate on if you live outside the US or UK. Amazon does not send direct bank deposit overseas and it also does not include Paypal payment while this is the most preferable option for most of their affiliates all around the world.
Therefore, Amazon affiliates have two options to consider: Gift Card or Check payments.
It is apparent that many associates will make up their mind again before their final decision to become an Amazon affiliate when the payment process does not work for them.
3. How to become an Amazon affiliate?
With all the benefits you can get from this program, why not sign up and become an Amazon affiliate right now.
Remember that it is compulsory to build an active website, blog or Youtube channel, better with many followers, to make it appear authentic to both users and Amazon.
3.1 Sign up to the Amazon affiliate program
To become an Amazon affiliate, you are required to create your Amazon associate account.
Just visit the Amazon Associate homepage, select your language and location and then click the Sign up button.
After that, you will be headed to log in to your existing Amazon account or create a new one if you haven’t signed up. In the second case, click the Create your Amazon account button and you will be taken to a registration page.
Once you have finished your registering process, return to the Amazon associate homepage and sign in with your details.
3.2 Enter your personal details and website address
On the first page, Account information, you need to provide and confirm your personal details, including your name, address and your phone number.
At the bottom of the page, choose the main contact for the account you ar setting. Follow the instructions and specify the Payee name for the payment of the Commission fee.
The very last step on this page, you will be asked if you are subject to US Legislation, this is crucial, so if you are uncertain or have any concerns, just check carefully before deciding to click.
When you finish filling all your information, click the Next button and you will be prompted to the Website and Mobile App List.
Just add the URL of your website, blog, channel or app that you will use to monetise by Amazon affiliate program and you are done.
Then click on Next.
3.3 Build your profile
This step is of critical importance as you need to express your target products through Amazon affiliate and explain the unique selling point of your website that makes customers likely to visit.
Firstly, you need to enter your preferred Associate ID which can be named after your name or your website. This will be embedded in your Amazon affiliate links on your website to make room for the smooth transaction of your referral fee.
After that, you are required to write a few sentences about your website, and pick the topic that most likely explains the theme of your website; choose the type of Amazon products you are aiming to advertise through affiliating and tell them the type of your website or app.
Once you finish this step, you will head to the Traffic and Monetize page in which you have to explain clearly the way you attract and increase the traffic on your site, how to generate income from it, how you usually build your links and how many customers you can bring to your site. From the list provided below, choose the ones that mostly apply to your style.
Finally, read the Associate Program Operating Agreement mentioned in the Contract terms section in advance and confirm your agreement to the conditions of participation.
3.4 Select your payment preferences
You now officially become a member of the Amazon affiliate program once you see a page confirming your application. An Amazon member will review your registering form, assess the feasibility of your website and send the feedback after half or one day.
Next, the page will require you to enter your payment details and tax ID information, you need to decide if you want to payouts as Amazon gift certificates or direct deposit.
You have finished all necessary steps for an Amazon affiliate member. Then you proceed to the dashboard.
3.5 Start generating your affiliate links
Once you’ve created your account, you will see your personal Associate homepage where you can find your affiliating performance including earnings overview, monthly summary and total clicks.
Remember that Amazon requires you to identify yourself as an Amazon affiliate on your site, you better put a claimer on right after receiving the approval to avoid forgetting and get banned from the affiliate program.
And now let’s start to create your first Amazon affiliate link
- Firstly, click on Quick Links: Search for Products and then type the ones you are looking for by adding the ASIN of the product or search for the catalog of the products you are promoting.
- Click the Go button to to generate the result you are looking for
- Choose the product and click Get Link
- Next, you will be prompted to a page with options for product display on your website: Text and Image, Text only and Image only and Add to Widget.
Whatever you choose, you will get a code or a link to add that Amazon affiliate link to the post you want to promote.
4. Final thoughts
If you have already owned a website, a blog or Youtube channel or just want to make money online, the Amazon affiliate program is one of the most preferable options.
No registration fee, no added costs, all you need to do is focusing on building a reliable, authentic website to attract more followers and find new ways to promote the products. Once you’ve built trust with your customers, you can make money much easier.
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