Affiliate marketing Amazon is one of the most effective ways for a blogger to earn an extra income. In this article, I’ll give you step-by-step instructions on how you can get started.
Amazon is the biggest and most popular e-commerce website. And being the biggest company attracts a lot of people. There are many ways to earn money through the Amazon platform, but affiliate marketing is one of the most common and less risky ways of doing so. If you have an Amazon account, then it’s easy, to begin with, Affiliate Marketing.
Amazon Affiliate Program Rules and Requirements
Being an Amazon Associate is a great way to monetize passion projects or make supplemental 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.
You can read Amazon’s full policy here. Note: The Amazon Affiliate program is one of the most popular programs, but it isn’t the only one. There are other affiliate programs out there that are worth trying if you don’t qualify to become an Amazon Associate.
How to Become an Amazon Affiliate
- Create a website or blog.
- Navigate to the Amazon Associates homepage and click “Sign Up.”
- Enter your account information.
- Enter your website address.
- Enter your preferred store ID.
- Explain how you drive traffic to your site.
- Choose your payment method.
- Create Amazon Affiliate links.
1. Create a website or blog.
To become an Amazon Associate, you must have an active website, blog, app, or YouTube channel. It’s also helpful if you’ve pre-populated that site with content, so it appears active and authentic to both users and Amazon.
Remember, you must be able to describe the purpose of your website as part of the application process. So, have a firm idea of why you’re creating your site, the audience you’ll target, and how you’ll bring in traffic.
2. Navigate to the Amazon Associates homepage and click “Sign Up.”
To become an Amazon affiliate, you’ll need to create your Amazon Associates account. To do that, visit the Amazon Associates homepage and click Sign Up. From there, you’ll be prompted to log in to your existing Amazon account or create one.
3. Enter your account information.
Enter your account info (including the name, address, and phone number of the payee).
4. Enter your website address.
Enter your website address(es), apps, YouTube channels, etc.
5. Enter your preferred store ID.
Enter your preferred store ID (usually the same as your primary website name), explain what your websites hope to accomplish, and select Amazon topics your links will likely target.
6. Explain how you drive traffic to your site.
Explain how you drive traffic to your websites, how you use your website or apps to generate income, how you usually build links, and how many visitors your site brings in each month.
7. Choose your payment method.
Choose whether to enter your payment (credit card) and tax ID information now or later. Then proceed to your dashboard.
8. Create Amazon Affiliate links.
Once you’ve created your account, you’ll be sent to your Associate homepage. This is where you’ll find your performance dashboard (including an earnings overview, monthly summary, and total clicks).
OR
. Learn Basic HTML
Learning Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) to create web pages and applications is less complicated than it was 10 to 15 years ago. Website platforms like WordPress, Wix, or Weebly have simple templates that require only the push of a button to activate a website. But you’ll still need to know how to insert images, create hyperlinks, and format text.
If you’re unfamiliar with HTML and basic concepts for managing a website, carve out time to learn. It will be well worth the outlay in the long run.https://180789f22b0fe76e147fd8d76c8907e7.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
2. Pick Your Niche
Anything that’s sold on Amazon, such as electronics, books, music, cosmetics, and kitchen appliances, can be part of your inventory referred for a sales commission. However, low-ticket items like books will yield only pennies on a sale because commissions range from 1% to 10%.1https://180789f22b0fe76e147fd8d76c8907e7.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
“Those who are more successful as affiliates pursue markets with a high volume of buyers or are engaged in selling higher-ticket items on Amazon,” Edmondson said.https://180789f22b0fe76e147fd8d76c8907e7.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
Select product lines with mass consumer demand that you enjoy or have some expertise in, but be sure the niche is narrow enough to be distinctive. These niches could be bands from your city, left-handed guitarists, music for line dancing or salsa, books written by authors from a certain religion, or arts and crafts resources such as beading, knitting, or pottery.
3. Set Up Your Web Hosting
Amazon affiliates can pay next to nothing for web hosting services. For example, Wix offers a free basic blogging service while Web.com starts at $5.95 monthly (as of April 2021).23 Resources like Online Business Guide have a list of affordable web hosting services. Some require a small monthly fee with unlimited domain names, which means you can run several sites for various niches on the same hosting package.
4. Choose Your Domain Name
If you’re launching a personal brand as an author, expert, or lecturer, building a following using your name as the domain is common—especially among YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram influencers. Another path is to give the website a name that reflects the niche, such as MyBestSkincareProducts, MyFavoriteAccessories, or SupplementsForWeightlifters.
Make the name keyword-rich, not clever. Think about what search words the average person might enter into their search engines to find your website. Be sure to check your name against other sites already in the market.
5. Register Your Domain Name
Registering domain names is not costly for one or two sites, but it can add up to 10 to 20 niche sites. Save by choosing a lower-cost provider, such as SiteGround or GoDaddy. There’s also 1&1, also known as IONOS, where prices start on the low end of the spectrum—$1 for the first year with incremental increases for subsequent years, depending on the plan.4
If you’re not technically inclined, register the domain name with your hosting company. GoDaddy offers discounts like 12 months of basic managed WordPress for $1 per month after which the price increases to regular list price.
6. Install WordPress
Content marketing is one of the best ways to drive traffic as well as buyers. WordPress, which has a free option, is easy to install and simplifies posting quickly. It is popular for publishing content, such as blogs and articles.
Many hosts have a one-step installation process for WordPress. These include GoDaddy, Wix, and Weebly.
Product reviews sprinkled with keywords are another avenue for content marketing. After installing WordPress, it’s as simple as writing an article and linking out to Amazon to get paid—once a product is purchased, of course.
7. Make It Pretty
Although content is king, design is queen, and it’s increasingly important among consumers who want to trust a credible website. One benefit of WordPress is its flexible design options.
You can customize the site as much as you want with WordPress plug-ins. If you want to outsource a task, it is easy to find expertise because of the popularity of WordPress.
WordPress offers a variety of templates, which gives you much more freedom and control in the design of your site. “Add on an email marketing tool so you can capture the names of people that come to your website and follow up with them for other opportunities to show other products they may be interested in buying,” said Edmondson.
8. Set Up Categories
Attributing a category or subcategories to your article can help consumers find your website in a search engine. Most blog software, including WordPress, Wix, and Weebly, will have the function to assign an article to a category or subcategory that will help organize your entries.
Categories also help visitors hone in more specifically on their interests. For example, BandsFromTexas.com might have one group of categories for the genre, such as rock, country, or blues, and another for the city of origin like Austin, Dallas, Houston, or Lubbock.
9. Sign Up as an Amazon Associate (Affiliate)
It’s simple and free. Simply visit Amazon Associates and click “Sign Up” on the link at the bottom of the page. Your site should already have at least the basic setup done, even if you don’t have any content there yet. Amazon reviews the site manually before approval.
Amazon will provide a legal disclaimer to include at the bottom of the website if you don’t already have it visible. It’s to notify people, for purposes of full transparency, that you are an affiliate for Amazon and that in some cases you do get compensated.
10. Create Your Blog Posting Bookmarks and Links
At the bottom of the posting page of your blog software, an item called a “bookmarklet” should appear. Click on the link and drag it to your Links toolbar in your browser or Favorites menu. This allows you to update a blog about a product with one mouse click.
11. Create Your Amazon Build-A-Link Bookmark and Link
This step allows you to build a link with your affiliate ID built into it. Log in to Associates Central, peruse the left navigation sidebar for Build-A-Link, then under Static Links, click on Individual Items and drag to your Links toolbar or Favorites menu.
12. Build Your First Link
Once logged in to your Associate’s account, search the products you want to review and then use the Site Stripe, which is the gray stripe at the top of the screen, to get a personalized link to the item. Amazon also offers a host of other options for creating links and banners.
13. Blog Your Review
Click on your blog posting link. With WordPress, two pieces of link code will appear. Delete through the first one ending with “< /a >”. The second part is a link to the product with your Amazon Associate ID built-in. Write the product review, choose the appropriate categories for it, and then hit Publish.
14. Build Out Your Amazon Affiliate Site
Before promoting a site, create enough substantial content to hold a visitor’s interest. Write several product reviews in at least two to three categories. You may also want to write articles, news, and commentary related to the expertise or niche. The more written content the better, because while writing, the search engines are notified automatically if notifications are on.
15. Promote Your Amazon Affiliate Site
The best free way to promote is to communicate with other bloggers writing on similar topics and to participate in online communities where your subject matter is discussed.
Conclusion
Amazon can be a very lucrative way to make some extra free cash and even earn a full-time living. However, it’s not the easiest way to pursue affiliate marketing. You will spend considerable time researching products and comparing prices before you finally make your final pickups. Still, if you’re willing to invest some time every day into this endeavor, you can generate some healthy income in no time at all.