Are you looking for some passive income ideas?

If you are looking for some passive income ideas then becoming a successful Amazon affiliate is one of the best platforms where you can earn a lot in your free time.

You don’t have to spend huge bucks or do hours of tedious job to do this. In fact, this is possible even in spare time. Affiliate marketing has emerged as the most popular side hustle for teens and millennials. There are so many reasons to join the Amazon affiliate network: 

• Promote products you are interested in
• Do it in your free time
• Grow your income
• Plenty of earning opportunities

According to Statista, the net advertisers’ spending on affiliate marketing in the U.S. is anticipated to hit $8.2 billion by 2022. 

Planning an affiliate business starts with choosing the best network. Amazon Affiliate Program is a widely preferred affiliate marketing network for beginners.

There are more than 12 million products on the marketplace to promote. So it’s easy to find a product of interest and start promoting it. 

Today Amazon Associate Program is the chart-topper with 900,000+ associates worldwide. 

In this article, we have provided a step-by-step guide to get started with an Amazon affiliate business. Furthermore, we have shared the pro-tips and best practices to boost your earnings. 

What is Amazon Associate Program?

Amazon Associates is an affiliate network program like all other programs. The concept is simple: 

• Sign up for the Associate Program 
• Create unique referral links for products to send buyers to the Amazon store
• You promote the products on your website, app, social media channels, or other platforms to drive traffic to the Amazon website through an affiliate link
• When the shopper purchases the product through your referral link, you receive a commission (up to 10%)

Amazon’s affiliate network offers various types of custom linking tools for large publishers, influencers, and bloggers. The network recently launched an extension for influencers on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. 

How To Become an Amazon Affiliate

It may seem easy to join the Amazon affiliate program in just a few minutes. But the process is a long one if you don’t have a website/ blog, YouTube channel, or social media account (with massive followers). 

For novices and enthusiasts about the Amazon associate program, I have mentioned everything you need to get started from scratch.  

Step 1: Determine the Products You Want to Promote

Amazon affiliate network is the best option for beginners. There are 12 million products on the Marketplace to promote. So you can easily find the one that best suits your interests. 

The following chart gives you the details of the commission you can earn for various types of products: 

Choosing products to promote helps you to proceed strategically through the next steps. Most successful affiliate marketers revealed that they promoted products they knew very well. 

Think about the products you understand and have a deep knowledge base. This way you can actually help the buyers to find the best pick. 

Suppose, you are a dog owner. With years of experience in raising a dog, you know all about the specific pet supplies required for an animal.

You can promote dog foods, toys, kennels, feeders, etc. You can share practical experiences with the audience to help them buy the best products. 

Step 2: Create a Blog/ Website or Social Media Account  

This is an integral step to qualify for the Amazon affiliate program. Your application will be evaluated on the traffic and followers base (for social media accounts). 

Choosing the products to promote will help you to stick to a niche when creating your blog/ website or YouTube channel. 

Add valuable content to the site/channel to grow your audience. Higher visibility on the search engines helps in generating more leads through referral links. 

Step 3: Sign Up for the Amazon’s Affiliate Marketing Program

You must create an Amazon Associate account to join their affiliate program. 

#1. Go the Amazon’s Affiliate Program Homepage 

Visit the official link- https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/ 

 

On the landing page of Amazon’s affiliate marketing program, click the ‘Sign Up’ button to proceed. 

#2. Login to Amazon Account/ Create a New Account

You will be directed to the Amazon account login page. Login with an existing account if you already have one. Else, you must create an account to proceed. 

Sign in to the existing account with the registered email/phone number and password. 

Click the ‘Create Your Amazon Account’ button at the bottom of the page if you don’t have an account. 

#3. Enter the Payee Account Information 

You must enter the name, address, and contact number of the payee/ check recipient on the ‘Your Account Information’ page. 

If you want the check to be sent to another person, you must enter the recipient’s name in Address Line 1. 

Once you are done with the details on this page, you must click the ‘Next’ button to proceed to the Website/Mobile app list. 

#4. Enter Website/ Mobile App List

Enter the blog/ website URL, mobile apps, and YouTube channels in the space provided on this page. 

#5. Fill Up the Profile Information 

On this page, you need to choose the preferred associate store ID, and mention the details about your website, YouTube channels, apps, etc. 

You will be asked about the type of products you wish to promote. 

Once you are done with this page, click the ‘Finish’ button on the right corner at the bottom. 

You should see a confirmation message as provided in the following image: 

Note: It is mandatory to fill in the payment and tax information. But you may skip the step at the time of creating the account. Click the ‘Later’ tab to proceed. You should see the account dashboard with the ‘Get Started’ tab. 

Step 4: Generate Your Amazon Associate Links

After completing the Sign-Up steps, you will reach the account dashboard (as mentioned earlier). This is your personal Amazon affiliate homepage. 

You will find the products on this page to link to your blog/website/social media content. 

#1. Go to ‘Product Linking’ on the Dashboard Menu Bar

From the dropdown list under the ‘Product Linking’ menu, choose and click ‘Product Links’. 

On the product linking page, you can search for specific items from the dropdown list or enter specific keywords. 

Amazon also offers certain bestseller products at the bottom of the page to help you choose the best ones. You may alternatively search the Amazon store marketplace for products to promote. 

#2. Get Affiliate Links for Products 

Enter the ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number) code of the product in the specified column. It is a 10-character alpha-numeric code of the product. 

Once you enter the code in the specified column, the page should show the product at the bottom of the page with the ‘Get Link’ tab. You can now click the tab to get your affiliate link for the product. 

Pro Tip: If you have problems finding products, you can use the Amazon Associates SiteStripe tool to get the links. 

Click on the ‘Get Link’ button to generate your custom HTML affiliate code. 

You may customize the links to compress the code. Once you get the affiliate link, it’s time to use them on your blog, website, or social media networks. 

Best Practices to Succeed as an Amazon Affiliate 

There is no shortcut to success even if you are doing an affiliate business. After almost 15 years of journey as Amazon associates, we can suggest ideas to boost your affiliate income. 

#1. Website SEO is Vital for Greater Visibility 

Does SEO work in 2022?

If this thought is on your mind too, then it’s worthy to focus on certain factors besides optimizing websites for mobile users. 

Website speed and performance are the prime factors for Google to determine the SERP (search engine ranking pages) position for websites.

It will use the Core Web Vitals ranking factor to analyze the load speed of various website elements. 

Google has also mentioned that it will continue to focus on updated content. So if you want to add value to your website, refresh the existing posts with current data or other relevant information (wherever required). 

Choose Keywords Relevant to Your Blog Niche and Products 

• Pick low-competition keywords based on the type of product you want to promote. 
• The rule of thumb is to maintain a keyword density of less than 2%. 
• Use semantic search terms throughout the content. Find low-competition long-tail keywords. 

#2. Put Affiliate Links at Several Places on the Page

Buyers are often in a rush to grab a product. Writing a long product review and placing the affiliate link at the end is an outdated strategy. 

Find various places to put the affiliate link. The best place to introduce the affiliate link is within the first paragraph. Don’t forget to add the link where you mention the product name for the first time in the review. 

#3. Make the Most of Your CTAs

Everyone knows that a powerful call to action helps the visitor to take action on the website and move a step further. 

Create an attractive CTA button with a strong message to persuade the buyers to click on it. You may put these buttons in several positions between the content. 

Don’t use false/alluring terms to generate clicks. You must stay compliant with Amazon’s affiliate policies when using CTAs. 

#4. Add Links to Similar Products

Buyers always love to find and compare multiple products before purchasing something. Find appropriate places to place some affiliate links to similar products within the content (a product review). 

Use proper phrases to draw the reader’s attention to these products. Multiple choices raise the possibility of accentuating conversations. 

#5. Compare Similar Products 

Product reviews are great to spread informative content to the target audience. But you can also do the same by including a comparison table somewhere within the review article. 

As a general practice, you may create a table of the top 5 products in the same category. Apart from including the affiliate links in the table, you may provide some information like product features, pros, cons, etc. 

#6. Be Genuine, Avoid Fluff Promotions

A buyer visits your website, clicks on a link after reading your review, and never returns again. 

Did you ever think about why this happens?

If a buyer gains the same experience after using a product, it builds the trust and credibility of the information you provide. 

The success of an affiliate site depends on returning buyers and not the one-time visitor. When a buyer likes the information you share, the person may return again before purchasing something similar in the future. 

User-friendly content helps you stand ahead of the competition and gain more traffic. 

#7. Build an Audience Base 

Ever thought about why most bloggers fail to make mone with affiliate marketing?

There is a common myth among newbies. Launch a website today, join an Amazon affiliate tomorrow, and start promoting products on the website thereafter. 

Those who have succeeded in affiliate businesses focused on building a community of interested audiences. They took enough time in engaging the visitors with useful information in the relevant niche. 

For instance, if you are planning to promote pet supplies on your website. You may start a pet blog.

Start writing various tips to raise pets- how to choose a dog breed, things needed when someone gets a new dog home, what to feed a dog, etc. 

Once you have plenty of content in the niche, you can start promoting products in the pet supplies category on the same blog. The reliability built through helpful tips will prompt your audience to click the recommended products. 

#8. Stay Compliant with Amazon Affiliate Program Policies 

This is the most important factor to focus on when you sign up for the Amazon Associate program. 

Even before you sign up, read the Associates Program Operating Agreement several times carefully. You must abide by all the rules strictly to avoid account termination. 

Herein are some things to remember in this regard:

• You can’t purchase anything through your affiliate link
• Cloaking or disguising the affiliate links is not allowed. You may use an Amazon link customizer to shorten the referral links. 
• When promoting links through third-party platforms like social media or else, it is vital to mention Amazon. 
• Always list the websites and channels where you want to promote affiliate links. You can do it anytime at the Associates Central Dashboard. 
• Never place affiliate links for offline promotions through PDFs, emails, eBooks, QR codes, etc. 

While the above ones are a few important ones, this is not the complete list. So read the Amazon affiliate program policies multiple times to avoid problems. 

Author: Mrs. Mrittika Mandal