"Click the link in my bio to visit my Amazon Storefront." That’s a line I hear a lot on TikTok. So, it wasn’t too surprising to discover that over 900,000 people participate in Amazon's Affiliate Program. Now, I know what you’re thinking: can I actually make money from selling my favorite Amazon finds? And the answer is yes, if you do it correctly. Below, I’ll walk you through the process of becoming an Amazon affiliate, how the program works, and tips to hit the ground running. We're committed to your privacy. HubSpot uses the information you provide to us to contact you about our relevant content, products, and services. You may unsubscribe from these communications at any time. For more information, check out our Privacy Policy. Track the sales, revenue, and profit from your affiliate and influencer marketing campaigns. Loading your download form The Amazon Affiliate program, or Amazon Associates, is an affiliate marketing program. Anyone with a website, blog, or social media account (TikTok and/or YouTube) is welcome to apply. Once you're approved, you can start advertising products from Amazon by sharing affiliate links. When customers click your links and make a purchase from Amazon, you'll earn a referral commission. Still not sure what affiliate marketing is or what it’s all about? Or unsure whether it’s right for you? Affiliate marketing is a marketing tactic where an online retailer gives niche website owners the ability to create unique product links (called affiliate links). The website owners must promote the link; in exchange, when someone visits the link and makes a purchase, the website owner automatically receives commission. As an affiliate, you only make money once the link is used in a transaction. Affiliate marketing is right for you if you already own a website or blog and your content offers opportunities for product mentions. For instance, if you own a recipe blog, you can create links for product ingredients. It’s not the best fit for you if you sell products directly on your website, although you can use a mixture of product selling and affiliate selling to earn money. In the Amazon Affiliate program, associates earn commission by creating unique product links, promoting the links on their website or social media, and driving referral traffic back to Amazon. Here’s how it works: You can earn, on average, from $100 to $20,000 from the Amazon Affiliate program, depending on how many referrals you generate for Amazon. The Amazon Affiliate program operates on a commission basis, meaning you’ll make a percentage per sale. Here's something that surprised me when I first joined the Affiliate program: not all products offer the same commission rate. The rate changes depending on the product category, and can jump from anywhere between 1 to 20% of the sales price. For instance, if I sell a hair dryer on Amazon, I can earn 10% from each sale. But if I sell an Amazon Fire Tablet, the commission rate drops to 4%. You can see a complete breakdown of Amazon's product category commission rates below: At the beginning of your Amazon Associate journey, the numbers can skew on the low side, so I recommend having another form of income in addition to being an Amazon Associate. Although it is free to join the Amazon Associates program, you need to meet certain criteria in order to be eligible. To state the obvious, you need to have a valid Amazon account. You also need to promote products through an active channel, such as a website, blog, or TikTok account. Let’s dive into the eligibility guidelines for each medium. Most Amazon Affiliates promote Amazon products through their website or blog. To be eligible, websites must: App versions of websites are also eligible for the Amazon Associates program. However, your app must: Influencers are also eligible to participate in the Amazon Associates program, but there is a barrier to entry. You must have: It‘s important to note that Amazon Associates’ eligibility requirements may vary by country. So, make sure to check the specific requirements for your region. We're committed to your privacy. HubSpot uses the information you provide to us to contact you about our relevant content, products, and services. You may unsubscribe from these communications at any time. For more information, check out our Privacy Policy. Track the sales, revenue, and profit from your affiliate and influencer marketing campaigns. Loading your download form Being an Amazon Associate is a great way to monetize passion projects or make supplemental income from your brand. However, Amazon has requirements for associates to follow once you are accepted into the affiliate program, so it's best to understand those before you dive in. After you sign up, you’ll need to think about the requirements for the application review process. Amazon requires new affiliates to make a minimum of three sales during their first 180 days. If you fail to do this, your account will be closed. However, you can reapply for the Amazon Associate program after you've made adjustments to your site. The Associates team also reviews websites, mobile apps, and social network accounts. They’re looking for consistent, fresh, and original content that brings value to Amazon customers. Other requirements are in place for ethical promotion to prevent associates from gaming the system. Don't skip over this — noncompliance can result in being banned from the program. Here are some of the big ones to keep in mind: You can read Amazon's full policy here. It’s also a good idea to review the operating agreement for associates for other requirements. Note: Amazon’s 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. To start, you must have an active website, blog, app, TikTok account, or YouTube channel. To take it one step further, I recommend pre-populated your site (or social media channels) with content. That way, it appears active and authentic to both users and Amazon. Before I applied to become an Amazon affiliate, I created my website using HubSpot’s CMS Hub. With its drag-and-drop website builder, customizable themes, and blog capabilities, I was able to publish original content almost immediately. 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. If you’re still figuring it out, these resources can help you make these important decisions: In order 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. Next, enter your account info (including the name, address, and phone number of the payee). Enter your website address(es), apps, YouTube channels, etc. 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. 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. Choose whether to enter your payment (credit card) and tax ID information now or later. Then proceed to your dashboard. Once you‘ve created your account, you’ll be sent to your personal Associate homepage. This is where you'll find your performance dashboard (including an earnings overview, monthly summary, and total clicks). This dashboard is also where you'll search for relevant products to link to from your content. Doing this ensures that the link text is generated in a way that associates the product you're promoting with your account. This will show you the different choices you have to create your links, including the “Link to Any Page” tools. We're committed to your privacy. HubSpot uses the information you provide to us to contact you about our relevant content, products, and services. You may unsubscribe from these communications at any time. For more information, check out our Privacy Policy. Track the sales, revenue, and profit from your affiliate and influencer marketing campaigns. Loading your download form Click this link to access this resource at any time. I find the easiest way to generate an Amazon affiliate link is by using the SiteStripe bar that shows up on product pages when you're logged in to your Amazon Affiliate Panel. From here, I click the Text button in the Get Link selector. Then, I can choose to generate a short link or a full-length link in the popup. Now I can use that link in my promotions. Besides linking directly to your favorite products on Amazon, I've discovered a handful of exciting options that can expand your reach and inspire your audience. As an affiliate, I sometimes find myself running out of product ideas or unsure which of the latest promotions apply to my niche. Whenever this happens, the Idea Hub comes in clutch. From the Promotions banner, scroll to Idea Hub. Next, click Filter & Sort and use the left-hand menu to narrow your search options. You can filter by featured content, categories, star rating, and more. For example, if you’re not sure which products in your niche will be available for Prime Early Access, this tool can help you find them. With affiliate content, it’s sometimes more helpful to highlight a product category than individual products. For example, if I post a TikTok of my top beauty products, I can link to a page that contains a list of the products I mentioned in the video. This makes it easier for my audience to find whatever they’re looking for with a single click. To use this tool, click on Product Linking in the top banner and select Link to Any Page. Then choose the Link to Favorite Destinations tab. From here, you can narrow your search with the drop-down menus on the left. Name your link, then click Get HTML. A preview link will appear on the right of the tab. You can click this link to see what the page looks like. Then, click the Highlight HTML button at the bottom to copy your new link. In my experience, targeted content has been a game-changer. Essentially, you create links for a specific keyword within a product category. For example, if I'm running a spooky lawn decoration promotion for Halloween, I can post a link to that specific search. This lets me highlight many great options for my audience at the same time. To use this tool, click on Product Linking in the top banner and choose Link to Any Page. Then select the Link to Search Results tab. From here, you can narrow your search with the drop-down menus on the left. Name your link, then click Get HTML. A preview link will appear on the right of the tab. You can click this link to see what the page looks like. Then, click the Highlight HTML button at the bottom to copy your new link. You can also click Text in the SiteStripe bar in your preview if you want to create a short link. If you want an alternative to the SiteStripe tool, I recommend using the Link to Any Page tab to create your affiliate links. To use this tool, click on Product Linking in the top banner and select Link to Any Page. Just remember that Amazon‘s guidelines prohibit the use of the link in offline promotions, email, and eBooks or PDFs. As with most marketing and sales, quality content is at the heart of success. Ensure you’re attracting your audience with quality content and share relevant affiliate links with them on your site or YouTube channel. Each link you generate will have a cookie that will then follow your website visitors after they click on the link. This is highly beneficial to you because it increases the likelihood of you receiving a commission for the sale. The only problem is that it only lasts for a limited amount of time The Amazon Affiliate cookie lasts for 24 hours after a website visitor clicks on the affiliate link. The cookie stays in their browser for that entire length of time. If they check out at any time in those 24 hours, the purchase will be credited to you. The Amazon Affiliate cookie is just one of the ways that the Amazon Affiliate program can help you make money. But first, you must get visitors to click on the link — and to do that, you need visitors in the first place. We're committed to your privacy. HubSpot uses the information you provide to us to contact you about our relevant content, products, and services. You may unsubscribe from these communications at any time. For more information, check out our Privacy Policy. Track the sales, revenue, and profit from your affiliate and influencer marketing campaigns. Loading your download form From my experience, applying for the Amazon Affiliate program and becoming an associate isn’t really the hard part. The problem is making enough sales to turn your passion project into a source of income. Here are a few tips on how to make money from the Amazon Affiliate program. As someone whose been in the ecommerce space for years, I live by this key principle: "The riches are in the niches." Becoming an Amazon Associate isn’t a good idea if your website is about home improvement, beauty products, and novel writing all at the same time. To ensure you can make the most out of your affiliate partnership with Amazon, choose a single ecommerce niche for your website. For instance, check out the Amazon storefront from lifestyle influencer BrookeSchofield. Schofield positions herself as an expert on all things beauty and style, and the products in her storefront reflect this. Odds are, her audience will be interested in these products, too. Whether you specialize in paleo cooking or DIY educational activities for teachers, your niche must be of interest to you — something you can constantly post about without getting tired. This gives you plenty of opportunities to naturally insert product links without being overly salesy. By choosing a niche, you also make your site look more authoritative to visitors, because talking about one thing all the time makes you look like an expert. Touching upon a wide breadth of topics could make it seem like you’re writing content for the sake of writing content. You’ll also typically have less competition if you focus on a highly specific topic that not many others have touched upon. I've discovered that one of the best ways to make money as an Amazon Associate is by writing product reviews and posts comparing two or more products. This gives you the opportunity to link to the products you’re reviewing. The best part? These are usually high-intent posts, meaning that the person looking for a review is close to purchasing the product (if not ready to buy). After all, no one would look for a review of a product that they have no intention of buying. Product comparison posts offer an even greater opportunity to sell because if the visitor decides one product isn’t for them, you’re offering them several alternatives to choose from. It’s a win-win all around and a sure way to drive more referrals toward Amazon. At the core of a strong Amazon Affiliate strategy is a blog that gives you plenty of opportunities to include product mentions and links. For that reason, I recommend blogging consistently. Try to go for one blog post per week, but quality does matter more than quantity. If you write two well-researched posts per month, you may drive more qualified traffic to Amazon than if you wrote eight poorly-written posts. Implement a content marketing strategy that will help you create blog posts that are topically relevant. You’ll want to learn SEO basics to make sure you’re optimizing your site for online search. I highly recommend creating an Amazon Storefront that acts as a one-stop shop for all your content and product recommendations. They require minimal upkeep and content writing. Once visitors get to your Storefront, it'll be simple and easy for them to browse through the products. Another benefit is that the links aren’t buried within other content. The one thing you’ll need to do is check the links on a monthly basis to ensure your storefront drives referrals. Sometimes, product pages move, or products are removed entirely from Amazon. You want to make sure every product is still available on the retailer’s website. Invest in paid social ads, as well as pay-per-click ads on Google. While advertising may sound expensive, the investment can be quite affordable, especially if you’re using the PPC model. You only pay when someone clicks on your ads, and the best part is that you can set a budget, so that you’re not overcharged. It’s an easy way to drive traffic to your site; all you need to do is create ad imagery with a tool such as Canva. Here are some resources to get you started with paid ads: Now that you’ve created a strong strategy for getting your Amazon Affiliate website off the ground, it’s time to get paid. Yes! However, acceptance into the program is subject to meeting their eligibility requirements and adhering to their policies and guidelines. As long as you have a suitable platform, such as a website, mobile app, or YouTube channel, and comply with Amazon's terms. Amazon affiliates have the potential to make money through commissions earned on qualifying purchases made by visitors who click on their affiliate links. However, it‘s important to note that success as an Amazon affiliate depends on factors such as the quality and relevance of your content, the growth of your website’s traffic, the level of engagement with your audience, and the effectiveness of your promotional strategies. Amazon Associates get paid by direct deposit. You’ll automatically receive the funds in your bank account. Alternatively, you can opt to receive an Amazon gift card or a check by mail. Amazon Associates get paid monthly, but there’s a catch: you get paid 60 days after the end of the month you’re getting paid for. For instance, you’ll get paid at the end of March for the commission you earned in January. Amazon Associates officially earn commission when the order has shipped. If the customer cancels the order before it’s shipped, you won’t receive commission. If the customer returns the product after purchase, the commission will be deducted from your earnings. Amazon affiliate links can last indefinitely as long as your affiliate account remains active and in compliance with Amazon's terms and conditions. Once you generate an affiliate link through the Amazon Associates program, it remains valid until you deactivate or delete it. However, you can only earn commission on an item placed in a customer's shopping cart within 24 hours of them clicking on your affiliate link. If it takes longer than 24 hours for a customer to make a purchase from your affiliate link, you will not be granted commission. The Amazon Affiliate program is an excellent way to turn a side passion into a source of passive income. Choose a niche, write product-centric content, and include contextual affiliate links, and you’ll be sure to grow your Amazon Affiliate income to astronomical levels. Editor's note: This post was originally published in May 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
Table of Contents
Affiliate Marketing Templates
What is the Amazon Affiliate program?
What is affiliate marketing?
How does the Amazon Affiliate program work?
How much does the Amazon Affiliate program pay?
Eligibility Guidelines for the Amazon Associates Program
Website
Mobile App
Social Media
Affiliate Marketing Templates
Amazon Program Requirements and Rules
How to Become an Amazon Affiliate
1. Create a website or blog.
2. Navigate to the Amazon Associates homepage and click "Sign Up."
3. Enter your account information.
4. Enter your website address.
5. Enter your preferred store ID.
6. Explain how you drive traffic to your site.
7. Choose your payment method.
8. Create Amazon Affiliate links.
How to Create an Amazon Affiliate Link
1. Log in to your Amazon Associate account.
2. Click on Product Linking in the top banner and select Product Links.
Affiliate Marketing Templates
You're all set!
3. Use the Amazon Associates SiteStripe to generate Amazon Affiliate links.
4. Try other product linking options to find and create affiliate links.
Use the Idea Hub to find the best products for your audience.
Link to Favorite Destinations to highlight product lines or categories.
Link to Search Results to highlight specific keywords within a product line.
Link to Any Page to direct your audience to any Amazon link.
5. Use the generated link on your site or other promotional materials according to Amazon's standards.
How long does the Amazon Affiliate cookie last?
Affiliate Marketing Templates
How to Make Money with the Amazon Affiliate Program
1. Choose a niche for your website.
2. Write product reviews and comparison posts.
3. Blog consistently.
4. Create a storefront.
5. Advertise your website on social media and search engines.
Without traffic, you won’t be able to drive referrals to Amazon and earn commission. Writing good content, learning SEO, and creating a content marketing strategy will get you far. But you want to make sure you’re covering all your bases.Amazon Affiliate Marketing Program FAQs
Can anyone be an Amazon Affiliate?
Do Amazon Affiliates make money?
How do Amazon Associates get paid?
When do Amazon Associates get paid?
When does commission get officially attributed to Amazon Associates?
How long do Amazon Affiliate links last?
Get Started with the Amazon Affiliate Program Today
Topics: Entrepreneurship
As an experienced digital marketer and affiliate marketing enthusiast, I can confidently guide you through the intricate world of Amazon's Affiliate Program. With a proven track record in this domain, I've successfully navigated the process, optimized strategies, and witnessed firsthand the potential income it offers.
Understanding the Amazon Affiliate Program:
The Amazon Affiliate program, officially known as Amazon Associates, is a powerful affiliate marketing initiative. It invites individuals with websites, blogs, or social media accounts, including platforms like TikTok and YouTube, to apply. Once approved, participants can promote Amazon products through unique affiliate links, earning a referral commission for each purchase made through those links.
Key Concepts:
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Affiliate Marketing:
- Affiliate marketing involves online retailers collaborating with niche website owners, allowing them to create unique product links (affiliate links).
- Website owners promote these links, and when someone makes a purchase through the link, the owner earns a commission.
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How the Amazon Affiliate Program Works:
- Participants create an Amazon Affiliate account and receive a unique Associate ID.
- After approval, affiliates generate affiliate links in their Amazon portal.
- Affiliates share these links, and when users make purchases through them, the affiliate earns a commission.
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Earnings Potential:
- Earnings from the Amazon Affiliate program vary, ranging from $100 to $20,000, depending on the number of referrals.
- Commission rates differ by product category, ranging from 1% to 20%.
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Eligibility Guidelines:
- To join, one needs a valid Amazon account and an active channel (website, blog, or social media).
- Websites must have a minimum of 10 original blog posts and be publicly available.
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Program Requirements and Rules:
- Associates must make a minimum of three sales in the first 180 days.
- Compliance with ethical promotion guidelines is crucial to avoid being banned from the program.
Becoming an Amazon Affiliate:
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Create a Website or Blog:
- Establish an active website, blog, or social media account relevant to your niche.
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Sign Up for Amazon Associates:
- Visit the Amazon Associates homepage, sign up, and provide necessary information.
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Generate Amazon Affiliate Links:
- Use the SiteStripe bar or other product linking options to create unique affiliate links.
Making Money with the Amazon Affiliate Program:
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Choose a Niche:
- Focus on a specific niche to optimize your affiliate partnership and attract a targeted audience.
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Write Product Reviews and Comparisons:
- High-intent posts, such as product reviews and comparisons, provide opportunities to include affiliate links.
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Blog Consistently:
- Consistent, quality blogging enhances your chances of driving qualified traffic to Amazon.
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Create a Storefront:
- Develop an Amazon Storefront for a centralized location for your recommendations.
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Advertise on Social Media and Search Engines:
- Invest in paid social and pay-per-click ads to drive traffic to your site and increase referrals.
Amazon Affiliate Program FAQs:
- Yes, anyone can be an Amazon Affiliate, subject to meeting eligibility requirements and adhering to policies.
- Amazon affiliates can make money through commissions earned on qualifying purchases made by visitors using their affiliate links.
- Associates get paid monthly, 60 days after the end of the month they're being paid for.
Conclusion:
The Amazon Affiliate program offers an excellent opportunity to monetize your passion. With strategic planning, niche selection, and effective promotion, you can turn your affiliate partnership into a lucrative source of income.
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