If you want to learn everything about Amazon affiliate marketing, then you've come to the right place. I'm working as an Amazon affiliate marketer since 2017 and I think I can provide you some important information about it.
So, I've written this detailed write-up for everyone, whether you're a newbie learning about affiliate marketing, a freelance affiliate marketer who has worked with many clients, or someone who has already jumped into the big ocean as an affiliate marketer.
In any case, if you’re looking for a guide, I assure everyone that no matter which stage you’re in, this information will be equally helpful to you. If you see something you already know, skip it. But, I promise you’ll learn a lot regardless of your prior knowledge.
Table of Contents
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Image source: ThirstyAffiliates
Affiliate marketing is defined as a marketing arrangement where an online retailer pays commission to an external website for traffic or sales generated through referrals.
In other words, if you’re an affiliate marketer, you are selling someone else’s products and getting paid for each sale you generate. Your compensation could be a percentage of the sale (for instance, you might make 20% of every order you generate) or a flat rate for every lead you send to the business.
What is Amazon Affiliate Marketing? How Does it Work?
Everyone knows Amazon.com. It’s the eCommerce giant known around the world. Since 1996 Amazon have a very interesting and attractive plan for marketers known as the Amazon Associate Program. You might know it as Amazon Affiliate Marketing. Amazon Affiliate Marketing isn’t much different from other types of marketing, except this is a platform dedicated to selling Amazon products.
There are millions of products listed on the site that you can market and promote. All you need to do is create your account as an affiliate with Amazon. You can promote the products via your website, YouTube channel, or in any other way you can think of to redirect people to Amazon to make purchases.
The best thing about the Amazon Associates Program (i.e., Amazon Affiliate Marketing) is that, unlike other affiliate programs, it doesn’t pay you per sale you generate. It actually pays you for every visitor you send to Amazon, even if they don’t buy the specific product you sent them to Amazon to look at. So, whenever someone purchases something from Amazon because you sent them to Amazon, you’ll earn a decent amount of commission.
How Much Can You Earn with Amazon Affiliate Marketing?
Everything you need to know about Amazon Affiliate Commission rates/earnings in 2021.
Amazon offers a fixed percentage commission per sale. However, it varies between categories, ranging from 4% to 10%. The category you choose and how you do your keyword research will determine your rate. Many people underestimate this zillion dollar industry. I’m making $100+ a day. Let me do the math for you.
So, you have a website about hair styles where you're guiding your audience on wedding hairstyles, daily updos, and so on. After having a huge number of daily visitors, you started reviewing hair products such as flat irons and hair curlers. Your visitors get redirected to Amazon when they click on product links within your engaging and honest reviews.
Ultimately, some of those visitors will make some purchases. They may not purchase the same flat iron you have promoted, but you’ll still earn a commission each time any visitor goes to Amazon through your link and makes a purchase. It’s truly that simple!
Let’s suppose you have 3,000 visits daily. Let’s say 10% of them convert. So, 300 people get redirected to Amazon through your link. Each of those people spend $10, so total sales end up at $30,000. With the average 5% Amazon affiliate commission rate, you’ll be making $1,500 per day
Why You Should Start?
Once people know how it works, the next thing they want to know is simple:
Why focus on Amazon and not other affiliate programs?
Well, here I have a few points to share. This is why I recommend Amazon to people who are totally new to affiliate marketing and to the people who want to make more with less effort.
Higher percentage commission for higher-priced products
The most attractive thing about the Amazon affiliate program is that there is not a flat, fixed percentage commission for all products. You can make more for promoting higher-priced products such as cameras, laptops, or furniture. You can also make money with cheaper items, but there is a lower percentage commission for books and other low-priced items.
It’s easy to get started
Signing up as an Amazon associate takes less than a minute. Amazon offers user-friendly widgets and software to integrate links into your blog, channel, or any type of affiliate website.
Amazon is a trustworthy website
Another good thing about Amazon is that everyone knows about it and nobody hesitates to make purchases from it. It's incredibly convenient for people so you don’t need to put much effort into this aspect when promoting Amazon affiliate products.
Almost everyone buys multiple products at a time
This is one of my most favorite reasons to work with Amazon. Whenever someone clicks and is redirected to Amazon, they will most probably buy more than one product--which means your commission will multiply too!
Amazon has more conversions
Amazon is a well-known brand so people can trust it easily. If you've shared an engaging review post, there is no reason for the reader to not make a purchase if they had purchasing intentions.
They have great variety
This site sells practically everything from A to Z. So, I don’t believe there is any niche in which you can’t find related products on Amazon to get affiliate links for. That’s the best thing about starting Amazon affiliate marketing.
Enjoy the promotions and events
You’ll make 30 times more by promoting deals on various events such as Christmas, New Year’s, and so on. Holidays are the most profitable time for Amazon affiliate marketers as on these seasonal days people buy a lot.
Amazon vs. Other Affiliate Programs
Amazon has become a very famous and well-known brand with a variety of products. It’s one of most important among all affiliate programs for marketers as it provides a number of advantages and opportunities. Let’s evaluate Amazon’s affiliate program compared to other affiliate options available.
Pros of Amazon Affiliate Marketing
Here are a few of the most significant reasons to choose Amazon affiliate marketing for your website or YouTube channel:
Cons Amazon Affiliate Marketing
There are limitless pros of Amazon affiliate marketing but there are also a few negative points to keep in mind while deciding.
What do you need to have & know before starting Amazon Affiliate Marketing?
Keyword research
Choosing a product or a category of products is a bit hard, as you need to do good keyword research before actually jumping into Amazon Affiliate Marketing. One wrong move can turn you to failure. So, spend enough time to have a strong foundation to get you started.
A Website or Youtube Channel
A website and/or YouTube Channel are the most popular ways to start Amazon Affiliate Marketing. So, you should have either one or both. Be very clear about your plan on how you're going to promote Amazon products. So, setup some platform and have all necessary arrangements before applying for the Amazon Associate program. That means buying a domain name and hosting, setting up WordPress, and getting the design figured out.
Enough Traffic
If you can’t make at least 3 sales within 6 months then you may lose your affiliate account with Amazon. Losing your account will be big loss for you. So, make sure that you have a strong marketing plan. You also need good traffic coming to your site. Keep a record of your daily visitors.
Content Creation Plan
You're not allowed to directly copy and share user reviews from the Amazon website on your website as it's considered plagiarism. However, you can get ideas from user reviews and re-write them into an engaging and detailed review as a product recommendation.
Before starting Amazon affiliate marketing, you should have very clear content creation plan. Either you’ll be the one taking responsibility of creating fresh content regularly or (if you have a good budget) you can hire a freelance professional who can create content for your affiliate website.
Authority Website
You need to build a strong relationship with your readers by writing engaging content. The Amazon affiliate program strongly discourages the use of link shortening/link cloaking. That means you need to be careful of using link shortening tools like goo.gle, bit.ly etc. Work to make your website an authority website that people trust by offering valid and valuable information.
Be Legit
You can achieve a good number of readers if you have engaging content, a well-optimized website, and a strong social media appearance. In any case, you're not allowed to request that friends click on your affiliate links to make purchases. This is strictly forbidden and considered invalid activity. Only organic sales are encouraged and appreciated. So, you must have a good audience before getting started with the Amazon associate program.
The Future of Amazon Affiliate Marketing
There are different thoughts from various groups of people. Some people say that Amazon Affiliate Marketing is dead already, some people think it’s declining while others would say that it’s rapidly on the ride. Well, you can be from any group but one thing for sure: Amazon.com isn’t going anywhere.
I believe the future of Amazon affiliate marketing is so obviously bright. All of its affiliate marketers could start earning 10 times more in the coming years. With the growth of social media and micro-influencers, the commission rates should also increase within a couple of years. Rise in revenues will come because of solopreneurs, freelancers, and rapidly growing affiliate websites that are generating income around the clock.
Wrapping Up
The Amazon affiliate marketing is an impactful income source. If you haven’t yet started, give it a try. One has many reasons to start, but I don’t find any single reason to not give it a chance.
There is competition in every field but Amazon Affiliate Marketing is something where anyone can be a winner. It's as easy as starting a website or YouTube channel and finding the right audience to market to. Build an audience who can trust you and you could start generating a solid passive income.
There are legitimately Amazon Affiliate Marketers who are earning more than $70,000 a month through Amazon alone. Plenty of micro bloggers also earn a decent living doing this. The best thing about Amazon is that it’s easy to understand and it’s easy to get started.
If you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask me anything. Good luck on your journey as an Amazon affiliate.
Hello there I am new at this and not very computer savvy would like to start a Amazon Affiliate. marketing business can you help me set this up with me .