Do you want to know how to become an Amazon affiliate?
Joining the Amazon Associates program may seem like a daunting process, but it’s actually quite simple.
Also, affiliate marketing is one of the most effective ways to generate income from the products you are already promoting in your content.
In this post, we discuss how to become an Amazon affiliate. We also share some tips on how to earn your first commission from Amazon affiliate links.
How to become an Amazon affiliate
Here’s a quick rundown of the steps involved:
- Visit the Amazon Associates Program page and click Sign Up.
- Sign in to your Amazon account or create a new one.
- Enter the name and physical address of the beneficiary.
- Add the websites and apps you’ll use to promote your Amazon affiliate links.
- Complete the Profile section of the Amazon Associates Program application.
- Complete your Traffic and Monetization profile.
- Generate three qualifying sales in your first 180 days as a member of the Amazon Associates Program to complete your application.
Now, I’ll walk you through each step in detail:
Step 1: Visit the Amazon Associates page
To go Amazon Associates Homepageand click the yellow Record button.
Step 2: Sign in to Amazon.com
Sign in to your Amazon account or create a new one.
You they can use your personal account to join the Amazon Associates program, but consider creating a second account. This will allow you to keep your buyer and affiliate activity separate on the platform.
As a caveat, you will need to use a different email address and phone number than those associated with your personal shopper account.
Step 3: Set up your account information
Enter the personal information of the person who will receive payments from the Amazon Associates program.
If you are using a personal account, your information should already be selected.
Otherwise, select «Someone else» under «Who is the primary contact for this account?» Please provide a name and phone number below.
Click Next.
Step 4 – Add websites and apps
Add the websites you will use to promote Amazon affiliate links in the box on the left and the apps you will use in the box on the right.
Put a website or app on the line and include «or»
Social media pages are considered websites.
Only Amazon, Google, and Apple URL apps are supported in the mobile app listing.
Click Confirm to continue.
Step 5: Complete the content profile
Enter your preferred Amazon Affiliate Store ID in the The associated store ID field.
Use something short and descriptive, like your name, brand, or short name.
This ID will appear on every affiliate link. This is what the Amazon affiliate program will use to identify your referrals.
Next, fill in the text box labeled «What are your websites or mobile apps about?»
All you have to do is enter a brief description about the content you’re creating, your target audience, and the types of products you’re promoting.
Example: «Fashion tips for young women. Products include clothing, shoes, accessories and beauty products.»
Then rank your site or app with the help primary and secondary subjects.
Be as descriptive as possible. If you can’t find a category that accurately represents your content, choose «Other.»
You also need to be more specific with the next question by selecting the specific types of products you want to create Amazon affiliate links for.
You can select more.
Finally choose primary and secondary types for the content you create on your site. Your options are blog, comparison site, niche site, coupon site, or search.
Step 6 – Complete Your Traffic and Monetization Profile for Amazon Associates
For the first question, choose all the ways your site gets traffic.
You can select multiple methods.
Next, choose the methods you use to generate income for your website
In the end, answer the remaining four questions in the traffic and monetization section of the Amazon Associates app.
Complete the captcha test to complete the Amazon affiliate application.
Step 7: Generate three qualified sales
Amazon does not review your request immediately. You must first generate three qualifying sales as an Amazon affiliate and must do so within 180 days..
Your request will be withdrawn if you do not generate sales within this time period.
Finally, provide your tax information. You they can do it later, but you won’t get paid until you do it, so it’s best to do it as soon as possible.
How to Earn Commissions as an Amazon Affiliate
Now that you’re a member of the Amazon affiliate program, it’s time to start earning.
Start by choosing the exact products you want to promote, then create affiliate links for them.
Next, decide the ways you want to present the links on your site, and use a few different strategies to promote each affiliate link.
Let’s review each step.
How to Choose Amazon Products to Promote
Here are two simple ways to determine which products to promote on Amazon:
- The products you really use and love.
- The best products in your niche
Check your order history looking for products related to your niche, try to remember your experience with them and choose the best ones.
Otherwise, enter a keyword related to your niche, then use Amazon’s filter options to identify the best products.
The reason you want to promote the best products is simple: social proof.
Products that you or your target market love have proven results. You know they sell well and are worth high enough to have low rates of return.
You can also use Idea Hub in your Amazon Associates Dashboard. It’s an easy way to find the latest deals on Amazon.
The tool even has filtering options that you can use to find deals in your niche.
Please note that not all product categories are created equal when it comes to commissions in the Amazon Associates program. Clothing products will earn you a 4% commission, while beauty products have a 3% rate.
Visit Help Documents for Amazon Associates to see the complete list of commission rates offered by the Amazon affiliate program. It will help you decide which products to focus on.
How to create an Amazon affiliate link
There are a few different ways to create affiliate links for the products you want to promote.
The easiest way is with Amazon’s SiteStripe tool.
Browse Amazon while connected to your Amazon Associates account. Next, click on a product that you want to promote.
You should have already noticed the SiteStripe bar located at the top of the web page. It generates different types of affiliate links for you:
- Text – A simple URL that you can assign to text or buttons on your website.
- Image – Embedded HTML code that you can paste into a web page to display an image of the product. Your affiliate link is assigned to the image link. There are three image sizes to choose from.
- Text + Image – Embedded HTML code. It generates a display box that includes your product image, title, price, and call-to-action for your affiliate link.
When creating a text link, you have two options to choose from: short link or full link.
Amazon uses its own link shortener that converts long Amazon links into an amzn.to URL.
This is important because the Amazon affiliate program does not allow you to use link shorteners like Bitly or cover links with tools like ThirstyAffiliates. If you do this, you may be kicked out of the program if you are caught.
Unfortunately, the Amazon short link does not contain your affiliate ID. This makes shortened links unsuitable for long term use as they cannot be edited.
To keep things simple, use short links for short-term promotions on social media, in emails, and in podcast episodes.
Use full links for blog posts, high-ranking web pages, and on your YouTube channel.
Continuing with SiteStripe, you can quickly share affiliate products on social media with the bar’s quick share buttons for Facebook and Twitter.
Lastly, SiteStripe can generate ad code for you. This code allows you to display Amazon ads on your site to promote relevant and dynamic products to your audience.
Other Ways to Create Amazon Affiliate Links
The Amazon Associates Central dashboard has a few additional tools you can use to generate affiliate links:
- Link to your favorite destinations – Generate an affiliate link that leads to a specific subcategory, such as “hair products”.
- Link to search results – Link to results for a specific keyword, such as “wooden hair brushes”.
- Link to any page – Create a link for any Amazon.com URL.
- banner links – Create call-to-action banners for specific product categories.
- mobile popup – generates JavaScript (JS) code that enhances affiliate links by creating unobtrusive ads that float at the bottom of web pages on mobile devices.
Each tool is easy to use.
For the first three links, go to Product Links → Link to any page. Each type of link has its own tab.
All you have to do is select the categories or URL you want to link to, name your link, and generate your HTML.
For banner links, go to Product Links → Banners. Next, select the product category you want to promote.
Amazon has 10 banner sizes to choose from. All you have to do is copy and paste the HTML or JS code it generates wherever you display ads on your site.
The code for mobile popovers can be found under Product Linking → Mobile Popover.
Add it to your site A pop-up ad will appear whenever someone on a mobile device scrolls through an Amazon affiliate link on your site.
You can also use the Amazon OneLink tool, found in Tools → OneLink.
OneLink allows you to link your US Amazon Associates account with international accounts. Specifically, you can link your account to regional Amazon stores in Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany.
Amazon uses location targeting. When a UK reader clicks an affiliate link on your site, they will be redirected to Amazon.co.uk and not Amazon.com.
Without OneLink, you will not receive commissions on purchases made by your readers in Amazon international stores.
It takes a few steps to set it up, but it’s a fairly simple process.
5 Amazon Affiliate Tools You Should Know About
- cool link
- Amazon Affiliate WordPress Plugin (AAWP)
- Equipment
- jungle explorer
- WordPress Review Plugins
1. cool link
cool link is one of the most popular affiliate marketing tools. It is used by thousands of Amazon associates.
It allows you to create smart affiliate links for multiple merchants, including Amazon, iTunes, Walmart, Best Buy, and more.
Before OneLink, Geniuslink was the way to make sure you get commissions from Amazon international purchases.
It still does, but it’s a much more powerful tool these days.
One of its most useful features is how it ensures you earn a commission even if your reader doesn’t purchase the product you’ve linked to.
2. Amazon Affiliate WordPress Plugin (AAWP)
Amazon Affiliate WordPress Pluginbetter known as AAWP, it is an affiliate marketing plugin that allows you to create multi-style display boxes in WordPress.
Here are some of the display boxes you can create for your Amazon affiliate links:
- Comparison table
- product box
- best sellers list
- List of new releases
- Data table
- Multiple widget formats
3. The kit
Equipment is a creative tool that allows you to create a simple web page filled with all the products that you promote to your audience.
It’s a great way to keep track of your affiliate products while also giving you an efficient way to edit your links.
It is used by prominent creators and entrepreneurs, including Gary Vee, Tim Ferris, MKBHD, and Casey Neistat.
4. Jungle Explorer
jungle explorer is an Amazon product research tool.
It allows you to see how many sales a certain product has made, as well as what keywords you should use to promote it.
It is a great asset in helping you make informed decisions about the products you choose to promote.
5. WordPress Review Card Plugins
Another great tool for WordPress users. WordPress Review Cards plugins make it easy to enhance your product reviews with cards that contain ratings, review summaries, and final score breakdowns.
Some great options include WP Review Pro, ultimate blocks (includes a revision block) and Taqyeem.
Top 8 Ways to Promote Amazon Affiliate Links
- resource page
- Product Review Posts
- Summary Posts
- Tutorial Posts
- emails
- youtube channel/videos
- Podcast episodes and show notes
- social networks
A resource page and blog posts with product reviews are two of the most effective ways to promote affiliate links.
A Resources page is a hub your readers can visit to learn about all the tools and products you use and recommend in your niche. Put a link to this page in your navigation menu for easy access.
blog posts work great, especially posts that demonstrate the product you want to promote.
Product pages only tell consumers so much about a product.
Promoting it is so much easier when consumers can see how it looks and performs in real world scenarios.
That’s where product reviews and tutorials come in.
What if How For submitting links, Amazon’s and AAWP’s native linking tools work very well.
Regardless, be sure to check out the Thrive Ultimatum marketing tool if you want to improve your promotional strategies.
Disclosure of affiliate links
You will need to disclose your relationship with the Amazon affiliate program on your blog.
There’s a good reason we’ve avoided mentioning this until now: it’s an important topic in its own right. And it requires a dedicated article.
For now, I recommend checking out the Termly guide for Amazon Affiliate Disclosures.
final thoughts
Amazon Associates is a popular affiliate marketing program, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best.
It has their advantages and disadvantages.
Amazon Dominance is one of the most obvious benefits of joining the Amazon affiliate program.
The retail giant is a trusted brand, even with the endless controversies surrounding them. Plus, your readers are probably already shopping there, and the market is enormous And several.
If you want to become an Amazon affiliate, it’s also incredibly easy, as you’ve seen in the tutorials section of this post.
The program is even forgiving in terms of how much content you need on your site and how many referrals you need to stay.
One of the biggest disadvantages of the Amazon affiliate program is the low commissions.
Amazon reduced its fees in April 2020.
Furniture and home improvement products paid 8%. Now, they only pay 3%. It is the same for other categories.
Unfortunately, the retail industry as a whole is a big offender when it comes to low commissions. This is to be expected as margins are much lower for physical products.
SaaS products, on the other hand, offer great commissions.
AWeber’s email marketing service offers 30-50% recurring commissions. This means that if you refer a customer today, you will earn at least a 30% commission on what they pay today plus a 30% commission for each additional month they pay.
Amazon Associates also has one of the worst cookie policies.
Many affiliate programs offer a cookie policy of at least 30 days. This means you’ll earn a commission even if your reader doesn’t buy right away. They just need to complete their purchase within that 30-day window.
Amazon’s cookie policy is only 24 hours.
They do has a 90-day cookie policy, but your reader must place the product you are promoting in their shopping cart for this policy to take effect.
Despite these drawbacks, Amazon Associates remains one of the easiest ways for new bloggers to generate income.
If you decide to join, be sure to take advantage of the reporting tools that Amazon offers.
They will help you see what works as you take your blog to the next level.
Divulgation: This post contains affiliate links. This means that we may make a small commission if you make a purchase.
