“Amazon Associates” is the affiliate program offered by tech giant Amazon. With the Amazon affiliate program, one can easily monetize their blog or website. This easy program benefits a wide range of people, be it new entrepreneurs, people with side hustles, or even students with their own blogs. The reason why such a variety of people are attracted to the Amazon affiliate program is that it is extremely easy to operate and the money is good too!
What is the Amazon Affiliate Program?
Amazon Associates is an affiliate marketing program where bloggers and website owners can become a part of the Amazon family and earn from it. These Associates create links on their sites that advertise Amazon products, and when their audience makes a purchase from Amazon.com, the Associates earn referral fees.
Amazon Affiliate Program Rules
While the process itself is rather easy, there are some requirements that you must meet and rules you need to follow to become an Amazon Associate.
Top 5 Rules To Remember
- Associates need to announce on their website that they can potentially earn from the links recommended throughout the site.
- Don’t make any false or deceptive claims when making recommendations.
- Since the prices fluctuate on Amazon, it is better to avoid mentioning any prices directly. There can be some exceptions to this rule.
- Amazon affiliate links cannot be used in eBooks, emails, or in any other offline promotions.
- The Affiliate links should not be shortened or hampered with.
Before signing up with Amazon, make sure you go through their full policy.
4 Steps To Become An Amazon Affiliate
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Have Your Own Platform
The foremost necessity for you to join the Amazon affiliate program is that you must have an active blog/website/YouTube channel. Naturally, a website/channel with many active users and quality content will be preferred by Amazon over the ones barely active.
You have to describe the purpose of your channel or website when you are applying for the program. So have a clear idea about what purpose your platform serves, what will be your target audience, and how you can bring traffic to your site and promote the affiliate links.
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Visit The Amazon Associates Homepage
Next, you have to create your account on Amazon. Simply visit the Amazon Associates homepage and click on “Join Now for Free”. This will lead you to a prompt where you can log into your current Amazon account, or you can create a new one.
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Build Your Amazon Associates Profile
After signing in, click on “New Customer” and follow the prompts that will pop up.
You will first have to fill in your account details like name, address, etc. Put in your website address or YouTube channel link.
Enter your store ID, the purpose of your site, and select the Amazon topics that your links can target.
Next, explain how you plan on driving traffic to your site and how you use it to generate income. You will also have to explain how you build links, what is your average number of visitors per month, etc.
The next step is phone number verification. Enter your number and go for the “Call Me Now” to receive a call. You will have to input a 4 digit number and your account will be approved then.
You can finish up with your payment and tax details and you’ll be a part of the Amazon affiliate program.
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Create Your Amazon Affiliate Links
Now that you have your Associate homepage, it will show your performance dashboard. It will show you monthly summary, earning overview, and total number of clicks. You will also find relevant products to link to based on your content.
To create your Amazon affiliate program links, you will have to log in to your Amazon Associate account so that you find relevant products. Next, tap on Product Linking, situated at the top of the page, and select Product Links. This is where you can build your links. After this, you have to find the 10-character alphanumeric Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN) of the product you want to link to from their catalog. If you don’t know the ASIN, you can manually search for the product. Then confirm that the product you want has been generated. Next, click on Get Link on your right to copy the Amazon Affiliate link that you will be using for promotions. Voila! Your link is ready for use!
The last step is to include this link and other ones on your site. Make sure you abide by the rules you have agreed to previously.
This Amazon affiliate program account will be valid for 180 days, wherein you have to make at least one sale. Otherwise, the account will be closed. So before you jump into the program itself, make sure you have a fool-proof strategy to attract traffic to your site. Your target audience should engage with the links and at least a few of them should be making purchases. Don’t get your hopes too high initially as it may take some time to pick up. Meanwhile, make sure you are publishing the best content and following ethical guidelines.
If you cannot make a sale within those 180 days, you can reapply for the program after making some adjustments to your channel or site.
All the best!
