how to be an affiliate for amazon

Amazon Affiliate Program: How to Become an Amazon Associate

Amazon is one of the world's largest retailers. In fact, it responsible for roughly 40% of all online sales in the United States alone.

Anyone can earn a percent of Amazon's profits if they have a website or social media presence and enroll for the Amazon affiliate program.

Amazon Associates is an affiliate marketing network that allows users to monetize their websites, blogs, or social media platforms through Amazon.

Users that are Amazon affiliates simply add links to Amazon products to their websites, and when a customer purchases through one of their links, the user receives a commission.

Continue reading to find out how you can join Amazon's affiliate program to maximize your profits.

What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing programs, such as Amazon's, are essentially agreements in which an online retailer, such as Amazon, pays affiliate websites a commission in exchange for driving the traffic and/or sales.

Affiliate sites connect to the merchant's website and are paid according to the terms of the program.

For example, Amazon's affiliate program pays affiliate sites depending on the number of visitors they refer to Amazon who then completes a purchase within 24 hours.

Affiliate marketing has various advantages for both the merchant and the affiliates that participate. For the merchant, it's an opportunity to increase their reach and increase sales through low-cost marketing.

Affiliate marketers are motivated to increase conversions since affiliate marketing is performance-based — affiliates are paid only when the desired action is taken.

Participating in an associate marketing program allows affiliates to get into e-commerce without having to set up or operate their own store. It also enables you to monetize your website, blog, or social media account and earn a commission.

Affiliate marketing can be divided into three categories:

1. pay-per-sale: In this form of program, the merchant pays an affiliate for each client who makes a purchase. Some retailers pay a flat commission each sale, while others, such as Amazon, pay a percentage of sales.
2. pay-per-click: In this arrangement, the affiliate is paid based on the number of visitors who arrive at the merchant's site via the affiliate link, regardless of whether the visitors make a purchase.
3. pay-per-lead: This type of programme pays affiliates based on number of visitors to the merchant's website who sign up as leads or fill out the website's requested information.

Amazon affiliate programme : how does it work?

Amazon Associates is a referral programme that pays a commission to websites that refer customers to Amazon.

So if you send a customer to Amazon through a link on your website, you'll get a percent of whatever they buy in the next 24 hours.

However, depending on the type of item a customer orders, your commission varies product to product. Find out what Amazon's standard programme fee rate is for different product categories.

Amazon Affiliate Commission

Amazon commission rates 2021

Amazon Affiliate Commission in US

It's crucial to remember that your commission isn't just set by the percentage of the sale you receive.

Your conversion rate is important since it indicates how many people visit your site and then click on an affiliate link and make a purchase.

Your conversion rate is the percentage of visitors to your website that make a purchase through your affiliate link out of the total number of visitors.

For example, if your website receives 5,000 visitors in July and 10 of those visitors purchase something after clicking on your affiliate link, your conversion rate is 0.2 percent.

       10 x 100

      __________     =  0.2%

          5000

The average affiliate conversion rate ranges from 0.5 to 1%. Some affiliates, on the other hand, consistently have substantially greater conversion rates.

You can earn money from products that you don't directly advertise because you get a share of everything a consumer buys from Amazon within 24 hours of landing at Amazon.com through an affiliate link.

For example, if you run a Tech site with affiliate links to high-end cosmetics with a fee rate of 5%, you might get 5% of the cost of a high-end headphone, but also 2.5% of the cost of a Pendrive if the consumer also buys it.

After that 24-hour window closes, or if the buyer re-enters Amazon through another affiliate's link, you won't earn any fees from any further transactions.

You won't earn any fees from future transactions after that 24-hour window closes or if the buyer re-enters Amazon through another affiliate's link.

If the order is placed before the shopping cart expires, which is normally 90 days, you will be eligible for the referral money if the item is added to the shopper's basket within that 24-hour period.

You can still earn a percentage of a sale if a buyer visits Amazon using one of your affiliate links, adds an item to their shopping cart, and then leaves without completing their order.

If the order is placed before the shopping cart expires, which is usually 90 days, you will earn the referral fee if the item was put to the shopper's cart within that 24-hour period.

Pros and Cons of the Amazon affiliate programme

While it may appear that earning money by merely linking to an Amazon product is a no-brainer, there are a few things to consider before becoming an Amazon affiliate. Let's take a look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of Amazon Associates.

Advantage (Pros)

• Becoming an Amazon affiliate is easy. It takes only a few minutes for registration for it. After approval which takes one to two weeks, thereafter you can begin sharing affiliate links (described in the following section).
• Amazon is a leader in the online market. Affiliates don't have to convince customers to buy from the website because the retailer is a trusted, well-known brand. 
• There are a lot of things to promote. There's no shortage of products to advertise via affiliate links, with over 3 billion items for sale and services like Prime Video.
• Participants can earn money from items other than the ones they promote. When you direct people to Amazon through an affiliate link and they buy something, you get a percentage of what they buy within 24 hours. And, because Amazon is so good at conversion and upselling, it's very likely that a customer will load their basket with many things.

Disdvantage (Cons)

• In some categories, Amazon's commissions are quite little. While some products, such as luxury beauty products, have a commission rate of up to 10%, others, such as video gaming consoles, have a commission rate of as low as 1%.
• Because the Amazon Associates Program Operating Agreement can be difficult to understand and is constantly revised, members who do not stay up-to-date risk getting found to be in violation.
• Creating a website with product reviews or other relevant content that would be a good fit for affiliate links can take a long time, work, and maintenance if you don't already have one.

Who should become an Amazon associate, given the benefits and challenges?

You shouldn't become an Amazon associate just because you don't have a personal blog or a website with product reviews.

You can start a website with affiliate links to products you like and add content and links as time goes on. While your site might not be profitable immediately, it's a smart method to build a constant flow of extra income in the long run.

Amazon affiliate links can also be shared on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, making it a wonderful alternative for anyone who uses social media.

It is not necessary to have a lot of followers to earn from such links. Promoting items you love and know is effective word-of-mouth marketing, and because you're a reliable source, your recommendations may be more likely to be picked up.

What are the steps to becoming an Amazon affiliate?

It's easy to sign up with the Amazon Associates programme. To get started, go to affiliate-program.amazon.in and select the “Sign up” button.

If you want to sign up with the US Amazon Associates programme, go to affiliate-program.amazon.com and select the “Join Now for Free” button.

A sign-up page opens like a general Amazon homepage. If you have already an amazon shopping account, you can sign in by using the same credential.

I always recommend you to create a new account by entering Your name, Email, and Password (never give the same password used in gmail account).

You must first fill up your account information, which includes your name, address, and phone number.

You'll next be prompted to enter the URLs of the websites and mobile apps where you want to place banners, advertisements, or affiliate links. You can enter a maximum of 50 URLs for websites and mobile apps.

As shown below, you'll choose a shop ID and submit information about your websites or mobile apps, as well as the types of products you want to promote.

The next step is to explain how you generate traffic to your sites, how you make money from your sites and apps, how you generally build links, and how many total unique visitors you get on a monthly basis.

Once you've completed this section, all you have to do now is enter your phone number, click "Call Me Now," and answer when Amazon calls.

After that, you'll be asked to enter a four-digit PIN, and your account will be created.

You may then proceed to your dashboard to begin creating Amazon affiliate links, or you can submit your payment and tax information later.

How to create Amazon affiliate links

You'll be directed to your Amazon Associates dashboard after you've created your account, where you can view a set of reports, including earnings revenue, and create affiliate links.

You have two options for creating Amazon affiliate links: using the Product Link Tool or using SiteStripe.

Using Amazon's Product Link Tool to create affiliate links

The most common method for creating an affiliate link is to use the Product Link Tool. Simply pick “Product Links” from the “Product Linking” menu at the top of the Amazon Associates dashboard, as shown below.

This will connect you to a screen where you can start a product search. You can search for a generic term like "bath mat," or you can search for a specific brand, model, or product.

If you're making an affiliate link for a sneaker review, for example, you can search for "sneakers" or more precisely for the product you're reviewing, such as "Sneakers Men's for Running."

The search results will appear below once you've entered your query, and you can choose the product you'd like to create an affiliate link for. Simply click "Get link" next to the product you'd like to promote, as shown in the example below.

Your affiliate link will appear in a box, and you can copy the HTML code for your site as-is or customise it first.

Your ad might be a combination of image and text, just text, or just an image. You can also change the ad's design. You may, for example, modify the title or price colour to match your website's design.

Using SiteStripe to make affiliate links

You may create an affiliate link easily from any Amazon product page using the SiteStripe tool.

As long as you're logged into your Amazon Associates account, the tool will appear at the top of any Amazon.com page once you've set it up.

Simply go to any Amazon product page for the item you want to generate an affiliate link for and use SiteStripe.

You can create many different types of links using the SiteStripe bar at the top of the page.

You can create a native ad like the one seen above, or receive a plain text link, an image with an embedded link, or a text plus image ad. You can also share on Facebook or Twitter by having to click.

After you've chosen the type of affiliate link you want, the ad code will display in a box beneath it, and all you have to do now is copy it, and link (paste) it on your post or social media accounts.

Getting paid as an Amazon affiliate

INDIA

Profits made through Amazon's affiliate programme are paid 60 days after the end of each calendar month. The Minimum threshold amount is Rs. 1000 in India.

Payment mode in INDIA.

• Direct deposit: If you want to receive payments by direct deposit, you'll have to provide your bank account details, which include the bank name, account number, IFS Code and other required information. Amazon will hold payment until you reach the Rs. 1000 minimum payment threshold.
• Cheque: You just need to provide Amazon with your mailing (Postal) address if you want payment by check. Your payment will be withheld by Amazon until you reach the Rs. 1000 minimum payment.
• Amazon gift card: For this method of payment, Amazon will send gift cards in the amount you've earned to the primary email address on your account. The Commission will be held until you reach the Rs. 1000 minimum payment threshold.

USA

Profits made through Amazon's affiliate program are paid 60 days after the end of each calendar month. The Minimum threshold amount is $10 if transferred via Deposit (wire) and Gift Card.

In case want your commission via cheque, the threshold amount is $100 as well processing fee is deducted $15.

Direct deposit, check, or Amazon gift card payments are all acceptable methods of payment.

Because Amazon has a minimum payment amount for each type, as mentioned below, the payment option you choose has an impact on how often you'll get paid.

Payment Minimum Chart :

Payment mode in US.

1. Direct deposit: If you want to receive payments by direct deposit, you'll have to give Amazon your banking information, which includes the bank name, account number, and other identifying information. Amazon will hold payment until you reach the $10 minimum payment threshold.
2. Check: You just need to provide Amazon with your mailing address if you want payment by check. Your payment will be withheld by Amazon until you reach the $100 minimum payment plus a $15 check-processing fee.
3. Amazon gift card: For this method of payment, Amazon will send gift cards in the amount you've earned to the primary email address on your account. Fees will be held until you reach the $10 minimum payment threshold.