Amazon is the largest online retail store globally, with a market capitalization of over $1.6 trillion. It also has the largest market share for an eCommerce platform of 19.1 percent, according to Next 1000. In the US alone, 40 percent of all online sales are done through the Amazon platform, making it the country’s dominant platform.
Amazon has programs that users can opt-in to that allow them to take part in the company’s success while also sharing its profits. One such program is the Amazon Associate, also known as Amazon Affiliate program that allows content creators such as bloggers, social media influencers and Youtubers to earn money by monetizing products on the Amazon site.
How does the Amazon Affiliate program work?
The amazon affiliate program is an affiliate marketing program that allows registered users access to links of products which they can place on their websites, social media platforms of Youtube for marketing purposes. If customers click on these links and make purchases, the registered Amazon affiliate marketers who own the links receive a commission of the sale.
The affiliate links work by tracking internet users’ cookies. When a customer clicks on a link, it redirects them to the Amazon site with a page of the product advertised displayed. These links are able to track cookies and once clicked, a customer has to purchase within 24 hours for an Amazon Affiliate marketer to receive a commission.
In case a user places the product on the cart but does not checkout, the cookie session period is increased to a maximum of 89 days, whereby, if a user decides to make the purchase during that period, content creators are paid commissions by Amazon.
In Amazon affiliate marketing, it is important to note that, when a user clicks on a link and ends up not buying the product on the link but purchases something else on the site, affiliate marketers still receive a commission of the purchase as long as the cookie session of 24 hours has not expired.
Amazon affiliate marketing allows content creators to participate in the multi-billion eCommerce industry and benefit from it without creating their own score. The potential for earning money using the program is also huge and relies exclusively on a content creator’s hard work.
Types of Affiliate marketing
Before diving deeper into the Amazon Affiliate Program, it is important to know the different types of affiliate marketing and how content creators are paid depending on the type of marketing they opt-in. Here are the three major types of affiliate marketing:
- 1. Pay-per-sale: In this type of affiliate marketing, merchants only pay content creators when customers who have clicked the link end up buying the product or a product from the site, depending on terms and conditions. Content creators are paid by a commission of the sales from their links.
- Pay-per-click: In this type of affiliate marketing, merchants are required to pay content creators every time the link is clicked and traffic is directed to their site. Pay-per-click does not require a customer to purchase anything from the site for a content creator to be paid.
- Pay-per-lead: In this type of affiliate marketing, content creators are paid when customers who click the link end up filling information on a site and becoming leads. Merchants are not required to pay when a user makes a purchase, or a site gains traffic due to clicking on the affiliate link.
Registering on the Amazon Affiliate program
To create an Amazon affiliate account, here are the steps you need to take to register your account and set up affiliate links.
- Users need to have a platform that has consistent traffic that they can use to refer clients to the Amazon store. Therefore, having a website, a blog, a Youtube platform, or an app is a requirement for you to register an Amazon affiliate account.
- Next, you need to visit the Amazon Associate page, where you will be required to click join now and begin registering your account. You will need to select the option of new customer and begin building a new profile for an Amazon account. After clicking new customers, you will be prompted to enter your personal information, platform details such as their website and Youtube account and their preferred store ID.
- Users are then asked about how they plan to drive traffic to their Amazon affiliate program. They have to explain in detail by filling a form.
- Next, users must enter their phone number, Choose a payment method, and create affiliate links for their account.
Amazon Affiliate tips to increase profitability
Find a profitable niche:
As a content creator, the first thing you need to maximize your profit is researching the topics you want your content to focus on that are less competitive and highly profitable in terms of the percentage of commissions given.
You should also consider how popular your niche is and estimate how many people will be looking to buy such a product. For example, a website talking about gaming computers can have an article about ‘The top 10 gaming laptops in the market today’ that focuses on high-quality gaming laptops on offer on the Amazon site and is also niche specific focusing on gamers, it is also pricy and highly profitable for content writers.
Create high-quality content that is SEO optimized
One sure way of getting high traffic to your site is ensuring that your content is original, SEO optimized and high-quality. This allows for a consistent flow of traffic to your website or Youtube account, ensuring that your Amazon Affiliate links are getting the traffic they need and the clicks.
Use a link localizer for your affiliate account
Amazon has specific rules that state that getting affiliate targets from countries that are not the target of your campaign results in merchants not paying the commissions. To avoid this, Amazon Affiliate account holders need to use a link localizer that allows them to redirect their users to their country’s profile. This allows you as a content developer to get paid globally for every purchase made.
