What is the Amazon Associates Affiliate Program

Hello and welcome back to Make That Sea Change – the site designed to assist you in setting up your affiliate marketing business to fund that sea change or simply just earn some extra income from home. If you are a new entrant into the world of affiliate marketing, then one of the quickest and easiest affiliate programs to set up is the Amazon Associates program.

What is the Amazon Associates Affiliate Program you may ask? Well let's check it out with my Amazon affiliate program review below:

Amazon Associates program

In short, the Amazon Associates program is the affiliate marketing program for Amazon.com, the largest internet company by revenue in the world. The program provides you with the opportunity to make affiliate commissions on over 3 billion products across 11 marketplaces worldwide where over 2 billion orders are placed daily.

Once you have joined the associates program, you are then able to post affiliate links onto your site that earn you commission on any purchase made within 24 hours of selection (or 90 days if the item is added to a shopping cart). It's ease of use and access to such a massive array of products is the main reason that Amazon Associates has become one of the most popular affiliate programs for new affiliate marketers.

You Are Reading This Because of Wealthy Affiliate

That's right! Wealthy Affiliate provided me with all of the tools and training I needed to get this post in front of my audience - a.k.a YOU!

You too can start your very own online business here that can make you money from anywhere in the world!!  

See How I Built My Affiliate Site Here

Who is it for?

As above, Amazon Associates is very popular with those new to the affiliate marketing world as its large array of products allows for new sites to provide a broader array of products as they mature. Many other affiliate programs also place traffic flow as a prerequisite for acceptance meaning that for many, Amazon is one of the few programs that will allow access as such as early stage. That is not to day that Amazon Associates will not work for more mature websites as well however.

The only thing you will need is to have a published, valid, non-offensive website on which you can post your links. There are some other details you will need to provide once you have signed up but I will expand on that a little more later on.

How to Join

The application process for Amazon associates is quite a simple and free to join. Before you begin however, you will need:

1. The email address for your website – this is your login ID and also where your initial verification email will be sent.
2. Your website name – the website must be valid and published.
3. Your mobile/cell phone – you will receive a call from Amazon to verify your application finalisation.

Amazon will take you through the sign in process and ask for the information above as well as:

• They type of website you have.
• What products you intend to sell.
• Average monthly traffic numbers.
• How you intent to promote your products.

You will also at some stage be require to enter your country-specific tax and payment information to allow you to receive your commissions.

Locations

The Amazon Associates network has become so large that it is now domiciled in 14 countries including:

1. The US
2. Australia
3. Canada
4. The UK
5. Germany
6. France
7. Italy
8. Japan
9. Spain
10. India
11. Brazil
12. Mexico
13. China
14. United Arab Emirates

This setup, with associate programs for a number of different countries, is one of the major downfalls of this program. You see, if you join one, you are not automatically a member of them all so if your site reach extends to a number of countries, then there is a good chance that you will be required to join more than one program.

This is due to the fact that if you provide a link to the program for your country and the reader is redirected to the Amazon site of their own location, then you could miss out on the commission.

Onelink tool

As a means of assisting with multiple Amazon Associate accounts, there is a tool that you can use called OneLink. Onelink allows you to connect all of your different accounts into one allowing for easier redirection for your readers to their own country site whilst ensuring that you do not lose your commissions. The Onelink tool is selected from the Tools menu within Amazon Associates.

From there, you simply select the Manage Countries option

From here, you can select the country or countries to link, apply to their programs if necessary and link them within your account.

Once they are linked, follow the instructions within the site page to copy and paste the required coding into the footer of your website.

Note: There are currently 14 different country programs available within Amazon Associates. Instead of taking a lot of time to apply to and add all of them, I would suggest doing a little research within your Google Analytics page and see where your traffic is coming from. If the main sources of your traffic are say Canada and Germany, then I would add them only for now and monitor accordingly.

Check out these: Amazon Affiliate Plugins for WordPress

How do I make money with the Amazon Associates Affiliate Program?

As with all affiliate marketing programs, money is made by convincing visitors to your site to click on a link and then make a purchase once they enter the Amazon site. There are a number of ways that this can be achieved but at the end of the day, you are trying to identify a problem that your reader has and solve it via the recommendation of a particular product. These methods can include:

• Review posts – review a particular item or product outlining their features, benefits and advantages – i.e. a person knows what type of product they might want but are not sure which one to get.
• Comparison posts – compare two products and make recommendations – a variation of a review post but with more options.
• How to's – Write a post on how to undertake a process or use a particular product – This might be for someone who has the product but is not sure how to use it. These posts not only give you the chance to build some good authority bone-fides with your readers but provide a good opportunity for cross and up selling such as a cover for their barbecue or a better quality version of the product they currently own.
• Problem solving posts – These posts outline a problem and then make recommendations on products to purchase to resolve them – i.e. “Going camping in winter? use these…”

Note: The critical element here is that the posts must be written in a manner that assists the reader with their problem even if they do not make a purchase from you. If your post is overly sales focused, or contains too many affiliate links, you will not only lose your readers very quickly but also rank poorly within search engine results pages.

How do I add the links?

Links can be added to your website in a number of ways including:

Text

This is where you add a link to your product onto a word or line of text. e.g.

“Use a coffee cup organiser for better presentation….”

These links are located within the Associates stripe at the top of your general Amazon page.

Note: Generally, and depending on the editor used, you will need to add the coding for the graphic and text and graphic options via the HTML Code section of your web page.

You Are Reading This Because of Wealthy Affiliate

That's right! Wealthy Affiliate provided me with all of the tools and training I needed to get this post in front of my audience - a.k.a YOU!

You too can start your very own online business here that can make you money from anywhere in the world!!  

See How I Built My Affiliate Site Here

Commissions

Commissions within Amazon can be quite low compared to other programs. Some will say that is ok as you have more options to sell, others steer away for this reason. The table below shows the commissions paid by amazon for particular items:

Perhaps one of the best-selling points of the Amazon program is the fact that once you refer a person to them, you will earn commissions on every purchase they make during that purchase. For example, if you refer someone for the purchase of a $10 book and they decide to buy a $2000 television while they are there… you get the commission on that too!

Note: The associate programs in some countries use a sliding scale commission structure or have different percentage rates meaning you the commission amounts you earn may differ. Select the Advertising Fee Schedule option under the Help menu for each program's rates and percentages as well as a breakdown of the ‘bounties‘ available for other purchases.

Account rules

One of the most common phrases I have heard around the traps when it comes to the Amazon Associates program is “Not long after I joined Amazon my account got shut down”. Amazon may let you into their program quite easily, however they are pretty strict when it comes to enforcing their affiliate rules.

There are a number of reasons that you can get banned for shonky behaviour however many are from making simple mistakes. The most frequent of these mistakes that will get your account terminated are:

• Number of sales – This is technically not a ‘shut down' however to be fully accepted into the program you will need to drive at least three independent sales to your account within the first 180 days. This is often easier said than done for new sites however it is not a case for concern. If you are rejected for this reason, you are permitted to immediately re-apply.
• Copying and pasting images – This is a funny one but if you are using amazon product graphics within your posts you must do so by copying the coding from the Associates Stripe, API keys or widgets into your website rather than just a copying and pasting it. This ensures that Amazon can meet quality requirements of their vendors on your sites.
• Buying from your own links– This is a big no no and something that will get you banned forever from Amazon. Many people do it to get their first three sales up whilst others think of it as a way of getting some money back off of their purchase. Amazon see it as fraud. The same also goes for sharing links with family and friends. This one is harder to prove but will also get you banned if caught.
• No Affiliate disclosure – It is a legal requirement in many countries that if you are running an affiliate website, then you must advise any visitor to your site accordingly. The most common means of doing this is to include an affiliate disclosure on your site – many also add a one-liner to each post. If at the very least you have no disclosure statement, you will be booted.
• Changing or hiding links – there are many sites out there such as Bitly.com or the Pretty Links plugin within wordpress that allow you to shorten or rename URL links. Do not use these on your Amazon affiliate links.
• Copying Amazon reviews – You may be tempted to paste the reviews you see inside of Amazon to your site to give your product reviews a little more spice – Don't! Amazon considers that to be their content.
• Emailing affiliate links – This is a common mistake that can not only get you in trouble with Amazon but also your Email Autoresponder service provider as well. Amazon frowns upon their affiliate links being emailed directly to your email list. Just refer them to your website post instead.

Those are the basic mistakes that many make so I have mentioned them on more detail. Other things that will get you banned are:

• Offensive, pornographic or violent sites
• Sending links to children under 13
• Shonky website behaviours such as automatic linking, placing links on site that are not yours (such as in the comments of another site) or redirecting links from other sites to your amazon link.

Do I recommend it?

At the end of the day, with the vast array of products available, I definitely see advantage of utilising the Amazon Associates program for websites of any affiliate marketer. I do know that as many mature their sites however, they tend to rely on Amazon less and less as they move to more targeted or higher paying affiliate programs. That said, Amazon is a very effective way of making continued passive income over the long term due to its ongoing popularity and solid, trusted name.

Pros

The Pros of using the Amazon Associates Affiliate program include:

• They are a trusted brand so people are more likely to make a purchase from them.
• They have a massive range of products suitable for almost any niche.
• The affiliate program is simple to access.
• You earn commissions on any product that your referral purchases during their visit.
• They maintain the safety and security of a large multinational company.

Cons

The downside of this program includes:

• Relatively low commission rates compared to other programs.
• Cookies are only active for 24 hours so if they don't add to their cart (which remains active for 90days) within that time frame and come back later, you lose your commission.
• They don't accept PayPal.
• The programs of different countries do not link automatically.
• Some complain that they are quick to act first and ask questions later (or ask none at all) when it comes to terminating accounts for rule breaches.

Conclusion

So that is Amazon Associates in a nutshell. I as have said, I definitely see it as an advantageous program for new and mature sites alike. Just don't break the rules and in time, you should start to see some commissions rolling in.

Do you use Amazon? Please comment below with your experiences

Do you need help with your own website?

If you are looking for a comprehensive training platform that can give you step by step training, 24/7 support, tools to develop and host your very own website and access to some of the best affiliate marketing minds on the planet, then click on the following link to read more about Wealthy Affiliate.

Until next time

Have fun

Paul

Note: If you make a purchase from this page, there is a very good chance that I make a commission from it – these commissions do not increase your sale price. This may include sales made via Wealthy Affiliate and/or Amazon.

Introducing Wealthy Affiliate, My #1 Recommendation for Setting Up Your Own Online Business

When I started, I knew I wanted to work online, but had absolutely no idea where to begin! You see I had watched friends of mine run a sales party to sell essential oils and someone asked if they could just sell them online?

Then, as I sat on the bus heading into my office job, I started to wonder if I could do just that, sell essential oils online.

Anything to stop having to catch this bus to and from work every day right!

The trouble was, as I mentioned above, I had no idea how to even start.

So of course I started to look around online and found all these courses! They all promised me riches then took my money but left me with no riches!

Then I stumbled across the program that didn’t promise me riches, but told me it could help me get started even with no experience!

So I did that, joined Wealthy Affiliate that was it, and the rest as they say, is history!

But it doesn’t come without work!

That is the key here! I began on their starter membership and did the training! I then joined as a member and did some more training!

Each night after work, I would do a little more, then a little more.

And to cut a long story short, after 10 months I realized I didn’t really like writing about essential oils, so I sold the site for about $2000. But I had learned so much that I started another – about fishing and camping!

Then, after 18 months (by which time it had earned me close to $10k), I was offered $17k for the site, so I sold it too.

Now, through my travel blog, I’ve been able to fund my passion for travel and explore different places around the world.

In the past few months, I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to some amazing destinations, including Bali, Los Angeles, Dallas, Vancouver and Las Vegas.

The success of my travel blog has allowed me to fully fund my travels and explore new destinations with my family.

Try the Wealthy Affiliate as a Starter Member and Build your First Hub!

As you start your journey, Wealthy Affiliate is there for you with the most comprehensive training package I have ever seen – And as I have mentioned, I have used a few in my professional career trust me.

To get you started, Wealthy Affiliate has recently introduced the Hub.

The Hub

The hub is an AI based niche and website creation tool that will get you up and running with the foundation of your OWN business in just a few minutes. This includes:

• Your website – hosted and inclusive of a WordPress editor
• Your brand
• Your ‘done-for-you’ research
• Your blueprint
• A task list that is going to help you drive the creation and growth of your business moving forward.

The hub makes the website creation process simple which allows you to get started on the training with a solid base and understanding of the processes.

All you need to do is choose your subject – which is known as your ‘niche’ – and follow the steps on the screen.

Oh, and as you run through the training below you may realize that what you created above is not exactly what you want. That’s ok, you can just create a new hub!

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Wealthy Affiliate Training

Then as you continue your journey, the Wealthy Affiliate Hub is there for you with the most comprehensive training package I have ever seen – And I have used a few in my professional career trust me.

Above we discussed the use of the Hub to set up a website. Once you have done this, you will be able to access the “Step-by-Step Core Training”.

This is available to all members including starter members and will give you everything you need to know to continue to create your online business.

Member Training

There are also Live weekly classes taught by REAL industry experts on a range of topics like artificial intelligence (AI), SEO, YouTube, WordPress, PPC marketing and more.

Great, What Else Does Wealthy Affiliate Have To Help You?

So, let’s keep this short, Wealthy Affiliate is a one-stop-shop platform that provides:

• The Hub – this is the starting point and uses AI processes to assist you in determining your niche and creating your brand.
• Complete training programs to assist with the development of your own affiliate marketing website in your own niche.
• Website creation and publishing tools including access to WordPress editors and themes.
• AI Content article design and content creation
• Domain name purchasing (you get a free domain when you upgrade to the Premium membership).
• Website hosting, security and backup.
• Online help and chat forums.
• Weekly live training events.
• 24/7 support.
• Keyword access tools.
• SEO assistance.

The platform has been active for over 15 years with the original developers and owners, Kyle and Carson, still extremely active in its day to day operations – especially as they rollout their AI capabilities.

You Can Try it Yourself For Free

Now of course I can tell you all about how Wealthy Affiliate works (because it does) until I am blue in the face. But every other program out there – including the shams and scams – will tell you the same thing!

So how about you just try it for free yourself. The Wealthy Affiliate Starter membership is free to join and gives you access to everything you need to get started – all without the need to spend a cent!

With the starter membership, you get:

• 1 Limited Business Hub
• 1,500 AI Word Credits
• Try the AI Author Platform (BETA)
• 1 Practice Website
• Jaaxy Starter
• Limited Help & Support
• Core Niche Training (8 Classes)

And of course I will be there to help you every step of the way as well!

Look, in the interest of transparency, whilst Wealthy Affiliate does offer a free starter membership, this is designed to give you a look around, have a practice and see if it is worthwhile for you – which is a really great option.

However, as with all new businesses, you will need to make some investment so if you are serious about making money online , you will need to upgrade to a premium membership as this will give you access to all the tools you need in the one spot to succeed!

Afterall, every business needs tools to grow!

Access All the Tools You Need to Start Your Online Business Here

So How Much Does This Really Cost?

Wealthy Affiliate does not use upsells once you join – but as I mentioned in the video, to succeed here you will need to invest in a membership. There are a couple of options that provide access to all the tools, training and assistance that you could need – and a free domain as well.

Wealthy Affiliate offers a trio of membership tiers, as detailed on their pricing page.

You can opt for the Starter membership at no cost, the Premium membership for $49 per month or the Premium Plus+ membership for $99 per month. That’s the full extent of it – and you can absolutely build your website without having to spend another cent.

You won’t encounter any unexpected additional charges or covert fees and as a Premium member, you’re equipped with all the essentials to initiate, develop and expand a thriving online enterprise.

Those who opt for the Premium membership are provided with

• Hosting for their websites
• A complimentary domain name
• Access to hundreds of hours of current expert tutorials
• Various marketing and research tools
• Personal guidance from seasoned professionals in the field
• And much much more

And for those of you who want to make a serious investment into your future, there are some yearly options as well below to give you peace of mind that you have a whole year ahead of you to get stuff done!

Access All the Tools You Need to Start Your Online Business Here

And Don’t Forget the Personal Coaching

Once you join, not only do you get plenty of assistance from me, but you also have access to expert coaching, support and mentorship from real industry experts.

I mean, you can have access to all of the top-tier affiliate marketing training in the world, but inevitably, questions arise, particularly during the initial stages.

With an exceptionally dynamic and engaged community that boasts over 2.7 million members, Wealthy Affiliate offers an environment where you, as a member, can fully immerse and leverage this network.

You’re never alone; you have the collective wisdom of an entire community at your fingertips, ready to assist at any moment.

Plus, there’s always-on, rapid-response website support to handle any technical queries you may encounter.

Wealthy Affiliate Works: Real Results From Real People

As I have mentioned a number of times, Wealthy Affiliate has helped me make real money online though its training and tools.

I have made money each month as well as a sale for $17,000.

But again, those promoting other programs will tell you the same thing!

So let’s get away from me and see what others are saying:

To start with, Wealthy Affiliate has a 4.9 out of 5 Star TrustPilot rating, which is a remarkable accomplishment in any industry, let alone the online business industry.

And here are some of those reviews:

And this is what people are saying within Wealthy Affiliate as well:

So, Let’s Make a Decision!

Let’s be frank, you have read this far so why not go all in, click on the button below to get started on the way to your very online business.

Access All the Tools You Need to Start Your Online Business Here

And once you are in and have had a play around with the hub, look for the little envelope on the top right and there will be a message from me. It is of course automated so respond to let me know you are there and we can start this journey together.

(oh, and the profile is mine so you can find me that way as well)

See you there

Paul