A Beginner's Guide to Amazon's Affiliate Program

With Amazon’s meteoric rise, many people are wondering how they can capitalize on the platform’s ability to generate so many sales for products in almost every industry.

Not everyone, however, has the capital or resources to sell directly on or to Amazon.

Amazon’s Associates Program

Amazon Associates, Amazon’s affiliate program, allows you to earn a referral fee for the traffic you send to Amazon. For bloggers and other publishers looking to increase the revenue generated by their website, this can be a lucrative agreement.

The Amazon affiliate program differs from selling directly on Amazon through Seller Central in that you do not keep any inventory.

As an extension of its regular affiliates program, Amazon recently launched a program specifically for influencers. If you are an influencer, review both programs to determine which is the best fit for your company’s needs.

“The Amazon associate program is most viable for people who sell higher-priced items. Selling a $10 book is not too much easier than selling a $400 TV if you have a well-targeted audience that is able and willing to buy.”Nate McCallister, CEO of Entreresource.com and author of Evergreen Affiliate Marketing

The Amazon Associates program can be a valuable tool for increasing your overall return on investment from your website. Everything you need to know to get started with the Amazon Associates Program is covered in this article, including:

What exactly is the Amazon Associates Program?
How much can you earn through the Amazon Affiliate Program?
Understanding the Amazon Affiliate Program rules.
Registering for the Amazon Affiliate Program.

What Exactly Is Amazon’s Affiliate Program?

Amazon Associates is a form of affiliate marketing. This means that you can be compensated in exchange for promoting Amazon’s products and services.

If you have your website or blog, this free program can help you monetize the content you create.

You will include links to Amazon throughout your website, blogs, and articles. You will receive a commission from the sale if a customer clicks on your link to Amazon and then adds products to their cart within 24 hours.
The customer has 90 days to check out their cart for you to be paid your commission – as long as the product was added to the cart within 24 hours of clicking on your link.

Amazon has some very specific rules for participating in the program to prevent potential fraud and negative customer experiences.

Before implementing the program on your site, please read the Operating Agreement and Program Policies in their entirety.

How Much Can You Earn Through the Amazon Affiliate Program?

The amount you can earn as an affiliate is determined by the amount of traffic you send to Amazon that converts.

The exact commission you receive on any sale is determined by the product category (see table below).

It is critical to note that the customer does not have to purchase the product that you specifically recommended for you to receive the commission.

Assume I have a blog about gluten-free foods. I might suggest a specific bread maker or a gluten-free flour mix.

If a customer clicks on my Amazon affiliate link and buys a TV or Christmas presents for their children within the next 24 hours, I will receive a commission based on all sales made within that time frame.

If a customer clicks on another associate’s link after yours and before making a purchase, or if they delete their cookies, Amazon will not pay you a commission on those sales.

The more people who click through from your website to Amazon, the more money you stand to make. The amount of money you make is entirely determined by the number of sales you make.

Keep in mind that the commission table is subject to change, so it is critical to stay up to date on the exact commission you may earn from the products and services you market.

Understanding the Amazon Affiliate Program Rules

Whether you are new to the Amazon Associates program or have been a member for many years, you must adhere to Amazon’s operating agreement and program policies.

If Amazon discovers that you are violating their policies, they have the right to terminate your account at any time.

Amazon expects you to review the program’s rules regularly to stay in compliance. While the list below is not exhaustive, let’s go over some of the most important Amazon Affiliate program rules.

Amazon Affiliate Disclosure Statement

Amazon affiliates must identify themselves on Amazon. It’s an important step that any Amazon affiliate site must take.

Amazon states in the operating agreement:

“You must clearly and prominently state the following, or any substantially similar statement previously allowed under this Agreement, on your Site or any other location where Amazon may authorize your display or other use of Program Content: ‘As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.’
Except for this disclosure, and other than as required by applicable law, you will not make any public communication with respect to this Agreement or your participation in the Associates Program without our advance written permission.
You will not misrepresent or embellish our relationship with you (including by expressing or implying that we support, sponsor, or endorse you), or express or imply any affiliation between us and you or any other person or entity except as expressly permitted by this Agreement.”

The date and time of the most recent price update must be specified

When displaying product prices, you must include the date they were obtained from Amazon. The Advertising API can be used to obtain prices (API).

Amazon wants the time and date to be included because Amazon’s prices can change at any time.

Many plugins automate the process, including the date and time the price is listed, as well as giving you style control over your text.

“(i) You will include a date/time stamp adjacent to your display of pricing or availability information on your application if you obtain Product Advertising Content from Data Feeds, or if you call PA API or refresh the Product Advertising Content displayed on your application less frequently than hourly.
However, during the same day on which you requested and refreshed the pricing and availability information displayed on your application, you may omit the date portion of the stamp.”

No Pretty Links or Link Cloaking

Amazon must be able to determine where the traffic is going, and it must be clear to the customer that they are being directed to an Amazon site.

It is best to create shorter special links for your Amazon affiliate website by logging into your associate’s account or generating them from SiteStripe when creating your links.

(v) You will not cloak, hide, spoof, or otherwise obscure the URL of your Site containing Special Links (including by use of Redirecting Links) or the user agent of the application in which Program Content is displayed or used such that we cannot reasonably determine the site or application from which a customer clicks through such Special Link to an Amazon Site.
(w) You will not use a link shortening service, button, hyperlink or other ad placement in a manner that makes it unclear that you are linking to an Amazon Site.

Affiliate links should not be included in emails or ebooks

It is forbidden to send a user directly to Amazon from an email message. When they return to your website, they can click on the Amazon link for a product you’re promoting.

When discussing Amazon products in reviews or other articles, be cautious when mentioning ebooks.

A product link in an ebook should lead to a blog post or landing page where affiliate links can be included.

“You will not engage in any promotional, marketing, or other advertising activities on behalf of us or our affiliates, or in connection with an Amazon Site or the Associates Program, that are not expressly permitted under the Agreement.
You will not engage in any promotional, marketing, or other advertising activities in any offline manner, including by using any of our or our affiliates’ trademarks or logos (including any Amazon Mark), any Program Content, or any Special Link in connection with email, offline promotion or in any offline manner (e.g., in any printed material, ebook, mailing, private messages on social media networks, or attachment to email, or other document, or any oral solicitation).”

Amazon Content Is Not To Be Used Inappropriately

Amazon is fiercely guarding its intellectual property. Amazon owns all of the content on its website and places a high value on its intellectual property.

It is critical not to copy and paste product images, titles, and descriptions from Amazon onto your website.

If you want to include this information, you can do so on Amazon affiliate sites using SiteStripe or the Product Advertising API.

The API is essentially your data feed access ID. To gain API access, you must have at least three sales as an affiliate.

Amazon is also very strict about the use of its trademarks.

You must understand the approved and disapproved uses of any official Amazon marks or any marks that may be Amazon “inspired” before using any official Amazon marks or any marks that may be Amazon “inspired.”

“You will use Program Content solely in accordance with the terms of the Agreement and within the express scope of the license granted herein.
Without limiting the foregoing, you will (a) use Program Content solely to send end users and sales to an Amazon Site and will not link any Program Content to, or in conjunction with any Program Content, direct traffic to any page of a site other than an Amazon Site (however, parts of your Site that are not closely associated with the Program Content may contain links to sites other than an Amazon Site) and (b) link each use of the Program Content solely to the related Product detail page or other relevant page of an Amazon Site and not to any other page.”

Do Not Bid On Amazon-branded Terms

As an Amazon affiliate, you may run paid ads; however, you may not bid on Amazon-branded terms.

“You may purchase paid search advertisements and submit links to Search Engines to appear in response to a general Internet search query or keyword (i.e., in natural, free, organic, or unpaid search results), so long as you comply with the Agreement and those paid or unpaid search results send users to your site and not directly, or indirectly via a Redirecting Link (as defined in the Commission Income Statement), to an Amazon Site.”

Keep Your Personal Information Up to Date

Enter the URL of any affiliate website where you want Amazon affiliate links. Email, direct deposit, banking, and tax information should all be current.

This is how Amazon will notify you of any issues with your account or new policies.

You Cannot Make a Purchase Through Your Own Link

You and your family members may never make a purchase using your affiliate link. Make no purchases from the computer you use to set up and manage the account.

This is true even if the purchases are not made using your Amazon.com account.

“(u) You will not directly or indirectly purchase any Product(s) or take a Bounty Event action through Special Links, whether for your use or for the use of any other person or entity, and you will not permit, request or encourage any of your friends, relatives, employees, contractors, or business relations to directly or indirectly purchase any Product(s) or take a Bounty Event action through Special Links, whether for their use, your use or the use of any other person or entity.
Further, you will not purchase any Product(s) through Special Links or take a Bounty Event action for resale or commercial use (of any kind) or offer any Products on your Site for resale or commercial use of any kind.”

Don’t Try to Imitate Amazon’s Website

It will be considered a violation if you use the same design, color, and layout as the Amazon website.

Rebates are not permitted.

You are not permitted to offer promotions or financial incentives to those who make purchases through your affiliate links.

“(g) You will not offer any person or entity any consideration, reward, or incentive (including any money, rebate, discount, points, donation to charity or other organization, or other benefit) for using Special Links.
For example, you cannot implement any “rewards” or loyalty program that incentivizes persons or entities to visit an Amazon Site via your Special Links.”

Joining the Amazon Affiliate Program

There are several steps you must take if you want to sign up for the Amazon Affiliate program. These are some examples:

Step 1: Join the Amazon Associates Program

Of course, having a website or blog is required if you want to participate in the program. If you haven’t already done so, you must do so before applying to the program.

The program requirements outlined in the Operating Policies must be met by your website.

Once you have a functioning website, it is time to join the Amazon Associates program. All you have to do is go to the home page and click the signup button.

You will then be prompted to log in to your Amazon account or create a new one. The entire procedure should only take a few minutes.

When you’re finished, you’ll be able to join the Amazon Affiliate team.

Step 2: Fill out your account information

All of your account information, including your name, address, and phone number, must be entered. This is a relatively simple process, and you will need to indicate the account’s primary contact. This is most likely going to be you.

You will also be prompted to enter your preferred store ID, which is most likely the name of your website.

Amazon will inquire about the primary purpose of your website. That way, you’ll be able to determine what kinds of products and services are best for your affiliate strategy.

Step 3: Distribute Your Website Address

Following that, you must share information about all of the websites you will use to promote Amazon’s products and services.

For example, you may need to include your website’s URL.

Step 4: Increase Website Traffic

Amazon will also inquire as to how you intend to drive traffic to your website.

How do you usually build links?

How many visitors do you get every month?

How do you make money with your website or mobile applications?

This information will be critical in assisting you in developing a well-rounded strategy. You can use social media, SEO, blogs, shopping portals, and even paid search strategies to drive traffic to your website.

Step 5: Determine How You Want To Be Paid

Following that, you must specify how you want to be compensated.

You will also be asked to provide your tax ID number. (You may choose to skip this step and return to it later.)

Step 6: Begin Creating Your Links

Finally, you’ll need to create Amazon affiliate links to send your visitors to Amazon.

You should have your homepage where you can track your performance dashboard.

This will also provide you with a summary of your total clicks, the total amount of money you have earned, and access to information that you can use to track trends over time.

Using the Amazon Associate program, it is relatively simple to create a link.

Simply click on the product linking area in the top banner, enter the ASIN of the product or service, and then press the button to generate a link.