At current, Amazon sells over 480 million products worldwide. That means they sell pretty much everything a normal consumer would buy online. Each of these products carries a potential income stream for the sellers/merchants AND affiliate marketers (also known as Amazon Associates) which is the focus of our topic today.
For those of you who don’t know, affiliate marketing is an online business model that allows the earning of sales commission without having to own the merchandise. With that many products on the marketplace, there’s really no limit to how much commission one can potentially earn.
Unlike the drop shipping business model, the cost of starting an affiliate business is way lower and less complex to handle from a beginner’s standpoint. So for those who are inexperience, learning how to make money on Amazon without selling is definitely the easier route to start an online business.
What You Need To Know/Have
The process of becoming an Amazon Associate isn’t difficult, but there are a few things that need to be in order before we begin.
1 – Check Your Eligibility
If you are a resident of the US, you need to check whether your state is eligible or not. At this point of writing, there are 5 states that are not allowed to participate in the affiliate program, namely, Arkansas, Missouri, Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont. If yours is one of them, don’t feel let down.
There are other affiliate networks that you can be part of such as Rakuten Linkshare and ShareASale. They offer plenty of interesting merchants from a variety of niches (both digital and physical products) and the commission payouts are often higher than that of Amazon’s. So it’s worth checking them out.
2 – What Is Your Choice of Niche
A niche is basically a group of people that are searching for the same thing, specifically with the intention of buying online.
So another way of asking this question is, what type of audience are you targeting? To find out the answer, you need to look for a type of product that you’re interested to promote.
For example, recommending Fitbit to people who wants to lose weight OR introducing ToysRUs for parents who are searching for Christmas gifts for their children. Every product category that is listed on the Amazon marketplace is a potential niche.
The key is to find that one product you are knowledgeable about AND can also cater for the needs/concerns/problems of your targeted audience.
Having an informative website will not only make you look like an educated marketer, it builds trust and traffic that can boost your rankings on the search engines.
3 – Create A Website
Now, all that helpful content needs to reside somewhere and there’s no better place to publish them than on your own website.
Even though there are many web builders out there, my number one choice would have to be WordPress by SiteRubix, because it comes with affordable domain registration fee, professional hosting support and a ton of online training to help run a successful affiliate business.
4 – Analyze Website Traffic Data
After publishing a few blogs, you should be able to start generating this data for your site;
- What page/post is being viewed the most?
- How much traffic are you getting for the month?
- How many clicks are going to your product review page?
These are important questions to ask and fortunately for webmasters, Google has two nifty tools (Google Search Console and Google Analytics) that can help. So do set them up as soon as you can and learn the behaviors that are coming in/out of your site.
With these three things in your hand – a custom website, a targeted niche, a set of website data – you can now proceed to apply for the Amazon Associate program.
The Application Process Step-by-step
Step 1 – At the footer of the Amazon’s website, look for the link that says ‘Become An Affiliate’ and click the button to join.
Step 2 – In the first section of the application, enter your name, physical address and contact number.
Step 3 – In the second section, you’ll be asked of the website details (general description, targeted audience, promotional products, methods of traffic acquisition, numbers of unique visitors and etc.), most of which you’ll be able to obtain from the Google tools that I mentioned earlier.
Step 4 – Submit the application and wait for the good news. If all the information provided is favorable, you should be getting a confirmation email from Amazon within 24-48 hours. After that, you can access the Associate Central for various features and start promoting your desired affiliate product.
Your Opportunity to Become an Online Entrepreneur Begins…
With a single idea.
It could be a niche that you like (or even curious about), your expertise with a certain product or an interesting domain name that just crossed your mind. Whatever your light bulb moment might be, I am very sure that there’s something in the Amazon marketplace for you to start an online business.
If you want to see more of the process in action, watch this niche case video training by Jay from Wealthy Affiliate, as he shows you how to make money on Amazon without selling. You’ll learn to find a niche, create content from keywords and write awesome product reviews that convert into sales. Just click on the image below to register for free.
Have any thoughts or questions about this article? Please leave them in the comment area below and I’d be happy to respond.
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Why Do You Need a Website for Affiliate Marketing
Rick says
May 27, 2018 at 7:22 pmHello
I want to promote Amazon Audio books program, How can I become affiliate of that ?
Cathy says
June 1, 2018 at 7:16 amHi Rick. Are you referring to Audible? It is available through the Audible affiliate program and it follows the same account set up as with the Amazon associate program.
Alex says
November 4, 2017 at 2:26 amCan I become an affiliate while living in Kenya?
Cathy says
November 5, 2017 at 6:56 amHi Alex, you most likely can, if you meet the requirements of becoming an associate. Alternatively, you can check out the Jumia marketplace. They also offer an affiliate program and it may be more relevant if you are targeting audience living in the African continent.
Vertical Veloxity says
April 2, 2017 at 10:54 amYes, Amazon is an online race horse that is great to have on your team. For the person who learns how to get those product searches going to their website, the money stream could be very good.
I have seen people make thousands of dollars a month with Amazon as an affiliate. It just takes some focus.
I am in the beauty niche and I have not gotten around to promoting Amazon. But I am going to jump in myself after I establish first page ranks in my niche. Thanks for the information.
Marty says
March 30, 2017 at 11:06 pmHi Cathy, you have explained affiliate marketing in a very easy to understand way. I like the idea of not having to handle products. Amazon handles just about any product you want to buy and the price is usually quite competitive.
By the way, is it necessary to do product reviews when you are an Amazon associate?
Cathy says
March 31, 2017 at 8:22 amHi Marty, the basis is that you need to have a website in order to apply. So with a website, you need textual content in which product reviews can contribute to that. As an associate, you want to capture readers that are in the purchasing cycle and product reviews/comparison will help to determine if they want/don’t want to buy what you are recommending.
isaac says
March 28, 2017 at 7:17 amHi Cathy. Amazon is by far the easiest place for anyone to start as an affiliate marketer. There are tons of products you could market and I’m sure Amazon’s eCommerce layout is familiar enough for most people to navigate around.
The video link you attached is a very good information by the way. I’ll try to watch it myself when I have the chance. When you said Jay is not selling, do you mean he wrote the product review without any hard sell?
Cathy says
March 29, 2017 at 7:50 amYes, educating people through product reviews is probably one of the best ways to promote a product (without any hard sell) because they are created based on the consumer’s intent. That’s why you do keyword research. Readers land on a product review page because they want to learn more about a certain topic, not because they are obliged to buy anything.
Princila says
March 25, 2017 at 11:28 amThank you for putting this up, Cathy.
I couldn’t agree with you more that compared with the drop shipping model, Amazon is definitely the easier route to start an online business. I tried drop shipping with Shopify and AliExpress, and it was way more complicated than I had imagined.
It was so much easier to start an Amazon niche website. However, the only downside is driving traffic to your new website so that you can have your first sale and have Amazon review and approve your application. As for the other Rakuten Linkshare and ShareASale, I’ve heard some affiliates sharing good results.
However, I chose Amazon since I learned they converted very well. But as you mentioned, the latter two would be alternatives to consider for people living in states where they’re not eligible to participate in the Amazon associate program.
Cathy says
March 26, 2017 at 7:49 pmHi Princila, Amazon is certainly a good place to start because of the product variety that you can cross promote within a particular niche. Most of the consumer reviews are also very genuine (a healthy mixture of good and bad) which can give you and your readers a better idea what an item is like before making a purchasing decision.
Sherry says
March 23, 2017 at 10:17 pmHi Cathy,
I definitely agree that affiliate marketing is a great way to go to start an online business. Especially for those that are just starting out and don’t have a lot of money to spend on creating their own products. I wished this step-by-step application had been around when I started out there.
Amazon is a great place to start if you’re able, in my opinion. I’ve never tried ShareASale or Rakuten Linkshare myself yet, but I’ve heard of them.
What do you think about Clickbank or CJ Affiliate (formerly Commission Junction)? I’ve tried them before, but haven’t had as much success as with Amazon.
There’s a lot to learn for someone who’s just starting out, and you’ve done an excellent job in breaking it down into the steps needed to get started as an affiliate marketer. I’m sure the Niche Case Studies by Jay will help out beginners tremendously.
Cathy says
March 25, 2017 at 11:33 pmGreat to hear from you again Sherry.
CJ runs affiliate programs for some notable brands and some of their commissions are higher than those in Amazon. As for Clickbank, they are mostly digital products where the profit margins are bigger, but I would advice that you screen through the vendors and test out their products before recommending because some of them can be pretty crappy.