Understanding the Basics of Amazon Associates Affiliate Marketing
There’s something in the internet marketing world called affiliate marketing. All that means, kind of like a fancy term, but all that really means is you get a commission when you recommend a product or service. So, let’s say if a link is posted somewhere to an Amazon product, someone clicks it and buys it. Amazon says, “Hey, you know what? Thank you for referring somebody to our site.
We’re going to give you a commission. We’re going to give you a percentage of however much that product cost.” So, that being said, here’s how to sign up and make money with Amazon Associates. First things first, you want to go to affiliate-program.amazon.com.
Setting Up Your Free Amazon Associates Account
Once this pulls up, you’re going to create an account, sign up like you typically do for pretty much anything. This is all 100% free, which is pretty awesome. Next, go up and click manage tracking IDs. These are specific tracking IDs. So, what happens is when you create a custom link, it’s custom just to you and someone clicks it.
That’s how you get that commission. That’s how you make money. And you can have multiple tracking IDs. This can be pretty useful if, let’s say, you have multiple YouTube channels. If, let’s say, you have a YouTube channel and a blog and a website somewhere else.
Managing Multiple Tracking IDs for Diverse Content Channels
Basically, if you have different areas that you’re recommending products to Amazon, this allows you to track, okay, if recommending a product on a music production YouTube channel, it’s YTZ.
If recommending a product on Facebook, there’s a separate tracking ID for that. So that way when checking the analytics, it’s clear how much money was made from one particular YouTube channel from Amazon Associates versus another one. So once you sign up, you create your tracking IDs.
Why Amazon is the Ideal Platform for Affiliate Success
The good thing about Amazon is that it has everything. One, you can pretty much buy anything on Amazon, and two, people trust Amazon. It’s not like some random sketchy site. Affiliate marketing exists for tons of other sites, tons of other companies, but a lot of people might not trust them or know them. With Amazon, everybody knows Amazon. And three, and most importantly, most people have an Amazon account.
A lot of people have an Amazon Prime account. So it’s not like doing affiliate marketing for a random product on a random site where someone has to sign up, put in their email, create a password with a special character and a space and a number and a letter and verify and all this kind of stuff.
Step-by-Step Guide to Recommending Products in Your Content
Amazon is super simple and super common for most people. So, let’s say recommending a particular protein cereal. For any fitness-focused content, consider something like a product with 20 grams of protein. Let’s say a fitness video is being made and the goal is to recommend this product.
Go to the product page and click get link. The store ID is the main account. Then, pick the tracking ID from all the available ones.
Best Practices for Generating and Copying Short Affiliate Links
There’s an option for the short link or the full link. Back in the day, the full link was standard — Amazon.com followed by a long string. The short link, in this day and age, is pretty common.
People are used to links being shortened. Back in the day, shortened links almost looked like a scam or something sketchy to click on. The short link is the better choice now. Most people will look at it and recognize Amazon. A big thing to keep in mind — make sure the link is copied exactly. If even one character is off, it won’t work correctly.
Strategies for Placing Custom Links Across Different Media Platforms
When copying the link, make sure it’s copied exactly. Once copied, it can be pasted anywhere — in a blog post, hyperlinked, placed in YouTube descriptions, or even in an Instagram profile. This link is specifically custom to one account. It’s very easy to do. Go to Amazon, click any product, go to get link, copy and paste it anywhere.
Maximizing Passive Income Potential Through Broad Commission Rules
In a sense, it is kind of like passive income because once it’s posted — whether on a YouTube video or a blog post — for the rest of time, any single time someone clicks on that link and buys a product on Amazon, a commission is earned. The amazing thing about Amazon is, one, Amazon has everything, so a link can point to pretty much anything.
But two, and this is really cool, not only is money made if, let’s say, someone buys the recommended product, but money is also made any single time they buy something on Amazon.
Earning Revenue from Unrelated Customer Purchases on Amazon
So, let’s say someone visits the link and thinks, “All right, this product looks kind of cool, but I’m not going to buy it today.” Then, let’s say they go back and scroll around and think, “Oh, I actually do need a mouse.”
They find a Logitech mouse and decide to buy it. That purchase still earns a commission. It tends to be roughly a 50/50 split. When someone clicks a link, 50% of the time they buy that specific product that was initially recommended.
Analyzing the Amazon Associates Commission Income Statement
The other 50% of the time they go to that product, for whatever reason they don’t buy it, but then they scroll around on Amazon and buy something else. Either way, whether they buy the product you recommended or a different one or both, a commission is earned from that.
So, how much money do you make? To find out, go to the commission income statement. Unfortunately, Amazon pays the lowest compared to many other affiliate programs. Every affiliate marketing structure is a bit different, and Amazon is on the lower end.
Detailed Breakdown of Payout Percentages Across Product Categories
There are some companies that pay as high as 10%, 20%, even 50%, and sometimes even higher. Amazon for most products pays 4%. So, if recommending a product that’s $100, on average, $4 will be earned from that recommendation. That’s pretty low.
The different categories vary — Amazon games pay 20%, which is great for gaming channels, gaming blog posts, or gaming websites. Luxury beauty and digital music come in at 10% and 5% respectively. Physical books are 4.5%. Furniture, home, and home improvement are at 3%. Televisions are as low as 2%. Amazon Fresh, physical video games, and video game consoles can be as low as 1%.
Expert Strategies and Pro Tips for Higher Affiliate Earnings
When looking at Amazon Associates, does it pay a lot compared to other affiliate programs? Not at all. On the other end though, everybody has an Amazon account. Everyone trusts Amazon. Everyone knows about Amazon. So, it’s much better to make some money from someone going to Amazon and buying a mouse when DHM was initially recommended,
for example, rather than sending them to a different site where they have to create an account and verify their email or get an SMS message. They might just decide they don’t feel like doing all that and buy it somewhere else, resulting in no commission at all.
Tip 1: Driving Sales Volume Using the Costco Effect Strategy
Amazon is one of the most popular places to buy stuff. So, even though they don’t pay that much money, you cannot go wrong with Amazon Associates. With that being said, here are three huge pro tips to maximize earnings with Amazon Associates. One, link everything.
This is a big one. If you look at a lot of YouTubers and the descriptions of their videos, in every video they might have links to their microphone, the tripod they use, the camera that they use, and other products. Having as many Amazon links as possible is key. This is what can be called the Costco effect. Going to Costco, you might want to get the legendary Costco pizza or something.
Generating Significant Commissions Through Broad Customer Shopping Habits
Walking in for eggs, next thing you know, you walk out with $300 worth of stuff because Costco has everything. Same thing with Amazon. So, the more things that can be linked to in general, the better off and the higher the chances are of someone clicking that link. And once they click it, once that door is open, so to speak, whatever they buy, a commission will be earned.
For reference, it tends to be a 50/50 split. If a product is recommended, 50% of the time they usually buy that product. The other 50% of the time they don’t, but they roam around like roaming through Costco — they’re already in the door on Amazon and they buy something else.
Scaling Your Passive Income Reach Across Multiple Content Platforms
For example, someone once clicked a product link — it was about a $10 product, which would have earned maybe 4 cents in commission. Instead, they did not buy it, but they bought a PlayStation 4 with all these games, spending hundreds of dollars on Amazon.
A commission was earned from that. So, one, make sure to link to as many things as possible. In addition, post them everywhere — in YouTube descriptions, all blog posts, everywhere possible. The more places the link is posted, the more likely it is for someone to click on it. It is a numbers game.
And remember, this is passive income — the second that link is live, for the rest of time, any single time someone clicks on it, money is earned. There are videos from over 10 years ago that still generate money because one product was mentioned.
Tip 2: Promoting Amazon Apps and High-Margin Services
The second huge pro tip — remember, when it comes to Amazon, they don’t just have products, they have apps, they have services. They have games. They have music. That’s a big thing to remember because, for example, on a vlog channel where the main niche is experiencing everything life has to offer, book reviews are a common type of content.
Reading a book and sharing thoughts on it, kind of like a mini virtual book club — discussing what was in the book, a personal perspective on it, and so on.
Utilizing Niche Content Like Book Reviews for Service Signups
Of course, linking to the book itself on Amazon will earn some money. A book at $20 and 4% commission comes out to about 80 cents — not that much. But adding another link to Audible as well makes a significant difference. If someone signs up through Audible, the payout is around $10 per signup.
So, not only is there a link to the book, but also a link to Audible. Keep in mind with Amazon, a lot of times people think only about physical products like a microphone, a pop filter, a desk, a supplement. But make sure to look at all the apps and services that Amazon has, because not only will people sign up with those, but they often pay more.
Maximizing Payouts by Focusing on Service and App Recommendations
An Audible signup from a book review is going to pay way more — $10 is a lot more than the commission from someone just buying the book. So keep that in mind with Amazon.
Long-Term Marketing Success Through Audience Trust and Vetting
Tip 3: Avoiding Sketchy Products and Building Reliable Influence
Lastly, number three — this is kind of affiliate marketing 101 — and that is trust. There’s a lot of products on Amazon. And there’s a lot of good ones. There’s also a lot of bad ones. For those who are into health, fitness, and supplementation, roughly 70% of supplements on Amazon don’t even contain the supplement they claim to contain.
So, money may be wasted on products that aren’t what they say they are, and there’s also the question of what exactly is in those supplements. There’s a lot of sketchy stuff on Amazon, not just with supplements, but with all kinds of products.
The Dangers of Recommending Poor Quality or Unvetted Products
Building trust and a following — people who take your word on YouTube, blogging, social media, or anywhere — is hard to build, but wicked easy to lose. If a video recommends a supplement, someone clicks the link, buys it, and then thinks, “Wait, this made me sick.
This isn’t even a good supplement,” they’re never going to trust that recommendation again — whether it’s a product on Amazon or just a video about something else. That trust is broken.
Maintaining Audience Integrity Through Selective and Personal Recommendations
It can be very easy with all the products on Amazon and with affiliate marketing to just link to everything. But it’s important to be very specific and very picky about the products and services personally recommended. Only recommend products and services that have been personally used.
If recommending a protein powder, that protein powder should already have been tried and vetted. Same thing with a microphone. Same thing with any other product or service.
Final Principles for Establishing Marketing Authority and Reliability
For example, with Audible — getting a membership, trying it out, finding it a little overpriced but still valuable, especially for those who read a lot, and then starting to recommend it because it is a great service. That’s the right approach. Make sure with all the products on Amazon, always recommend the best ones.
And more than that, always recommend the products that have been personally vetted and used. That way, recommendations come from a place of authority and experience, not just something read in a random source. Read More.
