If you're thinking about becoming an Amazon Associate or are already one but want to know more about creating links for other websites, then read on! We'll look at some quick tips to help you understand what it takes to be successful as an Amazon Affiliate and where you should focus your efforts.
Amazon has been around since 1995, so they have quite a few years' experience in developing their own products and services that people will buy online - and there's no better place than Amazon to start looking for potential partners who might provide products and/or services that you could promote through your Amazon affiliate site. You don't need to worry too much if you haven't got any previous marketing knowledge because Amazon provides great training resources which include videos, guides, webinars, articles and even books. For example, the book "Affiliate Marketing Made Simple" was written specifically for beginners like yourself and covers everything you need to know about getting started with promoting Amazon products.
There is usually only one way to join Amazon Associates and that is via a special invitation process known as ClickBank University. The reason why is because ClickBank is the company behind all the best-known ecommerce platforms such as Commission Junction, ShareASale, PepperJam etc., and many of them pay out commissions every month based upon sales made. If you were able to sign up to ClickBank using your existing email address, then you would automatically receive invitations to apply for membership once per year. However, if you didn't use your old email address when signing up, then you'd have to wait until next year before being invited again.
This sounds pretty daunting, doesn't it? Fortunately though, there are lots of alternatives available to those who aren't interested in joining the top tier platform just yet. As mentioned above, it's not necessary to have a separate website to become an Amazon Associate, although having your own domain name does give you greater credibility and authority over visitors to your site. That said, here are a couple of different types of sites you may wish to develop to sell products.
You certainly won't be asked to pay anything upfront if you decide to go down the route of building an Amazon Affiliate website. It's important to remember that you don't actually get paid unless someone buys something from your website. This means that whatever you spend setting up your site, hosting costs and ongoing maintenance must ultimately come out of your pocket. Once you've signed up to Amazon Affiliates, you'll find that you'll soon begin receiving emails inviting you to visit your dashboard. Here you'll see all sorts of information regarding your current activities including referrals received and pending payments due. You can check each referral individually and view details about what has happened with that particular sale.
In addition, you can also track your performance across several key areas such as traffic levels (the number of visits), conversion rates (how well your ads convert) and revenue earned. By checking your earnings regularly, you'll soon learn exactly how profitable your promotion campaigns really are. There's nothing worse than spending hours trying to drive traffic to your site only to discover later on that you weren't making any money after all.
With regards to payment processing, most merchants offer both PayPal and bank transfer methods. One thing worth pointing out here however is that you can't take credit card payments directly through Amazon Affiliate accounts. Instead, you'll need to register for a merchant service provider (MSP) first. These companies handle all the complex technical aspects involved in accepting credit cards while you concentrate on driving traffic to your website and selling product(s). When you refer customers to MSPs, you'll receive a cut of the profits generated from the transactions carried out by your clients.
An associate website is simply an ordinary website that contains advertisements, banners and/or buttons directing users to purchase goods and services offered by third parties. They are generally built using HTML code and typically contain text links leading to external stores selling various items. Some examples of popular brands that allow you to build associate websites include eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Uber and Airbnb.
Yes, you absolutely can. All you need is a valid email address and you can start earning money right away. To put this into perspective, thousands of individuals around the world are currently earning significant sums of cash by referring shoppers to the hundreds of millions of products sold by major retailers such as Walmart, Target, Dell, Nike, Gap, Sony, Microsoft, Best Buy, Home Depot, Walgreens and Starbucks. Many of these associates receive a small percentage of the total transaction value (for instance 10% of $10). So imagine if you had access to tens of billions of dollars worth of retail space... that's how big the market opportunity truly is.
To kick things off, head to ClickBank and click on 'Sign Up Now'. Fill in the required fields and choose a user name. Next enter your full name followed by a brief description of your business. Finally, select a password and click Sign Up. After a short time, you'll receive an activation email containing a unique URL which you'll need to share with anyone else planning to work with you.
Now that you have created an Amazon Associate account, you'll notice that whenever you logon you'll encounter a welcome message telling you that you now have access to your dashboard. Simply scroll down and click on Create Your First Campaign. From here, you can either choose to search for a specific keyword phrase related to your chosen niche industry or type in your own keywords manually. Either way, you'll end up seeing a list of suggested sites that match your criteria. Select the ones you prefer and hit 'Next Step'.
After selecting the appropriate landing page template, you'll be shown the details of the campaign including its title, description, keywords, estimated cost and daily budget limit. Make sure you leave plenty of room for extra text before clicking 'Create New Campaign'. Next, review the terms and conditions before agreeing to them. Then click Finish and return to the Dashboard. At this stage, you can add affiliate links to your website if you wish to generate additional income from your Amazon campaigns. Just follow the same steps outlined above and repeat the procedure for each individual ad.
The amount of money you can potentially earn depends entirely on how effective your campaigns are. While it varies greatly between affiliate programs, the average rate of compensation is somewhere between 3%-5%. Of course, this figure can vary depending upon whether you opt for Pay Per Sale, Pay Per Lead or Pay Per Click models. Also, keep in mind that certain products require approval prior to generating sales.
For example, let's say you run a fashion blog featuring trendy clothing and accessories. You might consider adding a banner advertisement linking to a retailer offering high quality jeans or jackets. Although there may be limited competition within your target audience, it's unlikely that you'll reach very many potential buyers by relying solely on organic listings alone. Therefore, you're likely going to benefit from incorporating affiliate links alongside your normal content.
As you continue to gain momentum and expand your customer base, you'll eventually move onto bigger and better opportunities. With enough hard work and commitment, you'll be able to quit your day job and turn your passion into a thriving side hustle. And the exciting part is that once you master affiliate marketing, it becomes easier and quicker to launch similar promotions targeting completely unrelated markets.
Are you looking for methods that will help you start creating affiliate links for products sold through Amazon or other e-commerce sites? If so, then read on!
If you are interested in earning money online with affiliate marketing, then one of the first things you need is some kind of link you can use to refer people to buy something else. This could be anything - perhaps it's an eBook, a digital download, maybe even a physical book or DVD. Once someone buys what you're selling, you earn commissions from them via your affiliate account.
So if you want to start making money as a seller using affiliate links, there are several different options available to you. We'll look at three of the most common ones below.
Firstly, let us explain exactly what an "associate" link is. It's simply a piece of text which contains your unique ID code (also known as your tracking ID) along with the URL where visitors can find out more information about your company and/or products. The key point here is that it has to contain both words “Amazon” somewhere within it.
You should always include the name of your business when sharing any details such as prices etc., but the above mentioned rule applies regardless of whether the person reading the link is buying from you directly or not. You must never give away anyone's personal data without their permission unless you have specific legal obligations to disclose it.
The easiest way to generate an associate link is to go into your Seller Central dashboard and click on Account Settings under My Products. From there, scroll down until you see the section labelled “Customized Linking Options” and select that option.
This takes you back to another page where you can choose to either automatically add your tracking ID to all links sent to customers, or to turn off automatic linking altogether. Click Save Changes once you've made your selection.
Now whenever you list a product in Listings Manager, it will feature an associated link beneath each description. To view your complete listing, just click on View All Lists in the top right hand corner of the screen.
Note that if you only ever sell items through your own website, then it may well be better to leave the Customize Linking settings turned off completely and simply write your tracking IDs wherever you like throughout your site. However, if you plan to send traffic to other websites too, then it might be worth following our advice above.
As an alternative to manually adding your tracking ID to every single item you list, you can also sign up for third party services that allow you to manage everything yourself instead of having to remember to enter your codes every time. The two main companies offering this functionality are ShareASale and PepperJam. Both provide excellent tools for managing affiliate links.
PepperJam offers a free trial version of its service which allows you to build lists based upon keywords, categories, subcategories and products. For example, you could create a list of 10 books listed under “Business Management” and 10 DVDs listed under “Home Improvement”. When a customer clicks on those particular listings, they will receive an auto-generated affiliate link. There is no limit to the number of keyword lists you can create.
ShareASale also provides an auto-generating tool to assist affiliates who don't wish to spend hours entering their tracking IDs themselves. Instead, they can upload a spreadsheet containing hundreds of products and relevant descriptions and keywords, plus a few hundred keywords relating specifically to the niche market they intend to promote.
When the user views each individual product, the system will automatically insert the correct affiliate links. As long as you keep your spreadsheets updated regularly, you won't have to worry about forgetting to put your tracking numbers in place again.
Of course, there are many other services that offer similar functions. A quick Google search reveals plenty of others including ClickBank, Commission Junction and PayPerPost. Just check out their offerings carefully before deciding which is best for you.
One final word of warning here though... Make sure that whatever service you decide to use doesn't require you to install software onto your computer in order to work properly. Many programs claim to be able to automate the process, but in reality they usually end up being unnecessarily complicated and difficult to maintain. Stick with what works and save yourself lots of hassle.
Next, let's take a look at getting an affiliate link for your own product(s), rather than sending traffic to someone else's goods. Here are a couple of tips that can help you achieve this goal.
First of all, ensure that your product title matches your chosen keyword phrase precisely. If you fail to do this, you risk losing potential sales because your visitor would think that his purchase was related to something entirely unrelated.
Secondly, consider writing a short blurb explaining why your buyer should go ahead with purchasing your product. Some examples of good copywriting include phrases like "Save 50% or More", "Get Your Money Back Guaranteed!", "No Risk No Hassle!" and so forth.
Finally, bear in mind that it can sometimes be cheaper to pay someone else to produce your content for you, especially if you already know how to draft effective articles. Try searching around for freelance writers who specialise in producing articles for websites such as EzineArticles and Squidoo.
Once you've completed your research, contact the writer to discuss the project further. Explain briefly that you'd like to submit a guest post to their blog. Ask them to supply you with a sample post (with full credit given to you of course!) so that you can see exactly what sort of quality you can expect. Then ask them to quote a price per 1000 words.
Afterwards, email your author with your budget and instructions regarding the format of your submission, and wait for him/her to reply with a suitable quote.
Alternatively, you could try putting together a simple form on your website asking users to enter their names and emails address in exchange for the chance to win a prize. They should then be directed to a landing page where they can fill in a brief survey in return for entry. These pages can then be used to display affiliate links to products offered elsewhere on your site.
There are numerous other possibilities to consider as well, such as displaying a banner ad alongside a standard blog post, or embedding a widget to display an affiliate link inside your sidebar. Again, you should consult your web designer for guidance on implementing these ideas effectively.
Yes indeed. And actually, it's quite easy to do. First, you should register with an affiliate network provider. Most networks charge between $10-$20 USD annually depending upon your level of activity. After registering, you will receive an affiliate link generator that you can use to create your own ads.
For instance, if you were promoting an ebook on Kindle Direct Publishing, you could paste your affiliate link into the box provided and press Generate Ad Code. This will immediately output a line of HTML code that you can copy straight over to your webpage.
Be aware that you cannot use affiliate links to promote illegal activities or pornography. Likewise, you shouldn't attempt to pass these links off as belonging to a reputable source.
Also note that by signing up with certain affiliate networks, you may lose control over the placement of your advertisements. Therefore, you should always test out your proposed campaigns thoroughly before publishing them live.
Ultimately, the choice is yours as to whether you prefer to create your own affiliate links or rely on third parties to handle the job for you. Whichever route you opt to follow, however, success depends largely upon proper planning and preparation.
If you're just starting out as a Clickbank affiliate or someone who is looking for a quick way to create an affiliate link then there are several methods available to help you with that. We'll explain each in turn below but before getting started it's important you understand some basics first.
Firstly, if you haven't already done so then head over to our guide on creating a click bank account because you will need one - either through Clickbank or another provider such as PayDotCom, Commission Junction or ShareAsale. You should be able to sign up using any of them without having to go through a lengthy application process. If you don't have an existing account then you may find it easier signing up via the above providers than going through the hassle of applying directly to ClickBank. The main reason being that they offer more options when it comes to choosing your own niche which means you won't end up stuck promoting products that aren't relevant to what you really want to promote.
Once you've created an account with one of those services then you need to decide which type of product you'd like to sell. This could range from physical goods such as books, CDs etc., or digital downloads, eBooks, videos etc.. It's best not to dive straight into selling something unless you know exactly what it is you want to promote. For example, if you wanted to start selling DVDs then you would probably use DVD Promo Codes and other related items rather than trying to market a book or CD.
Whatever you choose to sell then all you need now is a unique "product" name along with a good description. Once you've got both of those sorted then you can begin adding links to your affiliate pages from wherever possible. So for instance, if you were selling DVDs then you might put the following code onto your site:
DVDs" target="_blank" title="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0035P9XJQ">DVDs">http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0035P9XJQ">DVDs
But again, keep things simple at first! Don't try and compete with big brands who spend millions marketing their products online. Instead focus on providing useful content that people will appreciate and trust. And remember, you only need 10-20 sales per month to achieve success - so stick to quality products and avoid chasing after low priced ones.
Now let's look at the different types of affiliates sites and see how you can add links to them.
You can create a link to any of the many affiliate programs available at various websites. These include ClickBank, MyWishList, Shareasale and Peep Laja among others. There are two main methods of doing this:
1) Direct linking to the merchant's webstore
2) Using an affiliate tracking URL
The easiest method is to simply place a link to a particular item within your text or HTML document. All you need to do here is paste the full product or service title followed by / [Product Name] and then followed by [/ Product Name]. For example, the following direct linking code works perfectly well:
[b]Buy DVDs[/b][/url]
This will generate a link to the DVD store where you can purchase the film. Similarly, you can use this same technique to link to anything else offered by the merchants listed above. Remember though that although this may work fine for smaller merchants, larger companies usually require a specific format for their URLs.
However, sometimes you will want to create a custom link instead. To do this, follow the steps outlined below:
Go to www.ShareASide.com
Select Create New Link from the top right corner
Type in the name of your brand
Enter the URL of your branded landing page
Choose the category of the product you wish to promote
Hit Submit
Your new link is ready - you can copy and paste it anywhere you please.
For the most part though, you shouldn't need to worry too much about making sure your links point back to your site. They should automatically redirect visitors away from the Merchant's home page and towards your own site. That said, however, if you are unsure whether or not this has been achieved then simply contact customer support.
Amazon offers their very own affiliate program which allows you to receive commissions based on the sale price of certain products. As long as you meet the minimum criteria then you can apply to join the program and start earning commissions. However, unlike most other affiliate programs, Amazon does not allow anyone to register until they reach the $100 threshold. This makes sense given the fact that Amazon wants to ensure that its customers are genuine and trustworthy when making purchases.
So once you've signed up for the program, and you've met the required guidelines, you must complete a number of additional tasks in order to become eligible for commission payments. First off, you need to submit your information to Amazon and agree to their terms and conditions. From there you will be presented with a list of recommended tools and resources that will assist you in becoming familiar with the Amazon marketplace. Finally, you will need to upload your promotional materials including banners, graphics, images, video clips, audio files and even articles written specifically for your chosen niche.
In addition to these three primary points, you will also need to maintain a blog that provides valuable tips and advice relating to Amazon. Additionally, you will need to provide regular updates regarding your promotions. Although there isn't any official rule stipulating how often you need to update your blog, generally speaking, updating every week or fortnightly seems sufficient enough.
Finally, you will need to fill out a form provided by Amazon that details the products that you intend to promote. This form asks you to specify the maximum price you plan to charge for each promotion. Then, upon completion, you will need to wait around 4 weeks for approval. During this time period, you will need to check your email regularly to monitor progress. When everything goes according to plan, you will hear back from Amazon confirming that you are approved and that your commission payment will soon arrive.
Similar to the above instructions, setting up a dedicated Amazon Associates Page is fairly straightforward. Again, you must first register via the Amazon Associates Program then proceed to build your profile. However, you cannot actually publish any of your listings until you reach the $10 threshold. After reaching this level, you can set up your own listing and begin sharing your experience with others.
Additionally, you must create a separate page for each individual product that you wish to promote. Each page needs to contain a brief summary describing the product and a hyperlink that directs traffic away from the original seller's webpage. The only difference between this kind of setup and the previous method is that you will need to enter your personal Amazon username and password into the appropriate fields. Remember to always stay safe while surfing the internet!
When building your Amazon Associates Pages, take care not to share private or sensitive information. Also, never post reviews containing negative comments about the product itself. Doing so can result in permanent removal from the program.
Although it doesn't come under any of the categories mentioned above, you can still gain access to the Amazon Associates program by entering your own affiliate ID during registration. Simply select Add Account option located near the bottom left hand side of the screen and follow the prompts. Alternatively, you can simply search Google for 'how to create an associate account' and you should find plenty of results.
To sum up, there are a few different ways in which you can create an affiliate link. Whether you prefer to build your own customized links, or simply rely on prebuilt templates, there are lots of benefits to consider when deciding which route to pursue. But ultimately, the choice is yours. Whichever path you decide to take, remember to remain professional and focused on your goal. Ultimately, that is why you chose to become a successful affiliate in the first place.
Just follow our battle-tested guidelines and rake in the profits.