Amazon Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: Step by Step - Solopreneur Institute (2023)

Every day, millions of people visit Amazon.com to buy almost all kinds of products.

In 2017, Amazon made about $28 million in sales every day, which means there's a big chance of getting a piece of this pie.

Did you know that if you refer someone to Amazon before they buy, you will receive a small commission from that sale? While 4%-8% doesn't sound like much, that number can be quite high when you send hundreds of people to Amazon per day.

There are thousands of people who make a living by referring people to Amazon and making money selling those items.

Is calledAffiliate-MarketingAnd in this article, I am going to show you exactly how to make money online with Amazon Associates.

What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as follows:

"A marketing arrangement in which an online retailer pays a commission to an external website for traffic or sales generated by its referrals."

On the other hand, Entrepreneur.com defines affiliate marketing as:

"A way in which a company sells its products by recruiting individuals or companies ("affiliates") to market the company's products for a commission."

In other words, it's basically promoting other people's products and getting a commission for selling that product.

There are many different facets of affiliate marketing, from lead generation to pay per call marketing, but let's talk about Amazon affiliate marketing.

Amazon Affiliate Program

The Amazon Associates program is Amazon's affiliate management area where you can check affiliate income, create affiliate links and explore a wide range of affiliates.Advertisingtools and ads.

It's totally free to joinAmazon Affiliate Programand make money on the internet.

Amazon fee structure

Depending on the products you promote and sell, you will receive a different percentage of the commission. Therefore, it's important to choose a category with a higher commission/fee rate so you get paid more per sale.

Here are all of Amazon's fees and commissions:

Now that you know the commission structure, you need to choose a niche or category to promote. As you can see from the table, it would be wise to start with niches like outdoor, tools, headphones or beauty.

While this is Amazon's normal fee structure, there are a number of other channels you can use to advertise and make money. Here is everythingAssociate Program Fee Schedule.

Getting started with Amazon Associates

Registering as an Amazon affiliate is very easy and free.

If you already have an Amazon account, you can simply connect your regular Amazon account to your partner's account.

Just go toAmazon Associates-Homepageand click on "Sign up now for free".

If you don't already have an Amazon account, click the Create Amazon Account button to create a new one.

Go through the account creation process by confirming your account information.

Next, you need to submit a website or mobile app. If you don't have a website, you can create a free website atWordPress.comÖSitio123.comand you don't have to spend any money up front on a website.

Once you've added everything and agreed to the operating agreement, you can start promoting and manufacturing Amazon productspassive incomeonline!

The Amazon Associates Dashboard shows you an income summary, this month's summary, and a quick link lookup for easy affiliate link building.

To start creating your affiliate links, you can go to the Product Links tab at the top and select Product Links.

Search for a product you want to create an affiliate link for and find it in the table below.

Click the Get Link button and you will be taken to a page where you can copy a text and image link, an HTML code, text only and image links only.

Just copy and paste the code into your website's HTML where you want it to appear.

If you're creating a plain text link, click the Plain Text tab, select the HTML for a plain text link, and paste it into yoursThe blogThe website.

Amazon-Tracking-ID

To better track and optimize your Amazon affiliate campaigns, I highly recommend using Amazon affiliate tracking IDs.

The Amazon affiliate tracking ID is the value that comes after the ?tag= query string in your Amazon affiliate links.

This is how you and Amazon track which sales come from which tracking ID.

We can use this to our advantage by creating tracking IDs for different videos and campaigns so we can see what's converting and what's not.

To create a new tracking ID, simply click on your username in the top right and select "Manage your tracking IDs".

Here you can view and manage all your current tracking IDs and create new ones. To create a new Tracking ID, simply click the Add Tracking ID button and choose an available name for your ID.

Once you've created your tracking ID, you can select it on any of the link building pages in the Amazon Associates dashboard.

Having separate tracking IDs for each campaign allows you to track the performance of each campaign and tracking ID.

Now that you've created your tracking IDs, it's time to start making money with Amazon Associates!

Earn money with Amazon affiliates

Now that you are familiar with the Amazon Associates program and how it works, it's time to start making some money with Amazon.

There are many ways you can promote your Amazon affiliate links to generate commissions online. Here are some great ways to drive traffic to your Amazon links and make money:

YouTube-Affiliate-Marketing

One of the best ways to make money with Amazon Associates is to use YouTube to drive traffic to your affiliate listings.

The great thing about YouTube is that you don't even need a website. Just a decent camera, a computer with internet and a desire to make good videos with references to your products.

You can do this in a number of ways, such as:

• Product Review Videos
• Product Comparison Videos
• Top 10 Product Videos
• Unpack videos

Here's how you can start using YouTube to make money with Amazon affiliates.

Step 1 - Create a Youtube Channel

To start, onlyCreate a YouTube account.

Create a new channel in your account and give it a name related to your products or niche that you will be promoting on Amazon.

Creating a niche channel will help you position yourself more easily and grow faster. A good example would be creating a channel that tests DSLR cameras.

Focusing on one type of product or niche will help your channel become an authority in that niche faster and get more views and organic search traffic from YouTube.

Step 2: Create content

After creating your channel, you can start creating videos. They don't have to be perfect so don't worry too much about the production value but try to add value to the viewer because the longer people watch, the better your videos will rank on Youtube.

But how do you come up with video ideas?

Simply searching for your niche or product will attract other people to do the exact same thing. Find high view videos and replicate what they do.

You can also use keyword research tools like KeywordTool.io to find relevant video topic ideas that are commonly searched for. Just add your niche or category in the keyword tool to see volume and competition.

Look for a keyword that has high search volume and less competition. This kind of fruit videos at your fingertips can really make you big bucks.

As you can see from the keywords, rating-based videos achieve high volume and often convert very well if the product is good. You don't even have to show your face if you don't want to!

To make money you need to add your affiliate link in YouTube video description. I would recommend using a service likebit.lyso you can track outbound clicks on your affiliate link.

Now when people watch your video and want to buy, they click the link in your description, buy the product and you get the commission!

Once you accumulate a good number of videos, your affiliate income will only increase.

Step 4: Promote your videos

If you promote your videos, they will get more views and likes, which will help you rank higher on YouTube.

But how do you promote your videos?

Well, there are many great ways to promote your videos and get more views and more affiliate commissions. Here are some great ways to get more views on your YouTube affiliate videos:

• Optimize your videos
• Embed videos in your blog
• Include calls to action in your videos
• paid advertising
• Share on social networks

The more videos you create and share, the higher your affiliate income will be, so keep creating quality content around your niche and you will be successful at itYouTube-Affiliate-Marketing.

Affiliate-Blog

If you prefer writing to making videos, then blogging is probably the path you want to take.

Starting a blog can be very affordable, and the startup costs are very low for something that can make big profits if you put your mind to it.

I'll show you exactly how easy it is to start your own blog and make money with Amazon Associates.

Step 1 – Choose a niche

First you need to choose a niche, just like you would if you were creating a YouTube channel. By focusing on a niche, you can generate more traffic by being an authority in that niche.

Consider choosing a niche that has a higher commission on the Amazon fee schedule.

Once you know your niche, you need to choose a domain name for your website.

Step 2: Buy a domain name

The domain is the URL where your WordPress blog will be located. For example, our domain name is solopreneurinstitute.com.

Abuy a domain namebut you can use many providersDominio.comis an excellent and affordable domain name provider. A domain name usually costs around $10 per year, so it's very cheap.

You want your domain name to focus on your niche, but don't waste too much time worrying and choosing your domain name. What matters is the content you post on the site.

A great way to find recently expired domains isabgelaufenedomains.net.

This way your domain will have some age and hopefully even some backlinks. to use expireddomains.net onlyRegister for freeand then enter your niche keyword or category to find relevant domains that have just expired.

These domains cost the same as a new domain and are older, which can help your site rank faster on Google.

You can even sort them by BL (backlinks) or DP (domain pop) to see the domains that are already linked to.

If that's too much for you, you can always go to Godaddy and search for your ideal domain until you find one:

You will be told if a domain is already registered and you will have to search for another one.

You now need a server to host your WordPress website online.

Step 3 - Choose a hosting provider

First go tositeground.comsince you need hosting to have your blog on the internet.

Create your accountand log in to your cPanel area.

cPanel is web-based server management software that allows you to easily install WordPress, create email addresses, create FTP, manage databases, and do many other things that you don't really have to worry about.

Step 4: Install WordPress

Once you're in cPanel, there's a 1-click WordPress install.

Just install WordPress on your new host and remember that you can change your settings later, so add an email, password and site name and click install.

Once your WordPress blog is set up, you need to log into the WordPress admin.

It is usually located at www.yoursite.com/wp-admin/ and this is where you will create your website and content.

First, you need to install a theme to make your website look personalized and professional. When people buy from you, it has to look like a legitimate source of information.

Bosque themeis a great place to get affordable themes that are already SEO optimized, mobile friendly, fast and easy to use.

Here are some of the best WordPress themes for affiliate marketing blogs:

Voice

Voiceis a really cool theme for affiliate marketing blogs. It's an editorial format with a custom cover page that features your latest posts.

It is fully responsive and is one of the highest rated themes on ThemeForest. It works with the latest plugins and comes with its own built-in banner system, so you can easily integrate Amazon affiliate ads.

Buy vote here

REHUB

REHUBis an advanced multipurpose WordPress theme that includes features for Woocommerce, coupon page, comparison page and a variety of other themes perfect for Amazon affiliate marketing.

Choose from 13 different themes in all different styles and layouts. It uses Elementor's drag-and-drop builder, which makes building pages a breeze without knowing any code.

ReHub costs $59 and can help you earn revenue with Amazon Associates. It contains everything you need for a professional website.

Buy ReHub here

Clave

Claveis a clean and minimalist blog perfect for fashion, jewelry or watch partners.

It has 10 different themes to choose from including customizable layouts, colors, and pages. It includes everything you need to run a successful affiliate blog with WordPress.

One of the highest rated themes on Themeforest, Claue is a very powerful theme that allows you to customize your website exactly how you want it.

Buy Claw here

Gadgetina

If you're promoting gadgets, cameras, electronics, or computers, thenDeviceis the perfect magazine theme for your Amazon Associates blog.

This theme is Retina display ready, fully customizable, Google Rich Snippets ready, SEO ready and includes Visual Composer, another great drag-and-drop builder that lets you create pages in minutes, with no code to know.

Buy Gadgetine here

There are also thousands of other amazing WordPress themes to help you set up your website design in minutes.

Now that your website is ready to go, it's time to add content to get it ranked on Google.

Step 5: Create content

In order to get traffic from Google, you need to create good content in the form of blog posts on your website.

Like YouTube, we want to do some content research to see what type of content is already getting a lot of traffic on Google.

We can use Ahrefs Content Explorer to find relevant content that gets good organic traffic. Add your keyword in Content Explorer, then sort the results by organic traffic.

This will show you some great content ideas that you can use to create content similar to the articles you found on Ahrefs. You can see in our example here that the article “Best DSLR Cameras for Beginners” gets about 40,000 visitors from organic traffic monthly. Nothing bad!

Just look at the content and create similar or better content by adding your affiliate links throughout the content.

The longer your content, the more likely it is to rank, and the more keywords will ultimately rank, which means more traffic. You rarely see articles of 1000 words or less on the first page of Google.

You will also want to create a good amount of content around your niche or topic. Don't expect ranking if you only have 2-3 articles on your blog. You need at least 25-50 articles to see traffic from Google.

You also need to get backlinks and social signals to get lots of organic traffic to your affiliate marketing blog.

Step 6: Promote your content

social media

Using social media to promote your Amazon Associates blog can generate a source of organic traffic that returns regularly.

Build a page on all popular social networks for your niche blog.

Post content regularly and grow your followers across all your profiles. Connect and interact with other pages or people interested in your niche or category.

We have a great oneDigital Marketing Guide for Independent Business Ownerswhich deals with marketing your blog via social media.

I recommend focusing on just one social media platform and devoting all of your time to it. Check out our guideHow do I start a successful blog?for more information on using social media to promote your blog.

get backlinks

Backlinks are the foundation of SEO. This is how Google knows which websites are popular on the web and which ones to rank on Google's first page.

If many websites link to a particular website, Google assumes that it must be a large website. Of course, there are thousands of other factors that go into this, but without backlinks, you probably won't get any traffic.

But how do you get backlinks?

Well, there are many ways to get backlinks to your blog. So many that I can't go through them all, but here are some good methods I use.

broken link building

Affiliate sites are being sold or shut down all the time, so there are many ways to create broken links.

Frequently visit other websites in your niche or category and look for broken links to other websites. If you find a broken link pointing to content, create that content and then contact the site owner to let them know about the broken link. Let's say you have some content that they can link to instead of you and they will be happy to link to you.

Use a tool likeBroken links checkerfor Chrome to find broken links on websites.

Just visit relevant websites and look for broken link opportunities!

skyscraper technique

The skyscraper technique is very simple. Basically, it's all about finding the most visited content for what you want to rank for and creating better content.

It shouldn't just be a little bit better, it should be 10 times better. You can then see who is linking to the original article and reach out to those people and let them know you have 10x better content to link to. Most of the time they will be happy to update your link to better content.

As you get more and more backlinks, your blog posts will rank higher and higher on Google. More information aboutStart a successful blog and make moneyCheck out our other post.

Junk-Mail

While Amazon Associates links are not allowed in emails, it's still a great way to generate more affiliate revenue with Amazon.

I even run a service that emails subscribers every day with the best deals of the day on Amazon calledNinja Offers. You just scrape Amazon and find the best deals, then compile them into one email and send it to thousands of subscribers. Clicking on the products in the email will take them to alanding pagewhere they can click to buy the product.

Bam, using email to generate revenue from Amazon Associates.

If you have an email list, you can send them relevant offers and products on Amazon, but just make sure you don't link to the Amazon product in your email or you may get banned by Amazon Associates .

If you've never built an email list before, you're in luck.

I'm going to show you a super easy way to build relevant email lists to promote your Amazon Associates links.

Step 1: Start making a list

The first step is building an email list!

You can build your list a few different ways, but here are the ones I've found to be the best:

• Newsletter-Subscription
• Facebook Ads
• Beim Checkout
• Current customers

Once you start building an email list, you can start marketing regularly. Unlike ads, SEO, or direct visitors, email marketing allows you to market to a prospect multiple times instead of just once. This is what makes email marketing such a powerful traffic source for affiliate marketing.

You can basically automate this entire process withget an answerand I'll show you how.

Step 2: Send newsletter

Register forget an answer, the Alanding pageand email marketing software that will basically automate this entire process.

The first thing you need to do is make a list. Here we will add all the emails we collect to our list.

Go to the Lists tab on the top navigation bar and click Create List on the Lists page.

Choose a name that contains underscores instead of spaces.

Click the Create button and your list is already created!

Now we can set up an automated email funnel to send to people who have signed up for our list.

Go to the menu above and click on the automation link.

First we need to create our automation message, then we can create our email workflow (the fun part).

On the Automations page, click the Automation Messages tab, then click Create Draft.

You must first create your email messages before configuring them in the generator. So first compose all the emails you need.

Choose a linked list and give your message a name. Create an eye-catching subject line so the subscriber can easily see your email. A good tip is to use the subscriber's name in the subject line.

Not only does this increase open rates, but it also reduces the likelihood of ending up in your spam folder.

Select the email address you want to send from, then click Next to start designing your email.

I like to pick a blank template and start over because plain text emails are more likely to end up in the inbox than the spam folder.

Choose the blank template and then add a text block in which to paste your email body. Here's an example of what you might write for your first email in your sequence.

Create all the emails you need, then go to Automation and create a workflow.

There are a number of great templates that you can make just a few tweaks to get a working email sequence.

But I'll show you how to do it from scratch. So click the "Start Now" button in the "Build from scratch" box.

You now need to name your email sequence and choose an action to start your email. In this case, we start this sequence when someone joins our email list.

You will now be taken to the workflow dashboard where you can develop your workflow.

Use the conditions on the right to take specific actions when someone opens, clicks, or visits a specific page.

To connect actions, just click on the dots and connect them. In this example below, we'll send a message when someone subscribes to our list.

Now you can build each step of your email sequence and make sure there's a day or two between sending each email.

Now that you have your email sequence set up withget an answer, you can start building your list and guiding people through your sequences, promoting specific products on Amazon and making money.

Step 3: Promote your list

Keep building your email list and you will keep increasing your affiliate income.

You can even promote other affiliate offers that are relevant to your followers.

Keep an eye on your unsubscribe rates and try to only send emails once or more per week. As your unsubscribe rate starts to increase, send emails less frequently.

Amazon influencer program

If you have a large following on social media or are an influencer, Amazon Associates can help you make money by having your own Amazon store that people can visit and buy the products you recommend.

If they purchase these products, you will receive a commission based on the value of these products. Not bad, right?

IsAmazon influencer programgives you your own URL to share with your followers.

To sign up you need to apply and wait about 2 weeks for your account to be approved. If you have fewer than 1,000 total followers, you might not be accepted, but that's okay because now you know many other ways to make money with Amazon Associates.