The Ultimate Guide On How to Become an Amazon Affiliate

After closing out at an astounding annual net revenue of $280.52 billion dollars in 2019, it is no surprise to much of anyone anymore that Amazon is one of the world’s leading online retailers today. 

In fact, their Amazon product sales jumped 37.4% during the third fiscal quarter of this year alone, bringing their Q3 revenue to a record-breaking $96.15 billion dollars. However, only 14% of retail sales worldwide are attributed to online sales and Amazon’s growth is far from over. 

The great news? The revenue distribution does not have to be limited to just Jeff Bezos, shareholders, or Amazon’s employees. You can have a piece of the pie too by getting on board with the Amazon associates program! 

If you’ve been looking for a way to earn some extra cash from home, read ahead to gain a better understanding of what affiliate marketing is, the advantages of the Amazon affiliate program, and if Amazon affiliate marketing is the right next move for you.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a business structure that allows any individual to monetize their contact list or audience by sending traffic or sales to an existing merchant like Amazon.

This is often a “win-win” situation where all three parties involved can walk away at an advantage. A company that wishes to reach more consumers gains a customer they would not have gained if it were not for you. The individual or ‘affiliate’ who wishes to earn more money makes a commission for promoting something they support. The consumer gets to learn, purchase, or experience a product or service that hopefully helps them resolve a problem or fulfill a need.

Let’s make things simple by walking through an example. 

We have an individual named John. John would like to generate some additional income from home, and Helium 10 has an established affiliate program many others are already using to make thousands of dollars every month while helping us get in front of more customers (click here to learn more about our affiliate program here). John decides to sign up with Helium 10 as an affiliate. 

Once John applies to our affiliate program to boost sales, we would issue him with an Amazon affiliate link. An affiliate link is a web URL typically containing either redirecting or link-cloaking software that can automatically track any traffic and affiliate sales generated when an affiliate sends visitors to the given company’s website. If John were to send a prospective buyer to our website using an accurately formatted and embedded affiliate link and that prospect made a purchase, John would then receive a commission from us. 

In other words, John would become the middle man as an affiliate between the company and the consumer. 

It is through affiliate marketing that John earns cash. We earn a customer, and the customer gains an awesome, highly-integrated tool to take their business to the next level. 

Being the middleman is infinitely valuable because you do not have to be an expert or really SELL anything.

Instead, you would merely be sharing a beneficial product or service with people you may know or be in touch with through blogging, social media, emails, etc.

Of course, there are many affiliate programs out there, and Amazon is no exception. The Amazon affiliate program is called Amazon Associates. Amazon Associates is FREE to join and can help you earn a commission with a little effort on your part. 

Why Should You Become An Amazon Affiliate?

1. It is easy to register and get started! The entire process takes less than 5 minutes, and again, it costs nothing to register!

2. Becoming an Amazon Associate is essentially like joining a referral program. Your sole job would be to refer products on Amazon’s website to people. You would inform them about the benefits, the consequences of not having the Amazon product and  perhaps show them testimonials that could ultimately guide them to make a purchase.

3. There are a wide variety of items you can choose from, providing you with the option to promote something you can truly stand behind and love. Suppose you own a pre-existing business or blog. In that case, we highly recommend you pick items that will complement or enhance your current product or service. For instance, if you own a food blog, you could incorporate links to grocery items on Amazon on any recipes you might have up in a blog post. If you have a Youtube Channel for travel, you could share ebooks, travel journals, etc. If you sell lip gloss, you could recommend and embed a link for a vanity mirror to your audience in your Youtube video. 

4. The company is a well-known, credible, trusted brand increasing the likelihood that people will purchase and decreasing your need to justify the legitimacy of its website or the said product’s quality.

5. Links can be formatted to your preferred look depending on where and how you are embedding your link.

6. More often than not, we make the error of trying to reinvent the wheel. We think we need to be extra innovative to make an extra buck. Yet, Amazon affiliate marketing allows you to earn money with minimal time, effort, risk, and capital investment. You no longer have to come up with a new innovative idea or be the expert. You would just need to leverage what is already there and working!

7. You get to work independently — meaning you have built-in flexibility. You can dedicate as much or as little time to promote as you would like to because YOU are your boss!

8. And the best perk of all? Full control over how much you can make! So once you are signed up with the Amazon Associates program, be proactive in setting some monetary goals and absolutely crushing them!!

How Does It Work?

Compensation plans for affiliate marketing typically fall into one of three categories.  Merchants either (1) pay-per-lead offering affiliates an amount based on the number of visitors filling out a given form. They (2) pay-per-click paying based on traffic regardless of if sales are made, or (3) companies pay-per-sale offering a fixed rate or percentage of any produced sales after being directed to the affiliate site.

The Amazon affiliate program falls into the third category. The Amazon associates program extends commissions not only on the item you promote but the customer’s entire cart as long as the order is placed within the first 24 hours of clicking your tagged link. 

YES! This means if you post a link for a computer desk and a visitor clicks your link and purchases the computer desk, an office chair, and a high-end facial wash within 24 hours of clicking it, you will make a commission on all three items! The same goes for if they click your link for the computer desk but only buy the facial wash and office chair. You will still make a commission on the two items; however, the percentage on each will vary if they are in varying categories. You would be earning 10% of the facial wash and 3% of the office chair.

Refer to the chart below to see Amazon’s fixed commission income rates.

Even so, there are other factors that will contribute to the amount you make. Your conversion rate will still matter! You can calculate your conversion rate by dividing the number of orders that were placed after being redirected from your Amazon affiliate site by the total number of visitors who visited your site multiplied by 100.

If your Instagram business page had 10,000 visitors and you sold 20 products, that would be a 0.2% conversion rate. The average conversion rate lies between 0.5% and 1%.

Cons: What’s the Catch?

1. Amazon is strict with any violations you make listed in their Amazon affiliate marketing Operating Agreement. It could potentially lead to your Amazon account getting banned, but simply being mindful can take you a long way.

2. As mentioned before, the commission rate varies based on the product category you are promoting. Some categories (i.e., video consoles) have percentages as low as 1%.

3. If you do not have a set audience, a set website, or a suitable social media page, you may need to create one and start from scratch, which can demand a lot of time and attention.

4. Consumers must place their order within 24 hours of visiting Amazon after being redirected from your Amazon affiliate site. Once the 24-hour window is over or if the customer clicks someone else’s Amazon affiliate link, then you will no longer be eligible to make a percentage of the order(s) placed. A new 24-hour time frame opens up  any time a customer clicks on your link again and reauthorizes you to obtain commissions again.

How Can I Become An Amazon Affiliate?

You can become an Amazon affiliate by heading over to https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/ and clicking “Sign Up.”

When signing up, the first page will ask you to fill out some basic Amazon account information including your name, address, and phone number. Payments will be made using the information you provide, so you will want to cross-check if the information you provide is accurate. The last question on the first page asks whether the primary contact for the account is the payee you listed or someone other than you. 

The second page of three will look like the image below, requiring you to enter the URLs for any websites or mobile applications that you plan to turn into an Amazon affiliate site.

And last but not least, the third page will be regarding details and descriptors of the Amazon affiliate site URLs you listed, alongside some questions on how you drive traffic, generate income, build links, and the number of visitors you typically experience per month. 

The first question on the third page will be a mandatory one: “what is your preferred Associates Store ID?” Fill this with an ID you feel is suitable to represent your affiliate link as it will ultimately become your amazon affiliate tracking ID to track your commissions. This can be something as straightforward as your website’s name or a short name that is easy to remember as it will be integrated into your amazon associate affiliate link.

Once you are officially signed up, you will be able to begin advertising through your preferred method to earn up to 10% of what the consumer purchases. Whether you use an email list, a social media account, a blog, or something else, you just need to ensure you drive at least THREE sales within 180 days of opening your Associate account to prevent termination.

Seems simple enough, but…

Is Amazon’s Affiliate Program Right For Me?

With the pros far outweighing the cons, we think so! Of course, you should take your circumstances and interests into consideration.

We understand how not having a list or audience that you can actively promote can feel overwhelming because it means you have to start from a truly blank canvas. But, do not get hung up on that! 

Remember, everyone starts somewhere, and if you are willing to put in the work and dedicate just a little bit of time, being a part of the Amazon affiliates program could become a real avenue for unlimited income for you.

Review our perks list again. Since it costs nothing to sign up and you are most likely already promoting the products you believe in, why not take a leap of faith and get paid for it!

Click here to sign up!

Frequently Asked Questions