Amazon affiliate marketing is a great way to earn money online as a beginner without having to show your face on camera. If you’re looking to start an online business but don’t know where to begin, Amazon affiliate marketing could be perfect for you. In this guide, I’m going to walk you through how Amazon affiliate marketing works, share some essential tips for success, and show you how to drive traffic to your Amazon affiliate links.
What is Amazon Affiliate Marketing?
Amazon affiliate marketing, also known as the Amazon Associates program, allows you to earn commissions by promoting products from Amazon.com. After signing up as an Amazon Associate, you’ll receive unique affiliate links to share for Amazon products. When someone clicks on your link and buys a product within 24 hours, you’ll earn a small commission, typically between 1-10% of the sale.
The key is to drive as much traffic to your affiliate links as possible. The more people who click your links and buy products, the more money you can make. You can promote products by writing blog posts and articles, creating videos, building an email list, and more. The opportunities are endless.
Once you’ve been accepted into the Amazon Associates program, you’ll gain access to Amazon product links through the “Product Linking” tool on Amazon. Simply search for a product you want to promote, then click “Get link” to grab your unique affiliate link. Share that link on your website, social media, YouTube channel, email newsletters, or anywhere else. When someone purchases a product through that link, you’ll earn a commission.
4 Key Facts About Amazon Affiliate Marketing
Before you dive into Amazon affiliate marketing, there are four essential facts you need to know:
The 24-hour cookie duration. With the Amazon Associates program, you’ll earn a commission only if the customer purchases within 24 hours of clicking your link. Other affiliate programs may have longer cookie durations of 7-30 days. So you need to drive very targeted traffic to your Amazon links.
Lower commission rates. Amazon affiliate commissions tend to be lower than other affiliate programs. The highest rate is typically 10%. Because Amazon sells physical products, they have higher costs and tighter profit margins. Compare this to digital product affiliate programs where you can earn 30-50% commissions. Focus on promoting higher-priced products to maximize your earnings.
You can earn commissions on unrelated purchases. If a customer clicks your link for one product but ends up purchasing something else within 24 hours, you’ll still earn a commission. You’ll receive a percentage of the total cart value. This is a benefit unique to the Amazon Associates program.
Higher conversion rates. People tend to convert more often on Amazon because they already trust the brand and frequently shop there. This means higher sales and commissions for you as an affiliate. While a 3-5% conversion rate is average for most affiliate offers, you can expect closer to 10% for Amazon products, if not higher.
How to Get Traffic to Your Amazon Affiliate Links
The key to success with Amazon affiliate marketing is driving targeted traffic to your affiliate links. There are two primary ways to do this:
Writing blog posts and articles. You can write posts reviewing and recommending products on Amazon, then include your affiliate links within the content. When people read your posts and click the links, you’ll earn commissions on any resulting sales.
To rank well in search engines like Google for product review terms, you’ll need to publish long, high-quality blog posts (at least 1,000 words). You’ll also want to include images of the products, specifications, pricing info, and your detailed review and recommendation.
For example, a search for “best laptops” receives over 73,000 monthly searches in the U.S. alone. If you can rank on the first page of Google for a term like this, you’ll drive a ton of free traffic to your Amazon affiliate links. While it will take time and work to rank this well, the payoff can be huge.
Here’s an example of a product review blog setup to earn Amazon affiliate income:
As you can see, they’re promoting the top laptops and including affiliate links to each product on Amazon. When readers click a link and buy within 24 hours, the site owner earns a commission.
Creating video content. YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google, so you can also drive traffic to your Amazon affiliate links by creating video content. You don’t even need to show your face on camera or use your own voice. You can use automated video creation tools and AI voiceover technology.
For example, a search on YouTube for “best budget TVs” receives nearly 12,000 monthly searches. If you can rank a video targeting this search term, you’ll get exposure to those 12,000 people each month. Even if only a small percentage click your Amazon affiliate links, you can generate solid commissions.
Here’s an example of a YouTube channel promoting affiliate products without showing their face on camera:
As you can see, they have a popular video with over 53,000 views in just a few weeks. Within the video, they likely include affiliate links to the products they’re recommending. With this amount of traffic, they’re generating thousands of dollars in commissions each month from a single video.
The key is to follow YouTube SEO best practices to rank your content for high-volume search terms in your niche. Make useful, engaging videos that actually help your viewers, and include natural-sounding calls-to-action with your Amazon affiliate links. While it will take consistent work to build up your traffic and commissions, the potential is huge.
Conclusion
Amazon affiliate marketing is an easy way to start an online business without ever having to create your own products. By simply recommending products from the world’s largest online retailer, you can earn passive income through commissions from any resulting sales.
The keys to success with Amazon affiliate marketing are:
- Focus on higher-priced products with bigger commissions.
- Drive targeted traffic to your affiliate links through blogging, video content, email marketing, and social media.
- Optimize your content for search engines like Google and YouTube to rank for high-volume product terms.
- Build your audience and encourage repeat visitors to maximize your sales and commissions over time.
If you follow the tips in this guide, do keyword research to find buyer-intent search terms, and consistently publish quality content optimized for conversions, you can build a successful Amazon affiliate marketing business from scratch. With work and dedication, you can earn a meaningful income through the Amazon Associates program.
Does this help explain how to get started with Amazon affiliate marketing? Let me know if you have any other questions!