I’m sure all of you have heard of Amazon and I would bet that many of you have purchased something from this site at one time or another. Others are using this site as an associate (affiliate) by selling Amazon products through a number of marketing strategies and do quite well for themselves. So, what is an Amazon associate and how does this whole process take place?
In this article, I will take a look at this process, and show you the steps to follow to become an associate.
Amazon Affiliates … Did You Know?
As most of you realize, Amazon has been around for a very long time and 
the associate program has been as well. In fact, the Amazon Associate program began in 1996 and continues to grow in popularity among affiliate marketers worldwide. Here are some basic facts associated with Amazon and their associates program.
1.) Amazon is a trusted and recognizable brand
2.) There are literally thousands and thousands of Amazon products that you can choose to promote and sell
3.) Free to join as an associate (affiliate) (You must, however, be approved and should have a website in place) Click here to join.
4.) Amazon is a billion dollar industry
5.) Millions of people are currently Amazon affiliates
6. ) You must make at least one sale within a 90 day period to keep your associate’s account active
7.) You can receive payment in three different ways (Direct Deposit, Gift Certificate, Check)
8.) New products are listed with Amazon almost daily
These are just a few items associated with Amazon and its associate program for you to consider. As you can see from the eight items mentioned above, it is truly a reputable industry that is now common place in most homes today.
What Is An Amazon Affiliate And How Do They Make Money?
In its simplest form, an Amazon affiliate is an individual who chooses a product that Amazon makes available and then markets and promotes this product to make sales and earn a commission. With the huge number of products offered through Amazon, finding a product to do this should not be an issue.
Before you decide on a product, there are a few things that you should have in place. Let’s take a look at these now and learn how to design a plan that will put you in a much better position to succeed. These are basically the same steps used by the majority of Amazon affiliates who are finding success. Here we go:
- Creating A Website (Blog) To Market Their Amazon Product
- Pick A Niche (Choose An Amazon Product To Market Within This Niche)
- Research
- A Marketing Plan (Getting Potential Buyers To Your Product)
Let’s now examine each of these items mentioned above with further detail so you will grasp the significance of each.
Creating A Website (Blog)
In order to have success online as an affiliate, you must have your very own blog website. By doing so, you now have the luxury of promoting your product in a variety of ways. The main objective is getting traffic to your blog website and in front of the product(s) you are marketing.
For those who don’t have a website and don’t know a thing about building one of your own, I found a platform that will do this for you. It is called Wealthy Affiliate who offers a free membership that will create two websites for you at no cost. The only requirement from you is to give your blog website a title and a domain name. See below:
Can you see how simple this is? Once you have entered these two simple details, Wealthy Affiliate will create your website in less than thirty seconds. No experience or computer skills are necessary to get your website created.
Pick A Niche
When we talk about a niche, we are referring to a specific interest you may have regarding a subject, topic or product. What makes this so appealing to affiliates is the fact that they are not alone in this interest. Let’s use an example to clarify this further: You have a real interest in skin care and have possibly tried a number of products to enhance the look of your skin.
Do you really think you are the only one with this same interest? Absolutely not! Here comes the exciting part. With your brand new blog website that you had created through Wealthy Affiliate, you can now leverage your website by reviewing a number of products you have personally used to market these products and hopefully make some sales.
Through your website, you now have the capability of drawing a group of people (customers) to your site who are interested in what you have to say and what you have to sale. There are still a number of items to consider before jumping in with your skin care products so let’s take a look at these now.
Research Okay, we have determined that skin care is going to be our niche as an Amazon Associate. As an an Amazon Associate, 
you certainly would be able to find hundreds of products to market within the skin care industry. Which one of these skin care products should you choose to market and make sales? This requires research on your part to determine the following items:
- Is there a market for your product? (Are individuals actually purchasing the product you have chosen to market?)
- Competition (How many others are also selling your item of choice?)
- Commission (Is it truly worth marketing?)
Marketing Plan
Once you have decided on a product to sell, you should have a marketing plan put into place. In otherwords, how do you plan on getting potential customers in front of your product? Here is a list of some popular methods to do so.
- Your Blog Website (Writing good content that provides value to your readers – reviews, recommendations, etc.)
- Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterst, Google Plus, etc.)
- Paid Advertising
Amazon Tools To Help You Succeed … Easy And Free To Use
There are a number of tools (mostly free) that you can find online that can play a major role in your success. Most of these tools are specifically designed with Amazon in mind and catered to those interested in becoming an Amazon Associate. This will pay huge dividends in your research efforts as well as eliminating any guesswork on your part. Here is a list of those tools:
1.) Amazon Best Seller List – This will actually give you a look at products that are considered to be the best sellers within a given category or niche. You can find this data by clicking here. Look below for a small sample of what you will find.
As you can see, there is quite a significant amount of data you can retrieve from this site. Not only can you see which products are doiing well, but it also gives you a product rating with stars along with the number of customer reviews. Another great feature of this site is the break down into sub-categories. Let me explain. Using our skin care example once again, take a look at the image below to illustrate my point.
Okay, as you can see we are in the skin care niche. The image shows you the top three best seller products within this niche. Now, take a look at the items to the left of these products under the words ‘Skin Care.’ The items Face, Eyes, Lip Care, Body, etc. are known as sub-categories. Why is this significant? Competition!
Now, i would bet you that the number one product listed above (Indian Healing Clay) has a lot of Amazon Associates marketing it. Why is this important to you? It is basically saying that this product is indeed a very popular Amazon product and is a best seller. That’s the good news. Here comes the bad: In order for you to be successful in selling this product yourself, you must beat out a large number of competitors. This may be a difficult task!
2.) Customer Reviews – If you are like most, reading customer reviews before purchasing a product is a wise thing to do. When choosing a product from Amazon make sure to read these customer reviews pertaining to this product. You can be assured that potential buyers that come to your website will read the customer reviews before purchasing the product.
Stay away from products with negative reviews as these will be much more difficult to sell. If you look at the Indian Healing Clay product, you will see that 13,282 have actually bought and used this product as well as offering a review. No, I am not suggesting you read the entire 13,282 reviews but at least look through a few to get a real feel of what these customers are saying.
One more tip regarding customer reviews. Try to find (research) a product that has 40 to 60 reviews but seems to be one that is selling quite nicely. Why? Once again, competition! You will have a much better chance of obtaining sales with a product in the 40 to 60 range of customer reviews as long as it is a product of quality.
3.) Your Amazon Affiliate Link – What is an affiliate link? This is a link that Amazon will provide you that will be totally unique to you and noone else. When you have decided on an Amazon product to market, an affiliate link will be provided that you will use to promote your product. It will look something like this:
Notice the ‘Get link’content on the far right side. Clicking on this will produce your affiliate link that you can use to promote the Indian Healing Clay product. Placing this affiliate link on your blog website is just one of the ways you can use this link to market your product and make sales. Amazon will keep track of all sales you make with this affiliate link.
4,) Images – Another great feature of Amazon is that will also provide you with an image of the product that you have chosen to market. This is especially beneficial for those with their own website as potential buyers will be drawn to the product image. It’s just another way for your blog to appeal with your readers.
Making Money As An Amazon Affiliate … The Process
I have given you the information needed to get started as an Amazon Asociate and provided you with some tools that will be quite beneficial. If you take a look at the image below, you can see what the affiliate process looks like.
Let’s take a look at the image and further break it down one step at a time. In doing so, I will provide you with insight and offer a solution to what you need to have in place to complete this process. It is a ‘rinse and repeat process that many Amazon affiliates use to make a substantial amount of money. You now have an Amazon affiliate business!
1.) Customer – Look at your customer as someone who has found your blog website through a search (Google, Bing, Yahoo) and is looking for information regarding the product you have for sale. If I was searching for ‘Skin Care Product Reviews’ and entered these keywords into my browser, I may end up on your site.
I am looking for a review, something that provides information and value to me, and that is why the content you place on your blog is so critical. Creating a website that delivers value will keep your readers (potential buyers) coming back to your site over and over again. You have gained their trust, and have increased the percentages of you making money significantly.
2.) Your Site (Website) – As I mentioned earlier, this is so important when it comes down to your success as Amazon affiliate. A website of your own allows you to market your product by providing information to your readers that will look at you as an authority and someone who can be trusted. Two essential factors that will lead to online success.
Don’t have a website? You don’t have the money to have someone build one for you? No problem, Wealthy Affiliate will create a website for you without any money leaving your pocket! This very article you are reading right now is a product of Wealthy Affiliate. Free to join, free to have a website created for you!
3.) Buying Customers– Okay, let’s assume you now have your website and provided good, quality content to your customers. You are now trusted as an authority and you have gained trust with your customers by providing information that has provoked them to buy from you. Here comes the money!!!
Do you see the beauty in this? By following this process, you now have the option to market other Amazon products and simply repeat this process over and over again. You have now built an online business that will provide you a nice revenue month after month.
Conclusion
I certainly hope this article has given you a better understanding of affilate marketing and what it requires to be a successful Amazon Associate. As I mentioned earlier, there is a lot of money to be made through Amazon and I have outlined the process that it requires to do so.
Find something that interests you (niche), do your research, select a product, and market this product in a manner that best suits you. This is your framework to follow and please put some time and effort in each phase. Check out your competition through research and choose a product that will appeal to your readers and one that is selling well.
Finally, I can’t express enough the importance of owning your own website. This is not to say that you won’t find success by using your affiliate link within social media outlets or through paid advertising sites. In my opinion, it is more difficult to achieve a level of success through these methods.
I hope I have answered the question of ‘What Is An Amazon Affiliate?’ and provided you further insight into this concept. Good luck to you and I wish you the best as an Amazon Associate. Please feel free to leave me a question or ask a question and I will get back to you in short time.
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