The rise of social media, blogging, and the influencers that came with it has brought to life many affiliate programs provided by large companies. People with a certain number of followers can get paid to advertise for companies. In return, the affiliates get high traffic positions on the site and monetary compensation for using the company’s products.
To become an Amazon affiliate, you should have a website owned by you that provides fresh content regularly. You must also meet a small sales quota, such as three qualifying sales every six months. Being an Amazon affiliate shouldn’t be confused with being an Amazon Influencer, though. Each has its merits, but being an Influencer requires a strong social media following.
Becoming an affiliate with Amazon requires several things that can be hard for a new blogger or social media user to attain without knowing where to look. In addition, the technical side of the program can be jarring for newbies who aren’t very tech-savvy. This article will reveal what it takes to make the cut and become an Amazon Affiliate.
Requirements for Becoming an Amazon Affiliate
Amazon uses its affiliate program to drive traffic to a specific product’s page with a specialized link that rewards the affiliate monetarily. This affiliate program is great for bloggers and content creators looking to monetize videos with product placements or provide links to Amazon products in their blogs or social media posts.
Amazon selects its affiliates with a few criteria like:
- You must have a quality website that provides value – Amazon holds each of its affiliate websites to a high standard. There must also be no hiding your Amazon affiliation from your customers. They expect honesty, and if the rules aren’t followed, Amazon will disregard your links and stop paying you. Trying to fool customers with outlandish claims about the product is also frowned upon.
- You must keep prices of the products off your page – Placing a set fee for items opens the company to lawsuits and false advertising claims. They will keep you informed when an item you have posted has changed its price, but affiliates shouldn’t have a price listed for the linked product on their website. If a customer sees an item listed as one price on your website and another price on Amazon, the customer could be discouraged from buying the product.
- Your website must have minimal advertisements – Amazon wants engaging content that links to their inventory, not a page filled with adverts and money grabs. The site should contain the content and links for products with little else. Webpages can often be so crowded with ads and banners that customers have a hard time navigating them; this is exactly the type of website the Amazon avoids.
- You must not have any questionable videos or walls of text – Again, Amazon holds its affiliate pages up to a certain standard. Any videos or writings that are sexual, use profane language or include anything else the Amazon deems unsuitable content could be flagged as inappropriate. Once the questionable videos or text are removed, you can usually return to your agreement with the company.
How to Become an Amazon Affiliate
Becoming an Amazon affiliate requires some setup and online ‘paperwork’ that can become cumbersome if not filled out thoroughly the first time. Taking the time to fill out all the papers and work through all the steps gives your page all the information needed to have a successful affiliation.
Free ebook to learn affiliate marketing step-by-step
The steps to becoming an Amazon Affiliate are:
- Own a Website or Blog
- Register with the Amazon Affiliate webpage
- Create an Amazon Affiliate Profile
- Create Links to Products on Your Website
Own a Website or Blog
The first step to becoming an Amazon Affiliate is building a website with valuable content that shows you have a site that promotes the products you intend to sell. A backlog of items shows the company that you are serious about being in their program. Amazon doesn’t affiliate itself with people who do not maintain their sites or content.
The site will have to be described in the paperwork section of the build, so it would be good to make something that can be easily explained and is straightforward. Knowing your audience and how you intend to get them to the page will also be required. Make these themes clear in your page design, and it will save you time in the long run.
Register with the Amazon Affiliate Webpage
The next step is registering your webpage as an Amazon Affiliate. It is the same process as you used to create your Amazon account. Again, you will need to have a working email address and give the company any payment information that might be required.
Amazon will also need your phone number so that it can contact the person who is receiving payment. While joining the site may be free, the affiliates program will require a contact number to discuss any account changes or complaints. It also gives the user and company another layer of protection against fraud and misuse.
Create an Amazon Affiliate Profile
Your Amazon Affiliate profile is an in-depth document that will define everything about your online store and how it operates. You should enter all of your social media information and leave your YouTube page address as well. More visuals and platforms mean that a larger group of customers will see your product, just what Amazon wants out of the partnership.
When choosing your store name, pick something linked to the rest of your social media. Having similar names means that customers don’t have to memorize a long, drawn-out, or random term to access your content. In addition, the name you choose and how your profile is set up will determine how your followers get to your content and show your audience that they support you with their purchase.
Choose the target audience for your products with care. The chosen audience will be how Amazon determines which market you target best. This market will also need to be shown as a viable means for creating income.
Amazon will want to know:
- The number of page hits you get each month
- How your webpage content is monetized
- How you generated traffic for your website
- How you wish to be paid for the affiliation
Create Links to Products on Your Websites
Linking the content and products sounds like a daunting task, but the Amazon Affiliates page makes everything straightforward to understand. In addition, the page shows your production and how much traffic has been generated from the links on your social media.
The links are specialized just for your buttons. So, when a person buys, places the item in their cart, or buys within 90 days, you get the referral fee that comes with it. The links are created by going to the page listing and assigning the ASIN number to a program inside the Affiliates process. It gives you a link to the item after a search, like a standard web search, and contains special characters that ensure you are the one who gets the commission fee.
Conclusion
Being an Amazon Affiliate requires owning a valuable website. Once you are accepted, you must meet the sales quota of 3 sales every other quarter, or 180 days. The program’s purpose is to use your social media following to generate traffic and revenue for Amazon. In return, you are awarded a commission-type fee dependent on how many people buy from your affiliate links.
Building the Amazon Affiliates profile on your web page should be handled with care and filled out correctly. It is like a business plan that the Amazon goes over when considering allowing you to be an affiliate. Once all your web content is observed, you will begin a fruitful relationship with one of the most lucrative companies on the planet.