First, the single best reason for not becoming an Amazon Associate: Amazon and its products do not ‘fit’ with your blog or website. If you feel that way, no problem. There are hosts of affiliate programs available, so you will certainly be able to find one that fits better with the content of your blog or website than Amazon.
However, the Amazon Associates Program is well worth considering for most bloggers. I use it on some of my blogs, and it has provided me with a reliable income stream so far - not my biggest, but definitely more than the ‘pennies and dimes’ that some say it has the potential to earn.
Following are some of the best reasons for becoming an Amazon Associate:
1. Amazon is a widely recognized and trusted brand – Amazon is frequently on top of the list of online stores that people make purchases from ans one of the most popular shopping destinations worldwide. Readers know Amazon, are familiar with it ans many are already customers - they trust it and do spend significant money there.
2. Commissions – Some may not be satisfied with a 4% commission. They are right in some ways, for 4% is not that much when you are selling a $10 book or DVD - however when you’re selling a $2000 Camera or a $3,500 Lawn Tractor (I know a guy who does quite well out of ride on mowers and tractors) it certainly adds up. But not just that, the 4% rate is their base rate for general products. Unfortunately it is as high as it goes on consumer electronics - however on most other products there is a sliding scale where depending on the number of items you sell your referral fee will go up to 8.50%. Sell more than 6 items in a month and your commission rises to 6% - sell over 630 and you’re up to 8% .. See for yourself:
3. People tend to buy more than one item - The great thing about Amazon is that you do not just earn a commission on the product that you direct people to, but on anything that they buy once they are at Amazon. The sales of other products that people make once they get to Amazon are most of the time much greater than the sales of the actual product you link to – and you will earn a commission on each one of them. You´ll be pleasantly surprised by this passive income. You earn a commission on anything that a person buys within a couple of hours of you sending them to Amazon (if they do not leave the shop´s site).
4. It is easy to integrate - There are more and more plugins and tools that offer Amazon Affiliate integration built to help you place links in your blog posts with the greatest of ease. Ecto for Mac has a tool that searches for products and lets you link them in with just a couple of clicks. Wordpress has some nice plugins also. Affiliate links usually take just seconds to integrate.
5. Mulktiple payment options - Amazon offers a number of payment options to its affiliates. One of the things that I especially like is that they give you the option to be paid in products instead of cash. They also send out checks or deposit transferal fees directly into your bank account.
6. Small payments do add up – In the early days of making money from blogs most bloggers do not have the luxury of picking and choosing their income streams as much as they (hopefully) do later on. They need to earn money somewhere and even the small amounts that the Amazon Associates Program brings in at the beginning are better than nothing. Over time these payments will begin to add up for sure. In the early days you probably won´t earn enough to make the minimum payment amount every month and will have to wait a few months before getting paid - but those first pay outs will be milestones to be duly celebrated.
7. It is an investment that matures over time – It is a good approach to treat the Amazon Associates Program a little like a savings account or a long-term investment that you put a little into each week and which matures in its earnings over time. What does this mean? I add links to Amazon over time and find that in doing so I am steadily creating more and more doorways into the Amazon online store. With every link I add I increase the chances of sending someone to Amazon and seeing returns on those visits.
8. The holidays are pay time - While you will be making money as an Amazon Associate year in, year out it is worth noting that things generally fire up in the lead up to Christmas and the holiday season. Over the years I have noticed significant jumps in Amazon earnings in December (as much as 150%). The key to achieving this is to plan ahead (make sure your links are all up to date a couple of months beforehand) and run a couple of Christmas specific posts in the lead up to the Holiday rush (start to prepare as early as September/October).
9. Wide array of products - What attracted me to using Amazon’s Associate program in the first place was the huge variety of products that they have on offer. This is a great thing if you’re niche is narrow or quite obscure, as a lot of bloggers have trouble finding affiliate programs to match their blog’s focus. Some widely read blogs do have an array of options for affiliate programs (that´s why you generally won´t find a lot of Amazon links on them), but many bloggers simply do not have the luxury of being able to choose high paying affiliate programs because they simply don’t relate to the topics of their blog. In these cases Amazon becomes one of the most attractive options.
10. Amazon is an easy way into the world of affiliate programs – If you are not sure about affiliate programs and just want to try one out, then Amazon´s Associate program is a good starting point. They provide you with everything you need to get started, they offer instructions and help and, most importantly, are a reliable partner. I started out with Amazon – and I am glad I did, because this first positive experience encouraged me to search for other affiliate programs and helped me a lot on my way to becoming a professional blogger.
So is the Amazon Associate Program for you?
You will have to answer that question for yourself - I won’t pretend that it works brilliantly on every blog, but I know quite a few bloggers who make significant earnings from the program. Blogs with a strong focus on products tend to do quite well through the program if links to Amazon are well integrated into posts (see some of my other posts for tips). Moderation in using the program is advisable - don’t place them in every post you write unless they are relevant. Links placed in genuinely helpful reviews obviously do better than links and banners in sidebars.
Good luck!
Related Article:
How to Become an Amazon Associate
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