Last Update: June 9th, 2018
I’ve been using Amazon’s affiliate program for a little over two years and during that time I’ve had a lot of success with it. In fact, this income source was the second largest chunk of my total $150k+ 2010 income. If I hadn’t sold one of my larger Amazon focused sites last year for six figures this income source would have easily eclipsed $100,000 by now.
Table Of Contents
- Amazon Income Results For Last 2 Years $90,336.65:
- Top 20 Ways To Make Money With Amazon Associates:
- 1. Niche Selection Is Crucial
- 2. Link To Products Inside Your Content
- 3. Make Product Images Clickable Affiliate Links:
- 4. Link To Amazon.com As Many Times Possible
- 5. Product Review Articles Convert The Best
- 6. Build An Email List
- 7. Write Sales And Promos During The Holidays
- 8. Identify which niche you want to go into based on Amazon’s affiliate payout percentage
- 9. Use Multiple Tracking ID’s For Each Website
- 10. Use EasyAzon To Save Time And Make More Money With Amazon
- 11. Insert Buy Now Button Into Your Articles
- 12. Create A Product Comparison Grid
- 13. Publish A Recurring Deals Post
- 14. Publish A Monthly Bestseller List
- 15. Use Native Shopping Ads Over Static Banner Ads
- 16. Don’t Bother Creating An Amazon Astore
- 17. Use A Website Layout That Improves Conversions
- 18. Just Get People On To Amazon.com
- Wrap Up
Amazon Income Results For Last 2 Years $90,336.65:
BONUS: Want to learn everything I know about being an Amazon Affiliate in 2018?
Click here to download my ultimate Amazon Affiliate Course, along with EasyAzon Core for free.
Ok, seeing my income is great and all but how does it help you? Well, the reason I show a screen shot is to make sure you know that the advice I’m sharing is based on stuff I truly know.
One of the things I’ve done over the past two years is track the methods I use to make money with Amazon by tracking IDs as well as keeping track of other things I’ve done while building up my Amazon websites. I initially published my findings in two blog posts early last year when I first launched this blog and even today they are still among the most popular posts (here and here). Now it’s been over a year and today I’m providing an updated list of information including several new tips that I’ve learned since that time.
Top 20 Ways To Make Money With Amazon Associates:
1. Niche Selection Is Crucial
I’ll get to the actual methods I use on my websites in the next tips, but the first thing I want to say is that the niche you choose is the absolute most important decision you can make.
I love to target physical product focused niches and keywords
It’s easiest to make money using Amazon’s affiliate program if the people coming to your website are looking for a specific product that your website discusses. It’s more difficult to use a website like my blog here and make money linking to physical products because the people coming here are looking for advice on how to earn money online – not what iPod speakers they should buy.
2. Link To Products Inside Your Content
Roughly half of my Amazon income comes from basic text links posted inside the content body area of a blog post or page.
Example: Check out this cool helicopter. I’ve been covering these RC helicopters for months and I’ve never seen this one discounted so heavily which is well off the list price.
Simple text links in the content of an article are the most effective way to get web visitors to click. People trust the body of the content on a page more so than any other area of the website and I know this because the tracking data I’ve collected.
3. Make Product Images Clickable Affiliate Links:
The second best thing I’ve found next to a simple text link is to use images of the product you’re talking about and make them clickable like this cool usb missile launcher:
Roughly 15% of my total Amazon income has come from simply making all of the product images on my websites clickable affiliate links.
Tip: You can easily insert product images into your content using the EasyAzon plugin and earn a commission anytime someone clicks the image, goes to Amazon and makes a purchase.
4. Link To Amazon.com As Many Times Possible
I alluded to this in the previous few tips but I want to make sure you understand that each link inside one of your articles is another opportunity for a visitor to click through and make their way onto Amazon.com.
It’s common for me to link to Amazon five to ten times in a single article (more if I’m doing a product review).
5. Product Review Articles Convert The Best
Doing a quality product review for a product directly related to your niche is a very easy way to garner higher click thru rates and increased sales, but only if your review is higher quality.
Ideally you contact the manufacturer’s marketing team or PR agency and get them to send you a demo unit of the product to review, but this takes a lot of effort and may not be worth it on a smaller traffic site (at first).
You want to convince the reader to investigate their purchase options by the time they finish reading an article, which is why I’ll always include links to all of the products mentioned in a review at the end of the article. That way it’s an easy transition from learning about the product during your review and then at the end it’s time to make a purchase.
Example: See this USB Missile Launcher on Amazon.com
6. Build An Email List
You’ve probably heard this a hundred times by people telling you to build an email list from the blogger and internet marketing crowd, but building an email list is way easier on a physical product oriented website.
Why? People don’t have their guard up when they are researching a physical product to purchase (when compared to other purchase decisions online i.e. digital goods). So what I like to do is offer some type of freebie like a buyers guide or some type of information that provides more details about the products they’re researching.
On the flip side, I’d love for you to join my email list for this blog but I have to be a little more convincing by showing you that I’m a credible resource first. (Already convinced? Sign up here ;D)
For my newsletter provider I use Aweber and highly recommend them. Overall I could attribute at least five to ten percent of my total income due to my email lists because I like to focus on promoting products heavily to my lists during the holidays which leads into my next tip.
7. Write Sales And Promos During The Holidays
I typically made between $500 and $1,000 a day every day during Black Friday Week, Cyber Monday and Cyber Week. It is lower during other holidays like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Presidents Day, Valentines Day etc. but you can still promote various sales during these holidays as well. I target every holiday because Amazon creates an actual dedicated sales page every time one of these holidays come around. The deals shared on these pages are generally really good too.
So what I’ll do is put together an article of all the top products that are on sale in my niche using the tips I’ve shared earlier like linking as many times as possible, making the product image clickable and then sending out an email to my list etc. to get even more conversions.
Stats From A “Cyber Monday (My Niche) Discounts” Post Last Year
(Some of that traffic pop is also attributed to the day I mail out to my email lists though)
For the structure of these articles I like to target a frequently searched keyword such as “Cyber Monday (My Niche) Discounts” etc. because I know people search for “Cyber Monday” and “Black Friday” millions of times each year but they also search a longer form version like “Cyber Monday (My Niche) Discounts” as evidenced by the above traffic graph from one of my Amazon sites
8. Identify which niche you want to go into based on Amazon’s affiliate payout percentage
Amazon used to have a variable fee structure where you would earn more money if you referred more sales to Amazon. They would start at 4% and you could earn up to 8.5% of a sale if you referred enough items. Amazon did away with their variable fee structure in early 2017 and replaced that system with a fixed percentage payout based on the category of products. Some niches pay a lot less than others and it’s important to be aware of the payout before you pick a niche:
Note: These totals are accurate as of June 2018 but may change in the future. To see up to date info look in your Amazon Associates portal.
9. Use Multiple Tracking ID’s For Each Website
You wouldn’t install the same Google Analytics code on every single website you own right? Of course not, because you wouldn’t be able to tell how much traffic each of your websites were receiving individually. So the same thing can be said for tracking the money you make on your websites (and yet people still tell me they use only one Amazon tracking ID for all of their websites /facepalm). In the ,past I’ve gone so far as to create 15 different tracking ID’s for use on a single website.
By default Amazon assigns you one tracking ID like blahblahblah-20 but you can create additional tracking ID’s here.
10. Use EasyAzon To Save Time And Make More Money With Amazon
One of the ways I’ve also been able to make good money with Amazon is to automatically populate information from a WordPress plugin that I had developed based on the needs I had for building Amazon centric websites. The result was EasyAzon. The plugin allows you to insert information and affiliate links to Amazon in a much faster way than creating the links yourself by hand from Amazon.com.
Short Summary: Basically what the plugin does is allow you to quickly insert a text based affiliate link, the image of the product as an affiliate link, a product information grid, convert US Amazon links to UK, GR etc. via link localization etc. etc. and have all those things be affiliate links to Amazon.com so it does a great job of improving click through rates.
The plugin is currently only $47 and available at EasyAzon.com
11. Insert Buy Now Button Into Your Articles
This is something that EasyAzon could do for you, but if you don’t want to spend the money you can simply insert your own buy now button and turn it into an Amazon affiliate link.
12. Create A Product Comparison Grid
Creating a product comparison grid for all of the products within your niche and allowing people to sort by various features is a great way to get some additional sales. I’ve used this tactic on several of my websites and the product comparison page alone can add an additional 5% to 10% income increase for a website.
If you do it manually you’ll need to use this WordPress plugin called WP Table Reloaded and what I do is include various columns for information about the product and in the final column I use a buy now button that people can click to see more info about the product.
13. Publish A Recurring Deals Post
If you want to find a way to be able to mention products that are on sale more frequently on your website one of the easiest ways I’ve done that in the past is to just do a weekly deals post. So what I’ll do is publish a post every week with the best deals for my niche and then incorporate all of the previous tactics I’ve discussed above to link to the products on Amazon.com. Depending on how often you publish articles you could do it more or less frequently (I’ve seen some websites do these style of articles every day).
14. Publish A Monthly Bestseller List
Amazon has a bestseller page found simply at Amazon.com/bestsellers and so one thing I’ve done on my site is publish a bestsellers list and simply mention the currently trending bestsellers. Generally speaking the cream rises to the top so if you write an article talking about the bestselling products those are likely to be the best products your visitors are looking to buy anyway.
Just go to Amazon.com/bestsellers and look for your respective niche category. I shoot for top 5 or top 10 products.
15. Use Native Shopping Ads Over Static Banner Ads
Update: I used to recommend carousel style Amazon ads, but they don’t exist anymore. When I used them they converted about 3 times better than static style Amazon banner ads. I suggest using Native Shopping Ads instead which is essentially a replacement to the carousel style ads but allows for greater flexibility. You can display products by recommendation from the content, by search or with other options. Here is what the a Native Shopping Ad looks like for the keyword search “Chris Guthrie” Amazon displays the Kindle books I’ve written:
You can create the Amazon Native Shopping Ads inside your Amazon Associates account here and you’re able to manually add products or just display bestselling products from a specific category.
16. Don’t Bother Creating An Amazon Astore
When I created a store page and used the Amazon Astore tool to “build my own store” I found it converted terribly. Less than 1% of my total income came from Amazon Astore pages before I stopped using them. If you’re not familiar with Astore’s just take my word for it when I say they suck.
I know people like to shop, but sometimes I believe they’d rather just find a resource that tells them what the best deal is instead. Whatever the reason, the tracking data I used to track my Amazon Astore’s showed that they routinely underperformed.
17. Use A Website Layout That Improves Conversions
I’ve been using Amazon’s affiliate program heavily for a little over two years now and the one thing I found through constant testing is that the layout of your website matters when it comes to how well it converts casual visitors into affiliate sales.
Armed with this knowledge you’d think that people would spend more time testing their theme or website layout to determine the optimal way to make money from their website right? Well, this is precisely why once you get your website to start earning ~$1,000 per month you should consider testing out a new theme. It doesn’t make sense to start testing theme changes or try moving to a new theme until you are making at least ~$1,000 per month.
18. Just Get People On To Amazon.com
I know 30% of my earnings came from products people bought because I happened to be the one that sent them onto Amazon.com. For example, I sold a watch a while ago for $5,000 and got a $400 commission but I don’t even own a website that even remotely discusses watches. This is one of the other reasons why I love using Amazon’s affiliate program.
When you send someone to Amazon.com you get a percentage of anything they buy for the next 24 hours (30 days if they added an item to their cart) so if you can just get them onto the website and they happen to buy something completely unrelated you’ll get the money for it.
Amazon spends millions of dollars on improving the way they get people to convert. The fact that they provide a custom user experience for every person that goes to Amazon.com based on the buying behavior and viewing patterns tells me they know what it takes to close a sale. Some of the best closing advice I can give is to simply find ways to get your visitors onto the Amazon.com webpage and they’ll take care of the rest.
BONUS: Get 2 extra tips and learn everything I know about being an Amazon Affiliate in 2018 Check this out:
Click here to download my ultimate Amazon Affiliate Course, along with EasyAzon Core for free.
Wrap Up
This article has taken me several hours to create and edit so I’d love to hear your feedback. Please let me know what you think of my tips by posting in the comments below. As always, because I love my readers I respond to each and every question that comes in so get to it!
Wow..Impressive numbers for amazon..there are people making good money form that site after all..thanks for sharing..
“Black Seo Guy “Signing Off”
Yes there are a lot of people that are making good money out there with Amazon for sure.
Amazing!!!
Can you share with us one of your sites?
I’ve shared some sites in the past but that generally just ends up driving extra competition π
I have a product I Sell on Amazon. How can I get more affiliate links to my product without sending samples out to everyone (which I can’t really afford to do) ? Qubits Toy
Typically you just need to get your product to the top of various keyword searches. Affiliates will promote the top products naturally.
It is too much useful for a affiliate earners. I have learnt lots tactics from here to implement on my affiliate site. We are waiting for your next awesome article about affiliate.
Nice summary Chris and very useful for selling Amazon products.
The only killer for me is that I am on the capped rates from Amazon so your watch example would net me all of οΏ½7 rather than the $400 you quoted.
This is hugely frustrating as the majority of products I sell would generate more than the commission cap if it wasn’t in place.
Hey Jamie,
Are you referring to the $25 cap on Amazon.co.uk products? If so, simply stick to product price ranges where you won’t exceed that cap and that way you get the max affiliate commission / sale price possible.
Hi Chris
Yes there is a οΏ½7 ($11) commission cap on the Amazon performance plan which is what everyone who signs up now is put on in the UK. The classic plan (with no cap) is no longer available to us.
Hey Chris,
Great article. The Azon theme is pretty amazing for Amazon niche sites. If you want, check out the site listed with this post to see how I utilized the Azon theme. Still, I have a little bit of wrap up work. Great post, once again.
Thanks for the comment, yes I’ve had a lot of great feedback about the theme over the past several months especially when I spend several hundred dollars for a version update and send it out to everyone for free π
Chris,
Thanks for the reply! I get excited when the author replies to comments!
Hi Chris – as I was reading I was thinking to myself how much of this comes from your excellent Niche Profit Course. Interestingly most of the tips you offer here could be used on just about any blog. As an example, I could mention a business book in the context of a business post, and link to it using an Amazon affiliate link.
Great stuff once again. Thanks Chris!
Hey Robert,
I completely agree with you. Sometimes I get caught up talking about Amazon when a lot of this stuff could apply to other affiliate programs or just other methods of website monetization as well.
Chris
Hey Chris how can I just have you set me up! You make it sound so Incredibly genius and easy.
Hah I don’t work for anyone but myself π
Would you say 90% + of this money is from the site you just recently sold?
Are you workIng on another niche authority site now?
Hey Sue, I can’t disclose the amount of money that the website was earning when I sold it, but as I admitted at the onset of the article my income from Amazon would have surpassed $100,000 had I not sold the site. I already have several other authority style websites I’m building up as well as my network of smaller niche sites that earn good money as well.
Hey Chris, great article. I was wondering if you have noticed anything different with your Amazon niche sites since the Google algo change? Have you lost traffic or do you build the sites up so much that they have good content. I’m new at this and would be curious if you think people need to change anything.
Thanks.
Hey Ben, actually I haven’t seen any changes in my sites yet but in the end quality content will always win out.
This is a link to the article I posted earlier: http://www.makemoneyontheinternet.com/how-i-deal-with-google-ranking-changes/
Chris
Awesome post Chris. I’ve recently started an Amazon niche site using WPZon Builder. Its pretty powerful. Does ReviewAzon have the ability to do comparison tables without much manual effort/intervention?
Yah, it’s something he added in to the v2.0 one he released a few months ago. It’s a pretty sweet plugin and I’ve been recommending it to everyone for a while now. If you already have a plugin though I’d suggest just using that one though, no sense in buying a ton of them.
How may niche sites do you have vs. authority sites? What would you estimate is your earings for each catagory on average. I would ecpect that the revenue does varry quite a bit through out the year. Just trying to establish a benchmark to measure against.
Thanks for the great articles!
I have about 4 authority style sites and the rest are all mini ones. I like the money the mini’s can make but there isn’t any attractive exit strategy with those so that’s why I like to do a little of both, but I believe authority style sites have the biggest upside. As for income split I’d have to go back through all the tracking data but I’d peg it somewhat in favor of authority sites (before I sold one of my largest ones)
Great post Chris. This gives me an idea when I work on my next niche site. I’m new to the IM game, so this is very inspirational!
Hey Tim,
Glad I could help and best of luck in your online income efforts π
Chris
Hi Chris,
I think that your tips are great, and really thanks for sharing. π
I especially agree with making your product images clickable, as it’s something that a lot of people don’t think about doing. But it brings really good results.
Cheers,
Allen
Hi Chris and good day to you.
Great reading and info on this page.
Could you please explain what is meant in your reply to Jamie
“Hey Jamie,
“Are you referring to the $25 cap on Amazon.co.uk products?”
Question 1.. Does this mean if we promote Amazon.co.uk products, $25 is the most commission we can earn per product/sale whether the product is $50 or $500?
You also say:
“If so, simply stick to product price ranges where you wonοΏ½t exceed that cap and that way you get the max affiliate commission / sale price possible.””
Question 2..If the $25 dollar cap is in force, then are you saying don’t bother trying to sell expensive products?
Sorry i am a bit confused. I live in the UK and have just spent over οΏ½100 plus learning/ready to become an Amazon Affiliate and would be gutted about the $25 cap.
Thank you for your time.
Hey Cindy,
I’m near certain the cap is $25. If there is a cap I was just saying that you could sell items where based on your percentage of payout you don’t surpass it. So if you were getting 5% from .co.uk’s aff program then you could sell up to $500 and still get your max commission. That being said, all this info is inside the Amazon.co.uk program.
Who were you learning Amazon affiliate from that wasn’t telling you the payout rates? That seems like a big lack of content…
Chris
Hi Cindy
The cap is οΏ½7 in the UK, so this is the maximum commission you can earn for one item. So at the lowest commission level of 5% any item you sell which costs over οΏ½140 would have the commission capped to οΏ½7.
Jamie
Hi All
The cap on amazon.co.uk applies to all items sold and as Jamie says, it means that there is no point on promoting products worth more than οΏ½140 (at 5%, so even less if you climb up the commission percentage ladder).
I only found out about this last month and wrote an article about this on my blog – at http://www.amazonaffiliateprofits.co.uk/amazon-commission-caps-cookie-expiry-and-tiered-commission-structure/.
If you read the article you will see that the οΏ½7 cap isn’t the only problem we have in the UK. I have shown a comparision between the .co.uk and the .com Amazon sites with respect to how many items you need to sell to increase your commission percentages, and once you have sold 7 items you are definately winning with the .com Amazon compared to the .co.uk site.
Cheers
Richard
Hi Chris,
Thanks for sharing these awesome tips. I’m not very successful with promoting Amazon products and hope to utilize all these tips for better convertion rate.
Awesome tips! I’m just dabbling in Amazon affiliates for a photography site – I’m sure this will help me hone in on making it more profitable!
Thanks Kristi, glad I could help and best of luck on your photography site π
I like this post – it’s like a short review of your excellent course. I’ve been dealing with analysis paralysis with so many ways to approach online marketing and this reminded me that I have complet the amazon sites I started.
That is one of the toughest things to get over when you’re first getting started online and I think the best advice is to really just get it going and start trying different things.
Love these. After the first few I already knew how I can get more sales on my niche site.
I never got too much into Amazon cause the money was not so great in my niche. Then I started making some cash with them, but was not sure how to make more. I just could not find the right info that will talk me through it.
Well, I just did find it. This is exactly what I needed. Now I am going to go through all of my website’s pages, one by one and fix the Amazon stuff I already posted there.
Thanks!!!
Hey Brankica, glad I could help and I wish you the best of luck in growing your Amazon income.
Loved this post was sent here by Pat Flynns twitter. I was definitely use some of your tips in my own niche site business. Thanks a lot.
Hey Adam, glad I could help and I hope you can grow your niche site income π
I just had my first $300 day on EPN, now I’m looking to work some Amazon into my portfolio. This is where I’m starting, just saying.
Good stuff, wonderful to meet you, and I’m looking forward to more.
Yah EPN is pretty good in certain niches I’ve found as well. Niche wise I bet it’d be an easy transition for you to incorporate Amazon into your websites as well. At the very least you should be split testing it so that you can see which one will make you the most money.
Amazon and affiliate marketing in general is a decent way of making side income, but nothing really compares to making your own product or service that others will pay for, especially something that ppl will pay for month after month. WIth affiliate marketing, you’re basically helping retailers find lifelong customers, and you get a cut just once. Bad deal, IMO
To each his own I suppose, but what you’re suggesting is like trying to compare apples to oranges. Would I rather build up a website that pretty much runs automatically with little effort on my end and make more than my day job or build a “real business” with paying customers and all the hassles that come along with dealing with them?
You’re making the arguement that I don’t prefer a lifestyle of waking up at 10:00 AM working when I want to and would instead prefer to have some online business where I need to have dozens of employees just to keep the lights on when I don’t want to show up. Problem is – I prefer the more relaxed lifestyle (at least for now)
Exactly! I also prefer the lazy affiliate lifestyle. hahaha.
Being an affiliate marketer can still get lifelong customers, as long as you know how to build a list and provide value to the customers before you even send them to the merchant’s page for purchase.
Hi Chris,
After finding your blog, a couple weeks ago, I finally setup a carousel on one of my blogs. After reading your blog, I had a bunch of different ideas on how to use my Amazon affiliate account across a handful of my blogs but as of April 15th, Amazon is closing the affiliate program for all Illinois residents. The Illinois governor signed a tax law that requires Amazon to charge tax on affiliate sales in Illinois even if the retailer doesn’t have a presence here.
I am hoping that I can try to use some your excellent advice from your post with other affiliate programs, even though I haven’t found many other affiliate plans offering similar options that Amazon does.
Hey Doug, yah I heard about the nexus tax they were starting up in Illinois… very bad moves for affiliates in all industries. You can always move or open a business in another state though right? I co-own a business in Delaware right now but I don’t live in that state.
Hi Chris, that’s an awesome post. I’m just starting with IM myself and am shopping around for strategies. In your experience, what’s the ratio between authority-type sites and mini sites (how many minis are needed to create as much income as one authority)? Thanks for sharing these tips!
Hey Aloys, it’s really too tough to say because the earnings can vary between every single website you look at. If I had to guess it’d be probably 5 – 10 or maybe more (probably more) but even then this is based on a guess because earnings will always vary.
[…] The Amazon Affiliates program is an absolutely wonderful way to make money (unless you live in Colorado).οΏ½ Though I have not personally done οΏ½a lotοΏ½ with Amazon Affiliates to date I have done enough to see that Chris gives some great tip in his list of 20 tips to making money on Amazon. […]
Excellent written article, I only recently started delving into Amazon affiliate sales and have been following what you recommend with links in posts and reviews converting better. One question I had which you don’t show in a screen shot is how many sales are through product link clicks and how many are through “all other items ordered”. I am curious to know what # of sales are from products not directly listed, but just taking advantage of the Amazon cookie and getting percentage of those sales.
Also, with Illinois putting in a new Tax law and Amazon.com banning any associates in IL this left many scrambling, if other states follow suite it can destroy online Amazon Associates sites in seconds, literally.
Hey Justin,
Roughly 70% of my sales have come from products I was trying to promote. The other 30% were sales simply because people were on Amazon at the time.
As to the issues in IL… there are plenty of ways to avoid having your business closed up by an idiotic Governor including like moving your business to a neighboring state that’s actually business friendly. There are ways around the issues and I know I wouldn’t let Amazon shutting the program down in my state stop me. I can’t legally advise you what to do, but I’m just saying there are ways around it.
Thanks for this really clear and complete tips about what is work and what is not for Amazon. Now, It is confirm that my Amazon Store will be replace by the text link style. π
Do you have any recommendations for how to find a good niche to build an Amazon affiliate site around? I’m guessing it’s better to stick with something I know (just so that it’s possible to keep putting out content), but does Amazon or anywhere else provide a tool to research good products to sell in a niche that isn’t over-saturated?
This is stuff I talk about in depth in Niche Profit Course but here are a couple quick tips:
1. Yes starting with what you know / interested in helps
2. Go to Amazon.com/bestsellers to get ideas for what products and categories are selling well and in turn you can build some sites to meet those niches
3. Keyword research via Micro Niche Finder + Market Samurai also works very well.
Thanks for your response! Looking at the bestseller list is a good idea, at least to get some initial ideas. It seems that no matter which direction I go, though, there’s already another bigger site out there already doing it.
Well, this is the internet. Someone else has had an idea for a website before you. The goal is to build something that is ‘better’ than what is currently ranking for your target market and ‘better’ can mean a combination of a few things such as better content, better links etc.
What do you think are the advantages of using MNF or MS over the other? Does one do something better than the other or do they do the same thing? I currently use MS, works great, just curious about MNF.
I think Micro Niche Finder is a little faster at providing results at times.
i.e. I enter USB as a seed keyword and get a ton of different USB related keywords instantly. Then I just have to click a button or two to see if “my usb keyword” .com,.net or .org are available.
I am looking into starting to make money with Amazon and I think you have given me a guge helping hand here. Not only have you showed how much you made but you have actually shown us how in quite some depth. π
Hey Dean, glad I could help and best of luck to you.
Hi Chris,
Thank you for sharing these great tips. I have made money from Amazon from revenue share sites like Hubpages. I am not looking to branch out and start to build my own sites to really increase my earning potential. I am sure that these tips are going to come in very handy.
Thank you!
When linking to Amazon, do you suggest a standard link (opening in same tab/window) or putting a checkmark in wordpress for “open in a new window”?
Also, do you use the amzn.to short url or the standard long one?
I leave the link default from how it’s created in the Amazon site stripe (so no open in new window) also no url shortener either.
The graphic of your sales at the top was incredibly interesting. Your average sale had revenue of over $130, even after taking account of your point #9 (sell some inexpensive items). That’s impressive.
I think this is where I go wrong. Looking at my stats, my average sale price is $46, which means I make less commission. I really need to feature more expensive items on my sites.
Great observation – I hadn’t noticed that… I also tend to do lower-priced items but this has shifted my mindset…
Awesome advice. This article pointed out a lot of things that didn’t think to do. I’ve now dialed in one of my sites according to your advice, and now hopefully it will begin to perform. Thanks for the info. You’re great.
Hey Tyler, glad I could help and best of luck on your new site.
OMG, I did not know the οΏ½7 cap on amazon.co.uk. Is that really true?
Hi Chris,
I have never seen someone promote Amazon affiliate like you. This is the first article I found giving tips on how to use Amazon site profitably.
Great job!
I have never tried to make money with Amazon. So far, I just make money with Google Adsense, but your post make me want to try get more income with Amazon. I might will need more references to start it.
same with me :),
since adsense doesn’t give the expected income
Hi Chris, I live abroad in Asia and am wondering if I can still implement your course and have a chance at success. How would you find content to review products without owning the products yourself.. Is that possible?
Thanks.
Yes, I use customer reviews and other websites in those situations but I also show people how to get products from companies as well.
Hi Chris,
Nice post – I came to explore the site after signing up for the free teleseminar tonight with erica.biz.
I’m curious – how are Amazon affiliate sites faring after the Google Panda update. With the keyword density of the content articles needed for these types of sites, have you or any of your Niche Profits members experienced a major decline in traffic or rankings? If so, what are your recommendations for creating better backlinks and showing more authority/relevancy for these types of sites?
Hey Courtney, I haven’t had any websites impacted with the update actually. I also don’t really even think about or care about keyword density in my articles either. My recommendation is to remember that Google’s goal is to provide the best search results and if your goal is to make a website that is genuinely better than the website currently ranking in the first position that the rest will follow (particularly if you’re going after an authority website approach)
I’ve been promoting amazon.co.uk in the UK for about two years now and make nothing like the amount you have so its good to get some more tips.
We have a $10 cap here which is a bit of a pain but amazon still convert best for me over other merchants so can’t complain.
What is the minimum amount per month a single site of yours makes? Just wondering how many sites you need to make $45k per year?
How many different products do you tend to have in your niches?
Thanks.
I found your tips in a forum and I’m glad I got to know another Amazon master as I’m working on to be one. I already have a system for a campaign that I’ve learned from different courses but maybe in the future I will check out your system as I like to learn from different people who are doing better than me.
Do you outsource your campaigns? If yes, then would you mind if you just share a basic overview of how you outsource? What’s the general time frame for a campaign before you let it simmer?
Right now I outsource the articles and I have linkbuilding services that takes care of the rankings.
I do some of the same as well.
Nice point 9 was new to me and point 13 is something I think I need to take up. Thanks a lot, looking into reviewAZON but the features aren’t well described on their site… It looks good from what you’ve said on your site though.
Thanks Chris
This article and all the comments/your replies have been fantastic.
I heard your interview on Pat Flynn’s podcast on Friday night (I am a little bit behind on listening to his podcasts) and have just now started reviewing your website.
This article has been fantastic. I have learnt heaps in the last 30 minutes.
Cheers
Richard
Great post, Chris. And so many ways to earn money just with Amazon!! I do know for a fact the real value of just getting the people on the site, seeing that you get commission on all purchases. Same with me for eBay and some affiliate sites I run with itοΏ½s partnership network.
EXTREMELY motivating post, Chris. A few questions.
1) On average how deep (pages) are your authority sites?
2) What are your strategies for building backlinks for these sites?
3) Also, what methods do you employ to drive traffic to these Amazon affiliate sites?
Thanks Chris.
P.S. Must be a nice feeling to have finally escaped the “9-5 grind” and also having to work for someone else! That’s my goal as well.
Hey Chris! I stumbled upon your site from a few people. I’m now interested in starting a niche business and grow from there. I’ve tried to target another niche, with keywords as a first timer, and still having difficulties targeting certain keywords. I would like to get a boost of motivation on starting a small and simple amazon style niche site. I don’t know if you covered this, but I’d like to know what sort of criteria that you go through when choosing a site. So far, I have found a keyword with the following criteria:
using market samurai and Google:
SEOC: 15,200 ( keywords in quotations in Google”
[EXACT] searches globally 1300
plenty of products with lots of reviews above 4 star rating on Amazon
first page of Google looks good to conquer, with an avg PR or 1.0.
I’d taken a bit of everything and compiled my own stats so far.
Good news is that the entire keyword is available as a .com domain. Also, it DOES include the words “reviews 2010”
Any insight on if this might be a good keyword to target initially?
Please let me know or even guide me to a post that I can learn from!
Cheers,
How much commission would a sale get you? That can help decide if a niche is worth going after.
Chris: how many sites do you have of this type and what is the average monthly earning of a typical amazon niche site?
Thanks.
Listed above is the affiliate tier. I typically get at least 7% to 8% each month on sales.
There is no average. You could have a site that makes $100 a month or a site that makes $5,000 per month. It all depends on the niche and the effort you put in.
Chris
Just starting with amazon for my video cards site…a lot to do and learn!! π
Hi Chris,
Thanks for the tips above. It does encourage me to work more on my Amazon sites seeing for what you have achieved in the past couple of years. Will be following closely in the future.
Steve
Best Watches For Men
Also probably worth noting that if you are thinking about signing up for the Amazon affiliate program and are located in Colorado or New York, sign up with an out of state business address. Amazon closed their programs to affiliates in these states because of tax laws that were passed. There are quite a few services that allow you to choose a business address in a different state and will automatically forward your mail to your current address.
In New York I believe they made an exception citing that there are too many valuable publishers in that state that they didn’t want to lose out, but yes using a registered agent in a different state is certainly one way around it π
I’m just curious how you get traffic to the actual site you build for each Amazon product. Do you build backlinks? Do you build the site around a keyword that gets them to your site? Or just build the site, then leave it so people move through it to Amazon? Thanks.
Combination of both and I explain both principals and ideas in a lot more detail via NicheProfitCourse.com π
Much to say, I haven’t much squeezed the opportunity that you can have with amazon. I get some purchases from time to time but not this much
I somehow concur with the aStore thing. I don’t even have a click on the link-type report. Anyone else concur?
Very interesting post. I am saving this page for future reference. I personally liked tip #9. I know some people who try to locate themselves in niches that sell high valued products only and they do not make enough sales, consequently low commission as well. It’s better to target those items that sell quickly first, where people do not do a lot of thinking and research before buying.
[…] I shoot for top 5 or top 10 products.Jika Anda ingin mengetahui tips-tips lainnya, silakan simak 20 Tips I Used To Make $90,336.65 With Amazon. April 24th, 2011 Ditulis oleh Kang Yudiono | Kategori Tips Monetisasi Postingan TerkaitKisah […]
Wow, Chris! This would have to be the most comprehensive guide I’ve ever read on how to make money with Amazon Affiliates on your niche site. So comprehensive, in fact, that I’m printing this out so that I can highlight and add notes to it (and keep it for future reference). π
I’m also seriously considering joining the Niche Profit Course, and I’ve never heard of ReviewAzon. Thanks so much for the awesome tips! You definitely went above and beyond with this article here. Very well done!
This deserves a tweet from me. Keep up the awesome work! Can’t wait to see what 2011 will bring in terms of Amazon income.
Christina
Thanks Chris, this was very helpful advice.
[…] 20 Tips I Used To Make $90,336.65 With Amazon by Chris Guthrie […]
great write up and tips.
i use the ebay affiliate program and adsense for most of my earnings so far.
i love that the ebay cookie stays active for several days. i’ve sold lots of products that i have never promoted.
i’ve recently bought a few plugins to promote amazon, so i’m going to make a push to get some amazon sales going.
mike
Agreed, great guide.
I’m still a total newbie with Amazon, so this is a great place to start, I’ve heard it’s hard to get the ball rolling with Amazon but once you find the right niche, getting the affiliate sales for products is quite easy when done right.
Hi Chris
I completed free ebook and 3 wp themes and received an email with the ebook and link to same, however there is no mention or inclusion of the 3 themes
could you send them through please.
also, you mention artisteer in the article – is this a wp theme and who sells it etc
and could you list a few of your sites so i can actually see how you implement thethings you state above
many thanks
Steve
I share a few of my sites inside my Niche Profit Course and I don’t really share them here on this website. Yah I need to update the newsletter. The themes come through on the third email right now…
Chris. Love this article as I’ve used amazon and been amazed myself at the potential. One thing though. With the latest google panda update they have targeted affiliate links and thin content…has this affected your sites at all? I really want to starta few sites based off amazon but am a little hesitant since I’m not sure what google will think π
I haven’t noticed them target websites with affiliate links but yes low quality content is not the best (I don’t do very many low quality content sites though)
If you’re not sure just go for the longer term approach and build something awesome that’s better than all of the sites you’re competing against.
Thanks Chris – – the only other thought I had was the states that Amazon has pulled out of due to that “internet tax” issue….do you ever get concerned about this as it seemed of have really had a massive impact on those with amazon affiliate income.
I would just open a business in a separate state and pay a registered agent located in that state to collect my paperwork etc. This isn’t my legal advice though, so if you were making a lot of money and got hosed by the shutdown I’d suggest contacting them for sure.
First, thank you very much for writing this useful article.
Would you mind if I ask how many websites did you build to achieve that level of income? I like to know what kind and how much effort is needed to become that level of income.
thanks again
Robert
Hey Robert, it really doesn’t matter if it’s 1 or 100. The point is that you need to put in enough effort to build a site better than your target competition has done for any applicable market.
That’s what I do when I set out to create websites.
Hi – thanks for the excellent article, I’m sure it will be a great help as I find Amazon a bit of a nightmare for getting sales – one thing though, the link you gave for adding extra tracking ids doesn’t work – I think it should be ‘managing tracking ids’ not ‘add’.
Odd… it was working for me? I figured linking inside the affiliate login protected website might be somewhat of an issue anyway.
…agree completely I have found text links to convert the best, and going micro niche, every month is better than the last, and looking at ways to take it forward now, looking forward to reading more of your work, thanks
Hi, Thanks for the really good article. I notice in your section about text links to Amazon they open in the same window. I have trying to find out how to open them in a new window with no luck. Any ideas? Thanks.
Check out this link: http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_links.asp
Wow! This is surely one of the best guides for making money with Amazon Associates I’ve ever seen. Truly useful points and much to learn! I’m also using an Amazon aStore and I agree with you, it’s worthless. Thanks for sharing these tips, I will try these techniques and I hope I can get a bigger check next time π
That was a great article. I recently took a course on selling Amazon products and your article was a very good addition to that training. Thank you.
great post, I didnt think that you could actually make that amount of money with amazon, very inspiring.
Way to share your actual earnings report.
Question…do you have recommendations for somebody who lives in a state that Amazon has dropped? My state was dropped last month.
http://www.makemoneyontheinternet.com/what-to-do-when-amazon-shuts-down-their-affiliate-program-in-your-state/
Thanks for this info. Gives me inspiration to carry on with my Amazon sites and grow my income! Have made a few sales but a slow start.
Hi Chris
I am glad I found U, as someone who has knowledge & a successful experience with Amazon Associate. My question is: as I live in the Middle East, is there chance to do well with amazon.com ??
I am asking that , cause I believe that this kind of affiliate do well for someone who is living in USA, that is maybe related to delivery and freight costs.
Well, I’m pretty sure you can have an Amazon US affiliate account in any country. I have several friends from Canada and Australia that have affiliate relationships with Amazon US.
The key is to just target the US affiliates
Hi Chris I am in Australia and sell for Amazon US.. I even buy stuff from there…
Soraya: I’m based in Chile and earn via Amazon. As Chris said, my sites that do the best are those that have the most traffic from the States though expats.
I found the a-store a complete waste of time. Why would anyone want to browse your “store” when they can just as easily go to the real deal.
I find that product images convert well as do the links within the text.
Have a great day!
Hey Chris,
Honestly if your making that much money online as you say you are, why do you need to charge people for the Niche Profit Course. Surely shouldn’t you do this for free?
I charge for the information because it took me 3 weeks to put together the course. My time has value and I work for free on most of the things I do on this blog so I don’t think it’s a bad thing to ask for money when I’m selling information I put a lot of time into creating.
I also show off some of my live income generating websites inside the course and the more people that see them the more likely it is for those niches to be burned out. So I’d rather charge for access to step by step information and access to live example websites I have up and running that are making money so people can examine them and apply what they’ve learned to other niches.
Hi, you might want to tell your readers who use Blogger that inserting a link behind a photo is super easy. All you have to do is click on the photo in post editor (highlight it), then click the link symbol and insert the link. Et voila!
Yah, Blogger has some tools, but IMO Blogger isn’t as powerful as WordPress and I recommend people always use self hosted solutions.
Thanks for the information on Amazon Sales. It is inspiring to see your success and look forward to reviewing the information you share.
Thank you for the great tips. A couple of questions:
How long does it take you to build one amazon site and how many pages is it?
How long does it take before you start getting sales from a new site? I put a new site up and had 13 sales within 30 days and then nothing. Did I just get lucky or do you think it will “kick in”? I have just started doing some bookmarking every day and hope this will help. Comments?
It varies greatly from site to site and to answer your question fully would take several paragraphs. Sign up for my free course on the home page and go through that to see what I mean.
Using Ebay and Amazon is one of the clever way to make money online. How I wish that I could be as successful as you are in gaining sales within a month. I’m just a newbie and is willing to learn from an expert like you are.
Wow. That’s a lot of money! I bet your half way being a millionaire. π Thanks for the tips Chris. I really appreciate it. I’ve been trying to earn money from amazon and i really don’t have that much luck. Hopefully, this time i will do it right. Thanks once again.
I signed up for your free course but the videos will not play. I get the following message: FLOWPLAYER=https://s3.amazonaws.com/mmoti/day2lessonkeyword.flv,960,540. Any suggestions?
Fixed now π
Now, i have spent hours reading through your posts. And am still confused as to how to start.
Your post does give inspiration. I have just started and built my first site, the backlinking side is the hardest, it takes forever. Keep up the motivational posts, helps me keep going when my clicks = 0 for the day.
I would like to sell on amazon, but i have been told the coms are to low and therefore really not worth the time….
also building a list like you suggest takes so much time….im just a beginner, i guess ill start with a site and go from there
Also i wanted to note from my last comment, i did end up trying to join the amazon affiliate program since i last read this, but could not find any general text links that i could attach to any sites that i own (even though its only one or two)
any suggestions on were i could find these?
cheers
I don’t think I understand the question… you can link to any product or page on Amazon as an affiliate link.
Realy realy cool.. I just wanna start to use Amazon to earn more money and this is a one start point… excelent post dude π
Thanks Fernando π
Chris, thanks for sharing these fantastic tips.
It is always great to hear real success stories and tips from people who have actually done it.
I have a couple of questions for you.
When I do a search for physical products, I find almost the entire half of the page above the fold dominated by Google’s sponsored ads and sometimes a Google product listing or listings from high sites.
Combine that with images of products in the sponsored ads and brand links at the top, I have found less and less affiliate sites rank on top.
And there is such a drastic difference in traffic between the top 3 spots and the rest of the spots in page 1 in Google.
To add to this, I watched a video on Andrew Hansen’s website where he has a video on a recent document that Google has compiled for their human reviewers to look at to weed out thin affiliate sites.
Do you think Amazon affiliate sites are still profitable?
Have you seen a difference in traffic in any of your Amazon affiliate sites?
Have they affected your sales?
Sorry for asking you so many questions π but I wanted to hear your thoughts.
Hi Chris, can you check the coupon for reviewazon ? I tried to use but it says invalid.
He’s discontinued all coupon codes. Check out the plugin I developed instead: easyazon.com
Are you planning on keeping EasyAzon for a while or will you be selling it to someone else, like the coupon code plugin. I’m asking this because I want to be assured that you’ll be supporting it with updates and not relying on a future owner who may or may not update it.
No, I’m not going to sell EasyAzon. I’m updating it mid December to the tune of several thousand dollars for a free update to customers.
Are you still using Reviewazon/phpzon on your website or you use Easyazon ?
Why you use your own plugin instead of other amazon plugin ?
Thank you.
EasyAzon on all my new sites only. The reason why I use it is because I paid thousand of dollars to have it developed into the best tool I could think of based on the way I like to build amazon focused websites. I believe it to be faster / easier to use than all of the other plugins.
I see that on WF forum, you say that you don’t use “no follow” or cloak amazon links. At the moment, do you still just post amazon link without “no follow” tag or cloak link ?
Really like your easyazon, and I consider to buy after finding more info about it.
Don’t currently cloak my Amazon affiliate links nope π or no follow.
I have heard others praise easyazon. You have quite a lot of amazing content here. I underestimated amazon’s affiliate potential greatly.
Beginning of December, I saw some of my websites are losing rankings, most of them are promoting Amazon and using amazon plugin. Do you see any of your website that promoting Amazon also loss rankings ? Just curious.
Nope haven’t seen any drops… it’s most likely unrelated and more likely related to quality of content / links / algorithm changes.
Chris is a rocking teacher. I got Niche Profit Course back to March. I had my first 4-digit Amazon month in Nov. I’m working hard to rank my sites and have another break-through in Dec!
For those who are still considering, this is the blueprint if you wanna get paid check from Amazon.
Hey Kent,
Thanks for sharing your experience that’s awesome.
Chris
Chris –
In regards to Tip #4, do you ever find your sites being penalized for linking back to Amazon too much or too early in a post?
I’ve never seen this happen before. If your site has been penalized it’s more likely based on how you built your links and not how much you’ve linked to a product on Amazon.
[…] My favorite post: 20 Tips I used to Make $90,336.65 With Amazon […]
Thank you so much for your information as well as the inspiration. I just started my Amazon dance so to speak and am working really hard, hoping for success.
[…] Read > 20 Tips I Used To Make $90,336.65 With Amazon […]
I have a website that sells home and garden decor and I’m starting to turn it into an Amazon affiliate site. I already have some good traffic comng to the site but these tips will help me branch out and try different methods. Any advice you could give me on promoting the affiliate site?
[…] 20 Tips I Used To Make $90,336.65 With Amazon […]
Thanks for tip #13. I will create a Product Comparison Grid as soon as possible to offer more value to my visitors and to get them through to amazon easier. Hope the installation of the plugin is easy so i can get started right away.
Btw, yo ushould convert this valuable post into something like an ebook. Not only does the post itself contain all the information needed to profit fromo amazon, but there are also lots of nuggets in the comments. – Thanks for this.
At first I was reluctant to promote Amazon.com due to the poor cookie duration and low commissions. However, since Amazon has a huge inventory, it’s a trusted site, and you also get credit for sales customers make even though you weren’t necessarily promoting that specific product, it tends to make up for the negatives, so I have started promoting Amazon more. Great post btw!
[…] back in early 2009. I shared some tips on what I’ve learned after making $90k+ with Amazon here. The biggest suggestion if you’re looking to make money with Amazon is to use it on websites […]
Hi Chris,
Thanks for your point for point description of what has worked for you. You have certainly given credibility to testing your results. Doing the technical aspect of setting the structured sites and e-mail marketing has been challenging for me. You have clearly described how the more sales you make your percentage goes up and you make more money. Apparently there are tested formulas that work for Amazon sales and getting people to Amazon sounds like a winner.
I’m happy with your information about the Amazon affiliate. I have recently started to try an Amazon affiliate. I hope to able to practice what you described through this site and be successful. Thank you very much.
I just started doing amazon associate affiliate marketing about 5 days ago. I was doing direct sales on my site of 13,000 pages of products.
Just adding the amazon affiliate links with a “buy at amazon button” ended up netting me already $75 bucks a day. $375 so far, last I checked.
So, I see huge potential in this and obviously, affiliate marketing is better than having to do direct sales (as of the work and such involved and the competition online anymore).
At any rate, I am now adding Ebay links as well and looking into even more affiliate programs.
Further, will be adding a massive amount more products over time and hope to make some very serious money from this.
I have been selling online for 12 years, so I am no newbie to just about any type of online selling. I just never got around to the whole affiliate thing, so glad I finally got around to it..
Interesting writing tips Chris. I have recently created a niche blog and selected a “Birthday Gift Ideas” as my topic, never made any sale yet:S
Thanks for this wonderful post. I have been researching different affiliates for a few days now. I will add this one to my list and also sign up for your niche course. Thanks again.
Find your article very inspiring. Have been struggling with online marketing. Your article will help me improve.
Many Thanks for generosity of showing example of your site and earnings.
Wish you more success.
Natvar
[…] never list a product without a clickable image! οΏ½Chris Guthrie writes about using different tracking ideas for different locations on the page, and says approx 15% of his Amazon click outs have been from people clicking on images. […]
Hello Chris,
Greetings from India and a customer of yours (of Amazon Theme sold as private label rights product a few months ago). Thank you very much for this detailed article which really served as a primer on affiliate marketing with Amazon/other physical product merchant sites.
Although I am an “uber-experienced newbie” in the Internet Marketing world, I was an Amazon-phobic, having been only familiar (and seen some success) with ClickBank products, not venturing into anything outside CB. The low commissions and lack of knowledge on how to correctly promote the products and inner workings of their affiliate program was another deterrent in getting started.
Thanks to your article, my anxiety and panic about getting started have vanished to a great extent. Coincidentally, this has come around the time when I had just purchased a PLR to WordPress tutorial which also came with an upsell that contained a course on Amazon promotion among others. I now also plan to purchase your course discussed here to that I can start setting my foot into the physical products affiliate marketing world.
Thanks a lot for those tips. I bought your course but found that the module for finding a niche cannot be easily applied for the following reasons: 1) domain (com, net, org) that match exact keywords are almost taken by someone else; 2) even if you can find an exact match keyword domain, changes are there are other competitors building similar niche review sites, simply adding good quality articles and build links with some social book marking do not seem to work well; 3) can you elaborate in details how to do the SEO for a specific niche using real exams (e.g., if you say social bookmarking, can you tell us how to find those sites or even provide a list of sites; if you use blog comments, can you walk thru the process to find good quality blog that accept comments with “do follow” etc
I would like to have more advice from you.
Hey Chris,
Thanks for an inspiring post as always.
Thinking of starting a site now to try this out. I have one question regarding the Amazon Affiliate program which I think seems really attractive. Not sure if anyone here can answer it, but I have not been able to find the answer googling.
Since I do not live in the U.S., I would have to get paid by check or gift certificate. Obviously only getting paid in gift certificates isn’t that great, so that leaves the check. However, checks are not used here in Sweden at all basically, so cashing one comes with huge fees, I think maybe 30-40USD for a check. So my question is, can you choose to “save up” the money you make at Amazon and only get a check sent when you want to, or is it automatically sent at certain amount? I know Adsense has/had a feature that let you “block” payments until you released them. If Amazon has a feature like that, it’d make the check-fee less of a problem.
I really cannot understand why they don’t ofter direct deposit abroad, or PayPal or something. Gotta be cheaper than writing and mailing a freaking physical check. Weird.
/Moneygreen
Yah you can wait as long as you want before getting the check sent in pretty much π
wow, absolutely you are the amazon affiliate’s guru. I never imagine that i get $90.ooo just like you. Hope someday π
was hoping to collect dollars from amazon.
but I’ve made ??2 blog by using blogger.com
http://deybestseller.blogspot.com/
http://deystore.blogspot.com/
but I am still struggling to promote both my blog and maximize my results in amazon affiliate.
please help!
my email : [email protected]
Hey Dedi,
I think I can help you. I took a quick look at your blog and I noticed right away that it is a little jumbled up and the pic you have of the products are not good one’s. To help you get cleaned up find clear pictures of your products, do a google search and find the manufacturer of the product and use their photos.
Another tip is when your generating codes you want text only. what your looking for is the product number address only – http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E23RSQ/
after the / you want “?tag=YOURTRACKINGID”
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E23RSQ/?tag=deysto-20
this will be your link so you don’t have all that underlined blue crap. Now you can write a product description and link the product with a button in your post.
As far as promoting your site, well that takes a little time and effort. After you construct your site and it looks good create a facebook page, tumblr page, pinterest, and on and on.
You could always go to Bing and do pay per click as well.
First get your site cleaned up so visitors will want to stay and browse.
Good Luck!
Thanks for the details on how you earn that much. I really appreciate you taking your time out to do this. I also watched the Azon videos you did for keyword generator and the other tools
Chris,
I do much of what you suggest here and all my sites dropped off page 1 Google with the latest emd algorithm change. This sucks. What’s your opinion?
UNLOCK the content with a like or a tweet??? Wow, F you, NO THANKS I don’t want the content!
lol it’s ok if you don’t want to simply do me a favor by sharing my content and get access to what I’ve learned over 3 years of trial and error while making tens of thousands of dollars as an Amazon affiliate. That’s certainly not worth at least a tweet.
Great trick on locking the content to be unlocked with a Like. Your content so far has sbeen well worth a simple Like. I don’t think I am headed to being an Amazon Associate but it appears most of your experience will transfer to other plans.
Rick
Thanks for all the great info. I have had some moderate success with amazon before, but nothing of that magnitude. The best selling lists have works for me, as well as creating a ‘recommended’ list or ‘library’ full of interesting products, although I have always found its better to actually be interesting in the recommendations rather than just plugging anything.
Your Azon Theme link is no longer working. Great thread though!
why its all blanked out? panda penguin? whats the strategy now? exactly please. and why does this pop up say i have disabled javascript everytime? comment luv is causing this?
this was simply outstanding article,thank you so much for opening my eyes to the world of amazon affiliate prog, i would surely like to use it the way you say on my beauty blog. But im a bit confused with one thing- contextual linking. how can we do this, i mean for example if i write an article on “Revlon Lipstick” then should i simply highlight this term and ‘link’ it with amazon where this speciifc type is being sold? or do i have to go to amazon first, then from their side stripe copy “add widget” or “link this page” please reply, im a new blogger and have less knoweldge on this.
[…] So for example I sold one of my websites in a six figure deal so I wrote about that. I wrote 20 tips I learned while making over $90,000 in commissions from Amazon and more recently I showed an example website I bought for $4,000 that I was able to pay off in […]
G’day Chris: Thanks for the very informative post.
I’m working on my first Amazon review site, and found your tips very informative.
One thing I have not been too clear on, is the use of widgets and other “gizmos”, so I have stuck to using only text links. It seemed, to me, more Google friendly.
I am going to take your advice regarding the Amazon “buy now” buttons and give them a try.
Maybe I should make more use of the marketing devices that are available for associates at Amazon.com.
Anyone using the “WP Table Reloaded” plugin? It’s been replaced with the WordPress “TablePress” plugin.
This article was incredible. I just started the Amazon affiliate program, but didn’t know some of the information you laid out. I feel incredibly lucky to have found your post. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge.
[…] http://www.makemoneyontheinternet.com/make-money-with-amazon/ […]
Thanks Chris,
I started hearing you on Pat Flynn’s Podcast, you seem like a really chill guy, I heard you on podcast 10, thank you for the information, then I heard you again with him on another Podcast. Thank you for giving us all this great information you’ve learned. I appreciate it.
Chris b
Hey Chris,
Thanks for stopping by to comment and I wish you the best with your websites as well.
Chris
If some registers on amazon through my link, and further if he makes any purchase from registered email-id (that was registered via my link),
then does amazon provides any commission on that any purchase by that registered ID.
Nope only get credit if they click your link and buy within 24 hours after clicking.
Tweeted like you requested for access to 20 Tips but nothing happened and the tips are still blurred out.
You got my details and I got nothing. Thanks
Ermmm odd what browser are you using?
This is simply awesome. A very detailed and extensive article. I am loving your site. I love amazon affiliate platform because people love to but from them. Promoting amazon product is very straight forward. Keep doing your great work.
Hi Chris,
Enjoying all this great content and am really impressed with your Amazon Affiliate earnings! Just wondering, tho, if the information in your Niche Profit Course is still relevant today given that it was written a couple of years ago. I’m very interested but it seems even one year can seem like “old news” with Internet Marketing!
Thanks so much!
Linda
[…] If you do it manually youοΏ½ll need to use this WordPress plugin called TablepressοΏ½and what I do is include various columns for information about the product and in the final column I use a buy now button that people can click to see more info about the product.οΏ½(Source: Entrepreneur Boost) […]
Hello chris
i have a doubt that does amazon provides earnings for clicks or it adds on my earnings only when someone clicks and purchase that product….
If someone clicks your link and then buys within 24 hours. You get a commission (provided you’re sticking to the rules Amazon has).
It really is pretty straight forward π
Hello Chris
Thanks for the great article… Keeping this open to read it again tomorrow…
And the fact that you got $400 from a sale from a watch is one of those Awesome moments π
Thanks Again!
Justin
This is wonderful in fact… But what baffles me most is that whenever people writes how they use to earn on Amazon promoting products, they never reveal the specific products that convert best, why?
Excellent numbers! Keep up the good work π I have a quick question for you, what’s your take on Prosociate? Associate Goliath? etc. I installed Prosociate on one of my sites and imported a ton of products from Amazon. Next, I noticed I’m getting a ton of clicks, but zero conversions. Any thoughts?
EasyAzon.com
Thank you so much for a clear and concise breakdown of the Amazon Associate program. I’ve been ready (finally) to make the jump and have been working out my monetization strategies. This tutorial has not only helped me better understand how the program works, but has also given me some other – much simpler – ideas for other niche sites that I can get up and going very quickly! I appreciate your hard work and the effort you put into this. I look forward to reading more from you.
Do you think amazon affiliate program is a good pick?
LOVED this – thank you Chris. So glad I found it just as I was about to add a store to my blog. I think it would be a better idea to just start linking to Amazon in every recipe and post! (Right?) BTW – I’ve already shared this post on G+ and LinkedIn and sent it to a bunch of friends. I always wish peeps would TELL me when they share my stuff, so here I am telling you. π
Hey Chris,
Just wondering when you make a niche site do you focus on one product and brand or do you make multiple pages of multiple brands of the same product?
Both.
e.g. comparison page with a bunch of other things
[…] someone clicks on the ad on your site and then buys the product featured in the advertisement. Chris Guthrie of Entrepreneur Boost reports he made $90,336.65 from Amazon Associates. Darren Rowse made […]
Great tips and I totally agree with you on the fact that we shouldn’t use amazon banners or create a a-sotre. I have wasted a lot of time on these two.
Thanks for the information. I’ve just started looking into becoming a seller so this was very helpful!
Thank you for such an informative article; the term “I never knew” comes to mind when you bring up simple-yet-practical things that bloggers can do to more effectively monetize their sites.
Am DEFINITELY bookmarking this for future reference! π
Thanks a lot π
The first thing that attracted me towards this article was the figures you mentioned in your title.
I was wondering why the sales are not that much up to my expectations, here I found my answer. Thankfully I got this article before regretting that why I wasted that much time in using those methods to increase the sales.
The best tip I found is – ” Making sales by inserting links in the content text”.
Thanks again π
Hi Chris,
Thanks for posting these great tips. I am pondering getting into affiliate marketing. I survived a major stage 4 metastatic cancer but my finances, savings, career and credit were the sacrificial lambs on the alter of survival. I say pondering because I hear of so many starting out with ten tons of optimism and drive, only to end up bankrupt and on a long term Zoloft prescription. Are there simply too many online marketers out there or is it still possible to start from scratch and ramp up a descent business that stands out of the hay stacks? By descent, I mean enough to make a full time living, not worrying about food & shelter. How much time from zero to $4,000.00 per month (salary and/or net… spendable personal funds)
Sorry to hear about the cancer and hit to your savings. Yes you can make money online still (have been able to since the inception of the internet and that won’t be going away anytime soon).
Ultimately you have to decide what niche it is you plan to go after though and how you will differentiate etc. You still need to take a few more steps towards this.
Amazon affiliate didn’t prove to be a right choice for me as I own websites which won’t attract a lot of buyers.
Are still working these methods?
Yes
Ok, thank you ! I will buy your book !
I am doing affiliate marketing with amazon. But I earn very little money. Your article has given me a different perspective to increase profits from amazon. Thanks for sharing
This is great info, now I just need to find products that will slip into my site easy. Really don’t want to over do it.
Interesting, tho I’m just getting ready to start doing something like this. Question: how come the most recent comment here (aside from this one) is 3 years old? Is the info still relevant?
It’s a bug in the theme.
I would like to know more about email referral programme by amazon..!
1.Build An Email List
2.Sell More Products To Make Incrementally More Money
Great stuff Chris! I just got started with my first site on Amazon and will use your info to move forward.
Thanks for the great content.
John
This is amazing Chris. I’ve my website up and running for last 3 years but did not get enough motivation signing up for amazon affiliate. I’ll definitely try that out now. Thanks for explaining with great details!
To much external link to amazon is not Good for your website rank Google. Even next time You Will be get “sandbox”or banned by Google
So how we can stay longer on Google serp With alot of outgoing link to amazon?
Hey Syamsu ,
Thought I would answer your question for you. Get a nofollow plug-in “Outbound Links” this will hide your links from Google and then you won’t get banned.
Subscribed to your email list. I like this article. But $90K earnings is huge man. Please share how you do it..
OMG Chris , this article gives me a boost. I’ve been wanting to get into affiliate marketing since a long time now but never got the confidence. However, after I’ve read your article and done the 10 days course I feel confident to begin.
Unfortunately I am unable to understand what niche I should select. I have hobbies like swimming and badminton but the competition is too much. I am also interested in toys as a product but I am very confused if it will work for me or not. I was wondering if you could help me select a niche from the above 3 choices so that I get a push and can begin to make a website to earn money online.
Thanks again for the information provided.
Hi Chris. I still have a hard time visualizing making this kind of money selling amazon products, because the payouts are so low. You need to move a tremendous amount of merchandise in order to make decent money. The FBA makes more sense, because the commissions can be so much more.
Hey Chris, ok I have an affiliate site with 2000 products. Is their a plugin or something to let me know if a product is no longer available. Or is their a plugin that checks links everyday automatically to let me know if their is a problem. Nothing worse than clicking a link to find out the page is no longer available. I’m not about to click all my links to check either.
Not that I’m aware of.
Is the end of 2014 and your article just gave me great amount of value. I’m starting with Amazon Affiliate program, thanks for the info man.
Hey Chris,
1 question I have although it may be obvious. Promoting Amazon products as an affiliate – ok I get that part. What if the product is sold on Amazon but not fulfilled by Amazon? Would the affiliate still earn a commission?
You earn a commission on anything sold unless the affiliate service says it’s not covered.
Hi, i am trying to start a cooperative amazon site for members of WPPN (the Wholistic Peace and Prosperity Network) but haven’t got a clue! I am good at what I do, but there is no one more ignorant than an expert outside his field of expertise!
Can anyone help me? This first website is the beginning of a fairer system of life for all members. We look after work, income and home. Any help from anyone any where is much appreciated as we set up a divine civilisation within this crooked world! scammers need not bother as the cost to you is far too high!
Just looking for simple, honest people like myself who have skills in other areas from me. Help to build the world anew, starting with yourself and members of WPPN.
kindest regards,
reverend J’iam
This looks like a totally legit source of income.
Smell you later, Clickbank! >:D
Chris great article written !! My Amazon Affiliate Website is under development. I used Amazon.com to get affiliation id. Now, I want if visitor comes on my website anyhow for Example India then he/she must be notified to redirect to Amazon.in and if the product selling takes place I got commission. Is that possible ? If yes then how ?
Use EasyAzon.com – our premium plugin can help with this link localization.
Hi,
A great post with very helpful tips.
I would like to integrate amazon into facebook business page. Any suggestions?
Regards
is this still a practical model? i have been reading a lot about it in both pro’s and con’s, and i’m curious your thoughts.
Excellent article Chris! This will help me out a lot. I am a new author through amazon and my book is also being sold through KDP Select (The kindle option worldwide) but regardless of my advertising on my Facebook page, which cost money, I do not seem to be getting anywhere. With Amazon Associates, is it totally free and no cost to you or do you pay a fee over a certain amount of time. Also if you have any tips on how to get a book out there that would be excellent. My book is being sold at Books a Million, Barnes and Noble, and Alibris. I plan on doing a book signing at Barnes and Noble in hopes it will raise awareness of my book.
Amazon link:(http://www.amazon.com/Masked-Figure-L-B-Moore/dp/1502841746/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422447640&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Masked+Figure)
Hi Chris,
Do these methods still work coming out of 2014 and into 2015? Still a great article with good info.
Thanks!
Yes π
I typically earn about $200-$300 per month. But, in November and December 2014, I earned $15 and $45. January was a record month for me and I earned almost $400.
I received an email from Amazon stating that they would not longer give commissions on books which also sold on other websites. I suspect this was a response to their losing a suit involving them trying to control the ebook price market. It would force authors to remove their titles from other sites.
But, I received no retraction, and I received commissions in January.
1. Did others feel the crunch in November and December?
2. What guarantee do we have that we writers will not build something great on Amazon… and have Amazon pull the commission rates right out from under us?
[…] a great idea to feature and sell small items, such as tertiary products and accessories, in volume. A bunch of little purchases increase your commission percentage, which then makes you more money on the big-ticket […]
Do I need to signup separately with amazon us, uk and other for link localization.
Is all this still relevant after 3 years or do you have an updated blog post about this?
Still relevant
Hi
I have a really goid weebly website I made for my business. Does weebly work for amazkn affiliate? Im currently with amazon affiliate but the website I have is HORRIBLE.I want to change to weebly.does weebly cut it with the links and widgets etc? If not, what is a good domain to swap to?
Great information on Amazon affiliate program, but are these posts really 3 years old? Actual age of post would be very helpful. Thanks again
Hey Chris Guthrie
Your article is so impressive ever I’ve found.But give me a suggestion as a newer,number 5 points of your topic – you’ve said “Products review”.I’m little bit confuse of this.
Suppose I chose one products and article will be review or deatils of this products and then review will be at the end of the article or not.Please give me the solution
Thanks for your nice article
Hello, I was reading your blog and I am interested in the topic. I commented that I am somewhat familiar with the subject of the sale, but it was evaluating the possibility to enrol in the course for $10, it is not expensive. But before I know if it is possible that within the course you show me where to buy the products that you sell. I say this, since you post that you are selling more than 3000 products, but I would like to know where to buy best precious for sale on amazon.
Let me know this information when you have time. I hope to have a nice day, greetings.
I started using Amazon Affiliate Program. But i am using amazon.in, which means only people from India can buy through my reference link. So what if my visitors from other countries click on that link? They purchase the product, on getting redirected to amazon.com or amazon.co.uk. Is there any way by which I get benefit from users worldwide? Please help. I am too new to this.
Very informative. I left a comment because I know what it is like to spend hours or even days writing a great blog to not even have someone leave a simple comment one way or the other. I started making only something like $3.00 a month with Amazon affiliate when I first started, what a joke! I was about to quit when I read your article and like one other and found out there was real money to be made. Now I am making a million dollars a year…just kidding, I couldn’t even type that sentence with a straight face. Seriously though I have boosted my earnings to a high of around $96 to an average of like $45 a month with still isn’t much, but much better than my adsense earnings. Well good day and thanks for the insights.
Hi Chris I was wondering about how much time per day do you spend working your sites? I have a full time job now but am looking to supplement my income on the side for a while until I can do it full time.
It varies, I have (or am a partner in) 4 total businesses. So my time is pretty split up.
Great tips, I’m going to utilize them & join your newsletter, thanks.
Would you say those tips are still valid in 2015? I’m kinda worried that google might dosen’t like that you are linking 10 times to amazon in one article and might sees your website as spam.
Depends on the length of the article.
I started using Amazon Affiliate Program.
Thanks for your nice article
This is really good post. It really help me cuz I’m doing with amazon affiliate too. π Thanks
the idea to make image click able is awesome. Until now, i never try this idea. Nice sharing CHRIS
Hi,
Great article. Do you have any links to your websites so I can get an idea on how you set up your pages etc?
Thanks
Jon
I don’t share public examples too often now as they get instantly copied and crushed heh.
must one have a website to run an astore?
You need a website to apply to Amazon
Chris Guthrie : This post is still very much relevant, Love it and enjoy reading every part of this article.
Am just starting a niches site for amazon.
This post is eye opener to me ..
Thanks for sharing this information
Chris is right….i have seen this article 8 moths ago, after searching the net for how to start a online business without investing to much money. Since then i have made an amazon site and are making some money already. Make sure you find a SEO expert when doing this if you are not one, if you dont know SEO you will end up with a site with no visitors. Thank you Chris for your time and info.
cool stuff. I did create my id but I’m still pretty unsure on how to proceed. The funny thing is I ended up buying a book from Amazon as well!
Hey,
I read this post a while ago and I had to reference it in my blog. I just started out as an affiliate marketer and I’m still learning a lot. I find myself stumbling across your site a lot and getting inspiration.
It’s sites like yours and blogs like these that keep me motivated and going. I hope you don’t mind that I link you occasionally on my blog.
Hopefully one day I’ll be as successful as you π
Thanks for sharing this with us,
Esteban
Hi I’ve tried to make money on Amazon. Had a great looking website but had no hits or anything in two months and when I called them to see why I’m not getting any hits they said to me do you have a domain name and I said no you guys never told me I needed one. So I closed my site and never tried again. I’m thinking of trying again maybe I might do it this time
I net $100/day working for a corporation 40 hrs/week. I live paycheck to paycheck and would like to add to my income. I often see people claim that they make tons (to me anyway) of money on Amazon/Ebay. I will put your system to the test. I have at least 40 hrs/week that I can dedicate to this process (I’m 55 and need my rest). Thank you, however for posting such a detailed system.
Hi Chris,
You’ve got my curiosity piqued on EasyAzon. I saw the instructional video where you get to send people through the localised links, but provided you fill in the associate or tracking number for every country, example XX1 for Canada, XX2 for UK, so on and so forth. Does that mean, I’ll need to register myself manually for all the Amazon affiliate programmes across different countries, or can I generate these numbers all on EasyAzon?
Cheers,
Ying
You have to register for each site
Hello, i am so much impressed and encouraged with your write-up. I am interested to begin.
Hi,
I’m beginning to learn the concept of amazon. Can someone please help with step by step process to start with…
Appreciate any help on this
Thank you
Great post! I’m an Amazon affiliate and is constantly looking for new and better ways to increase sales. I especially liked the idea of a monthly bestseller post which I had not thought of before.
Wow. Amazing numbers. By the way, do you have any tips for affiliate sites besides Amazon?
I seen the returns taken out. Are these charges coming directly from your pocket. Also does Amazon pay a percentage on each item? How does Amazon pay and how often? I would like to try something like this but have heard so many horror stories I been reluctant to try them
Amazon pays every 2 weeks and deposits into my business bank account. There are horror stories with any business model. Entrepreneurship isn’t for the faint of heart π
Gosh I was building a site in my niche, and they ditched me twice from the program, now they say they will never welcome me on board ever again, just as fickle as the google adense program. I mean nothing is really for free as they state it is free, there are just too many hard working websites that have been ditched permanently.
I do agree though make sure you have got ypour niche set in concrete first, and that you have all your products, pictures, videos and ebooks complete before signing up.
Hello Chris,
I follow the blog from Italy, so excuse me if I will write a correct English.
I wanted to ask you a question. I’m starting to create my first product review sites to work with the amazon affiliate program.
I was wondering… since the money is in the list, how do Ior better, what could I urge users to subscribe to my newsletter on a site, for example, It makes reviews squeezer?
I think that a user search squeezer reviews, he does it because he has an immediate need to buy.
So, why should subscribe to my newsletter? for having what in return?
and if it did, how to distinguish between those who purchased from those who do not?
which I could send content to entice the purchase?
I hope you understand the meaning of my message!
Good job
Andrea
Hi, I’m new in amazon affiliate and would like to ask a few questions..
1. I read somewhere that it is against amazon’s TOS to use Associate links in, emails, newsletters, RSS feeds or anything else thatοΏ½s offline as it will get you banned.
Then I read here and in other blogs that it’s okay to “Link To Products Inside Your Content” as it converts better
“Example: Check out this COOL HELICOPTER (insert product link) . IοΏ½ve been covering these RC helicopters for months”
Question is..when I do a blog post and a subscriber receives that via newsletter, the COOL HELICOPTER product link is also live in the email. So, is this against amazon’s TOS?
2. The TEXT ONLY option in product links contain a “nofollow” tag. But I cannot find that in IMAGE AND TEXT option. How do I put a “nofollow” tag in that?
I hope you could help me on this please. Thanks very much
Personally I don’t believe you made that much in two years or three years. B**sh_T
Ok
I am reading this in 2016 and still found quite fresh. Quite nice guide to make $$$$ per month.Thanks for such nice guide. Looking forward for your course.
love it
Thanks
Far and away the best set of tips, with a nice easy-on-the-brain insertion of your sales text (I can’t really say “pitch” it was so well done).
I haven’t read the details about your course yet. That’s my next step (so a success for you!) – but I’ve done enough Internet work in the past (too far past to be up on skills) to know if I did everything you say, I’d also be successful.
Well done on all counts.
Chris,
Ive been following you for MANY years.
I’m a hardcore PHP coder & SEO consultant by profession
and I’ve promoted so much cr*p online its unreal.
Ive dabbled with Amazons API a few times and even now struggle to get to grips with it as I was debating an alternative to AOM or FSB.
Soon decided against that !
However I’m about to create my first ever amazon powered site in over 14 years , purely on the back of this post.
I know people who earn over $75k per month with amazon so i know the money is there
I want my slice π
I will actually post back with a report
Site hasnt even been built yet so give it a few months and will let everyone know how it gets on.
It will be a niche site promoting mainly socially
As I figure Twitter generates BILLIONS of clickthroughs every day
Like you said Chris, even if the person doesnt buy initially they may eventually, so I figure Twitter could be a cookie setting goldmine π
Will post again in a few months
How did it go?
Chris,
I first heard your name on pat flynns podcast and thought your work is excellent. More particularly your Amazon sales, those are some impressive numbers and conversions.
I’ve since built an Amazon affiliate niche site without too much difficulty, however the problem i have is driving traffic and ranking my site. So far the only way i’ve managed to do so is through google adwords and the cost is more than the profit….Do you have any tips on how to get more organic traffic to my site?
Thank you
You need to build quality links but taking a step back the main thing is you’ve gotta try to build a truly better website.
[…] in big cities. Of course, people don't make money with amazon affiliate or affiliate marketing: https://upfuel.com/make-money-with-amazon/ http://problogschool.com/amazon-associates/ http://www.johnchow.com/about/ I agree that building […]
I have started up a website as a reviewer for a specific educational materials publisher. This article has been helpful to me. I am totally new to all of this. Is it best to have only photos of the product (I have YouTube reviews on one side and right now affiliate links with pics on the other) and not obvious affiliate links?
Also if you have an accompanying blog do you do text affiliate links and then also just plain photos with links pointing to Amazon or is it better to have the imbedded iframe style links?
My biggest frustration is how to drive my target to my site and links. I have to do YouTube videos as part of what I told the publisher I would do. I have cards in my YouTube videos to try to steer the traffic to my site where they can look at the offerings in a very organized fashion (which really is one of two places on the web that provide this for this publisher). I just want to work smarter instead of harder. I have had so many people thank me for the videos but it is not converting through the affiliate links. I can’t stop the YouTube videos because it is part of the agreement. Also posting the reviews on Amazon.com in the product reviews. I don’t think I can add a link to my site in product reviews.
Further the publisher recommended a site builder and it won’t render on mobile on any of the site pages…only the blog page. They say they are working to resolve it.
Super cool, thanks for all the tips. I’ll start by building a list like you say!
Perfect thank you π I’m really hoping to make the little bit of money I need from my blog and really think affiliate marketing is key. I have started but early days and low earnings so need the advice thanks for sharing π
Question for you. I just signed up for the Amazon affiliate program and was wondering if people know that you are sharing an affiliate link vs a non-affiliate link when they click on your link.
You should put that you’re a participant of Amazon’s affiliate program somewhere on your website. But do people know when they’re clicking a link if it’s an affiliate link or not? Depends on if they look at the entire URL string or if you tell them. Frankly I think as long as you’re providing value for the reader and as long as you put the Amazon disclosure in your blog post then that is good.
Thank you so much for this wonderful article. The tips are great. I believe this is my 3rd time reading it…and I’m sure I’ll be back here again.
I recently joined Amazon Affiliates on my site. I joined last week of December (my site has been around since 2011). I was pleasantly surprised to earn $100 my first full month (in Jan), and the last 2 months have been $120-$130. Hoping to get this higher.
My site is not really set up to be an amazon affiliate (as it’s more of an advice blog). It does get me a lot of business, though (my site accounts for about 1/3 of my business).
I’m now looking to set up a niche site in the next month or so to better leverage the program and your advice. And, of course collectively, this should help on the commission rate. I’ve been at 6.5% and hoping this month I may hit 7%. But, the key issue is that the avg sale is low (no surprise given what I’m promoting) so hopefully, this new site will help with this and diversify my efforts.
Thanks for the advice and inspiration. Hoping to start using EasyAzon by the end of the month.
If that is successful, I will try to replicate on a 3rd site.
Awesome Debbie thanks for sharing π
Hi Chris, I am at step 2 of your course: Keyword Planner: Search for new keywords. Based on your recommendation to use Google Adword Keyword Planner, I created an Adword Account, logged on, but I did not see:
Instructions
Click Search for new keyword and ad group ideas
Enter one or more of the following in the boxes that appear:
Words or phrases that describe what you’re advertising.
The URL of a page on your website or your entire website.
A category relevant to your product or service.
That option to search for new keyword and ad group ideas does not exist. It is telling me to:
1. Decide how much to spend
2. Choose a target audience
3. Set your bid
4. Write your ad
What should be my next step using Google Adword Keyword Planner?
Thanks.
I’ll be updating that course soon along with new information but depends on your goals for the website you want to build.
This was a huge help. My astore tracking id was cancelled due to no sales for 180 days. You are right. astores don’t convert. Can you tell me how to get rid of my store? I want to do product reviews as you suggested.
I don’t think there is a way to get rid of the store, rather you just don’t need to use it anymore π
Thank you so much for this helpful information! I’m working on a blog that will be read by people in various countries. Will the links and credit work if someone, say, gets sent to the Amazon Japan store, but then transfers to the UK store and buys something there? Or would I have to guess which country stores the readers would use first, and have several links in my blog to all the various Amazon stores? How might I set this up most effectively?
We send the traffic to the place that it should go. If the visitor is from Japan they will go to Amazon.co.jp etc.
Hi Chris
Only recently started visiting your site but loving the content you put out there. One question I wondered is:
Amazon specifically states about cloaking links as a no-no etc. If I use Easy Azon which you link to in this post, does that not cloak your links, and thus violating Amazon’s terms?
Tried to search on this but cannot get a definite answer, but thought you would know for sure seeing as you use it yourself π
Thanks again,
Martin
It’s not true cloaking. Amazon can still see the referring information. It’s more like a pretty redirect.
What we may do is just remove that feature simply because of the confusion we tend to get.
Hey chris,
What tips would you give a person who is starting from scratch, and how much would you say came out of your own pocket when you first started?
Honestly you just need to narrow down to a niche that you want to focus on and then move forward with something. I spent less than a few hundred bucks when I first got started. Now years and years later, I’ll spend tens of thousands of dollars starting or buying something if I want to. But that’s the fun part is that unless you have a big inheritance everyone starts from zero and then tries to grow from there.
Chris is there anyway I can get the information of who bought each of the products I got the commsion from?
Thank you
Amazon shares what products are purchased from your affiliate links from within your Amazon Associates stats.
i start amazon affiliate 3 days back and get 302 clicks on amazon links but not a single conversion, i am asking it very soon, but what % is good of buyers like 100 clicks and how much buy is good ? 2-5-10% ??
Really tough to say because the quality of your traffic matters. If you had a product review website the conversion should be higher. If it’s a general website and you just happen to have some Amazon links thrown up – well that’s going to get lower conversions.
I use WordPress for domain hosting. I have an affiliate number but I cannot get links to embed. I gave up. You say you just link to a product. Is that using your affiliate link, I assume?
Thanks!
Yes I just use EasyAzon.com for all of my affiliate link creation.
Hi my name is Stephen Pastore. I am a 22 year old aspiring entrepreneur. Im gunna try and be as brief as possible. So basically I just want to know what kind of money I can expect to make from an import/export business? I know this a very vague and general question that doesnt really have an answer but lets assume im an extremely hard worker thats gunna work 24/7 and things work out really well and lets assume that ill spend atleast 5-7 years on this business but more likely 8-10. Could i ever expect to make 5-10 million in a lump sum for myself after tax (not company revenue)? The other question is if the answer to that question is no, would you say that since i have very little contacts/ideas/experience and just dont know where to start, is it a good idea to consider an amazon import business as a good way to gain that valuable experience/contacts and ideas im looking for that will EVENTUALLY LEAD me to a big opportunity where I would be able to build a very big business like for example something that produces around 50 million in sales or gets acquired for 50 million etc? like basically would an amazon import business be a great teaching tool/gateway or a springboard to move on and graduate onto a much bigger opportunity? I understand i sound just like and ignorant naive money hungry kid that doesnt know his ass from his elbow but if you could help me out with these concerns id appreciate it greatly and I understand completely this is hard question to answer but anything helps. Thank you.
This is just a really challenging question to answer.
Could you make a business, spend years on it and make millions? Yes. Of course.
Is it damn hard? Yes. Of course.
Hi Chris, thanks for this useful piece. Can you shed some light on how to promote Amazon products on a Facebook fanpage? Thanks
Get a lot of fans > send those fans to Amazon. That’s the core, but unless you have a lot of fans already I don’t think this strategy is worth using because of the reduced reach of Facebook pages.
Hey Chris – great post. Just a question – We have got about 80 stores affiliated to Amazon Associates. As I understand from your article, it appears that the blog site is a foundation for making a successful Amazon Income. In this regard, we don’t have a blog site but we just have those stores (websites) which have a show case of products. What do you think the strategy would be to drive sales? Of course, we have got Social Media Marketing currently in place.
It can work to do stores as opposed to blogs I just don’t have as much experience doing it that way. I typically do the review approach where I do more product review related content.
Hello Chris, So do you create a blog and do you personally have to buy each item you review. Or do you just create a review that Amazon gives you or is there video that you can use to create some kinda of video? Do you go on and talk about this or not show your face and just do a show your screen and talk about the product. And if you have to buy each product does amazon give you a discount since you are going to be a seller? This is my first time and I’m a total newbie. What do you recommend for created a blog site and etc to host etc to spend the least amount and get running. I have hardly any capital. Thank you for any help and guidance.
You don’t have to buy but one of my best websites I just contacted manufacturers and they sent me free demo units which I then sent back after I did my reviews.
That can work really well.
If I want to earn from Amazon affiliate program and promote different types of products, not likely I am able to create a lot of websites with different niches to promote different types of products.
If I were to opt for those product review sites to review the products, will I be able to include the Amazon product links in the reviews? Or is there any other ways I can promote any types of products where I don’t have to create the niche site? Please advise.
You can include links in any content you want to when you’re an Amazon affiliate. I’ve simply found that it’s easier to build sites within a specific niche though.
Chris, I am glad you have had good fortune with amazon, I think I have chosen the wrong niche, it appears to be very competitive, I have had my site for 4 mo, and have made zero, however, it may not be all bad, I still work on content, and I do get indexing, however, I am at a loss on how to find keywords on ranking content; If I could find this out, then I could do some seo on any LSI keywords. I do agree about having a nice looking website, I paid far much less then you did, and I think I turned out with a site that looks very nice; If visitors do not think you are legit, or if you content looks like trash, then the will bounce before you can blink. I think once I can find those magic LSI keywords and rank them, then I think things will turn around, as I have also invested quite a bit up until this point.
In making $90k/yr or more, do you have promotional costs? Or do you simply rely on creating high quality content?
Hey how do you handle shipping so many products you sell? And is it a big hastle?
David K
I use a freight forwarder for handling shipping for physical products, but this blog post is more about Amazon affiliate marketing (which is different)
I signed up for Amazon affiliate but I have yet to see my first sale. Thanks for these tips.
Great π
Chris I have a Facebook page that has over 3,000 visitors/members. I was thinking of some type of residual income and wondering if you think it would work for a Facebook page simply just adding links to Amazon and my maybe even products that could possibly pertain to some of the discussions of the page.
Would be tough without knowing the page but even then having a page and posting links I don’t think will really drive much traffic. FB organic reach on pages is pretty low (compared to groups).
The Amazon affiliate program is like a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. If you can figure out where the rainbow ends you may do well. I’m still trying to figure out how the rainbow is made. Thanks for your tips. They are helping.
Hi Chris,
Am all new here. I read a client testimony and decided to sign up and created my web page. Am yet to decide on what item should be marketed.
Amazon Associate called me to enlighten me on the online business. And i got his point clear except for their courses i have to be trained on and then he mentioned three packages:
1. $ 500 plus
2. $ 700 plus
3. $ 1955
be being a pig i when for the third package and coming to think of it its expensive but i wanted the best quality.
Am not financial stable to take that now but its on my future to do savings.
I havent heard any on mention a training fee here. please is there anything like that or they are just scammers. The associate suggest i use my credit card to pay the training also.
Please i need to know if they are legit.
Thank you for being helpful for years. Keep it up
Amazon called you to offer you training to help build a website for you? Uhhh never heard of that… Or am I reading this incorrectly?
HI
whats with the dates on each comment made?
is it the computer im sitting on or is it not strange that a comment and a reply are 5 years apart??
I think it’s an error in the theme, I need to get it fixed.
Have checked into the amazon affiliate program. Need help with websites
I have amazon affiliation link and have shared the product on my blog as well. Altough I am getting traffics and and lets say average of 20 click each day on amazon affilate product link, no body seems to buy any product :(.
I want to know does click help us to get the money from amazon?
Hi Chris,
Nice post. Some of your posts go into insane levels of details, and this one was no exception. Kudos!
Are you still using the associates program?
Oh, I signed up for the easyAzon affiliate program, by the way. Did it weeks ago. Still waiting for a response. π Do you have a huge backlog of applications?
Yes still using the Associates program π and re: affiliate contact our support team and we’ll take care of that.
Wonderful post. Thanks for sharing the insights. Would you mind throwing some light on not your product itself but the competition your product had prior to you entering. For example οΏ½ I sell essential oil in the geated beauty category and since the competition is so fierce, IοΏ½m struggling to make organic sales. Indeed, sales and reviews seem to be the mantra for AMZ algo. IοΏ½m currently trending at 31 reviews and should hit the 50 review mark in 2 weeks hopefully. IοΏ½m truly hoping things start to change then.
Using the third tip helped my conversions improve tenfold. Thanks Mr. Guthrie!
π
I tried the Astore and you are right, it was horrible. How do you create a place people can buy products without an Astore?
When you used the easyazon plugin for your WordPress site, did you use it to transfer information about the product for your post ? or just the images and links?
No transfer of information. Pre built content doesn’t work well. Create your own unique content then use EasyAzon to put your links in there.
Easyazon is an amazing tool for Amazon affiliate marketing. I recommend it to all the newbie in this field. You can’t go wrong with easyazon when it comes to Amazon affiliate.
Thanks π
Hi Chris, i am from Indonesia and my country not listed as Amazon affiliate program. Should i have to sign up on Amazon Affiliate program? Or can i just use eazyazon plugin. Do i still be an affiliate amazon program if my country doesn’t on list. Are my website can using as regional promote when amazon affiliate available.
Sorry if my english not well because english not my native.
You would sign up for the country where you want to generate earnings from e.g. if you want the UK you’d sign up for Amazon Associates UK.
Hey chris.
Great article!
how much of % we can get through affiliate? Let say product worth 500$ and if I sent one buyer from my website to amazon website.
can you help?
Hello Chris,
This is so helpful! I want to become an amazon associate and i am based in both Greece and UK. Could my site promote products for amazon.com? Am i free to make this choice? Is it affected by the billing address of my card? Should/Could i change my IP address to a USA one in order to improve my SEO?
Thank you
Use the EasyAzon plugin and you can monetize your traffic from other countries as well. You will need to sign up for a US Amazon Associates account though.
Hey Chris,
Great read I’ve just started building out an amazon affiliate site and it’s starting to make me a couple bucks a day :). On a side note I was trying to view Azon Theme and the link you have in your blog post seems to be a dead link. Do you have another link to the azon theme it’s differently something I want to check out.
Hey Aaron, the theme is included with Niche Profit Course but that’s all right now. Just updated the link thanks for letting me know to fix.
Hi Chris,
Does Amazon report the commissions you make to the IRS? Are these commissions regarded as income?
Grace
Any money you make from anything online you should report to the IRS. I believe anything over $600 and they send out tax documents to you and to the IRS. Don’t mess around. Report any and all income you make.
Hi,
Last time when I joined the Amazon Affiliate, my account was terminated because I didnοΏ½t had a single sale in 150 days. ThatοΏ½s the policy but I have one question, suppose we made a sale in 150 days , will this policy continue for the next 150 days or our account will active lifetime?
Thanks,
Amit
I’m not the best authority on Amazon policies – I’d suggest just reaching out to Amazon. I assume it’s just an ongoing 150 days but with any decent level of traffic you should be fine.
Chris, this is by far the most comprehensive article I’ve read on this topic. Thanks so much for the great content!
Thanks
Hi Chris
Today I just started buying azon authority premium lincense but I m confused , is the Amazon affiliate program reliable to make money at least 3k in a month if I spend every day 3-4 hours? I saw you guys have more previous experience, so would tell me I will spent money for you.
Thanks
Hey Maat, I always steer clear of questions like “If I work X long will I make $X?” because the answer is always – it depends.
It depends on if you’ve picked a good niche (demand but not too much competition).
It depends on the quality of the content you create
It depends on the promotion you put into the content
It depends on the work that you put in etc
I don’t have a clear answer for you I’m sorry. Ultimately the only people that I’ve seen succeed with websites etc are those willing to put in some hard “in it for the long haul” work though.
Great article! I have downloaded the EasyAzon Core and purchased EasyAzon Pro a couple days after π I am happy with the program thus far.
Glad you like it π
I am a beginner interested in becoming an affiliate, and your information is very enlightening, but can you advise or send me to someone who can educate me on how to get started?
Hey Hugh, what did you have in mind? The blog post primarily serves to educate are you looking for something more in depth e.g. course / mastermind? I have thought of doing one.
Thanks Chris;
I’m just getting started on the ‘net, and will follow your guidelines as an Amazon affiliate.
Hey Chris,
I just came across this article as I am interested in selling on Amazon. I noticed that the comments were from back in 2o11. Is this article still relevant for 2017?
Yes. I’ve been updating it continuously.
Just finished reading your great post and installed EasyAzon. The problem I ran into was that I cannot use multiple tacking id’s with EasyAzon.
You mentioned that you do this, can you explain further how to use different tracking id’s along with the EasyAzon plugin.
Thanks
Hey Dave, you can in our pro version of EasyAzon. You’d need to pay to upgrade to that one.
Thank you for your useful tips.
What you think about using facebook ads to increase conversion?
One tip for you try to make Leave a comment section upper the comments. I have to scroll down hundreds of comments to find this box a lot of people will give up super fast π
Good luck.
Facebook ads to direct affiliate products on Amazon aren’t allowed. You could use FB ads to drive traffic to your content but frankly I don’t think the numbers will work out profitably for you though.
Hi! Loved your article! My question is…do you buy things first and then review them?
Depends. Sometimes I have but in other times I’ve been able to get the manufacturer to send me demo product for free which I would return later.
Hey Chris,
Are you familiar with the AliExpress affiliate program? If yes, what do you think of it?
Sorry not familiar with their affiliate program but am familiar with selling products that you find on AliExpress though.
I’m interested in making money through Amazon but honestly I have no clue on how to do anything. I’m also looking for good and free information. π
Go back up and read the post π
Are you using several tracking ID’s for the purpose of tracking different types of products or is there another reason?
Just for tracking purposes that’s it. It’s nice to know what content is making you the most money right? π
I have one big question.
Do you think its better to have a static page (WordPress) or just have your blogs on the front page, as is?
I was following someone else’s guide and they said you should have a static front page, but I feel like I would be getting more views and more clicks if I had the opposite ie; my latest blogs on the homepage. I also checked my stats and when I link to an article/review people stay longer. When I link to the home page they don’t stay as long AND a higher bounce rate. My bounce rate for the homepage is literally 3,000 in the past month. They hit that homepage and stay for around 7 minutes which means most are probably reading the static page, but then they just… leave.
I also think one issue is how I have the navbar set up. The navbar IS in the top fold (not a sidebar), but I had my mom visit it who is not too techy and a little older and it took her a few seconds to find the actual articles lol.
Shouldn’t really matter one way or the other frankly. I like a home page design like I have here on this blog because I can send people back to the home page if I want to point them to the blog or podcast content more easily.
Still haven’t made any money on my aforementioned website I was talking about above. However, I started another website and I AM making money with that. Two very different niches lol. The one I am making money with will HAVE to be a higher amount eventually, but I am happy to be making money at all because I have tried this whole affiliate thing for years and never made ANY money. So selling $300 worth of stuff and making $35 makes me ecstatic lol
Awesome π
Those were some real great tips, to maximize the earnings from Amazon Affiliate website…
Thanks Chris
Happy to help
Hi Chris,
Awesome article, thanks for sharing!
I have a question. What kind of regulation do I need to do to have an affiliate website? Sole proprietorship, LLC or non.
Thanks,
H
I don’t know the best entity for your personal situation but I use LLC for everything pretty much.
Hey, is there like a step by step video on this? I’m struggling financially at the moment and could use the income. My current job is being weird and I need something I can definitely depend on week by week. If you could send me like step by step (dumb proof) instructions on how this works, I’d greatly appreciate it.
What specifically would you want in the video that isn’t already in the article? To give me some ideas.
Hi, Great Post CHRIS π
My Question: I am running a list site, and on single page I have 30 amazon product links is that ok to use 30 links on a single page ?
Yah you can have a lot of links on a single page that’s fine. Just make sure that the content is good.
Hey Chris – really good of you to post this insightful and immediately useful article. It is obvious you are a top pro. Am new to the game but learning the ropes and highly respect top guys and their wisdom.
Most won’t share for the hassle or potential competition but I learned long ago sharing good knowledge sharpens the provider. Thanks again! – Steve
Thanks Steve.