The negative connotation of affiliate marketing stems from the persistent gurus, scammers and bad practices within the field. But when done properly, it’s a proven system that works.

How is this for real?

Nearly every major company today has an affiliate program. Amazon, Ebay, Walmart, Target, Apple, Microsoft… the list goes on and on. Why would huge multi-billion dollar corporations offer affiliate programs if it didn’t work? Because it does!

Basically it’s a form of advertising for them. These companies want people to help promote their products, and are willing to pay a commission. The company gets a sale, the affiliate gets a commission, and the buyer is happy because they find what they’re looking for. Win-win-win!

Sound simple enough?

I can tell you first-hand it is a real thing that people make money with. I can also tell you there are both GOOD and BAD ways to do it.

The good side of affiliate marketing

Think about what you do when you want to buy something or find out information. You more than likely type your thoughts into a search engine like Googls (or Bing/Yahoo) …With a wealth of information available at our fingertips, who wouldn’t want to take advantage? Especially if you’re searching for a solution to a problem or considering buying a product or service.

What if you could take advantage of the keywords people were searching for, give them the information they want, and make a commission for helping them solve their problem or guide them to a product?

You encounter this online whether you realize it or not… Let’s look at some real examples of affiliate marketing

Example #1 – Puppy Training

Let’s say you just bought a new puppy. You’ve never owned a dog before and you need some advice. It’s logical to assume you may turn to the internet for answers. You may search for things like…

What’s the best food for puppies?

How to take care of a puppy?

How to train a puppy?

Let’s take a closer look at the Google search “how to train a puppy”above. Notice how the first result is a site called “Perfect Paws Puppy Training”. If you were to visit the site and take a close look, you’d realize they are using affiliate marketing. You’d also realize it’s a very in-depth site with tons of helpful content! The marketing is secondary and the content is primary.

Now, knowing that there are THOUSANDS of new puppy owners every day, what if you as a potential affiliate marketer just happen to know a ton of information on puppies? You could easily take advantage of that and start up an entire niche website on the subject of caring for puppies.

You could even get more specific and focus on caring for one particular breed… German Sheperds, Brittany Spaniels, Jack Russell Terriers, etc. After all, all dogs are different. The narrower your focus with affiliate marketing, the more engaged your audience and the easier time you’ll have gaining their trust.

There are endless companies with affiliate programs. PetSmart, Walmart even Amazon.com. You could provide information on things relating to puppies (or specific breeds of dogs) and build a niche business around the topic while promoting related products and or services.

Example #2 – Espresso Machines

Let’s take another example. What do you do when you want to buy something? You probably do a little bit of research beforehand, and a lot of times you may do such research online.

You may type something such as…

product + review (s)

product + scam

best + product

where to buy + product

Say you were in the market for an espresso machine. You’re unsure of what you want, just that you need one and don’t really know which to buy. So you do a quick Google search for espresso machine reviews.

Notice the first result here is a site called “The Best Espresso Machines” – if you were to visit the site, you’d see tons of information and espresso machine reviews. You’d also notice they were affiliate marketing, but with lots of provided content to really help the reader make the best decision.

This is how affiliate marketing works. If you can capture people in a buyer friendly phase where they’re looking for reviews or information about something, or looking for a solution to a problem, you have a good chance of grabbing their attention and converting them as long as you are helpful and provide solid recommendations.

Why the “bad” reputation of affiliate marketing?

Spammy websites

Affiliate marketing gets a bad rep for many reasons. First off, there’s a ton of spammy affiliate marketing sites. These are sites which are what search engines refer to as bridge pages – pages set up with the sole intention of getting the visitor to the merchant’s site and providing no added value. These are deceptive sites that are set up very similar to large sale sites like Amazon, but if you actually try to buy something from within the site you’ll just be redirected to another site.

Look at this website, chickensouprecipes.org:

This is a deceptive bridge page… it has no purpose other than to trick people into clicking the ads. At first glance it looks like there are real listed recipes, but there is NO content on the site, it is entirely ad space. When you use the search feature you are only brought up with more advertisements. It used to be really easy to get pages like this to rank…but Google has come a LONG way in blocking spam like this.

Search engines don’t like this. If you try to build a website like this, you will not rank. If you try to build a business around deceptive tactics you will not be successful.

Scams and “gurus”

There are also many people out there promoting bad or scammy programs. There are tons of “gurus” and scam artists trying get your money for “affiliate marketing training” when in reality they charge insane prices yet don’t train you in an effective way. The reality is that most of these programs will just take your money and set you up for failure. You’ll find a large number of people promoting such programs because the commissions are generally very high – at 50% – 75%. 

With all the junk floating around, it’s hard for people who are honestly searching for a way to make it online find the right program or information.

Remember that for affiliate marketing to work, you need to provide value and think of “helping” rather than “selling”

Effective online marketing comes with a complete understanding of one’s audience. When you can effectively capture the attention of your audience, give them a unique perspective, and really speak to their inner needs and desires, then you will be able to gain trust and make sales. When you focus on helping your audience rather than just trying to make a sale, that is when you will be successful.

Unfortunately there will always be those willing to exploit legitimate systems, but you just have to fight for the side of good!

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Amazon is currently the most popular e-commerce site in the entire world, and with that they’ve obviously established an extremely reputable brand. Their associate (affiliate) program is widely used by affiliate marketers and can convert quite well if you know how to market properly. As long as you live within an approved state or country (residents of Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, and Rhode Island are not allowed to participate) they aren’t very picky about accepting people into the program.

I don’t work for Amazon, so I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes when they approve or deny applicants, but as long as you fit their guidlines and have a semi-developed website with a privacy policy or disclosure you shouldn’t have an issue with getting in. Actually, they’re probably one of the most lax programs when it comes to accepting people as affiliates.

However, if you find yourself denied to the program make sure you are adhering to their terms and conditions. Usually it’s either because you’re violating their agreement (Amazon doesn’t approve websites with sexually explicit material, violience, discrimination, or ones that promote illegal activites) or because your site isn’t developed enough. When first starting out in affiliate marketing, many people get anxious and start applying for affiliate programs left and right, before they even have a solid foundation for promoting the material.

You can always wait and reapply after you’ve tweaked or added more content to your site. They welcome applicants to reapply at any time, so not getting in on the first attempt isn’t the end of the world.

But once you’re accepted, is it realistic to expect to make money as an Amazon Affiliate?

You can definitely make money using Amazon’s program, but the amount of income you make is going to be highly variable. There are right and wrong ways to market online; posting Amazon’s affiliate links around your website and social media isn’t going to be enough to make money. Sure, you may get lucky and get the odd sale here and there  – but if you’re not providing value to your readers, there’s no reason for people to buy from your link.

Another huge chunk of the equation is the types of products you are selling from Amazon. Their commission rates are generally lower than average, so if you’re promoting a $5.00 product at 4% base commission, that’s only 20 cents per sale! You’d have to make a lot of sales to even earn anything worth while, and it probably isn’t worth it. The key is to promote higher priced items – ones that earn you at least $4 or $5 a sale, but preferrably above $15. Keep in mind the more you can make per sale, the less sales you have to make to earn money; which ultimately comes down to less work for you.

Amazon isn’t a “way” to make money online, but it’s a tool you can leverage to help you out with the battle.  The program only will “work” for you if you put in the effort to make it work. It takes proper training and guidance to get started no matter what affiliate program you’re using.

Want to make money as an affiliate marketer using Amazon?

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But let’s talk a bit more in detail about Amazon….

I’ve used many affiliate programs as an online marketer, and at least in my experience, Amazon’s program has a relatively HIGH conversion rate

Many people prefer not to use the Amazon Associates program largely because the commissions are relatively small compared to some other programs. And that is very true, as it is not unheard of for other affiliate programs to offer up to 75% commissions. Let’s face it – compared to the 4-8% rate for Amazon, it sure seems a lot better.

BUT keep in mind your conversion rate is an extremely important aspect to your affiliate campaigns. And yes, your personal campaign will have a high impact on your conversion rate, but did you know the actual program you’re promoting also has a huge impact as well? If you’re promoting through a little known sales outlet people are going to be less likely to actually  buy, and not many companies have a conversion funnel as powerful as Amazon’s.

However, average commission rate largely depends upon your niche and what you’re promoting – so for many niches, 4-8% is about average. It really comes down to what you’re selling , so keep in mind that the Amazon program really isn’t the best option for every niche.

How the Amazon Associates commission structure works

Amazon has two different commission structures for their affiliate program – volume based rates and fixed rates. For certain product categories (as you can refer to the table bel0w) the commission rate you receive will remain constant, whereas for their general products your commission rate can increase up to 8.5%, depending on how much you sell.

It’s important to note the rate for volume based product commission resets at the beginning of each month.

Say you’re promoting something somewhat expensive, say around $400-$500 (like an iphone or tablet). Amazon has a fixed commission rate of 4% for electronics.

500 x 4% = 20

Even at just 4%, you’re still earning $20 per sale. What if you were able to make many sales per day? It’s easy to see that $20 would add up pretty quickly! (Note: While 4% may seem low, it is quite a high commission for electronics. Most affiliate programs within the niche, i.e. Apple, Tiger Direct, Toshiba, etc are much lower, starting at just 1  – 3 %!)

Obviously if you’re promoting things that aren’t so expensive you’d have to sell many more to add up, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t possible.

Reasons why Amazon’s affiliate program can be very profitable for marketers

• It’s a very reputable and trusted brand -

  Let’s face it, who hasn’t heard of Amazon? They’re the #1 E-commerce site in the world – millions of people buy from them every single day. This is good news because it means there’s already an existing trust factor between your customer and the brand. Most likely your audience has purchased something from Amazon.com in the past, so they would be less hesitant to buy from them again and you’re more likely to make a sale.

• You can promote virtually anything -

  What can’t you buy on Amazon?

There are many, MANY niches that are relevant to products sold on Amazon.

• Amazon has an amazing sales funnel that’s proven to convert well -

  For example, let’s say you’re interested in buying this camera…

• They’ll provide you with everything you need to know – lots of pictures, product information, customer reviews. They even show you related products and accessories that you may not have thought about, but would be more likely to consider buying now that it’s displayed in front of you! Oh yes, thank you Amazon. I would like that lovely pink case to go with my cute pink camera…

• People find product reviews very helpful and they definitely increase sales (assuming they’re positive).

• You get commissions for ANYTHING the customer buys if they land on Amazon via your affiliate link -

  In 2013, around 30% of my Amazon sales were from products entirely unrelated to my niche. This means that if you can catch people in a buying mood, they’re likely to be tempted to buy something from Amazon just from clicking around the site. Like I said, GREAT SALES FUNNEL!

A few tips for getting higher conversions via Amazon

This question gets asked all the time, “Why would people buy from you instead of going directly to Amazon?”

And it’s a perfectly legitimate question, why would they? You need to give your visitors a reason to buy it from your link. It’s unrealistic to expect people to click and buy from your link just because it exists.

• Capture your audience when they’re already in a buying mood -

  This means aiming for keywords that people are typing when they are already looking for information or reviews on a particular item. Take a look at this article about the customer purchase life-cycle, it will provide you with a clearer idea.

• Provide a personal and trustworthy review of your own – 

  Don’t just link a product or provide links to lots of products (like using an Amazon shopping store via your website). They won’t convert well. Remember you need to give your visitors a reason to want to buy from you. Write a review of whatever it is you are selling, but don’t just rehash the same reviews that already exist on Amazon’s website. Make it personal, interesting and most importantly helpful!

• Provide a text link to the product within your content – 

  I find that a text link within the review has a much higher click through rate than just a big banner ad for a couple of reasons. Firstly, people tend to ignore anything that looks like an ad online because they are so used to seeing them they’ve just learned to tune them out. Secondly, many people have ad block software installed in their internet browsers and if you only provide an affiliate ad with no text they won’t be able to see it! Last, your readers that actually read your content are more likely to trust you.

• Pictures, pictures pictures! -

  You know what they say, an image is worth a thousand words. This is especially true when you’re trying to get someone to buy something. Amazon provides images of nearly everything they sell, so you can always use the ones they provide you.

Personally, however, I don’t like to use the images they provide because I find that I get higher conversions when I provide my own images and text links.

I find providing my own images (and linking them to the product), and providing a text link within the content of my post will convert at a much higher rate. The more personal you can be with your audience, the better! I would trust someone more who took an actual picture, than just someone who used a generic Amazon button.

I find Amazon to be an excellent affiliate program despite the lower commission rates, and for me has proven to be a very high converting one at that. If you were questioning if you could really make any money being an Amazon Associate, I can assure you it’s entirely possible if you’re smart about it.

Remember, your effectiveness with online marketing all comes down to providing value to your customers!

Be information, provide value and earn your readers trust. Don’t just sloppily post your Amazon links all over your site with no valuable or unique content; your readers won’t have any reason to buy from you versus going directly to Amazon, or another affiliate’s site that is perhaps more helpful than yours. Because of their lower commision rate, you do have to sell a lot more product than with some other programs to make decent money, but it can still be done. If you follow my advice, you should see the program start to work for you.

Take action! Finally fill in the missing pieces -get the help, training and support you need to make Amazon work for you…

This is just coming from what I’ve experienced with the program, so what’s your take on the Amazon Associates program? I’d love to hear other people’s personal experiences!

-Wendy
Owner, SurvivingAfterCollege.com