To make money with Amazon you begin by joining the Amazon Associates program. Amazon sells a wide range of products and is one of the most trusted web based retailers, so customers feel comfortable buying products through Amazon when referred over to the famous shopping site.

Signing up to the Amazon Associates program is easy and free.  As soon as you sign up, add the Amazon Associates toolbar to your browser.  The toolbar will then appear whenever you log into the Amazon site and it simplifies the process of getting Amazon Associates links to use on your website.

How to Benefit from The Amazon Associates Program

To benefit from the Amazon Associates program you need a website where you can publish content and whenever you write about anything physical simply check if Amazon has a suitable product.  Once you find an appropriate product, click on the “link to this page” button to create a link that includes your Amazon Associates ID.  You can choose various versions of feature boxes or you can just select a text link for inline citations. Embed the Amazon ad box or the text link into your article and you’re on your way to start earning. Commission rates currently start at 4% and rise with sales volume.

It’s common for bloggers to set up sites in a specific niche and target a specific set of products to write about in the form of reviews. If you offer in depth and honest reviews about various products your sales conversion rate will be a lot higher than if you simply write a basic description about an item.

One of the major benefits of being an Amazon Associate is that you make money on items your customers buy in the one transaction even if you didn’t specifically link to those particular products. For example, a customer might buy a book you recommend and at the same time buy two other books and a set of towels. You get paid commission on all of the items purchased.

Some Amazon affiliates have been lucky enough to record sales against their Amazon Associate ID for items worth thousands of dollars simply because the customer landed at Amazon via their Associate ID and went on to make significant purchases.

Make Money with An Amazon Store

Other ways to make money with Amazon is by setting up an Amazon store using your Associates program ID.  Stores can either be hosted by Amazon directly or placed on your own site but the content still be fed by Amazon.  Furthermore, some bloggers set up a separate resources page with links to books and other products related to their blog’s topic.  The resources page acts like a small store for the blog or website and some bloggers make a nice income from this strategy.

The Amazon Search Box

Inserting an Amazon search box into the sidebar of your website allows your visitors to search Amazon and earn you commissions on anything they buy.  Another way to earn involves placing contextually targeted Amazon ad boxes on your site.  Amazon also has a special integration feature with free Blogger blogs that makes using the Amazon Associates program very easy for Blogger users.  Watch the Amazon Associates home page for details on new programs since Amazon always seems to be working a new angle for promoting through the Amazon Associates network.

Location Based Considerations

A couple words of caution are in order.  Amazon Associates is country based, so a UK or Canadian blogger with an American audience may want to sign up for the US program rather than the program in their home country.  Tax regulations in certain American states have caused Amazon to abandon the Amazon Associates program for webmasters based in selected American states.  Double check your eligibility before planning a whole business around Amazon Associates.

World Wide Recognition

Amazon’s brand is recognised world wide and has a high level of trust among consumers, that makes it a sensible choice in terms of writing reviews and linking to their products as an affiliate. It’s relatively easy to join up and normally in only a day or two accounts are approved and you can be promoting your favorite items.

If you don’t have a website yet you can create one in four easy steps by following our free report. Additionally, once you create your website, download our second free report on how to correctly set up your website to ensure it’s built on solid foundations. Then join up as an Amazon Associate and start writing reviews and linking to Amazon products right away.