How to Make Money With Amazon Affiliate Program

Co-authored by Imran Alavi and Nicole Levine, MFA

Last Updated: January 31, 2023 References Approved

Want to make money by recommending products you love? Amazon Associates, Amazon's affiliate marketing program, allows you to earn commission on products you recommend to your readers or viewers. We'll show you how you can start earning money through Amazon Associates through your website, blog, YouTube channel, or social media posts.

Section 1 of 5:

Who can be an Amazon Associate?

1
If you have a qualifying website, blog, mobile app, or social channel, you can make money as an Amazon affiliate. Amazon accepts affiliates who are curators, reviewers, stylists, and content creators who create original content that is publicly available.
2
If you create content on social media, you can use affiliate links on certain platforms. You don't have to have a website to be an affiliate. If social media is your preferred vehicle for referring products to people who will love them and you have at least 500 organic followers, you can promote products on on Facebook (group, fan, and organization pages, but not personal profiles), Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch.tv.

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3
Your website or blog must have recent content. Amazon considers "recent" to be at least one update within the last 60 days, with at least 10 posts total.^{[1]
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Research source} The more you post relevant content on your platform, the more likely you'll be accepted by Amazon Associates.
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Have well-written (or well-spoken) reviews, recommendations, or comparisons. Amazon wants to know that the content you create is the type of content that can influence people to buy products. Whether you're writing product reviews or reviewing products on video, the quality of your content matters. Make your writing and content engaging, and double-check your work for mistakes signing up for Amazon Associates.
5
Your site, app, or social media channel must meet Amazon's suitability requirements. To be an affiliate, you must not promote sexually explicit or obscene materials, violence, dangerous or harmful acts. Amazon will also not approve creators who promote false or deceptive claims, promote hateful or discriminatory ideas, or who direct advertisements toward children.^{[2]
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Section 2 of 5:

How does the Amazon Associates program work?

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When you sign up as an affiliate, you'll be assigned an associate ID. This ID will be connected to your account, and is an important part of you getting paid.
2
Create product links for the products you want to review or promote. When you create new content to promote a product, you'll generate a product link that contains your associate ID.
3
Add the link to your promotion or review. Create engaging, quality content that makes helpful recommendations for products, and include your affiliate links in your content. Potential buyers can click your link to go directly to the product's page on Amazon.
4
Collect your commission. You'll earn commission for qualified sales as long as buyers finalize their purchases within 24 hours of clicking your affiliate link.^{[3]
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Research source} Amazon pays commission approximately 60 days after the calendar month in which you earned by direct deposit, Amazon gift card, or check (checks have a $15 processing fee).
- If the buyer places the item in their shopping cart within 24 hours but doesn't finalize the purchase, you'll still get commission as long as they make the purchase before their shopping cart expires (90 days).

Section 3 of 5:

How do I become an Amazon affiliate?

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Sign up for Amazon Associates at https://affiliate-program.amazon.com. When you click the Sign up button, you'll be asked to sign in to your Amazon account and confirm your account information.
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Add your website, mobile app, or social media URL. Amazon will want to see that you already have an established blog, YouTube channel, or other platform that's suitable for Amazon affiliate links. You can add up to 50 websites or mobile apps per account.^{[4]
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- If you're adding social media URLs, make sure to add your direct URL on that platform, not just "Instagram.com" or "TikTok.com."
3
Answer Amazon's interview questions. You'll be asked some questions about your website or accounts, such as how many visitors you get each month and how you drive traffic to your website (advertising, SEO, lead generation, etc.).
4
Add your payment information. You can receive your commission payments through direct deposit to your bank, Amazon gift card, or check.^{[5]
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Research source} Depending on your region, you may also need to complete other forms, including tax materials.
5
Wait for approval. Amazon will take a look at the URLs you've provided and make sure that your content meets their criteria. As long as Amazon sees great quality original content that's current, regularly updated, and possible to monetize, you'll be accepted into the program.
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Start generating links. Once you're accepted as an Amazon Associate, you can start creating affiliate links at Amazon Associates Central, which you'll find at https://affiliate-program.amazon.com.

Section 4 of 5:

What kind of products should I advertise?

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Focus on a niche topic you are passionate about. While a website or video blog that caters to a variety of interests has value, you can really establish yourself as a trustworthy, authoritative source by focusing on a particular topic. If people trust your content, they'll trust your product recommendations.
- In addition to being a topic you can create enthusiastic content about, make sure you choose a topic you can monetize.^{[6]
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  Research source} Search for your topic on the web and make sure there's an interest in related products before committing to the idea.
- If you're an influencer who already has a lot of followers on an app like TikTok, having a niche may not be as important.^{[7]
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  Research source} Your followers already like what you're doing, and trust your recommendations for all sorts of products!
2
Choose products with higher commission rates. Amazon sets fixed commission rate percentages for different types of products, so make sure the kinds of products you want to sell will make you as much money as you'd like to earn. If you're already an affiliate, you can check the commission rates at https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/help/operating/schedule.
- Amazon Games offers the highest commission rates, currently at 20%.^{[8]
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- Products in the Luxury Beauty, Luxury Stores Beauty, and Amazon Explore categories earn the second highest rates at 10%, followed by Music (both digital and physical), Handmade, the Digital Video categories, which all earn 5% commission.
- Books (physical), Kitchen, and Automotive products earn 4.5% commission.
- Amazon Fire and Kindle products, Apparel, Ring devices, Watches, Jewelry, Luggage, Shoes, Handbags, and Accessories all earn 4%.
- Toys, Furniture, Home, Home Improvement, Lawn & Garden, Pets Products, Headphones, Musical Instruments, Beauty, Business & Industrial Supplies, Outdoors, Tools, Sports, Baby Products, and Amazon Coins earn 3% commission.
- The PC, PC Components, DVD, and Blu-Ray categories earn 2.5%, while Amazon Fresh products, Physical Video Games and Video Game Consoles, Grocery, Health, and Personal Care categories earn 1%.
- All other categories earn 4% commission except the following products, which earn no commission: Gift Cards, Wireless Service Plans, Alcoholic Beverages, Digital Kindle Products purchased through subscription, Amazon Appstore, Prime Now, and Amazon Pay Places.
3
Consider higher-priced products that have great value. Since most commissions are a percentage of the product's total price, you'll obviously make more money by recommending more expensive items. However, if your readership or followers have mixed incomes, offering a variety of products at different price ranges will be helpful.
4
Use Idea Hub for inspiration. Once you're accepted as an affiliate, Amazon's Idea Hub will be the best place to learn about new products, deals, events, and high-commission bounty offers you can include in your promotions.^{[9]
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Research source} Idea Hub curates affiliate marketing ideas for you, and you can like and dislike their suggestions to keep their ideas focused. Just log into Amazon Associates Central at https://affiliate-program.amazon.com and choose Idea Hub from the menu to get started.

Section 5 of 5:

How can I make the most money as an Amazon affiliate?

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Do detailed product comparisons. A great way to make a sale is to compare two or more products side-by-side, giving extensive details about their similarities and differences. By choosing two or more products that are popular, you can help visitors choose the right products for their needs.
2
Optimize your blog or website. Adopt search engine optimization (SEO) practices, such as keyword density, short URLs, and backlinks to increase web traffic to your site. The more people who read, the more clicks you will have on your Amazon Associates links.
3
Try not to sound like you're selling something. People who think they are being pitched to are unlikely to make purchases or return to your content. Include affiliate links as recommendations, best of lists and preferred vendors instead of obvious pitches that make it sound like you just want to make money off of your visitors.
- For example, you may want to post a best-of blog for the year's most innovative new products or the best non-fiction books of the year. You can include links to those products on Amazon and people can use those links to buy your recommendations.
4
Write about best sellers and new releases. People are interested in what's popular and what's new. Always check the Best Sellers list at https://www.amazon.com/bestsellers, and New Releases at https://www.amazon.com/gp/new-releases for ideas to write about.
5
Post seasonal content with Amazon Associate links. People buy more near Christmas, so post recommended products before Thanksgiving to take advantage of sales that Amazon is going to make anyway. Idea Hub is a great place to find popular seasonal products you can advertise.
- If you haven't started creating a seasonal schedule for your blog posts and marketing, start now. There are dozens of holidays, such as Halloween, Easter, St. Patrick's Day, and Valentine's Day that can produce more sales if the advice and links are timely and interesting.
6
If you're a blogger, advertise your product posts on your social media accounts. This is a great way to improve search engine ranking, stay in touch with your readers, and increase the links that you share. You can post Amazon links on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn when you want to make recommendations.
7
Have fun with your posts. The more fun you have with posting links, the more likely you are to get sales.

Community Q&A

Question

What is the cost to be an Amazon associate?

Community Answer

Becoming an Amazon associate is absolutely free, all you need is a blog with good traffic.
Question

Do my visitors just have to click the link or actually purchase something in order to me to make money?

Community Answer

Your referrals will have to order through your links and have the order shipped to them for you to earn commission on the product they ordered.
Question

How can I attract business to my blog with no prior experience?

Community Answer

Start attracting readers organically by building good content. Participate actively and contribute to relevant groups to boost your credibility and authority.