Amazon sells millions of products every day and helping them reach customers looking to buy everything from books to home furnishings are thousands of affiliates. Being a part of Amazon Associates is like being a part of the biggest shopping mall online, and when you become an affiliate for Amazon, you get to be a part of this massive shopping experience.

Why Does Amazon Have Affiliates?

Anyone can go to the Amazon website and start shopping. So, why are affiliates needed?

The main Amazon website is well-organized and chock full of product choices. However, it can be time-consuming for shoppers to do manual searches to find the exact kind of products they’re looking to buy. Before they can buy anything, they must weed through the large selection of brands and styles. If you’ve ever shopped at Amazon, you know that a quick browsing visit can turn into over an hour of clicking product links, reading product descriptions and reviews, and checking out alternative options.

Affiliates can help consumers out by creating affiliate sites that focus on a specific category of products. Your job as an affiliate for Amazon is to do the browsing for them, find the best quality products and create informative content for those products. This greatly reduces the time and effort people have to spend when researching products that they want to buy. You’ve done all of the tedious work for them.

And thanks to your efforts, many people will choose to buy those products through your Amazon affiliate links.

What is the Earning Potential?

One of the first questions that often comes to mind when considering joining the Amazon Associates program is, “How much do Amazon affiliates make?”

Affiliates can make a little bit of money or a lot of money. Payouts to affiliates can range anywhere from $100 to $20,000.

According to Zip Recruiter, the national average earnings as an Amazon affiliate is $85,400+ per year. The national average in the low range is $24,000 and the highest commission is $126,500 per year.

When looking at these statistics, it’s clear that you can earn a full-time income as an Amazon affiliate. All you have to do is put in the work to build your business to where it produces enough commissions to meet your desired income goals.

Ready to Join the Program?

You’re probably wondering how to become an Amazon Associate affiliate. Before you move forward, you are going to need to choose a niche and set up a site that has at least 10 high-quality articles about the niche topic. Amazon wants to see proof that you have a blog/website that can successfully feature their product links.

Yes, this requires some upfront work on your part, but you only have to submit this information once. After you are in the program, you can add Amazon links to as many blogs/websites as you desire.

Here's a simple step-by-step guide to get you on board and ready to start earning commissions.

Amazon Associates: A Step-by-Step Guide to Becoming An Affiliate

Step 1

Set Up Your Amazon Account. If you don't already have an Amazon account, head over to Amazon's homepage and hit the "Create an Account" button. Fill in your details, and you'll be ready to move to the next step.

Step 2

Go to the Amazon Associates Website. Search for "Amazon Associates" using your favorite search engine or directly type in "affiliate-program.amazon.com." Click on the first link that pops up.

Step 3

Click on the "Join Now for Free" button. They'll ask you to log in again (for security reasons), and then you can proceed to the next step.

Step 4

Fill in Your Account Information. Here is where you get to tell Amazon a bit about yourself, your blog/website, and how you plan to drive traffic to their site. It's all about transparency, so be upfront about your intentions.

Step 5

Describe Your Blog/Website. This step is crucial. Explain the purpose of your blog/website, your target audience, and the kind of products you plan to promote. Amazon wants to know you're the real deal and that you'll be a great addition to their affiliate family.

Step 6

Enter Your Preferred Affiliate ID. Your affiliate ID will be embedded into your affiliate links, so pick something that best suits your business or personality.

Step 7

Verify Your Identity. Amazon needs to know you're a genuine human, and not a spam bot. They'll ask for your phone number, and you'll receive a verification code to enter into a field.

Step 8

Choose Your Payment Method. Decide how you want to receive your commission earnings. Options include direct deposit, Amazon gift card or checks.

Step 9

Read and Accept the Operating Agreement. Every affiliate marketing platform has rules to follow, and Amazon Associates is no different. Take the time to read the agreement and promise to play by the rules.

Making Affiliate Links

Congratulations! You are now an Amazon affiliate. Now it's time to learn how to create an Amazon affiliate link for a product you want to promote on your site.

Step 1

Find a Product to Promote. Hop onto the Amazon website, pick a product that fits your niche, and copy and paste its URL into a Word document. Or write down the product’s ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number).

Step 2

Grab Your Affiliate Link. Head back to the Amazon Associates dashboard. In the top menu, click on "Product Linking" and then "Product Links." Enter the product name or ASIN in the search bar. When the product appears, click on "Get Link."

Step 3

Customize Your Affiliate Link. Amazon gives you options here. You can either go with the full, long URL or opt for a shorter, more user-friendly version. You can also add tracking IDs to monitor the performance of specific product links.

Step 4

Create a Text Link or Image Link. You have the power to choose. Text links are effective and to the point. Text links are great for subtle marketing within your content. Image links are eye-catching and attention-grabbing. Pick the link type that best suits your content style.

Tip: If you are logged into Amazon, look at the very top of the page. There you can see the Amazon Associates SiteStripe which provides an instant short text link for any product page. Click on "text link" and it displays the affiliate link. It's quick and convenient.

Step 5

Use Your Affiliate Link on Your Platform. Now comes the fun part – showcasing your chosen product. Whether it's a blog post, website review or social media post, paste your Amazon affiliate link wherever you want to promote the product. Just remember to be transparent with your audience that you may earn a commission if they make a purchase through your link.

Amazon Disclaimer Suggestions

Every Amazon affiliate is required to post a visible disclaimer on any page that displays Amazon product links. You can use the suggestions below or use other versions that include the appropriate legal language.

Standard Amazon Disclaimer

[blog/website name] is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a way for websites to earn advertising revenues by advertising and linking to Amazon.com (affiliates in other countries should use Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk, etc.).

No Cost to You Disclaimer

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that at no cost to you, I (we) will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and make a purchase.

Simple Disclaimer

As an Amazon Associate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.

by Donna Gets Real, an affiliate marketer and experienced online content writer.