A Good Choice For Your Site In 2019?

Amazon is the old bread and butter for many affiliate sites. These sites are so popular that there's a whole category for Amazon affiliate sites in brokerages like Flippa and Empire Flippers. Maybe it's just that “Amazon affiliate site” rolls off the tongue a lot better than “Wayfair affiliate site“. Or maybe it's just that Amazon is so stinking awesome that it's hard not to monetize your site with them.

Amazon is popular, easy to use, and viable for a huge portion of niche sites. But they have a reputation for being about as clear as mud on their policies. They are sometimes hard to understand and hard to deal with. Amazon tosses the ban hammer around so much that they could be mistaken for a tall, blonde Avenger.

In this Amazon affiliate program review, we're going to look at whether Amazon is still the best option for your site today. The Amazon affiliate program is known as Amazon Associates. You'll see both names used in this review, but they mean the same thing.

In most of my reviews, I start with a tutorial so that new users can see how the product works. Since there are tons of Amazon affiliates, I'm going to assume that many readers already know how to navigate the affiliate dashboard. So for this post, the tutorial is after the review. 

Let's get started with one of the most important things: Amazon's commission rate.

Amazon gets a little bit of flack for their commission rate. Here's how their commission rate looks right now:

Since Amazon offers such a huge range of products, there's a wide range in affiliate commissions. You'll get a whopping 10% if you're promoting luxury beauty items, but a non-bill-paying pat on the back if you're promoting wireless service plans.

Another option for your affiliate commissions is the Amazon bounty program. Bounties are payments that Amazon makes to you if someone subscribes to an Amazon service after using your link. These bounties range from $3 when someone joins a trial to a healthy $15 if someone starts an Amazon business.

These bounties are great since Amazon offers so much. Someone might go on your website to buy a lawnmower and end up with an Audible subscription. You get paid for both.

Let's take a look at some comparable affiliate programs and see what commissions everyone is offering. I checked 3 potential niches and found some popular affiliate programs in each. You can see the affiliate payout and the cookie duration.

Amazon is pretty competitive in the furniture niche, but it looks like Designer Living blows everyone out of the water. Their percentages are high and cookies are super long. If you're in the furniture niche, I bet you can find better deals with specialists (Designer Living) than with generalists (Amazon, Wayfair, Best Buy, etc).

Websites that sell nothing but furniture may be able to give you better payouts.

Amazon is competitive in the tool niche. This includes things like power saws, hammers, or drills. You can see that Ace Hardware kills everyone on cookie duration, but Amazon has a higher payout. You'll do fine with either company.

Just don't go with Home Depot.

Amazon does a pretty good job in the computer niche as well. I was going to include the Apple affiliate program, but they're very picky about sites they let in.

You can see that Amazon has a higher payout than Microsoft and Best Buy. Tiger Direct beats out Amazon by 0.5% and may have a longer cookie duration. I wasn't able to find any info on their cookies.

I couldn't look at every niche, but I think that Amazon is more than competitive for most niches.

Amazon's greatest weakness is their cookie duration. 24 hours isn't a long cookie, but there is an exception.

If someone adds a product to their cart, Amazon gives you a 90 day cookie on that product. That means their potential 24 hour cookie can be extended by a whopping 89 days. Some tools like Amalinks Pro or AAWP allow you to add a product to a visitor's cart when the visitor clicks your link. This gives you immediate access to the 90 day cookie and may be worth testing on your site.

Part 1 of Amazon's greatest strength means that someone can use your link to buy a lawnmower and then buy some bath bombs. You get commission for both items at their different commission rates.

Part 2 means that Amazon does a great job (perhaps better than anyone else) at making sure that everyone buys more stuff. Amazon is always split testing their platform. They are always recommending new products and products that they think your visitors will like. The odds of someone buying a product you recommend and then being upsold is high.

I read a lot that Amazon gives low commission rates. Perhaps in some categories that's true. But I think that for 75% of affiliates, Amazon is more than competitive. Even if their cookie duration is low, the frequent upsells make Amazon a high-paying affiliate program.

Amazon has a super easy-to-use affiliate program. You can get any of the links you need by searching for the product on Amazon and using SiteStripe to get your link. I show you how to get links using SiteStripe again in the tutorial, but here's how you do it.

When you log into your Amazon account and go to Amazon's home page, you'll see a bar at the top of your screen:

This is called SiteStripe. To get affiliate links, search for the item you want to link to. Once you've found it, you can click “Text”, “Image”, or “Text+Image” on SiteStripe. I don't use the “Text+Image” option since I don't think it looks great, but it could fit on some sites.

After you find the product you want, click on the type of link you want from SiteStripe. Copy and paste.

If you're getting an image link, the large option is almost always best. Even at its biggest, the large is pretty small.

This is where Amazon loses some points on ease of use. Their terms of service are as clear as mud and about as pleasant to roll around in. Even professional SEOs run in to problems with Amazon's TOS.

If you're caught red handed violating a rule that you didn't know about, Amazon can be a little merciless. They are often unclear about what the problem is. Some people have been able to reverse bans by sifting through the TOS and fixing their site, but this can be tough if you're a solopreneur.

Remember that even though Amazon can be unclear, they want you to promote their products. They want you to be a part of their affiliate team. Reinstatement is difficult yet possible.

But as with all problems, prevention is better than a cure. So here are some of the most common violations and things you should never do:

Those are the most common violations, but there are quite a few. Read Amazon Associate's operating policies to be sure.

Amazon's support can be super nice and easy to talk to, but they're often pretty unhelpful.

Support for Associates will let you send an email, call someone, or chat during certain hours. I've never spoken to a support rep who wasn't American and never had to deal with a language barrier.

But when the time comes to figure out a compliance issue or ask a question that isn't super clear cut, there's often some confusion. The problem isn't the support reps; they're great. I've never had an experience where a support rep didn't go out of his or her way to help me.

The problem is Amazon. They're so big that their policies are often confusing even for employees. It's no rare thing to get contradictory answers from different reps. They can't help much with compliance, can't do anything at all about API access (I discuss this later). But they do try their best.

Amazon has a rockstar support team, but their policies seem to be a shifting sand that no one can quite hold on to.

Let's take a moment and look at what Amazon does well… and what they don't.

Amazon might have the widest range of products to promote out of any affiliate program in the world. It's suitable for a lot of niches with physical products.

Amazon's commissions are competitive for most niches. The cookies are short (1 day), but if a customer adds an item to cart, that cookie rockets to 90 day duration. 

There's also the benefit that you get commission on everything someone buys within 24 hours of using your cookie. Amazon is a master at converting and upsells. Your customers might go to Amazon from your link to buy a sewing needle and leave with a lawnmower.

SiteStripe makes it super easy to add your affiliate links. If you can get API access (I discuss this later, so keep reading) then you won't have to do anything on the Amazon side at all. Everything can be done inside of WordPress.

The support group always goes out of their way to help. They make you feel welcome and like they're excited to answer your questions.

Now let's talk about the things that Amazon isn't great at

If you are going into a very specific niche (best boxes for moving homes) or a very competitive niche ( furniture), then there might be better options out there. Amazon does great in some niches, but it's worth checking other options out for your niche. 

It might be that you can find a program that pays more, has longer cookies, and converts better

Let's be real: Amazon's TOS for Associates is nuts. You'd think they could add bullet points or something to help us hit the high points. Instead, we're given an unclear operating agreement and told to comply. When we fail, Amazon can be quick with the banhammer.

You'll need to do your research to get all the ins and outs of Amazon's TOS.

The support is made up of nothing but awesome people. The problem isn't the support team. The problem is Amazon.

Their policies are so complex and so vast that support agents can give wrong or contradictory information. If you ask about a compliance issue 3 different times, I'll be amazed if you don't get at least 2 different answers. It's not due to bad training on Amazon's part, just the fact that they have so many rules.

Amazon Associates is pretty handy to have around, but let's take a look and see who it favors best (and who it doesn't work well for).

No matter the size of your site, Amazon can be a super helpful tool for physical product niches. This could be anything from razor blades to picture frames to outdoor decoration. Amazon has an enormous range of products to promote and there's a good chance you can find something for your site.

A caveat here is that you should still check around for other affiliate programs in your niche. Amazon pays a competitive commission in many niches, but you might can find something even better for your site elsewhere. 

Amazon isn't a great option for info product niches. Amazon does have movies, documentaries, and books, but it's pretty slim pickings here. You're best looking at something like Clickbank or running an ad network like Adsense, Ezoic, or Mediavine.

Amazon isn't a great choice for niches with a big emphasis on social media. You are not allowed to place Amazon links on your social media profiles.

There is an exception if you have a big following. You can apply to the Amazon Influencer program and they make an exception for you if you get approved.

Before this post was published, I reached out to the Niche Pursuits Facebook Group (you should really join – it's awesome). I asked you to give me your questions about the Amazon Associates Program. Here are a few of the great questions I got.

Yes. OneLink helps your visitors get to an Amazon store that's most suitable for them. This provides a better user experience for your visitors and helps them buy without changing websites.

Spencer's former employee Jake added OneLink to his site and made extra hundreds of dollars per month. That is sweet for less than an hour of total work.

If you're getting any traffic at all from other countries, I recommend using OneLink.

This is a huge threat for any niche site owner. Large or small, your site can take a massive revenue dip over time if the products you're featuring aren't there any more.

The best way to do this is to use GeniusLink. GeniusLink lets you know when the products you recommend are out of stock or discontinued.

You'll need to be careful though; GeniusLink is in a bit of a gray area with Amazon's TOS. You can use a link shortening service, but it has to be clear that your links are going to Amazon. If you do use GeniusLink, you'll have to do something like this with your text links:

The “on Amazon” part is very important. It lets your readers know where they're going. Without that little part, you aren't compliant with Amazon and put your account at risk.

If you don't want to bother with a service like GeniusLink at all, you could get a VA to check all of your product links.

There isn't much you can do if one of your visitors is using an ad blocker. Chrome is about to remove ad blockers from their browser, so ad blockers aren't going to be as big of a fear as they have been.

But if your visitors are using ad blockers, don't give up hope; there are options.

Ad blockers tend to block Amazon's images pulled from SiteStripe. Text links are fine, but images can be eliminated. Whatever you do, do not try to get around this by downloading images on Amazon and inserting them into your site that way. That's against Amazon's TOS and will get you banned.

The first and easiest step is to make sure that you always have text links alongside your pictures. Even if an image from SiteStripe is blocked, the user will be able to have some access to your affiliate links.

You can also serve different content to users who have an ad blocker on their browser. Ad Inserter allows you to give different content, require that your website be whitelisted, or accept a payment from users with an ad blocker before they can access your site.

Joining the Amazon affiliate program is pretty easy. You can search “join Amazon affiliate program” or click the link right here. You'll see a page like this:

You can click the big “Join Now For Free” button to start your application process. It's super simple.

You'll enter some basic information about who you are, your address, phone number, and so on. The next page will ask you to list your website and will make sure that it's not targeted to children under the age of 13. 

Next you'll come up to the most important page so far:

This page allows you to select your preferred affiliate ID. This isn't a big deal, but I always like to make mine the name of my site. 

Answer these questions to the best of your ability. If your site is new and you aren't sure the exact direction you'll take in the future, give it your best guess. Amazon allows you to change the answers later on.

You get more questions later on down the page:

Be honest here. If your site isn't getting any traffic yet, say so. Amazon has no problem monetizing new sites, but they want to know their user base. You can always change these answers later.

When Amazon asks how you build links, they aren't talking about backlinks to your website. They want to know how you construct outbound links from your site. For most people, “WordPress” is the answer that's most fitting.

Once you finish this step and verify your identity, you'll be approved as an Amazon Associate. Everyone is approved for this initial step, so no need to worry if you'll make it in or not.

The hard part comes after approval. Amazon requires that all Associates make 3 sales within 180 days of joining the Amazon affiliate program. If you're a new site owner, this could be a bit of a challenge.

Google often doesn't even rank sites until they've been up for 6 months. If you want to do the math, that's about 180 days. We discuss what you can do later down in the post (so keep reading), but here are some things you shouldn't do to meet this deadline:

Let's move on for now and we'll discuss strategies on how to get your first sales within 180 days later.

Once you finish the whole process, you get access to Amazon's backend for affiliates. 

The Amazon Associates dashboard is where you find everything you'll need as an Associate. You can create links, banner ads, get all of your reporting statistics, and manage your account. I don't do a lot in the dashboard other than check my earnings, but let's take a look under the hood.

The first place you'll see in the dashboard is the Home screen:

There's not much to do here other than get notifications and search for products you want to link. I don't recommend finding products through the Associates dashboard as there's an easier way that we'll cover later on.

One useful feature in the dashboard is under the “Product Linking” tab. You can create regular links here (don't do it), make banners, native shopping ads, and mobile popovers. 

I wouldn't worry too much about banners with Amazon. There are lots of options but all are often very specific. These banners are often to promote certain deals going on within Amazon. There's always the risk that the promotion will change, the banner will change, and it won't be applicable to your reader.

One thing I do like in the Product Linking tab is the Native Shopping Ad.

Native shopping ads are pretty cool because they can serve as regular ads on your website. If you can't get approved for Google Adsense or aren't pleased with your ad network's earnings, it's worth giving Amazon a shot.

These native ads can take a few different forms. You can make ads where Amazon draws on your reader's browsing history and suggests products:

You can make ads where readers can search their own products:

And ads where you input products by hand:

These ads can work in your sidebar, in content, in footers, or wherever you want them. Another neat way to insert ads into your site is to use a mobile popover.

The mobile popover ad is a newer way to insert Amazon ads on to the mobile version of your site. 

It works by bringing an ad across the bottom of a mobile phone's screen. Amazon pulls this ad from whatever affiliate links are visible in the content of your website. This sounds cool, but how does it work for a niche site's bread and butter roundup review article?

I did some testing on my end with my own site. Here's what I found out.

Mobile popovers work for the first affiliate link presented on the screen. If there are multiple affiliate links on screen, mobile popover shows a popup for the affiliate links that's closest to the top of the screen.

For review articles with lots of affiliate products, it works the same way. There will never be more than one popover at a time, but if the viewer doesn't click the popover or dismiss it, then it can come up multiple times per page.

Let's say for example that a viewer doesn't dismiss the popover on your first product, then it will come up again for your second product. I think it's a neat way to add dynamic ads to your page without needing a plugin like AAWP or Amalinks Pro. (but these tools are still awesome).

The mobile popover doesn't work great if you have social icons at the bottom of your mobile pages like I do:

Sorry that I had to hide my site 😉 but you can see here that the mobile popover gets covered by social share icons. If you have your share icons elsewhere, this won't be an issue. But on my site, popover just looks like a bug or a conflicting plugin.

If your icons are anywhere other than in your footer, the mobile popover is worth trying out. Amazon claims that it can boost earnings by up to 30%.

And it looks really cool.

Amazon's “Promotions” tab will show you things that Amazon is promoting. These can change from day to day, but some are pretty constant. It's personal preference, but I stay away from these on my site. I don't like the idea of having to change a bunch of banners or links just because Amazon stopping promoting an item.

On the other hand, Amazon bounties are awesome and can be a great tool for your affiliate site. These can be even more helpful if your site struggles with finding enough physical products to promote. A bounty is for any kind of non-physical product that Amazon offers.

This could be an Amazon Prime subscription, an Audible subscription, a Kindle Unlimited free trial, getting on the Amazon Baby Registry, or more. There's even one for signing people up to Amazon Business. 

When I counted, there were 19 of these total. Each has a different payout and is worth exploring if you don't promote a ton of physical products.

Now let's take a look at some tools that will be useful for you. Amazon offers a lot of tools to increase your earnings, but I recommend only paying attention to two of them: OneLink and Amazon API.

OneLink works by sending your visitors to the Amazon store of their native country. If you don't have OneLink, then visitors outside of your country will be taken to Amazon's website for your country. This isn't helpful to a lot of your visitors and will have a negative impact on your earnings.

I live in Georgia, so it doesn't do me much good if I go to the Canadian Amazon.

Here's how you can get access to and activate OneLink:

Go to Tools –> OneLink –> Click here to link. You'll have to make a separate account for each country. It's a little annoying, but it shouldn't take you more than a few minutes for each country.

The sign up process for these countries is the same process you went through before. You'll give info about yourself, your site, how you'll promote Amazon, etc. Amazon will give you a Store ID for that country and you insert it into OneLink for your primary country.

I discuss this a bit later, but OneLink does increase your earnings per click for visitors outside of your country. This is even more important if you live in a country that isn't the USA since there's a good chance that the USA will make up a large portion of your sales no matter where you live.

Amazon's API isn't a tool that everyone will need, but it can be helpful. As I mentioned above, there are certain things that Amazon doesn't want you doing:

The API is a way that you can get around these requirements. The API pulls information straight from Amazon and is always up to date. So if you're pulling price from the API, it will be the same price that visitors will see on Amazon. No worries there. If you're showing reviews using the API, that's fine too. And Amazon has no problem if your images come from the API.

The API is how you can use some of the more dynamic parts of Amazon with Amazon's approval. If you can use the API, Amazon gives you a lot more flexibility.

You can get the API here:

It used to be that anyone could use the Amazon API. Nowadays, you have to have qualified sales within 30 days to use the API. Once you have the API, you have to get a sale within 30 days using the API to maintain access to it.

All that to say that the API isn't the best tool for beginner sites. If you aren't getting sales on Amazon, you can't get the API. If you get it and don't make sales, you lose access.

The API also has a feature that restricts your access depending on how many sales that you get. If you get API access and aren't making enough sales, you still might not be able to use it just because you're getting throttled in your usage.

But if you can get it, I think it's a great idea to use it. Tools like Amalinks Pro and Spencer's own Table Labs can use the API to make beautiful sales tools. These softwares use the API to list prices, show pictures, and give a glance at reviews.

As you can see, using the API allows you to do some awesome stuff. But it's not the be-all-end-all of Amazon affiliate sites.

(I don't use the API on my site – just SiteStripe)

So don't be too upset if you aren't at a place in your site where you can access the API. The most important thing is that you keep working with the tools you have available.

The “Report” section allows you to look at the how your account has performed. You can see clicks, ordered products, shipped products, and your earnings. One thing I do love about Amazon is that they allow you to have multiple affiliate IDs. You can use these IDs to split test different page layouts or different products.

Amazon reporting is great at breaking down where you're getting clicks and conversions from. You'll be able to see if text links, banners, images, native ads, or whatever else is bringing in the big bucks and converting best.

Amazon has lots of ways that you can make affiliate links. SiteStripe is by far the easiest.

When you log into your Amazon account and go to Amazon's home page, you'll see a bar at the top of your screen:

This is called SiteStripe. To get affiliate links, search for the item you want to link to. Once you've found it, you can click “Text”, “Image”, or “Text+Image” on SiteStripe. I don't use the “Text+Image” option since I don't think it looks great, but it could fit on some sites.

After you find the product you want, click on the type of link you want from SiteStripe. Copy and paste.

If you're getting an image link, the Large option is almost always best. Even at its biggest, the large is pretty small.

Thanks for reading my Amazon Associates program review! If it was helpful for you, please let me know down in the comments. If it wasn't, tell me what could be done better or ask any questions that weren't answered.

All in all, I think the Amazon Associates program is a good option for niches with physical products. Amazon can be a little tough to deal with, but not every site owner has some sort of horror story. Amazon provides a powerful way to monetize your website.

You can click here to get started with Amazon Associates.

Source: Nichepursuits.com

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