A lot of people don’t bother with Amazon’s affiliate program because the commissions are so low (4-8% on average with the potential to earn a more if you refer large volumes of products).
So if you’re in a niche that averages 30-50% per commission on most products, Amazon’s program may seem like a waste of time.
Just look at my earnings snapshot from the current quarter that ends September 30th.
So basically, I’ve made nearly $3,000 for Amazon.com this quarter, and only have $170 to show for it.
In the Internet marketing niche, most programs would award me at least 1/3rd of those earnings, but here’s why I am OK with that.
Amazon is a Great Catchall Program
A lot of companies don’t have affiliate programs for their products. So if I can’t find a program that corresponds with the product, I go to Amazon. Sure, the commissions are low but it’s better than earning nothing at all.
Lots of Earnings From Products I Don’t Promote
What you have to love about Amazon is that they are exceptional at upselling. And if you shop there, you’ve already witnessed this and probably become a victim of their strategy.
As soon as you add an item to your cart, Amazon lets you know what other products people purchased along with the item you are planning to buy. Or they’ll show you items that are frequently bought together.
So you may refer someone to a Keurig brewer, but end up earning commissions on K-cups, the carousel and more related products in addition to the brewer.
Trust & Loyalty Matters
Since Amazon is a trusted brand, people are often more comfortable shopping there.
My conversions are usually higher at Amazon than many programs I promote, and I believe trust and familiarity is a big reason. So that’s a nice bonus if you are an Amazon affiliate.
Most of my earnings come from my fitness and hair site, however over 65% of my commissions come from products I never even promoted.
Some of that comes from the “Frequently Bought Together” strategy that Amazon brilliantly employs, but the rest is from the can’t-buy-just-one-item philosophy that people have when they shop at places they like and trust.
Everyone has that store in their life where they end up purchasing way more than they intended to buy. For me, that’s Target (or Tar-jay as some affectionately call it) and for many, that’s also Amazon.com.
You know how it goes. You start off ordering what you came to purchase and suddenly remember you also need X, Y and Z. And apparently that’s what my visitors are doing.
How crazy is it that my highest earning commission so far this quarter is for 4 BFGoodRich tires?
Gotta luv it!
Other random items on my commission list include romance novels, Platex bras (Seriously!), pillow cases (the soft and silky kind, no less), a dog potty (Thanks, Fido) Crayola Crayons (Yep, school’s back in session), and I could go on with more random goodness.
These are all products that have absolutely nothing to do with any website I own.
So What’s My Strategy?
I hate to be overly simple, but it’s the same strategy I always talk about here…
I promote what I use.
For example, last year I discovered that camera-related searches were a fairly hot term on 2 Create a Website. This was no surprise given the amount of questions I receive about what camera and software I use for my YouTube videos.
So I created a page to satisfy the curiosity of these searchers.
Because of that, I often see commissions from the Sony Camera I mention in that article.
Easy Azon
I also make use of Chris Guthrie’s handy WordPress plugin called Easy Azon.
I was fortunate enough to get a free, review copy last year (thanks Chris) and you can see my review of the plugin in the video below.
If you promote a lot of Amazon products on your WordPress site, the plugin will save you loads of time because Amazon’s link retrieval system could really use some streamlining.
With Easy Azon, you never have to leave the WordPress admin area to obtain your affiliate links.
Amazon Widgets
I’m finding that a lot of affiliates don’t even know this feature exists. Nevertheless, it comes in handy when you want to create a nice visual of items you are promoting.
Your visitors can scroll through the carousel of products and click any of them to purchase. Each product link is automatically tied to your affiliate link.
The only downside is it’s coded in Flash which means Apple products won’t display it. So if someone is viewing your site on an iPad, they’ll see a big white space where the widget is supposed to appear. 🙁
This is one reason I use this feature sparingly — especially with so many people using Apple products these days.
To create a Widget, login to your affiliate account here and select the Widgets tab. Follow the instructions to build your own.
Multiple Linking Options
Another bonus is Amazon provides a plethora of ways to link to their products. You can use widgets as described above, rotating banners of products you select, individual links, product category links, banners and more.
The method you choose will depend on your situation and you should experiment until you find what works best.
Let’s say you own a site on car electronics and have a generic article that talks about where to buy products in your niche.
You could link to the generic Car Electronics category that will take your visitors to the homepage of that category so they can begin their search.
This comes in handy if you want to provide a link to Amazon, but don’t really want to link to any specific product. I do this all the time.
Need a visual? Here’s a video showing how I promote Amazon products.
The Wrap-Up
So yes, Amazon’s commissions or terribly low, but if you have no other option for certain products you may be promoting, why not use them? No doubt you’ll end up earning commissions from products you aren’t even recommending.
And while you may be tempted to throw up a bunch of Amazon banners, I’ve always found that contextual mentions work best — meaning I recommend products in relevant articles instead of just floating a random banner in a sidebar and hoping people will click and buy.
I’ll never get rich from Amazon’s affiliate program, but it’s a great bill-paying program. 🙂
So what about you? What has your experience with Amazon’s affiliate program been like? Do share!
Thanks for sharing this awesome article about Amazon. I have just started working as an affiliate and I am in the learning process. The most difficult thing for me so far is to finding the products that sell. Could you please share your tips about how to find the products that sell???
Hey Lisa,
Thanks for the very informative post, with no hype and just realistic advice and expectations from Amazon. I have recently signed up with the program and was planning on adding text links in to blog posts, so you have further confirmed this is a good idea, thank you 🙂 Quick question: If someone clicks on my affiliate link to purchase a product as a result of it being inserted in to one of my posts, but they already have an account with Amazon, do you still receive a commission? Thanks very much!
After reading this article I find it pretty interesting. Its good to start because had never done this kinda things but will definitely look forward to try Amazon.
Thanks Lisa,
I had given up on Amazon, but I think I will rethink it for books I love related to my nich. Earning a few cents each day is like interest in the bank right?
I never knew Amazon had such a program. I guess I am behind the times. Thank you for this topic.
lisa i agree that amazon’s commissions are horrible but what i like about them is that you are credited for anything a person you have sent to them buys.
Lisa
I one hundred percent agree with you on this, and im sure everybody here agrees that amazon affiliate commissions are not attractive,
but I like your strategy, using the widgets and the multiple linking options is a great combo.
I think that people responds well to the widgets, and I’m doing very well with amazon so I cant complain
I’ve been using Amazon affiliate with my website and I didn’t earn any commission. I want to know can we earn from Amazon?
Lisa:
Since Amazon commissions are so low, how are people like Chris Guthrie making $100,000 or more with it? I’m sure you may not know the answer to that directly, but are some affiliates paid at a higher commission rate than others?
It’s mostly volume. Chris had a TON of traffic. Also, the commissions are scaled, so the more you sell, the higher the commission. Also, if you’re referring higher end products like electronics, you’ll earn more. Most products I sell are under $10. Hard to make much that way.
Yeah, it would definitely make a big difference in commissions.
Your earnings are not too bad for such a short cookie duration. Just imagine though what your earnings would reflect if they had a 30+ day cookie. You would probably be making a lot more commissions. It’s a shame.
They do it because they can and because people will still promote them regardless. They are so well branded that they know they don’t really even need affiliates at all anymore. So, no need to reward affiliates with bigger commissions and longer Cookie durations. If someone doesn’t buy or add it to their cart and instead buys 3 days later…..Amazon keeps it all. It just makes me angry and I won’t promote them.
Walmart, Target and all those larger general merchandise stores have affiliate programs as well. Lots of options out there. Walmart’s cookie is not much better. It is a 3 day cookie, but definitely better than 24 hours. I think Target’s cookie is 7 days.
Right, and I could understand the lower commission in the early days because for the first few years I remember reading Amazon was not profitable. But now they are and of course they could afford to bump up the commission and extend the cookie. Not sure why I never looked into Target. Some of the products I sell on my hair site are sold there. Thanks for the reminder.
It is not the commission percentage that turns me off of Amazon. It’s the 24 hour Cookie. They either have to buy within 24 hours or “add Product to his or her shopping cart and place the order for that Product no later than 89 days following the customer’s initial click-through”
As a customer, I have rarely ordered anything right away when I visit Amazon and I never add anything to my shopping cart until I’m actually ready to buy.
I usually take a couple of days or longer to mull over all of my options, etc. I can only imagine how many other Amazon shoppers do the same and how many affiliate commissions get lost to affiliates because the buyer did not buy fast enough or add to their shopping cart. A 24 hour Cookie is just ridiculous to me. I wonder how many affiliates even realize that the Cookie is only 24 hours?
Amazon also has kicked out affiliates from several states due to the Nexus tax and made it impossible for those people to ever earn from Amazon again, unless they move to a different state.
Some people do great with Amazon, but I don’t think it is what most affiliates experience. I feel that more affiliates would do better with a longer Cookie duration.
That is the one big disadvantage. When I heard that was how short it was, I was stunned. I’m used to having 30 day cookies at least. That would make a big difference in the commissions.
I believe Amazon reinstated one of the Nexus states (can’t remember which one) so hopefully others will follow.
Hello lisa,
I entered this web with your single pdf file .After i followed you through twitter.
Now i am expert in php and wordpress.Thanks for your wonderfull website.God bless 🙂
It is sometimes amazing what people buy on amazon that you did not promote and still get a commission on. I recently started to publish eBooks to see if that can actually increase the revenue or not. You got to take what you can get. I don’t think anyone will make millions for amazon sales apart from amazon.
Amazon has never been a big earner for me. Good article though!
I have read about commissions earned from other products on ProBlogger as well. Darren was also talking about how you can earn from the products that you don’t expect. So from that perspective I think it is valuable and worth to try.
I have never actually used it before. I have heard many people talk and rave about it though. Some people only use Amazon actually, from what I hear at least. I am going to check it out right now though. They do have pretty much everything there. Thanks for the advice.
Low earnings are better than no earnings eh! Amazon is a well known and trusted company though, they have anextrememly good reputation.
I like the review, but unfortunately amazon does not accept Arkansas residents in to their program.
Good review.
and this is exactly why I don’t get your hopes up high about promoting the Amazon affiliate program, simply because there are many more affiliate marketing companies online pay better than them. It’s said to see Amazon only paying 4% to affiliate starting out 🙁
I think there are 2 good things in Amazon
1) people trust it
2) the visitor can buy an other product that you don’t promote a nd get your commission
But Yhe commission are HORRIBLE
CommisssionJunction, MarketHealth , Clickbakn are alternatives
nice post, keep the good work 🙂
Yeah i was making some extra cash on amazon, but I live in NC and the state wanted to tax amazon as if the state owned our web sites, so amazon dropped NC…Needless to say i wasn’t very happy. Other than that, great article and good tips. Im sure it will help some other people make money.
Coffee Shop Millionaire
That sucks, Brad. Did you hear though that some states were reversing the Nexus bill and Amazon re-opened in certain states. Hopefully it will happen to you.
Lisa! They cut $171 from your earning I think they are not doing well because you sell there too many products or they are still charging you! don’t you think that the Clickbank is better then Amazon? I agree that the Amazon is reliable and people do trust on them but they had to decrease the rates of there commissions are CRAP. Please don’t mind If I said something wrong.
Of course Clickbank is better commission-wise and I earn far more with them, but Clickbank is not always an option when I’m referring certain products. So when the alternative is to earn $0 for certain referrals, I’d gladly choose Amazon. It’s better than getting nothing. Clickbank is great for certain niches and products but you can’t find everything there.
I love to see the stuff that people buy after they go through one of my links. Lots of times it is totally unrelated to the blog/link that sent them there.
Besides that, Amazon is a really easy sell because everyone seems to trust them unlike a Clickback product.
Agree Jason!
I mainly work with amazon, probably should see other alternatives, and yes… their commission is certainly not the biggest one. My website is regarding to pets, what other earning “avenues” would you suggest for the pet niche?
Hi Lisa, I don’t spend much time promoting Amazon’s affiliate program for precisely the reason you mentioned.
$170 every four months won’t keep my business running by itself.
But I suppose if you were using it as just one way to generate revenue among many, it could be worthwhile.
Cool widget on creating amazon links. It sure is painful to have to login to your amazon account and create your affiliate links. This would make things a whole lot easier!
Hi David
Amazon is only a catchall that I use when there are no other affiliate options for a product. In one way you could say it’s a waste but if you look at it like this… I would be earning nothing for those products I’m promoting if it hadn’t been for Amazon. So I’ll take that money (that was the earnings for 2 months, not 4) if you consider the alternative — which would be $0. It will never be on my top 10 earnings list but I’ll take it. 🙂
I think the reason why Amazon has such low commissions is because they don’t really depend on their affiliates to survive. They’re the biggest store out there!
My niche luckily has products up to $5,000 so a 4% commission is quite a big one, but I can’t imagine people selling books where you get a few cents.
The majority of my sales are from products I don’t promote which is awesome, but too bad the cookie only lasts 24 hours.
Luckily I don’t have to make the tough decision to use Amazon Affiliate marketing on my site bcause for reasons beyond my understanding they dont allow it in the state of Colorado. There was some sabre rattling on both sides and in a huff Amazon said “fine! Now you get nothing” and denounced my state from its program. Athough, looking at the commisions you received (170$ from 3000$ of sales? Insane!) I’m not too broken up about it.
I’ve never tried amazon, since most of my traffic from my site is coming from india. Good to know that you’re earning Liza 🙂
Amazon earnings is also a way to get some books for free (well if you choose to get paid with amazon vouchers).
And some books can be really useful
I’m an affiliate of Amazon and like the widgets you mentioned. Suffice to say, I’ve made zero commission having never promoted the programme earnestly.
What about the cookies? How long do they last, assuming users do not frequently wipe their cache? Play.com tends to do quite well here in the UK and the affiliates love it because the cookies last weeks.
Unfortunately the cookies expire after 24 hours. That’s one big drawback. Most affiliate programs have the cookies last at least 14 days.
Yes Lisa, the commission is horrific, but Amazon buyers are hilarious. On my personal writing blog I have the odd book I review, or what I am reading right now, and have some Amazon links through books on the site.
People have been clicking on the books they like, but, more have gone on to purchase the craziest of things such as Brita 42432 Pitcher Replacement Filters, 4-Pack, Rev-A-Shelf RAS-ML-HDCR Heavy Duty Mixer Lift – Wire-Chrome,and my favourite, Personalized His and Hers Interlocking Coffee Mug Set haha, got to love Amazon, still, the commissions are crap.
Ha ha ha! Gotta luv that!
I agree totally with your strategy. I have found that making “hands on” videos demonstrating how products are used on Youtube and providing an Amazon Affiliate link in the description area creates sales. You have to find a good keyword phrase though. We need to leverage all sources of income that we can online. With all of Google’s changes, when one source falls down another may just rise up!
You can say that again! Diversify, diversify, diversify!
Hey Lisa, thank you for that wonderful information. I want to also thank you for giving me some info about my website, I did as you said and I see a change already. Thanks!! Now on another note, I use Amazon to sell my paperbook which is doing well. How do I become an affiliate of Amazon. I am very new at this stuff 🙂
Vivian- Healthy Herb for Fibroids
Oops! I spelled it wrong the first time it’s http://www.amazon.com/associates
Hi Lisa,
Great post as usual! 🙂
Some states (such as Illinois where I live) have passed tax laws that have caused Amazon to drop their affiliates in those states. I’m in the self-help field and am constantly recommending useful books, audio programs, and videos (as well as related products) to my target market so losing Amazon was a big disappointment for me.
Is there any other way to be able to earn affiliate income from Amazon products for those of us who were dropped from their program?
Hi Nadia
Some states have reversed the Nexus bill so hopefully that will happen to you. Have you tried other networks like Linkshare, Commission Junction, Shareasale?
Glad to hear that some are reversing it. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that our state will too.
In the meantime I’ll look into the networks you mention. Thanks for the info!
Fed up with Amazon as it got me nothing from my last four months experience, though I tried almost all linking options. Still your post brings me some hope. Thanks
Lisa, this is my first time posting to your site. You make great points and have opened my eyes to many things. I have been doing affiliate marketing since February and have made zero. LOL! And these are things that I have used. I will get this eventually. But no luck thus far!
That’s ok we all have to start somewhere! Good luck to you. Come join us over at http://www.websitebabble.com if you have questions or need advice!
Hi Liza
It would be a great feeling to get a commission from the products which you are not promoting.Amazon is one of the top although it gives very less commission because it provides large no. of products to choose from,BTW thanks for sharing this post plus a video,I really loved it.
I am currently working on a second website that will (hopefully) generate most of its income from affiliates. I’m using a different affiliate program mainly, but I have decided to always offer an alternative product on Amazon.com, mainly because so many people already have an account and I figure if they can’t be bothered to buy something from a new store, maybe they will still click on the Amazon link and make a purchase. We’ll see how that works out, I suppose.
Cool, Daniel! Hope it works out!
nice post Lisa
you summarized the Amazon associates program well by calling it a catch all. similar to your experience, I’ve seen some pretty crazy things in my commission report.
in my highest earning quarter, I found that my number one selling product was frozen Ham. what? I do nothing even close to anything that has to do with frozen or ham. this is the beauty of Amazon – you get credit for ancillary purchases made by your visitor just by going through your links. in another high earning quarter, my highest seller was a memory foam mattress. again, I have nothing that has anything to do with mattresses.
what I have deliberately benefited from however in by sprinkling in contextual links as you mentioned into my content. these have converted the best for me.
and for those that have not tried the astore integration functionality yet, I recommend this be given a shot. I have integrated an Amazon store into several of my niche websites. it is customizable in that you can make the store fit in your site’s “skin”. I have found this to be extremely profitable as well on a passive basis.
unfortunately, working with Amazon comes with its share of risks as well. Statutory laws are continuing to pressure the mega retailer from a sales tax perspective, which has several implications for affiliates/associates as well. tread wisely and carefully 🙂
A HAM? You’ve got to be kidding me!! LOL
I have considered doing an AStore for my hair site since that’s where a lot of the purchases come from. I actually forgot about that feature!
Hey Lisa great post as usually and I wanted to add something. First, it is a great catch all program and technically all you have to do most of the time is “get them through the door” and most people will end up buying something. I don’t even want to mention what type of sold products I found in my stats over the years.
But another way to make more money with Amazon is doing it through a network (like Viglink I am trying out). Since they are a network they sell a lot of products so you are constantly in the high end of percentages of commissions. I saw it makes a huge difference if you aren’t selling a lot of products. They take a piece of cake but so far it is worth it!
Interesting! Will have to check that out. Thanks!
Thanks for the video Lisa. I’ve been an Amazon affiliate for about a year now. I love the program despite the small commissions. I usually use it on my tropical fish site where I tell people which products they need to get started and treat diseases. This means that I use a lot of contextual links, which really do seem to work best. Most of the products I promote are low-priced items, such as aquarium salt for around $1.19. However, as you mentioned, people often buy additional items once they are on the Amazon site and so I end up with commissions for higher priced items that often have no relationship to the topic of my site.
I like affiliate programs that give some sort of “freedom” to choose between lots of widgets, banners, etc. I don’t know one single person who hasn’t bought at least one item from Amazon – so, yea, I think Amazon brings money and people should follow your advice.
Me too! I wish more affiliate programs would do that. It makes a difference.
🙂 Hi, Lisa. I feel special when I see people agree with my opinions 😀
Hello Lisa thank you for your perspective.
I started my blog only 3 months ago and one of the first things that I did was to put my Amazon affiliate link. So far I have gotten $0 commission, but I feel optimist that in the future this will provide me some nice pocket money.
One thing that I would like to add to your source of revenue is “Good will” Many times, your readers might not need any of the products that you are promoting with your affiliate links, but they know that one way to give back to you for all the great value that you put out there is by buying at amazon through your website.
As I said, I had earn $0 far, but a few of my readers, friends and family member have promised me that if ever they need anything at all they will make a purchase by going through my blog. I am sure that as those habits develop, eventually my Amazon account will start providing for my Cappuccino diction.
When it comes to my site (movie related) the actual commissions on movie products are low, but they do add up. But for me I have the similar result that around 60% of my sales are on products I have never promoted, brought by people who ended up on Amazon from my site and often these are the most lucrative with non movie related products earning me more.
Something which I do notice is that visitors from America are not only more likely to click through to Amazon but also buy compared to those from the UK. This maybe because more people in the UK go directly to Amazon, are cautious with spending or go via a cashback site first. So for those who only affiliate with Amazon.co.uk it is definitely worth joining Amazon.com so you can offer the correct Amazon to American traffic.
This post doesn’t share anything new and original idea. The purpose of this post is probably to promote easy Azon plugin. You earned $117 for two months. It proves that you are not expert in this area and do not have any fit-for-all experience to share.
Thanks for your feedback. Never anything wrong with promoting products you own and like. I’m an affiliate marketer and never hide the fact. And if you check the comments on YouTube you’ll see a lot of people learned something new because I target beginners.
As you can see from the YouTube comments, not everyone was familiar with how Amazon’s affiliate program works, so it’s great to see that it was helpful to some in spite of the low earnings. It’s about knowing your audience and if you’re an Amazon pro, clearly this video was not for you. Glad my YouTube subbies seem to appreciate it though. But thanks anyway. 🙂
Lisa:
My, my, that’s the beauty of Freedom of Speech. It reveals who people are. Anyway…
I love your approach of promoting what you’ve used. This approach has been my #1 sales converter (12%) People love when you put up info to help them make a decision on a product.
And since you’re sincere, it converts well.
You can bank $1,000’s during “buying seasons” – hint hint:)
You are exactly right, Lisa. You are a marketer. I would be disappointed if I didn’t se you monetize this is some way. Great post!
Thanks Jon. I like you already! LOL
What a rude troll. I just got into affiliate marketing last month and I would gladly earn $170. We all know that Lisa is an affiliate and I personally don’t mind her using her links when she provides something of value in return.
As Lisa said, this video is for BEGINNERS and not everyone is as smart as you apparently so some of us learned something from this video.
Lisa, keep making these videos! I hope to earn a living online like you some day and get those big $8,000 Adsense checks you posted here! You are an EXPERT to me!!
Hey Ileane,
I appreciate you sharing the video! Yes, gotta luv it when those random big ticket items come through! I got a nice chuckle when I saw those BFGoodRich tires on the report. 🙂
Hi Lisa, I agree the earnings are small but its still worthwhile to become an Amazon Associate. You never know when someone will click on one of your links and end up buying a big ticket item that you will get the commission for. Thanks for the video, it’s a great walk through of the interface and I already shared it in a Facebook group. Love your video thumbnail too 🙂
This is terrific for me. It should take a while before one develops a knack at it. You seem to be much of a pro already. Thanks for sharing. Much love, Vincent.
Hi Vincent, thanks so much for stopping by. You’ll get the hang of it. Promoting what you already know and use makes the best strategy!
As everyone sticks to Google Adsense, You have shown the major affiliate programs. Thanks for the video too 🙂
Yeah, there’s no way anyone should only focus on AdSense — especially today with so many people losing their accounts. Thankfully there are many ways to make money online!
I have been following you on YouTube for some time now and wish I had the business sense to create a blog. I just signed my boss up for the affiliate program on Amazon. He is a dentist. But I just wanted to ask kind of a dumb question about the widget I created for his website. If someone clicks on one of the products in the carousel does that automatically take them into the Amazon Wonderland so they can buy more items?
Yes, it should take them to the product page and when they purchase that and anything else, he will earn a commission.