Affiliate marketing seems to be quite big and for a while now I have been playing with the idea of taking it up but how? I have a blog but its still small when it comes to traffic and I am yet to decide on one blogging category. I write posts about so many things – book reviews, recipes, product reviews, craft, rants, social media. And then there is my blogging consistency. With this much variation I wasn’t sure if an affiliate program would work for me. (If you'd like to know more about affiliate programs, there are a few links at the end.)
But lately I’ve been posting a lot of book reviews on this blog so I thought why not start with a book affiliate program, that’s where the Amazon Affiliate Program comes in.
Now I know that its unlikely that I’ll have a payout from them anytime soon but hey a start has to be made somewhere. Here’s the process I followed to sign-up as an affiliate/associate.
1. Go to the Amazon Associates sign-up page. Here Affiliate and Associate seems to be the same thing.
If you already have an Amazon ID choose the ‘Sign-in’ option. Click the ‘Join Now For Free’ button if you have to create a new ID.
I have an Amazon ID so I just went ahead and clicked sign-in and logged in.
2. The process of signing up is simple but tedious. There are a lot of questions to be answered. Starting with your account information – on this page you can add/remove/change the address and contact person details.
3. On the next page you have to profile you website. There are quite a few questions asked about your bog or website. How is it monetized, what other affiliate programs are you a part of, what your blog is about… Just fill it all up :)
4. You’re done with the form filling and now have an associate ID. Next you need to choose a payment method.
5. Amazon offers three modes of payment – gift card, direct deposit and check. The best option if you live in the US would be direct deposit because they do amounts as small as $10 and the service is free. Amazon changes a $15 fee for checks and the minimum amount of a check is $100. However if your billing address is outside the US they will not change a fee.
I chose the option of gift card as I don’t expect huge payments anytime soon and would rather use the affiliate money I make to buy stuff off Amazon. Ofcourse when the money starts pouring in I’ll switch to check :D
6. There now you’re all set-up and ready to start.
7. The associates’ area offers a lot of different ways to promote Amazon products. You can choose from various widgets, use links and banners, build your own store and more. I’m going to be starting with the simple product link in the post.
Setting up the Amazon Affiliate Program is quite simple but it may not be as simple to get the money from it. Amazon for one offers a very low percentage on sales but you do grow up the percentage ladder as you go along. Also I don’t intend to use only Amazon’s Affiliate Program so we’ll see how it goes. I'll keep you posted :)
Here’s some more articles I’m reading on Amazon Affiliate Marketing – (Most of these are old posts but the content is still valid and useful.)
How does affiliate marketing work?
Affiliate Programs For Blogs
10 Tips for Using Affiliate Programs on your Blog
How to Dramatically Increase Amazon Affiliate Sales with Bestseller Lists
[...] post I was talking about trying out affiliate programs, (who can’t do with the extra money ) and how I set-up the Amazon Associate Program for myself. But then I got thinking and reading – there are a lot of affiliate programs out there and its [...]
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