You’re looking for a way to make a little, or maybe a lot of, money with your blog. There are multiple ways to do that but there is one that seems to be pretty popular in the blogging community. That is affiliate marketing.
There are several bloggers I follow who swear by affiliate marketing and tend to make quite a bit of money from it. I know because I would read about it in their monthly income reports. Reading those reports made me realize I had I could have started making money sooner and could be potentially making more now.
Related read: How To Make Your First $100 With Google Adsense
I signed up to become an affiliate for Amazon a few years ago but only recently did I start making some money from those links. It’s not hundreds of dollars each month, or even a hundred yet, but I’m steadily making my way up to those types of amounts. Want to know how I’m doing it? Keep reading.
Before we jump into my tips for earning with Amazon Affiliate links let’s level set and talk a bit about what affiliate marketing is and how it works because that’s an important part of implementing any of the tips I’m going to share.
What is affiliate marketing
Simply put it’s selling products from other people or brands and getting a commission from each sale. These people or brands supply you with links to their site or products that are unique to you and track how many clicks and sales or signups happen from those who click on the links.You can do affiliate marketing whether you have a blog or not. There are many who make decent money by using affiliate links in their social feeds or Pinterest pins.
It’s a great way to earn a little extra money because there is minimal work you have to do to maintain it. When I say minimal work that doesn’t mean that you don’t try to increase your social following, blog traffic, or trust among your readers/followers. It just means when it comes to the links once you’ve added them you don’t have to continually update them.
Related read: 7 Of The Best Affiliate Programs For Beauty Bloggers
How Amazon's affiliate program works
The name of the program is Amazon Associates. Personally, I think the Amazon Associates program is probably the best place to start with affiliate marketing. The reason is you can buy just about anything on Amazon so whether you’re a beauty blogger or in another niche, you should be able to find products you can promote.Plus, because of the large mix of products available Amazon is where so many people shop. So it only makes sense that it’s a great program to start with.
Getting started with the program is pretty easy. Just go to the affiliate program page, click the Join For Free button, and then fill out the form. Once you’re approved and follow the setup instructions you’re good to start adding links to your blog.
There are a few things that Amazon points out they look for when approving applicants for the program
- Robust original content - a good rule of thumb is at least 10 posts
- All content must be publicly available (for example, they should not be a closed group, or behind a paywall)
- Your site can’t fall within Amazon’s categorization of an unsuitable site
How to maximize your earnings with Amazon Associates
1. Only promote products that fit your blog niche
This is key. If you’ve never talked about laptops on your beauty blog and all of sudden you’re placing links to computers being sold on Amazon it will cause confusion and ultimately distrust with your readers.The best thing to do is to find products that fit the types of products you typically talk about and make sense within the overall topics of your blog.
2. Place affiliate links in popular posts
While I’m of the mind that affiliate links should be included in every post, if you’ve been blogging for a while and just starting in affiliate marketing knowing where to start can be daunting. If this is the case a great way to start is to place links to your most popular posts. These are the posts that consistently get a lot of page views.After that has been accomplished you can then move on to putting affiliate links in less popular posts. All the while you should be including links in any new posts you’re creating.
3. Use links in places outside of your blog
One of the great things about the Amazon Associates program is Amazon allows you to share affiliate links on some of your social accounts like Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. You can read more about this here.This is great because it allows you to have another way to increase the probability of someone clicking your affiliate link and making a purchase.
When you do share your links in your social channels, just make sure you follow all, and I mean all, of the platform and FTC rules and guidelines for disclosures.
4. Create content for affiliate links
Now I’m not saying that you need to stuff your blog full of affiliate links. But sprinkling in posts here and there this is perfect for including affiliate links is a good idea.These types of posts could be product tutorials, product comparisons, product roundups, and just a good old-fashioned in-depth product review. These types of posts, as long as they are for products that fit your blog niche, can seamlessly integrate into your blog without feeling like you’re just trying to get your readers to buy something.
5. Use more than links
I know I’ve been talking about using product links for most of this post but Amazon offers some other ways to promote products within your blog posts that can be helpful.There are Banners that promote special offers or promotions that Amazon has. You can also get banners that promote a specific category within Amazon.
Another option is a Native Shopping Ad. Outside of links, these are my next favorite way to promote products. These are essentially ad units you can create by selecting specific products, a product category, or just letting Amazon select based on the reader's preferences. Below is an example of a Native ad. They don’t stand out in a negative way and are a great way to include product images for multiple products at a time.
6. Increase blog traffic
This isn’t necessary but it does help because the more people you have visiting your site the more people there are to click the links.
To stay a part of the Amazon Associates program, Amazon requires you to make at least three sales within the first 180 days. Otherwise, you’ll be removed from the program and will need to re-apply.
There are many things you can’t do as an Amazon Associate and will get you kicked out of the program if you do. You can read about all of them here but one key thing you can’t do is buy products using your links. This applies to not just you but other people in your household as well. It’s essentially cheating. So don’t do it.
Related read: 7 Of The Best Places To Promote A Beauty Blog
Some things to keep in mind
You need to disclose your affiliate links. This isn’t a suggestion it’s required by the FTC and you can get in a lot of trouble if you don’t. You can check out the FTC guidelines here.To stay a part of the Amazon Associates program, Amazon requires you to make at least three sales within the first 180 days. Otherwise, you’ll be removed from the program and will need to re-apply.
There are many things you can’t do as an Amazon Associate and will get you kicked out of the program if you do. You can read about all of them here but one key thing you can’t do is buy products using your links. This applies to not just you but other people in your household as well. It’s essentially cheating. So don’t do it.