Remember when selling stuff on eBay was all the rage?
Some people made a killing (and still do), while others plunged their bank accounts into the red.
From the bedroom side hustle to a full-blown business, there’s money to be made online.
Now, image a business model that requires no inventory or large capital to get off the ground, and has you working with the largest ecommerce retailer in the world.
I’m talking about “affiliate marketing” – it’s a lucrative business model that allows anyone with a computer, internet connected, and some free time, to start building an income online.
The idea is simple – you promote someone else’s product on your website or blog, and they give you a cut of the sale.
There are many big brands that offer an affiliate program, including eBay and Walmart, but the biggest, and best, is the Amazon Associates program.
Amazon.com is an ecommerce monster that’s getting bigger every year.
Amazon’s affiliate commission structure allows you to earn up to 10% on each sale (depending on which products you’re promoting), and because they’re such a highly trusted brand, conversion rates are very high compared to other affiliate programs.
It works like this:
- You send readers from your blog or website over to Amazon.com (via an affiliate link)
- That person then buys something on the Amazon website
- You earn a commission for the sale
Let’s say you sent a bunch of visitors from your blog (which must be built in a way that pre-sells the reader) over to Amazon. You might see 7 – 15% of that traffic convert into sales, provide you’re publishing the best content possible.
Compared to other affiliate programs out there, you’d be doing well to convert at 2 – 5%.
Another great thing about the Amazon affiliate program, is that you earn commission on every product placed in the shopping cart and purchased, not just the single product you directed the reader to.
For example, let’s say that you have a product review of an exercise bike on your fitness blog, and someone clicks on your affiliate link that takes them over to Amazon.
Now, if that person clicks the “add to cart” button and buys the exercise bike, then great, you’ve just earned yourself a nice commission… but it gets better.
If that same person adds multiple items to their shopping basket, then you earn commission for every other item that person buys.
So, if you send someone to Amazon through your affiliate link, and that person goes on a shopping spree, then you’re getting commissions paid to you for every item they buy.
It’s the difference between earning commission for a single $20 item, to multiple items totalling hundreds of dollars.
That’s what makes Amazon so great, they’re the masters at ecommerce, they know how to convert traffic into sales, they have massive trust with online consumers, and they reliably pay out commissions to their affiliates.
It’s not uncommon to see Amazon sales and commissions double over November and December because of the high volume of Christmas shoppers.
You might send someone to Amazon through a completely unrelated affiliate link, and that person buys over $500 on Christmas presents, which you’ll get all the commission for.
If you can send Amazon targeted traffic from your website, they’ll handle the rest, and you get paid. I’ve seen people earn anywhere from <$100 per month, to as much as five figures per month in commissions.
Of course, there’s a lot of hard work involved in building an Amazon affiliate income. It takes time and consistent work, but the payoff can be awesome.
To start earning money through Amazon, you’ll need to join the Amazon Associates Program – which is completely free to join.
But before you join, you’ll need a website or blog.
Here’s how to start earning from Amazon, in 5 steps.
Pick a Topic or Product Category
Obviously, you’re going to need a website where you’ll promote products listed on Amazon.
But you don’t want to jump in and set up any random website, it’s got to have a specific topic/theme/niche that you’ll write about – and that means picking a profitable product category to promote.
The easiest way to come up with a topic for your website is to think of things that already interest you.
Are you interested in the outdoors?
You might want to build a website promoting camping, hiking, and outdoors stuff.
Are you interested in health and fitness?
There’s tons of exercise equipment to start writing about.
Are you a tech geek?
Again, there’s an endless amount of tech things – like drones and computer equipment – to write reviews about and promote.
Need to do Amazon product research? Go through the Amazon product categories and look for products you’re interested in and might be able to build a website around and blog about.
Look for products that have lots of customer reviews, because this shows that there are many hungry buyers in that niche.
Pick and Register a Domain Name
After choosing a niche / topic / product category, you’ll need to pick a name for your website, something that’s memorable, brandable and related to the niche.
Try and think of a short name, 1 – 3 worlds, and one that’s easy to remember.
If you’re going to write about outdoors and camping products, you might call your site outdoorsunboxed.com – something like this instantly resonates with the reader.
Buy your domain name from any reputable domain registrar – namecheap.comanduk.godaddy.comare very popular places to buy.
Write Content for Your Site
Having a great domain name set up with reliable hosting is all well and good, but an empty website isn’t going to get you very far. You need to create a list of articles and product review ideas.
Let’s say your site is about Exercise Bikes, you’d write helpful guides on exercise bikes and exercise bike product reviews.
Only write a product review if you’ve actually used the product, or interview someone who has, never fake your reviews.
Create a list of about 20 article and product review ideas, start writing and publishing them on your site. But never rush, always produce the best quality content possible. Remember, real people just like you are going to be reading your articles, they want valuable, honest, and helpful information – it’s your job to create that.
That’s why it’s beneficial to create a site around something you’re knowledgeable and passionate about, so that you can provide expert insight and information to your readers.
The more informative and valuable your articles, the better your conversion and the more love you’ll receive from search engines.
Build Your Site Using WordPress
After buying your domain name, you want to buy fast and reliable hosting that supports Word Press.
Word Press is a CMS, or content management system that is used by bloggers and content marketers. It’s such an easy to use, versatile software, that allows you to create stunning websites and publish beautifully formatted content.
It’s also one of the best platforms for creating SEO, or Search Engine Optimised content.
Most good hosting providers should have easy installation and setup of WordPress from cPanel.
Don’t just slap any old site together – make it look good with a premium or custom WordPress theme.
We learn by example – electricshaversuk.co.uk is an example of a quality website built using WordPress and a paid premium theme that generates income from the Amazon Affiliate program.
It’s built around the topic of men’s shaving, and various other hair removal products. It has a memorable name and provides readers with valuable information and advice on grooming.
The team at this site have done a great job of creating up to date product guides, informative articles, and product reviews to help guys and girls choose the best grooming products.They really go above and beyond to provide valuable content and is a great example of how you should think about building your own.
Get Traffic to Your Site
To make money from the product reviews, articles, and guides you publish on your website, you’ll need traffic.
You can drive traffic to your website via social media like Facebook and Pinterest.
But one of the best ways is through search engines.
Thousands of people use search engines to look for advice and reviews on products they’re interested in buying, and that’s where you come in.
As an Amazon affiliate, you’re looking to provide those searchers with the information they’re after, and to convert them into buyers.
To create a strong site that ranks, your site needs promotion. Join online communities, network with other bloggers in your niche. Find ways of adding value to your market so that you gain some popularity and good reputation back to your site.
This will grow the authority and rankings of your website, over time, but a word of warning – never spam, ever. Always provide value to gain natural links and traffic to your site.
There’s a bit of a learning curve when it comes to optimizing your content for search engines and gaining strong rankings. Too much to cover in this article, there is a wealth of information online that you can use to learn how SEO and Amazon works.
Success is in Your Hands
This is a basic overview of making money with Amazon. If you take the time to research this business model and commit some time to building a high-quality website or blog, there’s money to be made.
Unleash the entrepreneur and get a slice of Jeff Bezos lucrative Amazon pie. Expand your knowledge by researching this business model further – work relentlessly – and within a year you could successfully build a nice second income.
