Amazon Associates Affiliate Program – Why I Love It
Amazon’s affiliate program, called Amazon Associates, is not one of the most liked affiliate programs in internet marketing. There are some complaints that people have about Amazon Associates. Here are some of those complaints:
1) They only pay between 4% and 8.5% (for most people it’s about 4%-6%.)
2) The tracking cookie is only 24 hours.
These are definitely legitimate complaints. I do wish the tracking cookie was for a longer period of time, but that’s where my complaints of Amazon’s affiliate program stop. There are many things that I love about Amazon Associates.
1) Amazon is a trusted brand.
People know about Amazon, people have heard from Amazon, and best of all, people are already buying off of Amazon. We don’t have to try and convince people that a certain website is trusted, because Amazon has already gained people’s trust. People love Amazon’s free shipping opportunity, they love being able to buy pretty much whatever they want from Amazon… which leads me to my next point.
2) People buy other stuff from Amazon, and I get paid for it.
This is why I don’t complain about a “low affiliate commission” like others do. When someone is buying an item, or an informational product from another website you may be an affiliate for, you only get paid for that one item pretty much. Amazon, on the other hand, has perfected the art of up-selling.
Just take a little browse around one of Amazon’s product pages. They have a “If you buy this with these two other items, you can save X amount of money.” Further down they have “People who looked at this, ended up buying _______.” Then they have, ‘People who bought this, also bought these.” Then for some items they have “related accessories” and “similar products.” That’s a lot of different products that people can see, and possibly buy. Amazon has probably spent thousands and thousands of dollars on consumer behavior analysis, split testing different layouts, etc. They’ve done all of the work to maximize their sales.
So, for another affiliate program, I may make 15%-20% per item sold, but you may only sell one item per sale. Where, on Amazon, people either already had stuff in their cart they forgot to buy last time and choose to buy, or they just find multiple things they realized they needed to buy. So, you may only get 6.5% through Amazon, but that’s 6.5% on 4-6 items in an order. This is ESPECIALLY true during the holiday season when people are doing their Christmas shopping online. That’s how I was able to make $13,000 from October-December. Which leads me to my last point…
3) They pay on time, every month, plus have great payment options. (for US residents)
Amazon pays on a net 60 payment schedule. So, for any sales I make in January, I’ll get paid for them at the end of March. It sucks when you’re first starting out, having to wait 2 months, but once you’re steadily earnings, you’ll have a monthly paycheck. They always pay before the month is over, usually a few days before. Also, for US residents, they offer the ability to be paid by check, Amazon credit, or direct deposit. I have direct deposit, and I receive the money, like clockwork.
Amazon sells almost everything you can think of, they sell because they are a trusted brand, they’ve mastered the art of up-selling, and they pay their affiliates every month, on time.
What isn’t there to like Amazon?
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Your right, Amazon Associates is the best online affiliate program out there. I believed it so much so, that I founded a company based on it. I believe that the Amazon Associates program will likely soon become even more popular then what it currently is. I believe 2009 will be the year of the affiliate.
Agreed they have a great thing going.
I have hardly pushed it since last time I checked they would only pay me as an international affiliate in vouchers…. any idea if this has changed?
Anyway, I hope to be using it a lot more in the coming months with my niche sites.
Cheers,
Forest.
I believe international affiliates can receive a check to anywhere now, but if they want direct-deposit, they must reside in the country where Amazon has a presence. There is also the option for gift certificates too.
I encourage anyone who hasn’t taken a fresh look at Amazon Associates program to do so. There have been lots of fresh updates, and more opportunities to earn.
@PuReWebDev – I have seen your product before over the past months… is there are a way to turn off the internal shopping cart, and have them click right through to Amazon?
Also, how quick is it from installation to final product? And is it $29.99/month per site? or is there a certain # of sites you’re allowed to have.
You people must be smoking crack, Amazon affiliate program is the worse and sucks just read all the “it sucks” reviews on the internet.
@Nola … I wish you would have had the nerve to put your name on the line for saying it sucks. There’s many people who don’t like the Amazon affiliate program, and there’s a few reasons why:
1) They don’t pick the right niches. They have a personal blog and then try to promote products from it, but their audience isn’t ripe for buying products from Amazon based on their recommendation.
Or, they may have a tech blog, and put Iphone and big screen TV links on their site, and get mad because they don’t make sales.
2) They don’t like Amazon’s pricing structure. I have been at between 8.0% and 8.5% steadily for the past quarter. That’s very decent earnings.
People who stick to technology items only get 4% for their stuff. But even then, that’s better than most electronics affiliate programs. Best Buy was 3% and recently went down to 1%.
Programs like Clickbank offer higher percentages, but it’s only on 1 product. Amazon, like I said above, is great at upselling products. So, someone may go planning to buy 1 item, then buy a CD they want, or maybe a book they’ve been checking out, and before you know it, 1 item becomes 4-5 items, which you’re getting 8% on steadily.
3) Another reason people don’t like Amazon products is because they suck at internet marketing in general. No offense to them because everyone has to start somewhere, but saying that Amazon isn’t converting well for them therefore Amazon sucks, is false logic.
Amazon may not be converting well for them because 1) lack of traffic, 2) lack of targeted traffic, 3) picking wrong niche, 4) lack of testing and tracking on persons part, 5) poor marketing skills.
Some niches just aren’t right for Amazon, but there’s millions that are.
Lastly, my $3100 direct deposit I got last month and the $8700+ direct deposit I’ll be getting at the end of this month is proof enough to me that Amazon’s Associates Program is awesome.
Salam n Hola
Yes, I believe the best way to do well with amazon associates is by using astore or build your own amazon associate site with any of the amazon scripts out there like AOM.
I’ve tried linking directly to the amazon product from my blog entries. Doesn’t convert too good this way.
The best conversion for me is one of my AOM store which I linked to in my blog.
How do you market and promote your AOM/astore web site?
Regards
Hadee Roslan
Regards
Hadee Roslan
@LowCost ….regular SEO tactics…. link building, and on-site optimization.
I agree. Not just with Amazon but with any affiliate program. People are so quick to say something does not work. What I find is that some affilates give up to quickly; a few weeks to a month because they have not may any money.
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