If you’re looking for an easy way to earn money through your blog, affiliate marketing is where you should invest time as it is one of the most popular methods of making money online.
Affiliate marketing lets you promote other people’s products, and earn small commissions on resulting sales.
By far, the most successful option for this is Amazon’s affiliate program and an Amazon affiliates site.
The Amazon Associates program is one of the most beginner-friendly affiliate options. By signing up, you’ll be able to advertise (and earn revenue on) items from Amazon’s massive product catalog. What’s more, promoting those items on your blog is simple, if you use WordPress and WooCommerce.
In this guide, we’re going to talk about how you can benefit from an Amazon affiliates site. Then we’ll walk you through how to create one. Let’s get started!
Why you might want to use affiliate marketing on your blog
There are a lot of ways to earn money online, such as by setting up an e-commerce storefront.
However, what if you’re looking for a more supplementary income stream?
For instance, you may be a blogger who wants to focus on creating content, while also monetizing your site.
Affiliate marketing is one popular, beginner-friendly option:
In short, when you turn your blog into an affiliate website, you’ll use it to promote other companies’ products.
When someone clicks on one of your links and buys an item, you’ll receive a small commission on that sale.
While affiliate marketing probably won’t make you very rich, it does offer a number of benefits:
- You don’t have to worry about developing products yourself, storing and shipping them, and so on.
- Setting up an affiliate site is cheap and simple, and there are many reputable programs to choose from.
- If you do it right, affiliate marketing can become an almost passive revenue stream.
While you could reach out to individual companies, the easiest way to get into affiliate marketing is to join a dedicated program. Let’s look at one of the best options for WordPress bloggers.
An introduction to the Amazon Associates program
We probably don’t have to convince you of Amazon’s prominence and reputation in the e-commerce market. What you might not know is that it offers an affiliate marketing program – Amazon Associates:
Through this program, you can advertise existing Amazon products on your blog. You can search for products that are relevant to your target audience, and you’ll be provided with links and other advertising materials (such as banners and traditional shopping ads). Then, you simply add those links and ads to your site.
Here are a few more advantages of using the Amazon Associates program:
- You get access to a huge catalog of products.
- If someone clicks on one of your affiliate links and buys products on Amazon – even if they aren’t the items you actually advertised – you’ll earn a commission on that purchase (within certain time restrictions).
- Visitors may be more likely to follow your affiliate links and ads, thanks to Amazon’s existing reputation.
If this all sounds intriguing, you’ll be glad to know that getting started with the Amazon Associates program is simple.
How to create an Amazon affiliates site using WooCommerce (in 3 steps)
If you already have a WordPress blog, you can quickly turn it into an Amazon affiliates site without sacrificing any of your existing content. You’ll only need the free WooCommerce plugin – the top option for WordPress users who want to set up any kind of storefront:
Before we get started, we’d recommend familiarizing yourself with the Amazon Associates program policies, so you know what you’re getting into. Then, you’re ready to start monetizing your blog!
Step 1: Set up WooCommerce on your site
As we mentioned, the WooCommerce plugin is an essential tool for adding e-commerce features to your blog. Therefore, the first thing you’ll want to do is install and activate this plugin on your site. As soon as you do that, you’ll be presented with a few setup options:
This wizard will walk you through the process of configuring your store and adding key information. It’s very self-explanatory, so click through the screens until you reach the end.
After that, WooCommerce will be ready to go. You can now add products to your site – but we’ll come back to that in a moment.
Step 2: Sign up for the Amazon Associates program
At this point, you’ll want to join the Amazon Associates program. Visit the home page, and select the ‘Join Now for Free’ button:
You’ll need to sign into your Amazon account (or create one) and verify personal information. On the next page, add your blog’s URL using the Enter Your Website(s) field:
Next, you’ll fill out some basic details for your profile which includes creating a unique ID, entering some information about your blog’s focus, and choosing what kinds of products you’re interested in promoting:
Further down the page, you will be asked about how you currently attract traffic to and monetize your blog:
On the next screen, you’ll need to verify your account and agree to the terms and conditions:
Then, click on the Finish button. You’ll see a message letting you know your application was successful:
You can use the buttons below to enter payment and tax details, or save that task for later. That’s up to you. Right now, let’s look at how to start adding affiliate products to your blog.
Step 3: Add Amazon affiliate products to your blog
Once you’ve signed up for an Amazon Associates account, you’ll get access to your personal dashboard:
Here you can find plenty of information about your account, earnings, and more. You can also start searching for products to promote, using the Search for Product and Browse for Product fields.
Go ahead and look for your first affiliate product now. You can use keywords and categories to find something that fits your blog’s niche:
When you’ve chosen a product, click the arrow next to its Get link button. You’ll be provided with a link you can copy:
Now, go back to your blog’s dashboard, and create a product by selecting Products > Add New:
Here, you can add a title and description for the product, and upload an image. Then, scroll down to the section labeled Product data:
In the Product Type drop-down menu, select External/Affiliate product. Then paste your affiliate link from Amazon into the Product URL box. Once you save the product, visitors to your blog will be able to click on it and visit the relevant Amazon page.
It’s worth noting that you can use affiliate links elsewhere on your site, such as within blog posts. Plus, there are other types of Amazon ads you can incorporate. For now, though, you have everything you need to set up a basic Amazon affiliates site for your WordPress blog!
Conclusion
Affiliate marketing is the perfect way to monetize your new or existing blog. You can earn regular commissions from visitors, without the need to create, store, or ship your own products. This alone is enough reason to set up an Amazon affiliates site.
If you decide to add affiliate products to your WordPress blog, you can follow these three simple steps:
- Set up WooCommerce on your site.
- Sign up for the Amazon Associates program.
- Add Amazon affiliate products to your blog.
In a follow-up post, we’ll tell you all about how to skyrocket your affiliate commission by inserting WooCommerce product comparison tables directly into your blog posts. Keep an open eye for the next installment!
Do you have any questions about how to promote Amazon affiliate products on your blog? Ask us anything in the comment section below!
This is a guest post by Alex. If you would like to write a guest post for ShoutMeLoud, check our submission guidelines.