Become an affiliate marketer for amazon
Blog, Training

How to Become an Affiliate Marketer for Amazon – Step by Step

Welcome to my guide on how to become an affiliate marketer for Amazon. You came to the right place if you are looking for a looking for the right way to go about this, because... well.... I'm an affiliate marketer myself who makes a living doing this stuff.

I first want to start off by saying that affiliate marketing is a great business to get involved with if you are looking to make money online. It...

  • Has lots of opportunity
  • Is quite simple compared to other methods
  • Requires little to no startup cost

... and of course it has all the benefits of making money and being your own boss... which include being able to work when you want from where ever you want. Overall it is a great choice for beginners.

Being an affiliate for Amazon is just one of the many choices out there, but it is a good way to get started because Amazon is an absolute ecommerce powerhouse. Everyone knows Amazon and no matter what you are looking to promote, you can find it here.

*I think they sell somewhere around 700 million products right now. Ridiculous I know.

The commissions they pay are far from the greatest you can find but I definitely won't be telling anyone to avoid becoming an affiliate with them. A lot of people start out here because of the simple fact that it is an easy choice.

But anyways... lets move on to the steps of becoming an affiliate marketer for this ecom giant. It's going to be fairly lengthy so feel free to use the quick navigation links below to jump to certain sections if you are impatient.

5 Steps to Get Started as an Amazon Affiliate

With the Amazon affiliate program, which is actually called Amazon Associates by the way, you can't just go sign up right away just because you feel like it.

If they let everyone sign up and just start promoting their products like madmen they would really hurt the image of their brand.

There are first a few things you are going to have to have in place beforehand or else they aren't going to accept you.

Step 1: Decide What Types of Products You Want to Promote (pre-Amazon)

The very first thing that you want to decide before doing ANYTHING else is to figure out what type of products you want to promote.

I highly recommend you focus on a specific "niche", which is nothing more than a targeted market segment.

So your niche could be...

  • Basketball hoops
  • Kitten beds
  • Dog toys
  • Yoga accessories 
  • Children toys for brain development
  • Natural health supplements for weight loss
  • And thousands more... the list is endless!

There are so many niches out there that I'm not going to get too in-depth with this list.

Two IMPORTANT Pointers:

#1 - Choose Something You Actually Have Interest In

What do you have an interest in? Do you like dogs? Do you like some sport? Do you like video games? Do you like cooking? woodworking, paying piano, sewing, etc. etc.?

I think it is extremely important that you choose something that interests you. This will make it a lot easier because:

  • You will have the mindset of those you are marketing to
  • and you will not get burnt out spending a bunch of time in a niche that you really don't care for

Don't chase the money. I know some niches can be very luring and you may see nothing but dollar signs, but from my experience it is definitely better to start out in something you like.

So take some time to think about what you really like.

#2 - Try to Keep It Pretty Narrow

You are also going to want to keep your niche pretty narrow. This will make it less overwhelming and you will be able to become more of an expert in the particular niche.

  • Instead of targeting the broad niche of 'health supplements', choose something more narrow like 'weight loss supplements' or 'cognitive health supplements'. And even these could be narrowed down more if you'd like.
  • Instead of targeting the broad niche of 'dogs', target something more focused like 'dog food' or even more focused like 'natural dog food'.

Step 2: Create a Website or Blog (pre-Amazon)

Now it's time to create a website now that you have chosen your niche.

I know... I know... this sounds complicated. 

But don't worry, it's really not. This isn't 1997 anymore... creating a website is nothing to fear.

  • Creating a website is simple
  • And it can be free

You can also promote Amazon products via a Youtube channel or through a mobile app, but creating your own website is the route I went and the route I know very well... which is why that is what I'm teaching. And it is definitely one of the better ways to go.

Websites are great. They are like your own little hub that you can do whatever you want with. You will be getting traffic to your site and then promote products from there. 

Don't Want to Spend Money?

I completely understand. When getting started you don't want a lot of risk... and the good thing is that there are free blog sites out there that you can create a blog on for free.

I suggest using SiteRubix. This website builder will allow you to easily create a site get started in no time. It's literally a few clicks of the mouse to have the basics of your site up... couldn't be easier.

*Wait til the end. I'll go over the easiest way to get it all started with the tools you need.

Choose a website name that is related to your niche. For example: if your niche is dog toys you could go with the name 'dougsdogtoys' (if your name is Doug) or 'doggydelight' or whatever you can think of. Get creative with it.

Step 3: Create Content & Drive Traffic to Your Site (pre-Amazon)

Now you have your site up it is time to create some content. This has to be done before you can get approved by Amazon. They of course aren't going to like the looks of a bare-bones site.

What type of content do you create?

You are going to want to write about things that have to do with your niche.

Example: If you have a site about dog toys (going by my last example), you could write articles about...

  • Top 10 outdoor dog toys
  • How to play different dog games
  • How to teach your dog to fetch
  • Different dog toys for different dog breads
  • The benefits of certain dog toys
  • And so on...

However you aren't going to just want to write a bunch of random articles that come to mind. 

Important: Use a keyword research tool

A keyword research tool is what you use to find good keywords to write about. I'm not going to get into detail, but basically what it does is helps you rank your articles higher in the search engines.

*Again, I'll be going over what I suggest using at the end.

It's All About Traffic

Writing content on your site and getting traffic go hand-in-hand. When you write content, if you use a keyword research tool and use it right, you will be able to rank high in Google and get people to come to your site when they are searching for things.

As an example someone could be searching for the best outdoor dog toys and maybe come across an article you wrote called '9 Best Outdoor Dog Toys'. Then they might click on that and come to your site.

The reason this is an absolutely awesome way to get traffic to your site is because it:

  • Is 100% free - no investment
  • Traffic is unlimited
  • The people coming to your site are very targeted - they clicked on your site because they are interested
  • It can last a long time! - sometimes you get ranked for an article and it stays there for years... continually getting you traffic

Sure you can run paid ads, but that is a lot more risky for newbies and can really burn a hole in your wallet fast.

Step 4: Apply for the Amazon Affiliate Program 

Now that you have your site up and running it is time to apply for the Amazon affiliate program.

After creating an Amazon account or logging into an existing one, you will have to fill out your profile and fill in some other information, such as...

  1. Account information - Your name and address
  2. Website information - List your site and provide some info on it, such as what it's about
  3. Profile - Will fill out a profile
  4. Identity verification - They will call you to verify your identity

It's a fairly straightforward process and nothing complicated really. You can get started on it here: https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/ but I'd wait until you finish reading this article so that you see how everything works and fits together.

Step 5: Now It's Time to Promote... Even Though You Aren't Approved Yet!

Now it's time to start promoting some products! The part you have been waiting for all along!

It's all about getting traffic to your website… If you aren't getting much traffic then that means you need to put out more content and get ranked more in Google.

But why would you be doing all of this before getting approved? 

What is the point of promoting Amazon products if you are not even part of the affiliate program yet?

Well… Believe it or not this is how the process works. You first have to make 3 qualifying sales in order to move forward with the application process. After making 3 sales they will then review your application and either accept it or reject it.

I believe it used to be just one sale back when I first applied in 2015, but they have since changed this.

Tip on Promoting:

There are a lot of ways you can go about incorporating affiliate links into your content and promoting products, but one way that I often suggest is what I call the "web" design.

You don't want there to be too many affiliate links all over the place. Google doesn't like this.

So what you do is create many different articles and point them to a small number of articles that are promoting something.  So it's like a big web catching all sorts of traffic and funneling it into a select few pages where you do have a bunch of affiliate links.

You don't have to do this all the time but I think it helps because it keeps your site cleaner and less saturated with such links.

Didn't Get Approved? This Might Be Why

If you get rejected, which is not very uncommon, this is usually because your website just doesn't provide enough valuable content.

Amazon is looking for some unique content. They don't want a website that just re-states exactly what the product descriptions are for products listed on Amazon. They want you to provide additional value.

So give your own opinion on things. And it definitely do not copy and paste… Always re-word as best you can.

If you got rejected you can always improve your website and then re-apply later that is what you wish to do.

Tips for Success

  1. Choose a niche you like
  2. Focus on quality over quantity
  3. Provide real value to your website visitors
  4. Use conversational tone when writing
  5. Don't overly saturate your website with affiliate links

A one of the tips that I am giving here are pretty much things that are common sense. If you focus on providing real value and helping out people, and you put in the work, then you more than likely are going to see success from this.... Assuming that you have done your keyword research correctly and are promoting relevant products.

Get PROVEN Affiliate Training and Tools for FREE

So obviously you are going to want some formal training when it comes to all of this. You don't want to go out and spend a bunch of time building out your website, creating content, only to find out that you have been doing it wrong.

And in addition to this you are also going to need tools, such as a platform to build your website on and a keyword research tool so that you can get ranked in Google.

My Suggestion: Wealthy Affiliate

Wealthy Affiliate is in affiliate marketing training platform that also provides all the tools necessary to get started, such as a website builder and keyword research tool as mentioned above.

Basically it is like an "all-inclusive" type of deal where you everything you need and don't have to go out elsewhere… Which makes it incredibly easy for beginners to get started.

And the awesome thing about it is that they have a free Starter Membership where you can get started without even entering your credit card information or anything.

  • Training
  • Tools
  • Community of experts
  • Support

... they provide it all.

And the reason I am recommending this place and like it so much is because this is actually where I started out back in 2015. And now I make a living doing this stuff and am very grateful for that.

You can create your free account at Wealthy Affiliate and get started here:


Or for more info:

At the very least you could create a free account and give it a "test drive" to see if you like it or not... and if not you can walk away no harm done.

Take care and I wish you the best of luck on your affiliate marketing journey. This can potentially be a lucrative opportunity but you must have patience and don't expect to "strike it rich" right from the start. 

There is lots to learn.

Questions or comments? Leave them below and I'll get back to you soon 🙂

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