Amazon Associates
July 16th, 2008
If you’re looking for a way to monetize your website content look no further than one of the first and largest online affiliate programs, Amazon Associates. In 1996 when we were building our first websites, Amazon Associates was pretty much the ONLY way to monetize a site. The program works on a referral basis: You send your visitors to Amazon, the visitorss make a purchase, you get to keep a portion of the sale (around 5% or so).
Over the years Amazon Associates has added features and tools that give webmasters unmatched flexibility in generating referrals. I won’t get into all the different link types and web services that Amazon makes available through the affiliate program but suffice it to say if you can imagine it, they’ve done it. From Omakase banners, individual product links, custom storefronts, and much more, Amazon continues to push innovation in the affiliate game.
Our experience with Amazon Associates has been mainly positive over the 10 years or so that we’ve been members. Amazon has among the highest conversion rates in the industry meaning once you send your visitors to Amazon they’re more likely to make a purchase than on any other site. For example, our Amazon referrals convert to purchase around 3-5% of the time while other programs we’ve been in usually see 1% or less.
Amazon also offers products for virtually every niche you can possibly imagine, meaning there is a good chance that Amazon carries products your site visitors will enjoy. Of course there are books on just about every subject imaginable (and Amazon carries more of them than anyone else) but don’t forget about other stuff. Running a camping website? You can easily link your visitors to tents, sleeping bags, and camp stoves for sale on Amazon. Search the site for yourself and you’ll be amazed at what Amazon is selling these days.
Many webmasters use the Amazon Associates program as an important source of revenue and you should definitely consider it for your site as well. It’s free to sign up and low risk - the only thing you can lose is your time in adding the links to your site!
