Is The Amazon Associates Program A Scam? – Crazy Earnings Claims

Want to learn how you can make a 5-7 figure income with Amazon Associates Program from home?

UHH Heck yes! That's the life - open up a laptop, sit for an hour to cash in your checks, and then go off and enjoy the rest of your day. Thanks to Affiliate Marketing, that's very possible for you and me.

Even more noise surrounding amazon Associates is that it's not worth your time, and that you'd be far off better partnering up with other associates, which begs the question. Is The Amazon Associates Program A Scam?

No. The amazon associates program might not be the easiest to earn your first $0.85 or your next dollar, but keep in mind this...

It's the most trusted affiliate program in the world, and easiest to partner up with!

In this Amazon Associates review, I'm going to show you why Amazon Associates is a must have associates program for beginners to expert internet marketers. If at any point you have a question, comment, or concern, there's a comment box at the very bottom of this article that you can go ahead and leave a message for me on, and I'll help you out fast.

At anytime If you have a question/comment/concerns/suggestions, feel free to leave me a comment down below, and I'll make sure to reply back to you straight away.

Amazon Associates Summary

Summary: Amazon's Associate program is an affiliate network that will help you get started in the world of online selling, and it has built up so much of a reputation that people are constantly turning to amazon to make a purchase. MILLIONS or people are selling through amazon and purchasing, so the world is open to you to make money with it.

Rating: 95/100

Recommended: Yes

UPDATE: I couldn't hold out on telling you until the "Amazon Alternative" section below, but Amazon has completely sliced down on commission rates for their affiliates!

It's so bad to the point that people are considering just dropping it all together or people with their current amazon sites switching links to other affiliate networks...

Amazon has gone as for as 1% to some of their niche categories...YES 1%. I know how that sounds, and I when I heard the news, my heart fell to the ground.  You can keep reading this to find out bout amazon's associate program and or go and see the list of 5+ great affiliate programs you can earn great money with here.

To see the commission rates, go down to the "Amazon Alternatives Section below"

What Is Amazon Associates?

Even after 3+ years as an amazon associates affiliate, I still ask myself this one question...

What is It? 

Why? Amazon Associates is nothing short of amazing, and it lives up to it's reputation as being the largest online retailer for physical products in the world and most attractive destination for affiliate marketers. A Goliath in nature and a "David" in fight.

It's no surprise why and how I get the goosebumps every time I earn a couple $100, and in the high 4 figures each day. Sounds too good to be true? I though so too until I drew up a scenario:

Let's say you've just come to the online web, and you're looking to partner up with an affiliate program that will allow you to not only earn an income, but to promote the best products in your industry. Where do you turn to?

The answer to you and MILLIONS of others would be Amazon. Owner and creator Jeff Bezos invested millions of his time and money to put this grand masterpiece of an online store and affiliate program just so you can "earn while you learn" to run your own online profitable home-based business.

Literally within a couple clicks and a quick signup sheet for Free, you can be an Amazon associate too!

The Amazon Associates has a higher conversion rate than any other affiliate network online, and that's because of Trust...

Imagine yourself coming to the internet to buy a good, you wouldn't go to an online retailer you didn't know, ever hear from, or have had somewhat of a relationship with would you?

Neither would anyone else. As a distributor this does a couple things for you:

1. You can sell more of a product
2. People love to buy
3. Amazon Has popular products you can feel happy promoting.

But before that, Let's see if the Amazon Associates Program is STILL profitable.

Is The Amazon Associate Program Profitable? Commissions...

Wait a minute! Before I try to show you how to get started setting up your account, let me get to the bottom of whether or not the amazon associates program is STILL profitable.

What do I mean by still exactly?

Well, Amazon's associate program has been opened for awhile, and yes many people have made 6-7 and even more with the program itself, but that was years back when competition was soft, and you could just go to Google and pay for ads to run.

Their commission structure keeps changing and now it's to the point where some niche categories like my other site in the health and wellness space earn 1% commissions....1 FREAKING PERCENT.

Here's a full list of their commission structure breakdown:

Before:

That's lower compared to other affiliate networks but Amazon is trustworthy so people will always by there. But here's after the latest commission cut effective as of April 21st 2020...

After:

THAT BLOWS! For someone like myself who has worked hard to get Amazon people in through the door, it's pathetic. At the bottom there with my other site at health(which you can't really see), it's at 1%.

Why did this happen?

Their's a full article you can read here from CNBC, but Amazon has to pay it's employee too, and it didn't really need the marketing at all. They hold just about all the market share in the US for retail spending, so people will flock to them anyways. But all the hardwork from people is not necessarily all for nothing...

But people who've become reliant on ONLY Amazon as their sole provider for earning money are being hit the most. That's why you don't put all your eggs in one basket!

There are alternative options which you'll find a section I made for you down below under "Amazon Associates Alternatives". Anyways here's a different and still possible view...

So in an essence, Amazon's Associates program is profitable but it's what you make it. Good to start in as a beginner and then move on.

Related: 5+ List of awesome affiliate programs that make you money.

Going Inside Amazon Associates

Are you ready to see how You can get started with Amazon Associates all the way to how you can find best selling products to promote?

Unlike myself when I first started in the amazon associates game making one mistake after the next in choosing good products to promote, I want to make your road less of a pain. 

Like anything, there are learning curves, and one MUST know how to do proper research. The difference between choosing a product that is low in popularity vs one that sells rapidly can make or break your amazon associates earning experience....

So let's get you signed up first.

Affiliate Sign Up

STEP 1: To participate in the Amazon associates program you need to sign up for an account. This is standard procedure for any affiliate program. Here's the web-page you'll see:

If you haven't already signed up, go ahead and click on the "Join Now for Free" button on the right of your screen.

STEP 2: Enter in your email and password. If you already have a regular amazon account, you'll be asked to put in your password under your email address like so:

After I've logged in, I'll be shown the following screen:

For this case, because I have setup my own account and I don't need to fill out each area again, and for the sake of not creating a whole new amazon account, I can skip this signup part. 

But you would go through setting up the following:

• Website and mobile app use
• Your profile
• Your Identity verification 

And then you can start using amazon associates.

One thing I need to mention is if you need a website? Short answer is no. Amazon recommends that it's better that you have your own website and blog because it has the greater number of purchase. Other than a site what can you use?

YouTube. The mecha of video, YouTube is a great place to setup your product reviews, build your relationshipup with your audience and the best part of all...

You can put your affiliate link in the description like in one of mine:

As you can see, in the description I've placed a short description and after follows my amazon affiliate link. I'll show you how to get access to your links here in a short minute.

This was a video I did way back on June 7th, 2018, and It's got a good depth of reviews and views on YouTube.

Before I go further into using a website or not for Amazon Associates, let's talk about how to locate your links for a product!

STEP 3: Acquiring Your Links.

Once you've setup your free registration with the Amazon Associates Affiliate Program, then you'll want to navigate to your home menu tab as seen below:

To the right of your home tab, you'll get menus like Product linking, Promotions, Tools, Reports, and Help.

For this part, you only need to use the Home page to find your affiliate products links that you're going to promote.

On the screen in yellow reads quick links: search for product. And under neath that, is where you will type in your keyword product. For example:

If I wanted to use my Penetrex Pain Relief Cream from the exampled video up above, I'd type in "Penetrex" and hit Go or enter on your laptop.

My results:

To the left I'm shown a visual of my product, in the middle is the description and to the right are the links. 

Before you select one, you should have an idea of what you are looking for. For instance...

Before looking up your product ID here, It's best practice to go to the amazon home page and research your product there a bit more(and I'll get to proper research here in a bit don't worry).

STEP 4: Select Get Link or the drop down arrow. 

There are two ways to grab your link:

1. Picture mode. You'll be shown an image of your product that you can place directly into your blog.
2. Raw Link URL. You can use the direct link URL and hide it under some text. This works well when you want to hide the link in your blog post, or if you want to directly place it into your YouTube description.

Either way Is acceptable, but if you asked me...

I use the Raw Link URL most of the time, just because it looks neat when covered in text and it doesn't look like I'm trying to promote a product as highly.

So let's say I selected the first Penetrex product ont he results page, and clicked "Get Link". This is what I'll see:

Nothing fncy here but an image with a call to action button. You can even customize the colors for background, title and Price color. And underneath that is your code to place in your website:

Simply, copy and paste this HTML into your websites HTML code editor(I'll show you how to here soon).

What if you just wanted to use the Raw Link URL?

Here's what to do:

STEP 1: Click on the down arrow and the following screen will appear:

Thereafter, you can press on Highlight HTML and copy. Then, you can immediately head on over to your blog website or YouTube channel and place it in the description.

Now that you know how to signup for the amazon associates program, and how to get your links for your products, let's talk about whether you should use a website or not, and then we'll go into how to select the right products!

Do You Need A Website Or Not?

If I made a penny for every time I was asked this question, I'd be a rich man, and in less than a year. So which one is it?

Yes you do. Even if you were thinking about doing social media(which you just shouldn't rely on that source) or putting up a YouTube channel on your reviews, Amazon will check after a period of time to see if you have at least a website up and running.

I personally would say that you should start off with a website, especially if you are someone who right now is camera shy like I am.

As an introvert, I wanted to spend more time using a website as opposed to doing any kind of video, on camera or not. And for a couple of other factors:

1. You have your own virtual real estate.
2. I could write reviews about products I had not tried myself without feeling guilty.

Number one is HONESTLY the most important one. The greatest advantage of having your own website is that you own your own land, and it's not up to Google or someone else to take that away from you.

Imagine this...

What if Google who owns YouTube decided to change the algorithms or completely shut down YouTube?

Your reviews about your products and channel would suffer, and it could go away. And even though the Google search algorithms change, you can establish a proper authority from ranking your website on the first page of google...

That's called Search Engine Optimization.

Benefit #1: Search Engine Optimization

Great, you've signed up for amazon associates program, you even have in mind your product, but you need to get it in front of your audience. How do you complete this feat?

Find out what people are searching for online. Through proper keyword research, you can find out what people are typing into google, and you can place your reviews and highly informational website blog in front of them.

According to the Balance Small Business, blogging is the most common way to make money with the Amazon associates program.

There are three stages to someone searching online:

• Cold traffic. This is a person who is like to be searching for informational posts like "how to" "what are" "can I". He/she is problem aware but doesn't know what they desire exactly and the solution.
• Warm Traffic. This person falls under someone looking for product reviews, and has a desire but doesn't know the solution. 
• Hot Traffic. This type of traffic(people) are ready to buy from you now, and are looking for "offer intent" type keywords Like "buy Samsung TV".

Benefit #2: Websites Build Trust

Put yourself in your buyers mind, and think about what they want more than anything. Is it the product?

Can be, but most of the time it is the person they are buying from. People buy from people, and 9/10 times they usually want the bonuses and relationship that come with it.

With your own website you can have your own about me page, about us, your reviews and so much more. You can be as descriptive as you like, and the more the better.

People naturally gravitate to the benefits of a product and not the features, and with written out in detail about your products benefits, you can score an extra $100 or so faster than you would with a video. 

And your future customers can rad more about you and get a better feeling that you are an authority in what you are saying.

Benefit #3: More Conversions

As a beginner(if you are), you're likely just thinking that you want someone to land on your reviews or product pages and make a purchase and that's it, goodbye.

But as a seasoned veteran amazon affiliate, I know all too well that the money is in the follow up. What do I mean?

Did you know that you can't control the people that land on your page once they get taken over to amazon and purchase?

Yes, they might purchase the product you worked so hard to write your review on, but after, they will be up sold my amazon on more related products like so:

Something like in the image above or similar is what you'll see when you have your own products to promote. Amazon is going to up-sell them at the checkout, where they make their real money.

What if you could get a piece of that?

I don't know about you, but the concept of getting a Long term customer sounds ideal. 

Exclusive Access Inside To My Amazon Niche Website

Just in case you thought I was kidding, let me show you a bit about what I was able to do with the amazon associates program and with my website:

Like I mentioned earlier, I have a site based on the back pain space, specifically in the lower back pain for people getting back into work and athletes.

This is part of my home page you're seeing, and there's so much more like structuring your home page which you'll learn about, and how to carve out a money making amazon niche site.In fact...

There's an article I have access to that will show you how to create a 6 figure website for amazon associates and other related affiliate networks!

That's for later when you decide if you want to partner up with me 🙂

Anyways, let me show you a couple of snapshots of how that could look like and I'll have a video to go along with it where I showed a review for some products on my YouTube channel.

Here's the next product:

The bottom part of it:

And the call to action:

And here's a video review of how these posts can look like as well as how a YouTube Channel was my second addition to my blog.

What Is LTV?

There are competitors that you'll come across in your niche/space, so you should start focusing on building a relationship on the front-end so you can aquire the long term value of your customer.

Rather than the person who has just bought from you or will in the future, you can guarantee this...

they will buy from you again and again instead of going over to your competitors. If that's not ringing bells yet, let me say it...

More money for you! How do you do this though?

I introduce to you a web page:

YouTube Amazon Associates

You think I was going to leave out the YouTube section?

Ofcourse not. Just because I prefer you have your own website blog, I still think YouTube is a great "addition" to exploding your side income and make it your full-time income.

Just imagine how much you could sell if your video ranked on one of the top 3 spots in YouTube. You can almost feel and see how many views you would be getting, which surely translates into sales right?

Wrong. Views are important, as so are subscribers, but just because your video gets played a ton, doesn't necessarily translate into sales. So what do you do?

Make sure that:

• You optimize your video with a great hook, story, and offer
• Create and irresistible bonus(if you can)
• Offer discounts
• Be real
• Be helpful, informative, educational

I went ahead and made a video on how you can use the amazon associates program without a website just below...

How To Select A Proper Product Without Losing Money

Alright, this is the foundation of your amazon associates career. In order to select the right product, you're going to have to know what Niche to go into.

What's A Niche?

This is an audience or a group of people that yu're focused on serving and promoiting your products to.

There are markets like:

1. Health and wellness
2. Dating and Relationships
3. Make money online
4. Luxury
5. Camping
6. Technology

and so much more that you can find a list of in the vault.

But the point is that you choose a category and you focus on an audience that would be interested in what you have to offer. If you were to sell to everyone, you would NEVER succeed. You might make a dollar here and there but it will not be consistent, and you'll likely give up.

Here's a better example:

I started in the health and wellness space helping people with lower back pain - specifically people getting back to the workforce. That's niched down. 

NOTE: Start with a broad category and then go smaller.

I show that more in this video:

STEP 2: Selecting Your Product

After you've formed an idea through your interests, hobbies, or passion, then it's time to find out what products to select.

STEP 2a: What I like to do is head over to the amazon home page and select the departments section.

Once here, you can select a category. For this example, lets do "Beauty and Health"(scroll down to find it).

From this drop down, you can see the "nicher" departments. You can select any and you'll be brought to the products page. In this case, let's do Men's Grooming.

Now you'll see the best sellers, below will be the recommended for you, top rated and so on.

STEP 2b: Check out best sellers. As you can see, these are the popular buys, and one other thing too...

The reviews. Take a look at how many reviews each product is getting. If they are at least over 100 that's a healthy sign of a product selling. If it's in the 1,000's even better.

You can generate ideas about men's grooming by looking at each product. And each one can have its own separate review.

The Search Approach

What if I revealed to you a sure way of super targeting what products you choose?

This is what is called the amazon search bar approach. If you head on over to the search bar in the home menu, you can type in a couple of "keywords" related to your niche. For this example, I've already gone ahead and used the following:

"Lower back pain relief"

You can't see it in the image above but as soon as I started to type in lower back, I got an instant amount of related searches like:

• lower back brace
• lower back pain relief
• lower back support
• lower back massager

and so on. If I extended these keywords a bit further before pressing enter, I would get more super targeted ideas. Let's take the keyword :lower back massager...

After I typed in lower back massager, I was presented with the following:

• lower back massager for chair
• lower back massager for car
• lower back massager belt

And as they say "the list goes on and on".

With these two different types of searches, you should have no problem coming up with product reviews, and offers to place in front of your core audience when you go and write that next blog post or produce your future YouTube video.

• Also, according to NicheHacks, there are tons of expensive amazon products that you can choose from that will sell like Hot cakes!

You have a niche, you've selected your product, now you're ready for this next jam packed action part...

Get the Traffic! Let's take a deep look inside...

Traffic Galore

You're just one foot away from striking gold, but you need to get that traffic if you're trying to make a sale and maintain your online business. So how do you begin?

As I eluded to up above, you need content!

YIKES! This is the truth nobody likes hearing, especially you, I know I've been in your shoes 😉

Not only do you need your unique content publishing skills but you need a place to store it all. Will it be:

• Your social media channel?
• Quora?
• Your brain?

While all these are solid answers, you MUST use a either a website or your YouTube channel if you want to stand a chance at succeeding long term. Look, I know you want to use Instagram and Facebook to sell your affiliate products, but like in this video, I state this...

You can sell products on your social media channel, but what if Facebook changes its algorithms, Facebook goes away?

BOOM! you've just lost your audience, and they are not traffic that you can control. 

Yes, you could potentially hook up an email autorepsonder so you can collect peoples emails and have traffic that you can control, but people do not want to be sold to, they are following you for a couple reasons:

• To be entertained
• Learn from you

If all people wanted were products and no relationship behind it all, we would all be millionaires in this online affiliate game.

Rapping your head around how to sell your affiliate products on social media without your own website or YouTube channel is a bit of a hassle, because you don't have content to share with them...

You're just another sells-man, not an online marketer of any sorts.

If you need help starting your own website, I know of a place to can get you started with a free website and mind-blowing training on how to get your blog and amazon associates business up and running fast.

Affiliate Business Models

Up till this point you've heard me talk about how you can become an "affiliate" of a product, but I want to go deeper into what that actually means.

In my career as a home-based business owner with the amazon associates program and other multiple streams of Income, I've seen various ways people are pushing amazon products, and here are the two I want to share with you:

Method #1: Amazon FBA

Otherwise known as Amazon Fulfillment By Amazon, this business model where you as the affiliate will let amazon pick, pack and ship your orders.All you do is sell it, and Amazon ships your product.

With the fulfillment by amazon method, you store products inside Amazons fulfillment centers

Here's how it works step-by-step:
STEP 1:You send ypur physical product to Amazon

STEP 2: Amazon stores the product(s) in the warehouse

STEP 3: When a customer orders your product, amazon will pick, pack and ship your orders - as well track.

STEP 4: Any refunds and returns get handled by Amazon and not you.

Pros and Cons of Amazon FBA:

Pros:

• Amazon does all the customer support so you don't have to worry about working with angry or stressful customers and situations.
• No hassle of shipping and returns for you. This ensures you don't have to make mistakes packaging and stressing out about fulfilling complete orders.
• Automatic Prime. When you sign up for your amazon FBA account, you automatically qualify for shipping  so every member can get 2-day shipping

Cons:

• Losing track of inventory. If you have tons of products you are fulfilling and at a rapid pace, it's likely that not all of your products will sell. You'll get stale products sitting in the warehouse.
• Difficult to ship your products to amazon. At times it can be difficult not to mention stressful getting your product over to Amazons warehouse. Why? Amazon has a very specific and unique ASIN/UPC system and you have to label each and every product individually, pack them into multiple shipments, and send them off to Amazons Warehouse.
• Not beginner friendly. Another thing I looked at when trying out amazon FBA was that you need a mentor who has profited and knows their way around. Otherwise, you'll just be running around in circles.
• Can't automate the process. The thing I look for when I do anything amazon associates related or selling physical and digital products online is if I can automate the process. Can I put the work upfront and make it passive in other words? If not, it's just like having another job.

This is what we also call being an amazon seller.

You can build your business on amazon if you choose not to run your own website but...

If you plan to become an amazon seller on Amazons platform as opposed to owning your own website, then it can be done as long as you understand how to start an amazon seller account AND merge it with a funnel.

What's a funnel? 

It's like walking into a garden center, buying a plant and then the next thing the employee walks you through are a pot to go with the flowers, then the soil for the plant, a shovel to move the dirt and put it back, and then maybe a garden center for your home.

This is known as the buyers journey. There are so many reasons why you'd need a funnel instead of just hosting your business on Amazon, here are the pros and cons:

Pros:

• Massive Traffic
• Higher Conversion Rates
• Logistics Handled By Amazon

Cons:

• You don't own your customer
• Insane Competition 
• What if you get banned? Then what?

Most people try to bounce back by saying that they just need to start an Ecommerce store with Shopify and that'll solve all their problems, but that doesn't! It creates more, like:

• Your competing against amazon
• You have no brand/trust

OH YEAH...You still need to write great copy(copywrite), ads, great emails, add more social media platforms, blogs, websites, etc. And I almost forgot, YOU have to handle the fulfillment. But what if there was a better way?

That's where the funnels come in to the mix. If you could put one dollar in and get two dollars back, that's a profit. As well, build a stronger brand, relationship and get people to buy from you over and over again - repeat buyers.

Here's how to get started step-by-step:

STEP 1: Sign up for an amazon seller account here. This is the page you'll see on the other side:

Once you click on "Register Now", you'll be redirected to your amazon associates count if you have one, or you will create a new one.

STEP 2: Enter your details:

You'll start from "seller agreement and finish off on "product information". 

NOTE: If you setup your amazon associates account at the very beginning of this article, AND if you've had a website running, it's very easy to use your business name. Or if you have your niche picked out or a more broad store to start, go with a name for it.

Model #2: Amazon With Shopify

A second way to get in with the amazon associates program is by starting your own online store. 

With the shopify concept, you'll dissect yourself into the eCommerce world, and it'll be less about the producing long written forms of content, rather you'll just grab some amazon products of your choice, and place them on your Shopify platform.

And although there are many other ways you can earn with a shopify store outside of just the amazon retailer, Amazon is the most trustworthy. Here are the pros and cons:

Pros:

• Get your account up and running fast. With Shopify, all you need to do is sign up, choose a free trial and thereafter you'll get billed around $28/Month.
• WordPress Compatibility. The benefit of having a shopify store is that you can use a third party service like WordPress for the SEO(search engine optimization). The best way to get a WordPress server going is with Bluehost. This will ensure that your products be visibly seen within google search.
• Larger Profit margins. One thing about having a store is that you can place products of low and very high cost, which allows you to profit more.
• Using Funnels. One of the most attractive ways to get more eyeballs and customers to land on your product is by using sales funnels. Rather than sending someone directly to your store, you can start the relationship building by introducing yourself, offering your prospect a freebie in exchange for an email address, and then on the Next page(Thank you page) you tell them about what they will expect and to click on over to buy from you, upsell them , and then send them over to your store at the end.

Cons:

• Can get stuck without doing any proper SEO. Others might disagree with me, but I think starting up a store straight from the gates can be rewarding yet an uphill battle if you don't have your SEO done appropriately. Sometimes you'll run into competition so you have to do your best to make sure you have a USP - unique selling proposition. 
• Spending on ads. If you're a beginner, you might not want to pull the trigger on ads just yet, but I see so many people go this route and lose. You still have Social media like Instagram and Facebook to get organic traffic over to your store, why not try it that way?

The next model is my all time favorite, especially if you're thinking about going the shopify route because you can turn your website blog into what's called a "hybrid".

Model #3: Affiliate Marketing

You guessed it if you haven't already...Affiliate Marketing. The holy grail?

Before I started this article you would have guessed that being an affiliate of the amazon associates program would have to do with pure affiliate marketing right?

Well you guessed it right. And I'm happy you did, because you are in the right state of mind to listen to this next part.

The most popular way to utilize the amazon associates program is through affiliate marketing. It's so popular and hands off, that it's a no-brainier for every beginner and expert alike.

All you have to do is drive the traffic on over to your offer, get them to press on your affiliate link, and once they get to the retailer and make a purchase, you get the commission!

Let's take at the pros and cons for amazon affiliate marketing:

Pros:

• No need to deal with customer support, prevents the struggles and stress of having to deal with people. Once someone makes the purchase, they go their way, and you go yours. Unless you want a repeat customer, get them onto your email list, and promote to them more.
• Automated passive income. Yes! I like to setup my systems and automate them, don't you? Well, with affiliate marketing, you can rack up some serious money but you can also keep it rolling on automation. How? With your website blog and YouTube efforts, along with gaining some fan acquisition strategies on your social media channels.
• Work from home. The most obvious is that you get to work from the comfort of your own home selling someone else's product. When I first started as an amazon associate, I was building at work, and when I got off, I was able to do more at home and earn at the same time.
• Start up a website blog and then start a Shopify store later. This is not a must, but lets say you have all these reviews and "best of reviews", then you can dabble with a Shopify store which is known as a "hybrid". And if it works good. But if it doesn't, you can always come back to your affiliate marketing roots. It's a safe bet. Plus, you've already done the SEO part which is awesome!

Plus, to add on to that last bullet point, having a blog with a shopify store combined is an Eccommerce dream!  Here's a video on that:

Want to focus on blogging for SEO and then later turn it into a hybrid with a shopify store? Check out my #1 recommendation here.

Cons:

• Smaller ticket offers. One of the flaws as the amazon affiliate program has is that you get a window of about 2-10% commissions depending on which category you are in. This can mean that you'd have to sell a boatload of products over and over just to keep a part time and even full time online income. Nonetheless, it can be done when you have the right training and skills in place like I was able to.
• Up-sells. You don't control the up-sell, only Amazon does.This is not something you need to worry as much if you're getting consistent and targeted traffic to your blog or YouTube channel though, as I've been able to.
• Competition. Ofcourse there are other people that will be competing in your own space, so what do you do? Be unique and different. Why should someone buy from you as opposed to your competitor? Offer discounts, create a greater article, do what your competitors are not.

Now that you know more about affiliate marketing(maybe you did prior), Here's where I answer if you need a website for Affiliate marketing to be successful:

Who is Amazon Associates For?

Can you do it? For starters, how will you ever know if you don't try?

The number 1 reason and I mean this when I say why most people will fail is because they lack consistency. 

I've seen it WAY too many times in my affiliate marketing journey, and I'll continue to see people flop on the spot. Why does it happen?

People have this perception that they don't need to put any effort, that all they need to do is grab their link and shove it down someone else's throat and get them to buy. UHHH Heck No!

I have this happen to me tons on my social media channels, where someone send me a direct message about buying their health products or whichever, and I turn them down without saying a word....Deleted.

That's why I emphasize to get your website going, and then move into doing amazon affiliate marketing without a website(YouTube), so you can expand into more channels after you focus on one at a time.

But who's the program really for though?

• For anyone who wants to make money online
• For stay at home moms and dads
• Retirees
• People tired of their 9-5 job
• Part time workers
• Full time workers

Overall, The Amazon Associates program is for everyone and anyone.

Amazon Associates Alternatives

Why I Joined The Amazon Associates Program

Shocking that I have a story?

In every sense not on the fact that just about every beginner goes and starts with the Amazon Associates program,because they want to make an income, but they fail to realize there is more in it then money - where my case was different.

I didn't always have it all, I knew that I wanted to find a better way to earn money, to give back to the people(my parents) who financially have been with me every step of the way, to make something more of myself and get away from what people call the "norm" of going to school and then finding work...

I remember it very vividly, sitting snug inside my office chair inside my cubicle at work, and I had feel like someone had just pinched me in the shoulder.

There was my supervisor waking me out of my imaginary world, out of the "what if" I just went back to school and took on another year and a half just to finish my College Bachelors degree?

I'd had it...

I was tired of feeling under-appreciated, under-valued, under-paid, to the point that I couldn't open my eyes in such a hurry in the morning to get ready to face the dreaded day of my 9-5.

Anyways. I was contemplating whether I needed to go back to school or take up some certifications through a platform called edX, an online training platform.

I didn't have the time to think, I had to get back up and do some slaving away with physical stocking, moving heavy media boxes for a contracting company serving Hewlett Packard(HP), and I was tired of it.

About an hour after moving boxes around, riding a forklift, I finally had a break at my cubicle.

Literall this is how it looked:

Nothing fancy, literally a concrete floor and like a 5' x 5' cubicle. There I was sitting just thinking to myself, it's time to make a change - a better job...

After all, my supervisor who I thought would retire, never came around to see that light. It wasn't until my second break in the afternoon that I received a message from a friend of mine named Tyson. In case you think I'm making up a fake name, here's his profile: Tyson Mike.

Don't go on messaging him now haha. Further on, we caught up, with a quick conversation, the type that goes like so:

Tyson: "Hey Michael, how's life?" Me: Life's great! How are things on your end Tyson?

I mean, life's always good, but my work life, and times of contemplation were on a whole new level. Nonetheless, he told me about his trucking business that he owned, and I went on about business and school, then that's when it came about...

Tyson went on to tell me about this thing called affiliate marketing, and how people were making a serious living with it, and how interent marketing was about to change the world.

HA! I didn't say it out loud or directly, but It popped into my head. Who in their right mind for the first time would think that you can make money from the internet that is HUGE money, passive, and a stable one?

Especially by not holding any inventory, having your own product, like what the hell right?

Come to think of it, I took the bait. Later that afternoon after work, I LITERALLY rushed home, popped open the good old HP laptop that was slow as hell with bugs, and started researching every blog post and YouTube video.

WOAH! This might just work out you know. I didn't put much thought into it. and who would, and with a busy job and life. But I soon realized something shocking to me at the time.

No matter how life gets, there's always a better door just waiting to be knocked on, and this one was mine.

So, the next day at work, there I was reading Blogs, Watching a guy named Neil Patel, and people Like Odi, and I put my Iphone away until I got home from work. 

It was then that I found out that I could create a site, place product on it, and make money. After learning about niche selection, and having a product, I set up a couple account for a Weebly website and Wix. 

I started writing content around the health and wellness - lower back pain space, put some products up and BANG!

Not quite, but it'd take time from what I read to have people come over to your site. Guess what happened?

Nothing! Why? For one, I had a free site with no proper blog server, and I had done my content research and writing in the wrong way!

I put the laptop down full of frustration for the night. The next day, I picked up where I left off, not letting something small break me down. I went onto Google and searched up a hosting company with proper domain and blogging capabilities that would enable my content to be seen on the web.

Within a matter of minutes, I became a member of a Hosting Platform called Hostgator. I purchased my own domain Remove Back Pain, and that's when I really learned the value of what a WordPress Website was capable of doing.

A WordPress Server would allow my blog to be show to the MASSES! Not to mention, Google would find it and rank my blog on the first page of Google. This meant more eyes on my site and articles, and more clicks on my post with my affiliate links to the products.

I thought I had it made now. But BOOM!

Again, another mistake. I didn't have the right training! If I would have spent the first two months with proper training, and not just watching one YouTube video after the next, or reading another blog, I would have had my foundation set properly...

 It's kind of like hiring someone to do concrete work - who has the knowledge and skills to do it better and faster, as opposed to you or I who is unskilled...

Meaning more labor for us. So, there I went back stuck to my desk chair at home this time going back to Google to research training. After typing in a phrase like "How to start a blog and something else", I came across a few search results.

One stood out the most...Went by the name of Wealthy Affiliate.

It showed me that I could create a website blog out of literally anything I wanted:

• A passion
• Interest
• Hobby

Pshh...Training on this had to be fake right? No it wasn't though. I made what I thought was going to be a BIG jump at the time for me to take the training. Fortunately, the training was free to get started.

Bells rang loudly in my ears, and loud screams went around in my thoughts with a YES!We have a Winner!  

Ever since then, I hadn't looked back, and I've been generating a full-time income with my amazon niche website with Remove Back Pain. Feel free to look it up for proof.

What I Like About Amazon Associates

One of my favorite aspects about Amazon affiliate marketing is that it is really easy to get started and once you have your site and or traffic sources up and running correctly, they can be automated.

This program offers you a no hassle way to start and you can't go wrong partnering up with the most trustworthy retailer out on the market place. 

Other than that, It offers a wide range of products that are proven and tested. So many people are buying from Amazon because of name brands. And with other type of affiliate networks, that's not always the case.

What I Didn't Like About Amazon Associates

3 Amazon Associates Growth Tips For Social Media Success

Want 3 Amazon Associates growth tips to increase your social media growth?

Look, along with having a website and a YouTube channel, you can and should use social media as a complementary tool, but how?

Here are 3 amazing tips:

1. Focus on one social media platform and become pro at it. I've seen to many times people fail to get any traction in affiliate marketing or any other business model because they don't focus on one main stream of traffic. And like building content through other outlets, you will NEED to choose one social media platform and go 100% with it. I use Facebook, and specific strategies like optimizing my profile, adding a Business Manager, posting on my newsfeed, and running a group. 
2. Network! You're on social media to be social, so don't be afraid or have a fear of reaching out to other people in your own space and make yourself known. When people add you, or you add them, give them a simple "hey, how are you?". This will go a long ways.
3. Offer Value. How can you sell your amazon affiliate products without being "salesy?" Well, become a better marketer by providing value instead of offering a pitch to a product. I'll help and show you how to do this and make well over $100/day.

So I made this blueprint that will show you 4 more advanced strategies to accelerate your amazon associates earnings through social media you can have for free:

Is Amazon Associates Worth It? - My Final Verdict

Without a shadow of a doubt 100%, Amazon associates program is not a scam and it is worth your time, especially as a beginner.

I know it can be confusing at times where to begin and end since there are so many affiliate programs, but you can't go wrong with amazon associates since it is the biggest online retailer on the web and people are constantly looking for a new item.

With so many products and niches to choose from, you can target your specific audience, find your dream customers, and place your products in front of them so they buy, and you can get repeat business by collecting those emails!

Whether you have a website or not, I suggest you start with one, focus on your blog and then expand into other channels like YouTube, and find more ground with Social Media channels. In fact, If you are wanting to start you own website, I know of the best place for you to begin...

Within a matter of minutes, you'll have your Free sub-domain and WordPress ready website ready to go. You can check out my full review on what I'm talking about in my in-depth review below: