How to Become an Amazon Associate and Make Your First 3 Sales

This post contains affiliate links. If a purchase is made by clicking on a link, I will get a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

‍

I signed up to be an Amazon Affiliate as soon as I started my blog back in January 2020. 

‍

I thought, I LOVE Amazon, I’ve practically shopped with them weekly since 2010. I knew it would be easy to promote them! I applied and got accepted right away, with the contingency of making 3 qualifying sales in 180 days. 

‍

3 sales? Super achievable. Or so I thought. January-no sales. February-no sales. March-no sales. April-no sales. I was really starting to sweat. 

‍

I remember jumping on chat with the Amazon affiliate team asking them about what would happen if I couldn’t make three qualifying sales in time. The Amazon employee was very nice and understanding and told me she sees it all the time, and it would be easy to reapply again.

‍

That’s comforting I thought, but then I had about 20+ blog posts at that time, and I imagined myself having to find my many links again and embed them in my posts-that is going to take forever! I thought - I do NOT want to have to go through that all over again.

‍

Ironically I had to re-input all my links anyway because I transferred my website from Wix to WordPress then I eventually migrated to Webflow. So if you don’t make your qualifying sales in the 180 days, do not fear having to add your links over again. 

‍

I kept plugging away though, kept writing blog posts, and by May, I got my 2/3 qualifying sales, and in June I got my 3/3 qualifying sale! And like that, I made my three sales before my 180 day deadline (July 2020). 

‍

Now I will be fully transparent with you guys. These three sales equated to a little over $0.75 in earnings revenue  because each item that was purchased was in the $6-$20 price range. Now I am totally fine with that because I am not a full time blogger, and 2020 being so unpredictable, I was definitely not consistent with blogging. Also, I am a mostly self-taught blogger, so it has taken months to kind of grasp the world of blogging (which I still have a long way to go!). 

‍

Signing up for Amazon Associates is free, so I didn’t lose out on anything. 

‍

As long as you have your three qualifying sales, you are locked in and an official Amazon affiliate! Be proud of this milestone! I know with more consistency and practice, I’ll start seeing that revenue increase. 

How to Become Approved as an Amazon Affiliate

‍

1. Sign up to be an affiliate on affiliate-program.amazon.com 

You will need to have your own website first to do this. When I joined in January, I think I had 2-3 published posts, so I don’t think it is absolutely crucial to have been blogging for a while or even to have a ton of published posts. Although, I have read that Amazon rejects applications without a lot of content.

2. Start using your affiliate links in your blog posts

Make sure to add in a FTC compliant disclosure, something like this: This post contains affiliate links. If a purchase is made by clicking on a link, I will get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Whether you use links or banners, I recommend adding in a few to give your readers options. Also, a tip I received is make sure your affiliate links stand out in your blog post. Bold, change the color so it is more visible. Feel free to use several links in a blog post. Things you may think, “well they don’t need to go to Amazon for this” LINK TO IT! I know I personally have bought stuff on Amazon that I can easily pick up at the grocery store or wherever, but I do so out of convenience. 

3. Promote your blog posts with your Amazon links via social media, friends and family 

Just make sure your friends and family are clicking through to your post via a social media platform like Instagram, Pinterest etc. because Amazon won’t mark your purchases as eligible if they think all your purchases are coming from your friends and family. Also don’t email/text your friends and family your blog post with the links, because Amazon is pretty smart and can tell where the source came from. They don’t necessarily care that a friend or family member is buying from your affiliate links, they just care that you are getting an actual following other than your ma and BFF.

4. Try and find other new bloggers that are in their 180-day probation period 

A fellow blogger from www.happybalancedhome.com reached out to me because she came across an article (about how to become approved as an affiliate) and saw that I commented on it, so she knew from my comment I was in the same boat as her. She sent me a simple request: I use her affiliate link to make a purchase, and she would do the same for me. This is a great way to support fellow bloggers by using their link to buy something you normally would have anyways on Amazon, even if it is a $5 item-it helps them to get a qualifying sale. 

5. Add affordable products 

If you have a link to something expensive, like this XMark Functional Trainer Cable Machine, chances of someone buying it right then and there are slim, especially if you are a new blogger, people might not quite trust you yet as an influencer. Try to add product links that are a bit middle of the road price wise-not too inexpensive and not too expensive. Remember, your audience doesn't have to buy the exact product you linked to, but as long as they use your link, and buy something else on Amazon within 24 hours of clicking on your link, you still will get credit for it! 

Are you a new blogger and want to become an Amazon affiliate but need help? Send me an email at [email protected] and I’d be happy to help you out with a qualifying sale!

‍