Amazon’s affiliate program, is probably one of the most interesting affiliate programs on the market. With complete integration throughout their website and support within blogspot for affiliate links. According to “10 Best Affiliate Programs” by David Wetzel, they are the best affiliate program. This ranking is based on both the way that the affiliate program works as well as Search Engine Optimisation. Amazon has become a household name, with the addition of Amazon Marketplace they have grown into selling a wide range of goods and can service niche markets as well as the general public.
Highlights
- Wide range of products are sold both on Amazon and Amazon marketplace.
- Your own affiliate store where you can choose the products.
- The ability to link to specific items or products.
- Top bar which is displayed throughout the amazon site for ease of use.
- Social networking integration for both Blogspot and twitter.
- Range of tools available including banners, product links and widgets.
- Product advertising API for advanced functions and deep level coding.
- Good communication with affiliates.
aStore
The aStore is Amazon’s strongest and most individual store. As an affiliate you can build your own store which could either be linked to or embedded into a website. This is an incredibly strong tool, allowing users to easily customise the content of Amazon into specific information for their clientele. You can add goods by category or individually either while browsing the Amazon site or searching for the item by keyword or ISBN/ASIN.
Widgets
Amazon has developed a range of widgets for the web designer, they give you snippets of code and enable you to do anything from displaying the latest deals to searching Amazon. There are currently 12 of them in total. Some are more customisable than others, but all could be useful.
Links and Banners
They also allow you the traditional advertising method of banners. Banner advertising used to bring in a lot of revenue when people first started using the internet. But as time has gone by the general internet public have been desensitised to flashing banner ads.
This is where intelligent linking has more to offer. Amazon allows and even encourages deep linking of products and makes it incredibly easy to do so. With the product linking you have two real options, you can text link or include an image. This means that if you are writing on your blog or company website, you can mention a book or product and you directly link to that specific product. This forms a useful link for your reader and for yourself as well as a higher conversion rate, because they are already interested in the product after reading your article.
Product Advertising API
The API is primarily for developers. It usually involves a lot more knowledge of code, howeve,r it offers the potential of higher commission rates, up to 15%. This allows developers to develop in one of five programming languages, giving greater freedom and flexibility, as opposed to copying and pasting HTML.
Social Networking integration
While it is easy while browsing Amazon to purchase any item, Amazon has also built in compatibility with both twitter and Blogspot. While browsing the website with twitter a user can share any page right from Amazon to their twitter account. Obviously with the ease of retweeting if you hit upon something useful for your followers they might retweet with your affiliate's link, earning you a commission.
With regards to Blogspot, it has a tool to share products and advertisements on the side of the page without having to go to an external page. All product searches and links can be done from the Amazon sidebar once enabled. This gives you the ability to control the products you advertise. You can advertise the products you are writing about, whether it be a new book or clothing.
Communication
Amazon will send out periodic emails advising of higher sales items and any associated advertising method they have introduced. This is a useful way for even an established Amazon affiliate to stay on top of the ball and possibly drive sales in a different area.
Further Consideration
Which affiliate program you choose is up to you. I think that Amazon is one of the most versatile programs, and it is a trusted household name. The various tools means that you choose how you would like to utilise it within your site. It could enable you to effectively have a site shop with relevant information, or simply a banner ad.
To find out more about other affiliate programs and general background reading on affiliates please look through the articles below.
Overview of affiliate programs
Guide on how to make money through affiliate sites
Jonathan Fant - I have worked in Youth based Charities, I am currently working as a Learning Support Assistant. I have experience primwith ...
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