After I had blogged for a while, I noticed that a lot of my favorite bloggers tried to make money as an Amazon affiliate. They have links to Amazon on their website, recommending products. For example, they write articles like “The Best Holiday Gifts for Your Globetrotting Friend”.
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So I decided to look into this whole Amazon Associate program and give it a try.
What is an Amazon Affiliate?
If some one clicks on an Amazon link and orders, Amazon will pay a small commission to the blogger. It doesn’t cost the buyer anything. So it sounds like a nice passive income stream for the blogger.
After clicking, any item you buy in the next 24 hours on the same computer / phone will count towards the commission calculation.
Making money the easy way sounds good, eh? Or does it sound too good to be true?
Can You Make Money that Way?
Yes, many bloggers get substantial income from it. Later I found out that many bloggers did not make any money though. But a few years ago, I signed up as an Amazon affiliate and started dreaming.
As an optimist I figured I would start earning money when my readers would shop at Amazon via Our Carpe Diem link
2022 Amazon Affiliate Update: Nope!
Rewriting this article to let y’all know that this way of making money simply wasn’t worth it. After giving it the old college try, I haven’t had any profits from all my hard work.
Should I Use it for My Own Blog?
Of course you can! But frankly, I don’t think you should. There are better ways of making money! If you do it anyway, be prepared for hard word without much or any payoff.
One caveat to keep in mind: you do need to get 3 qualified sales in the first 180 days. If you are unable to do so, you will be kicked out of the program. Happened to me a few times.
Conclusion
Don’t expect easy and fast riches as an Amazon Associate. Instead, check out Better Ways to Make Money!
If you are a blogger, are you making money as an Amazon affiliate?
P.S. Stop Buying Things!
Maybe instead of buying more stuff on Amazon, consider more travel or at least a Year Without Shopping
Or go Watch Whales in Quebec City or Birding in the Everglades. Heck, you could even Bungee Jump off the Space Needle!
Comments
51 responses to “Making Money as an Amazon Affiliate. Or Not…”
I need to sign up for this! Thank you!
Yes, go for it, Lindsey! It seems like an easy way to make money, let’s see whether it works as well as I am dreaming 😀
Good luck on your sign up and affiliate marketing, let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you for stopping by and commenting!
I’ve included links in several of my posts now and have had 86 clicks. I have earned $0.00. I keep meaning to have a look at all of those I AM A PASSIVE INCOME MULTIMILLIONAIRE pins I have saved.
https://www.melanie.city/
That sounds frustrating, Melanie! I have had 5 clicks so far and no conversion yet, but I am hoping that people will use my link for holiday shopping.
Yes, reading those passive income millionaire pins would be good, I will join you in reading them and hopefully get some passive income via my amazon affiliate links.
Blogging is fun, but I have found it hard to generate income this way. Still, even learning what does NOT work is a valuable experience. At least, that is what I keep telling myself 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
Don’t forget that you have to make minimum 3 sales in 180 to be finally approved. Otherwise they’ll close your account.
Good point! I will add that to my article, thanks for reminding me of it.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
You make the process seem very approachable! My friend did this, which prompted me to look into it a bit. For some reason, I haven’t been able to bring myself to try this – I don’t think I have much of an audience to give it a try! Definitely encourages me to use those affiliate links though!
Alex| californiapollution.com
It took me WAY too long to finally sign up, no idea why. It is easy to think “nobody will ever click on my link” or “I will do it tomorrow / next week / next month / next year”
Now I encourage you to just DO it, it really was way easier than expected AND the holidays are coming up, so people will be shopping. Go for it! Seize the day! Get rich! (or at least get a little bit of extra money 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
I keep thinking about the best ad’s to have on my blog. I may well sign up for Amazon now. I will also remember you have the link for when I do more Xmas shopping 😉
Yes, Carly, go and sign up! It seems silly not to try to cash in a little bit on the holiday season.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
I had no idea you could do that with Amazon. Good luck and as soon as I start shopping I am coming back to use your link.
I was happily surprised to find out about the Amazon affiliates program. Now let’s hope that I am successful and will get some passive income. If not, at least I know that I tried!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
You’ll have to do another post later after you’ve used it for awhile to decide if you like it or not! I’m super curious to see how this goes for you.
Yeah, I am curious too. So far I have had seven people click on my link in the last 4 days and no one has ordered anything. I am not holding my breath, but who knows 😀
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
Best of luck in making those millions. I signed up some months back but they haven’t come flying in for me yet.
Hah! I have to admit that I am not holding my breath. On the other hand I am an optimist I figured I might get a new private jet out of it. Or at least a new car. Or a bicycle. Or a package of gum I can use when I fly economy class 😀
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. Good luck on your Amazon link!
If I was to end up with a free trip somewhere sometime in the future from it, I would really perceive that as a win. But like you said breaths aren’t being held.
So far I have had 8 clicks in 4 days and a grand total of $0 ! Even if the money doubles every day from now, I am still out of luck 🙂
Let’s go on the law of averages. 1 in every 100 will buy. That’s an average conversion to click through rate. So in 50 days you should have a few cents. Ok that didn’t help sorry 😅
Hey, as long as the 1 in 100 buys a new airplane, the commission will add up to a few thousand! Can you tell I am an optimist? And no, I didn’t fact check whether Amazon indeed does sell air planes, that would just destroy my fantasy 😀 😀
And meanwhile I will drink tea and write more articles and take over the world! 😀
I’m backing you. Amazon surely sales planes. Why wouldn’t they? I like your plan for world domination. Sounds doable.
Nothing wrong with being an optimist. Some of the most upbeat people I know are.
I use Amazon Affiliate links too I’m not sure what I think about it yet, I haven’t had it for too long but but have had 5 orders from my link so far, but not made any money from it as of yet! Good luck, hope it works out for you! 🙂
Chloe xx
http://www.chloechats.com
Hmmmm, that makes me think I should research what would generate commission and what does NOT generate commission. I was naive enough to think that any order would generate a tiny bit of commission.
Stay tuned! Will research and write about it. Thanks for the inspiration.
I hope you will make money with it soon! How long have you had it? I am up to 9 clicks in 5 days now, so not particularly impressive ^^
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
IIam in no way trying to discourage anyone as I do use Amazon Affiliate. Also, I am typically not a Debbie Downer but I have had many, many clicks and 4 or 5 seperate orders and they have stated only 1 is a qualifying purchase. Not overly thrilled. I do however still use it. Thats was great information though. Maybe I am doing something wrong.
Nancy | http://myeverydaychallenges.com
Thank you, Nancy. Yeah, the comments on my post have made me more aware that it is not as easy as it sounds, so I will research more and figure out what makes something a “qualifying purchase”. Stay tuned for more posts when I figure it out ^^
Thank you for stopping back and giving feedback! I hope your link will generate more qualifying purchases than it has done so far!
I’ve seen lots of posts about this and I like how you highlighted any question that can be asked and answered it. Great post!
Thank you, Taiwo. I figured it would help people who were trying to make money as an amazon affiliate. Since I had to figure it out from scratch, I liked sharing my experience for others. I will post an update when it gets going, or at least if it gets going 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
I wish it was that easy. I also have had so many clicks, you would think some of them would have turned into a purchase, but no luck yet. It’s soooo frustrating.
Yeah, I haven’t seen any actualy MONEY being made either. Up toi 10 clicks in like 10 days now, which is not a particularly good score. Let’s hope the Amazon click through rate and conversion will improve for both of us!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
This is REALLY cool! I didn’t know you could do this. I might need to keep it in mind for 2019, so thank you for helping fellow bloggers! 🙂
It hasn’t been very successful yet, but I keep being hopeful ^^ I really have to figure out how to market it more.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
Thanks for the post. What are some of your favorite ways to include affiliate links in your posts? Do you post just the image, link within the text, or have a grid with featured products at the end of your posts? Which works best for you?
At the moment I have my amazon ones at the end of the post as a grid. I am still experimenting to see what works, I like the idea of product or comparison posts also, but haven’t tried it yet. The grid has images with related books to my blog post. So far I haven’t had a lot of success yet, it clearly is a work in progress,
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
I am currently using Amazon Affiliate links in my blog! I haven’t made a sale yet, but I’m hoping to start making money through my blog with this and other affiliate programs. Slow going so far…
I have made two sales, but no money yet. It is clearly not a get rich quick scheme. But I am hopeful that I will make more sales once I get more page views!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Thanks for explaining it so well. We have been blogging for a year but we have not set up any affiliate links. We’re starting to think about it. Thanks for sharing!
You are very welcome! I hope you will be able to start making money with your blog soon!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Thank you for this post – I had no idea how to use this service before. I hope it is successful for you in the future 🙂
A really great post for beginners! I am so glad you shared this!
Thanks for this! I need to sign up for this A.S.A.P.
I hope to join them when our blog gets a little bigger. It is a great idea to be in it now though because of all the deals!!! Thanks for sharing
I too had high hopes for this program, but I’ve been at it almost 6 months with MANY posts that included affiliate links and have yet to have a conversion. I’m starting to focus on direct affiliations with brands instead, as they seem to have a better conversion ratio (and pay more). Just my two cents.
The Amazon Affiliate program is my ultimate goal for blog monetization but I will wait until my traffic is more than 10 visitors per day consistently otherwise I have no chance of ever getting accepted.
I am curious to see how it will work out for me. So far I am at 2 clicks in 10 days and $0 earned 🙂
Good luck with your blog.
Thank you for stopping by and commenting.
Ohhhh I’ve always wondered about this! Thank you for this blog post! Maybe I’ll actually try doing this now!
Go for it! It is worth a try for sure.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
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I definitely need to resign up for Amazon Affiliates! I was an affiliate but didn’t make the cut with any purchases 🙁 But I think Amazon Affiliates is the best program out there.
Great post! I always like to read about other ways to make money when blogging!
This was a simple and concise explanation.
I’ve known about this, but not really about when to start. I figured a year after blogging first???