Affiliate marketing is a useful way to earn extra income if you have a blog or website. The Amazon affiliate program, called Amazon Associates, allows you to earn 4 percent or more on purchases made using a special link on your blog or website. Read more to find out how to make money with the Amazon Affiliate Program.

Part 1 of 3: Start a Website/Blog

1.Begin an online effort.

The best Amazon Affiliates are bloggers or websites that add links to Amazon along with quality content on their own site. Consider starting one of the following online sites:
Start a free online blog using Blogger, WordPress or a similar site. Since you start these blogs for free, the cost is only the time you spend designing and adding content. Choose something on which you are passionate so that you can add interesting content and develop followers.
Set up a website. Professional or business websites can also use the Affiliate program. However, they are best used with people who do not sell similar products on their website, since Amazon's marketplace can drive business away. If you have a website promoting different products, a club, a non-profit or a service, then you can recommend quality products on your site and make money doing it.
Set up social media accounts for your blog or site. This is a great way to improve search engine ranking, stay in touch with your readers and increase the amount of links that you share. You can post Amazon links on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn when you want to make a recommendation.

2.Post quality content consistently.

You garner readers by the value of your content, so post at least once per week on your blog/website.

3.Gain loyalty.

People who think they are being pitched to are unlikely to return. Include affiliate links as recommendations, best of lists and preferred vendors, rather than an obvious pitch to make money off readers.
The more fun you have with posting links, the more likely you are to get sales. For example, you may want to post a best-of blog for the year's most innovative new products or the best non-fiction books of the year. You can include links to Amazon products and people will use the link as a reference and as a way to buy.

Part 2 of 3: Amazon Associates Sign Up

1.Go to affiliate-program.amazon.com.

Read through the information carefully before signing up. You should understand what products are eligible, how to post and how to get paid before starting an account.
Amazon Affiliates rewards advertising fees, or commissions, that vary depending upon the type of product. Your advertising fees can also increase after you start to refer more than 6 purchases every month.

2.Click on the "Join Now for Free" button when you are ready to start.

3.Sign in using your Amazon username and password.

Select your official payment address from a list or input it at this time.

4.Fill out the information about your website, web traffic and online monetization.

You will be asked to enter all of the sites you will use to post Amazon links. Verify your identity before continuing.

5.Start looking through products on Amazon's Associates Central.

6.Choose a few products to integrate into your blog posts.

It is a good idea to use the "Bestseller" filter to find the bestselling products in any category.

7.Post the link inside your website.

You can choose to post an image, an image and text or a text link, depending upon how you want it to look.

8.Use the Amazon Associates site stripe,

the toolbar at the top of the page, to capture links for products you want to post.

Part 3 of 3: Increase Amazon Associates Profits

1.Optimize your earnings by posting links regularly.

This means that you should look for creative ways to incorporate product recommendations into your blog posts while still letting the reader know you are offering them expertise on your website subject.
Amazon Affiliate links, once clicked on by a potential buyer, are active for 24 hours. This means that they expire for that particular user after 24 hours. Fresh links means new chances to earn money.

2.Build links to many different types of products over time.

Amazon pays you an advertising fee based on the entire purchase that the person makes, not just the product you advertised.
The important thing is getting to people to Amazon using their link, so that they can make all the purchases they have been waiting to make using your referral link.

3.Use your referral link when sending information via email or to family members.

You can receive commission on anyone's purchase, except your own, if they use the referral link within 24 hours.
Trade Amazon Associates referral links with a friend or family member. Make your own purchases using their link, so that they can reap some benefits and ask them to do the same. Although this is not likely to be your main way of making money, it can improve your commission structure at times.

4.Add widgets to your site.

Amazon Associates has widgets and online stores that you can add to your website template. List several recommended products in your sidebar.

5.Advertise products over $100.

The more expensive the product your reader buys, the more commission you will make, so make sure you recommend higher priced products with good value.

6.Use lists.

Most online stores keep lists of popular products. Make your own recommendation lists every month or quarter on a new topic, because they are valuable to you and your readers.

7.Post seasonal content with Amazon Associate links.

People buy more near Christmas, so post recommended products before Thanksgiving to take advantage of sales that Amazon is going to make anyway.
If you haven't started creating a seasonal schedule for your blog posts and marketing, start now. There are dozens of holidays, such as Halloween, Easter, St. Patrick's Day and Valentine's Day that can produce more sales, if the advice and links are timely and interesting.

8.Optimize your blog or website.

Adopt search engine optimization practices, such as keyword density, short URLs, and backlinks to increase web traffic to your site. The more people who read, the more clicks you will have on your Amazon Associates links.