This Easiest step-by-step guide on how to create an Amazon affiliate store is totally FREE and will teach you how to create an Amazon Associate website/store for affiliate marketing and how you can validate your niche by testing the market with a variety of products without spending a dime and without buying inventory until you're sure your private label products will sell if you plan an e-commerce business.
Table of Contents
- Why Use The Amazon Associates Affiliate Program?
- What Is An Amazon Affiliate Store?
- How To Build An Amazon Affiliate Store From Scratch With Amazon Associates
- Step 1 – Create Your Online Store Website
- Step 2 – Create A Product Listing
- Step 3 – Build An Email List And Promote Your Products
- Step 4 – Analyze Your Affiliate Data And Sell Your Own Products if you plan an e-commerce business
- Should You Build An Amazon Affiliate Store Or Jump To Private Label Directly
- Frequently Asked Question About Amazon Associates Affiliate Stores
Why Use The Amazon Associates Affiliate Program?
Amazon’s affiliate program also known as “Amazon Associates Program” is one of the largest affiliate programs in the world and that's one of the reasons why I recommend it to beginners cuz with Amazon Associates, you have access to promote millions of physical and digital products and you can earn a cut of every sale you send to Amazon.
What’s unique about the Amazon Associates affiliate program is that you can earn significantly more commission than just the value of the product you refer.
In fact, you earn a commission for every single item that a customer buys within 24 hours of when they arrive on Amazon from your affiliate link.
For example, let’s say you refer someone to Amazon with a link to a $100 product.
Even though the product sells for $100, if the customer also buy another product for $1000, you get the commission based on $1100 worth of sales!
Because you get a percentage of everything a customer buys from Amazon within 24 hours, you have the potential of making some serious cash especially over the holiday season.
The best part is that joining Amazon Associates is free for anyone that's serious and ready for business especially website owners.
What Is An Amazon Affiliate Store?
The overall aim for this blog post is to create an Amazon affiliate store to both make money and to research the market for future private label products to sell, even though an Amazon Affiliate store is very helpful and boost profit alot even for affiliate marketer that are in for affiliate marketing alone and not planning an e-commerce business because you'll be able to create different categories and product lists which allow you to sell multiple products, make commissions on different products of different categories of Amazon products and many more benefits so it's also essential for affiliate marketing if you're aiming to become big in affiliate marketing(a blog automatically comes with a store).
So basically you are going to create product listings on an online store website that you own just like a regular ecommerce shop.
However instead of listing your own products for sale, you are going to direct your customers to Amazon with your affiliate links.
When a visitor buys something on Amazon, you get a commission for the sale and Amazon handles all of the product fulfillment, returns, customer service…EVERYTHING!
Now based on Amazon affiliate commissions rate, you stand to earn on average a 3% commission for all of the sales you refer.
Now 3% doesn’t sound like a lot of money and you are correct! Even though this same 3% has made many affiliate marketers millionaires and multi millionaires.
But keep in mind that running your Amazon affiliate store is not the end goal.
Instead, you are leveraging the Amazon associates program to conduct research on what you SHOULD sell yourself if you're planning an e-commerce business.
Because Amazon provides detailed reports on your sales referrals, you can analyze these reports to find referred products that are converting at a high percentage.
Then, once you’ve identified these products, you can source them yourself, sell them directly on your site if you can and pocket 100% of the profit instead of a 3% commission.
This way, you get the best of both worlds.
One, you do not have to invest any money on initial inventory.
And two, you can leverage Amazon’s sales data to determine what you SHOULD be selling.
How To Build An Amazon Affiliate Store From Scratch With Amazon Associates
Now let me walk you through the entire process of how to create an Amazon affiliate store from scratch in the LEAST EXPENSIVE way possible.
Overall, your goal is to spend as little money as possible on your store, figure out what items sell well and then invest your money on products that YOU KNOW will sell.
Step 1 – Create Your Online Store Website
Your choice of ecommerce platform largely depends on your budget and here are the 3 shopping carts that I highly recommend.
- Shopify – Shopify is the leader in the space and has the most 3rd party developer support but it’s also the most expensive
- BigCommerce – BigCommerce is more powerful than Shopify out of the box and cheaper too but they have less 3rd party developer support
- WooCommerce – WooCommerce is free to use but you need to get your own webhosting. Overall, this is the cheapest solution possible.
Because the overall theme of this post is to get started with the LEAST amount of money possible, I will provide you with instructions on how to install WooCommerce for less than $2.95. (That is not a typo)
Because the software is free, WooCommerce is the most widely used shopping cart in the world and has the most 3rd party developer support of any platform out there (including Shopify).
The best part is that WooCommerce runs on top of the world’s most popular content management system, WordPress. So if you already have a WordPress blog, then going with WooCommerce is an easy choice.
Right now, WooCommerce is one of the easiest shopping carts to install and get running right away because most webhosts offer a one click installer.
Click Here To Sign Up For Only $2.95 to get a safe web hosting for your unborn 🤗 Amazon Associate Store and get a domain for free.
Make sure you select “Blogs & Portfolio” if prompted. Otherwise, you won’t find the $2.95 rate. And if you already have a safe web hosting, you can get a domain at cheap rate here(Click Here To Get a Safe Domain At Cheap Rate) and then you're good to go,we can now proceed with creating your Amazon Associate Store
Some of THE REASONS WHY I RECOMMEND you get your webhosting from the URL above is:
1. You get a safe webhosting from a trusted source that's trusted by many big brands and millions of businesses and website owners that host their stores, blogs/websites and business websites on this GREAT webhosting company.
2. You get domain name for free.
3. You get a one click WordPress installer.
4. You're provided with 24/7 support.
Click Here To Sign Up For Only $2.95
We're about to prepare the tea😋.
(Get started/host your site)
1. Choose your plan.(I recommend the choice plus plan cuz it comes with domain privacy and more but you can go with any🤝🏻😍).
Click the "select" button on your plan of choice.
2. Input your Amazon affiliate store name at the checkout process(if your domain name of choice is not available, choose something similar or any other option or select the option to choose your domain name later).
3. Fill in your account details(Name, current up-to-date email address etc).
4. Select the right hosting package that fits you(whichever plan you choose the price works out to be a great deal to start your own affiliate store today).
Hint😊: To get lowest possible price go for the "Prime 36 Month",it secures your hosting and domain for the next 3 years
Note: The packages extras are not necessary(they're just to get you to pay more) but that current low pricing is for new customers alone and it only applies to the first payment you make so it's better to choose the longest duration plan to get the best of the both worlds(it's just like an opportunity, just grab it if you can).
If you choose the choice plus plan on the previous screen you'll notice that the domain privacy I mentioned earlier is labeled free which means you get it but if you went for basic or any other plan you can check the box to add the domain privacy protection.
The total you're seeing now is the amount you'll pay now and after that no more charges for the next 3 or 5 years(if things don't go as planned with your store, there's a 30 days Money back guarantee)
5. Now enter your billing information and check the box to agree to Bluehost terms of service, then click on "Submit".
We just finished the battle😊😁.
Now that you've sign up and bought your hosting and got your domain for free,do this next steps...
1. Install WordPress(You'll be able to install WordPress from your dashboard as it's a one click installer and very very easy to do).
2. Connect your domain name if you got it from the cheap domain name URL above.
3. Then Add the wooCommerce plugin(very easy to do):
- Go to: Plugins > Add New.
- Search for “WooCommerce”.
- Click Install Now.
- Click Activate Now and you're ready for the WooCommerce Wizard.
Now let's proceed.....😊The magic is about to happen.
Step 2 – Create A Product Listing
Once your WooCommerce shop is up and running, it’s time to create your first product listing!
First off, you need to login to your Amazon associates dashboard and obtain the affiliate link of product that you would like to promote.
In this example, I’m promoting ecru dinner napkins from Bumblebee Linens:)
Then in your WooCommerce shop, select “Add Product” and add your product title and description as shown below.
Editor’s Note: When it comes to writing your product descriptions and adding photos, please do NOT copy the verbiage word for word from the Amazon listing. Instead, you must write your own descriptions and take your own photos to avoid copyright violations.
Once you’ve added your product title, descriptions and photos, scroll down until you find the “Product Data” box.
Then, select “External/Affiliate Product” from the pull down menu and paste your Amazon affiliate link in the box provided.
Hit save and test your listing! Here’s what mine looks like.
When anyone clicks on the “Shop Now” button, they are taken to the following Amazon listing. If anyone buys this item, I get a cut of the sale!
Step 3 – Build An Email List And Promote Your Products
While the details of promoting your ecommerce store are beyond the scope of this post, there are a few strategies that you MUST implement no matter what.
First off, you should treat this store just like any other shop even though it’s designed for affiliate marketing.
This means that you must be able to retain your customers through email, Messenger, SMS or push. But email is the most straightforward to implement.
Here is the email tool that I recommend for an Amazon affiliate store.
- MailChimp – MailChimp is the best email marketing service out there for ecommerce stores. It’s free for up to 2000 subs so if you are on a budget MailChimp will give you the best bang for the buck.
Ultimately, your goal should be to build an audience of customers that you can later use to promote your own products or continue promoting affiliate offers easily.
Search engine optimization and social media will also play a large part in your overall marketing efforts.
Step 4 – Analyze Your Affiliate Data And Sell Your Own Products
Once you start generating affiliate sales on a regular basis, you should analyze your Amazon affiliate data to see what your customers are buying.
Can you sell a similar item on your own website and earn more money? Can you private label your own products and create your own brand?,then if you can, you can start working on an e-commerce business plan, execute your planned e-commerce business or continue enjoying your affiliate marketing.
Remember, you are only making a 3% commission on the products you sell. Wouldn’t it be nice to keep 100% of the profit?
Using the example earlier, let’s say that you’re selling 100 sets of ecru linen dinner napkins from Bumblebee Linens per day.
With the current commission structure, you stand to make .03 * 22.95 * 100 = $68.85
Assuming a profit margin of 50%, if you were to sell these exact napkins under your own brand, you could make .5 * 22.95 * 100 = $1147.
This is a 16x increase!
Bottom line, you should use your Amazon affiliate store as a tool to gather information about your market.
Then, based on what your customers are buying, you should plan releasing your own products to replace your affiliate links.
You should also use your Amazon affiliate store to build an audience within your niche and establish yourself as an authority.
Armed with a list of rabid fans, you can easily expand your product line to complementary products under your own brand.
Should You Build An Amazon Affiliate Store Or Jump To Private Label Directly
Because Amazon affiliate stores generate such low commission payouts, you probably will NOT make life changing money with just the Amazon Associates program.
Instead, the path to greater wealth lies with private labeling your own products and establishing your own brand. It'll be nice but don't give yourself headache and pressure if you can't or if it seem too hard, it's never easy to start such(ain't advising you should be lazy though).
However if you are on a major budget and you want to proceed with caution, then starting with an Amazon affiliate store is an excellent choice.
Overall, it depends on how much money you are willing to invest and how quickly you want to make money online.
As with anything in life, the more risk you are willing to take, the greater the rewards.
And an Amazon affiliate store is probably the lowest risk and most cautious way to enter the market. Good luck!
Related Posts:
•How To Build A Stunning And Well Functioning Online Store FOR FREE With Either Your Smartphone or laptop From Anywhere In The World(Can't be used for affiliate marketing).
• How To Create Jumia Affiliate Store 2021
• Straightforward Guide On How To Start A Blog From Start To Finish For The Lowest Amount Of Money Possible
Frequently Asked Question About Amazon Associates Affiliate Stores
Can I use content from Amazon listings for my product pages?
No, you can't. This is a violation of Amazon's terms of service and you risk getting your account suspended.
Can I join the Amazon Associates program from outside the United States?
Yes, you can. The Amazon Associates program is available to anyone all over the world.
Can I promote Amazon products without creating an affiliate store?
Yes you can. In addition to your store, you can also add affiliate links to blog posts and images on your site. However, you must be careful about email and social media. Please read Amazon's terms of service for more info.
Do you have to disclose that you are an Amazon affiliate?
Absolutely. Everywhere you use an affiliate link, you must disclose your affiliate partnership as it is against FTC guidelines otherwise.
Does Amazon Associates pay for affiliate clicks?
No. Amazon pays you based on sales you generate with your links.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you, if you make a purchase.
If you find this content helpful, please share with your friends on social media so they can also benefit from it and also drop your opinions, request, suggestions, questions or advice in the comments section below. Thanks.
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