8 Reasons why Amazon Associates is a good AdSense Alternative

You have probably landed on this page because Google’s AdSense either rejected your application to join or, for one reason or the other, you were unceremonious kicked out of the program. While it may seem as if the sky has fallen onto your head, and all the doors that you believed were open have been unceremoniously slammed right in your face, that couldn’t be further from the truth. There are many good options out there, including Amazon Associates. So, what are some of the things that you need to know about Amazon Associates?

You Were Never Going to Make Much through AdSense Anyway

The first of the many things that you need to know does not actually concern Amazon Associates itself. Think of it as us further rubbing in the salt after your expulsion from AdSense. (Perhaps they never even accepted you, which is even worse. You could still be interrogating yourself over what exactly they saw in you that made them believe that you deserved the snub.

The truth of the matter is that unless you are a very popular blogger, you were never going to make money through the AdSense program anyway. Did you know that going by the average CTR, you get only a dollar per 1000 impressions on AdSense? Yes, that’s right! For every 1000 visitors who come to your site and get a glimpse of your ads, you can expect to get a paltry $1.

Clearly, AdSense is a poor man’s way of making poor money. The situation is rather ironic, in that the moment that you begin to generate the amounts of traffic that you need in order to make sense out of the AdSense program, you will probably already be rich enough not to be bothered. Most bloggers would give an arm and a leg to just get 1000 visitors and once you reach that threshold, there are better ways of monetizing your site than AdSense.

It’s a Good AdSense alternative, but what, really, is this animal that’s called Amazon Associates.

Here is the next thing on your path to knowledge: Amazon Associates is one of the many AdSense Alternatives that are out there. In fact, we, at Network Bees, believe that you have a better chance of making a few extra dollars through this program than with AdSense. But what, really, is Amazon Associates?

We have all heard of Amazon, the online retail behemoth that has helped revolutionize the ways in which we conduct our business. Although it is best known as the world’s largest online retailer, Amazon offers a raft of other services, including its giant cloud services provider, Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Amazon Associates

Amazon Associates is an online affiliate program, that allows sellers, website owners and bloggers to make money by advertising and facilitating the sale of various products from the online retail giant through their sites. 

What most people do not realize is that the Associates program has been around for a long time; since 1996 to be precise.

In what Form are the Ads that are shown on your website?

The Amazon Associates program accepts a number of ad types. You can use whatever format you feel is suitable for your website. Should you decide to join the program, finding the right ad type for your website should relatively be easy.  Amazon Associates allows you to present your ads in any of the following formats;

  • Text and Product Links
  • Banners

Text and Product Links

Text and Product Links allow you to link to any product that is being sold on Amazon and earn a commission when visitors follow the link and buy the advertised product. You can use the Product Links tool to come up with the following;

  • Text Links
  • Text and Image links
  • Image only links

Banners

You can also use colorful banners to link to Amazon product pages. This is a great way through which you can get visitors to your site interested in whatever it is that you are advertising. Amazon Associates offers a wide range of banner sizes and shapes. The banners are easy to add, and can earn you up to 10% per sale. 

How does it work?

So, how does Amazon Associates work? The answer to that is; in the same way that every other affiliate program works. Well, almost. Once you have set everything up to your liking, the links and ads that you have created will become part of your website. We will talk, later on in this article about the differences between Amazon Associates and the traditional ad networks, such as Chitika and, of course, Google AdSense.

Needless to say here that you do not actually earn money when someone clicks on an ad that is displayed on your site, or follows a link from that glowing review that you have just written about one of the products that Amazon is selling. In other words, Amazon Associates is not a Pay Per Click (CPC) advertising platform. Neither is it a Cost Per Impression (CPI) ad format.

With Amazon Associates, you only get paid when the people who follow the links that you have placed on your site actually go on to make purchases.

How Much Can You Make through Amazon Associates?

We know that this is the question that you have been dying to ask. Hell, you are probably here because you needed an answer to this question. Unfortunately through, the answer is not that straightforward.

Before rushing off to put only big money products, such as computers and other electronic goods, on your site, you should know that there is a caveat. (There is always one, isn’t there?)

The Catch

The catch here is not really a surprising one. The commission that you can earn from the Amazon Associates program is dependent on the type of product that you have decided to advertise through your website. You can earn up to;

  • 5% on Health and Beauty
  • 5% on Home, Kitchen, Garden & Grocery
  • 5% on Kids, Baby & Toys
  • 5% on Music & Movies
  • 5% on Sports, Outdoors & Hobbies
  • 5% on tools, Home Improvement, Auto, Amazon Supply & Industrial
  • 6% on Gift Cards
  • 4% on Electronics, Wireless & Computers
  • 10% on Gaming

As we have already said, it’s not much of a catch. It’s common sense. Amazon would probably lose a lot of money were it to give the same amounts to affiliates, regardless of how much a product costs.

An Example

As an example, here is the best selling laptop on Amazon. Should you decide to buy it using the provided link, we will get 4% of the purchase price as commission.

7.  Differences Between AdSense and Amazon Associates

Affiliate vs Ad Placement

One major difference that we can think of is the fact that Amazon Associates is an Affiliate program, whereas AdSense is an ad placement program. The difference between the two is that with the affiliate program, you get paid for selling a particular product, while with AdSense, you get paid when someone clicks on an ad that is displayed on your site.

You Don’t Have to Have a Website To Become an Amazon Affiliate

Affiliate marketing is all about selling a particular product, which you can do in any number of ways, including through social media. You do not actually have to have a website or blog in order to join Amazon’s Affiliate program; whereas you need one in order to run AdSense.

You generally know what you are to get with Affiliate Marketing

Another major difference that exists between affiliate marketing and ad placement networks is that, with the former, you generally know what you are going to get, while with the latter, the amount that you get per click is dependent on advertiser bidding.

Why Amazon Associates is Better than AdSense

We, at Network Bees, believe that affiliate marketing is, in general, better than AdSense or any of the other ad placement services, in terms of income generation from your site. There are a number of reasons why that is the case;

You Do not need to have as many visitors

We have already mentioned that, with AdSense, most bloggers will only receive a pittance every month, simply because they do not get enough visitors each day to, at a CPM of $1, generate meaningful amounts meaningful. However, with Affiliate Marketing, you can have only a few visitors per day and still generate appreciable amounts.

You Probably Won’t Get Banned

Amazon Associates has fewer things that would land you under the spotlight than AdSense. If you are the type who like to click on the ads that are on your own site, well, by any means, go ahead! Of course, if that was the reason why AdSense blacklisted you, then, you probably deserve what you got. However, the good news is that Amazon Associates has fewer temptations, which means that you will probably be fine.

Amazon Associates is easier to join

Google AdSense has, over the years, become notoriously difficult to join. Browse across the internet, and you will come across stories of woe from spurned bloggers and webmasters. The good news is that Amazon Associates is not that stringent, which means that you should be able to get going in a few minutes. This applies to those who know what they are doing, of course. Those who are completely green will probably have to spend some time trying to learn the ropes.

Conclusion

If there is anything that you feel we should have included in this article, then, by any means, leave a comment below and we will make the revision. What we will only say, as a conclusion, is that Amazon Associates is, indeed, a good AdSense Alternative. The good news is that, you can use it along with most other monetization methods, to generate income from your site. We will leave you with a piece of advice that we always dish out at the end of website monetization articles; get more people to visit your site, by whatever means, and you will be fine.

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