Being an Amazon Associate is an excellent way to monetize passion or make some passive income. Amazon has some guidelines for associates to follow, so it's best to first understand those before engaging in its program.

The majority of the rules are in place for ethical promotion and preventing associates from gaining the system. Here are some major rules:

You must disclose on your websites or other platforms that you may be eligible to earn from your recommendations.

Read Also: What is Affiliate Marketing & How Does It Work?

• Do never make false or deceptive claims in your recommendations.
• Don`t use Amazon affiliate links in offline promotions, eBooks, or email.
• Do not use link shorteners on affiliate links.
• Avoid referring to product costs as price changes frequently.

Here is the step-by-step process of how to become an Amazon Affiliate:

Build a Website or Blog

The first step of starting with Amazon Affiliate Program is to have an active blog, YouTube channel or app. It works perfectly if you have pre-populated those sites with content, so it appears authentic and active to Amazon as well as users.

Keep in mind that you must describe the purpose of your website during the application process. So, have a firm idea of why you are building your website, the audience you will target, and how you will bring in traffic.

Move to Amazon Associates Homepage

Now, it is the time to create your account

First of all, visit the Amazon Associates homepage and click on the Join Now for Free

You will be prompted to log in to your existing Amazon account or create one

• Build Your Profile: After you have signed up into your Amazon account, click on the New Customer and follow the prompts to build your account.
• Enter Your Account Information: Enter all your information including the name, address, phone number of the payee
• Enter Your Website Address: Enter your website address, apps, YouTube channels, etc.
• Fill Your Store ID: Enter your choice of store ID, write, explain what your site expects to achieve, and choose Amazon topics your links will likely target.
• Answer How You Drive Traffic to Your Platform: Now, you need to explain how you will be driving traffic to your website or platform where you want to promote the link, how you use your platform, the way you build links and the number of visitors of your platform brings in a month.
• Enter Your Phone Number: Enter your contact number and press Call Me Now and wait for the immediate call from Amazon. They will tell you to enter a four-digit code and once that is done, your account will be approved.
• Select Your Payment Way: Now, choose either to enter your payment and tax ID information in now or later or then proceed to your dashboard.
• Finally, Build Amazon Affiliate Links: Now, you can successfully build your account and you will be processed to your personal associate home. Here, you will find your performance dashboard and also search for relevant products to link to from your content.

Must Read: How to Start Affiliate Marketing in India?

How to Create Amazon Affiliate Links?

Once you are doing with creating your Amazon Associate account, now you are ready to start earning. The best way to earn money as an affiliate is through affiliate product links. To create your Amazon Affiliate Links, follow the steps given below:

• Login to your associate central account
• Navigate to the Product Linking drop-down menu and click on Product Links
• To sear any product on Amazon, use the search bar. Besides you can also input the ASIN directly if you have any product in mind.
• Now, click on the Get Link given right of every relevant result to get the link
• Use the generated link and promote the product on your website or the platform you want

You can customize the ad and convert it in text-based or image-based or a mix of both

Apart from promotion through product links, SiteStripe is also a great alternative. The feature directly creates links from the Amazon retail platform. In order to use the Sites tripe feature, you must have the same account for associate central and the Amazon retail platform.

You can easily find that tool at the top of any Amazon page.

Now you are done with the registration and link building process, your account will be approved for 180 days. During that time, you need to make sure that you make at least one sale otherwise your account will be close. However, you can reapply for the Amazon Associate program after you have made some changes in your site.