Amazon Associates

• Links
• Amazon Stripe
• Reporting Options
• Payment

Amazon Associates, a program launched by the popular Amazon.com itself, was started in 1996 and has become a popular tool for many publishers around the web. As a well-known and growing business, Amazon's affiliate program has helped website owners make money merely by posting links to Amazon products.

Links

Amazon offers a variety of links you can add to your website, including the following:

• Text links
• Links to Amazon products 
• Text links 
• Different types of widgets-such as the Deals Widget, a carousel widget, and a widget to list your Favorites for Amazon products 
• Banner ads

In addition, Amazon's unique aStore allows you to display specific Amazon products on your site and give consumers the option to add items to their online shopping cart through Amazon.

The Amazon Site Stripe

Unique to Amazon Associates is the option for the Site Stripe -- a toolbar that gives publishers quick access to earnings reports, the ability to add a quick link or create a slideshow, and the option to quickly share a product on social media. This tool alone is extremely helpful.

Reporting Options

Beyond the types of links Amazon provides, the reporting features are even more attractive. When you partner with Amazon, you can view the progress of your links 24/7, thanks to daily reports. Through these reports, you can view online traffic, the amount of money you've earned, the success of each type of link you've posted, referrals and orders, trends, and more. What's more, great tracking features allow you to give your links IDs and track their progress.

Payment

There's good news and bad news with Amazon's payment options, depending on your personal needs. To its credit, Amazon does a thorough job of outlining your earnings. Whenever your link leads to the sale of an eligible Amazon product, you earn a commission. For example, the company offers a 5 percent commission for the sale of an MP3 or an instant video, a 4 percent commission for electronics products, and a 6 percent commission for Amazon gift cards. When you make a sale, Amazon will pay you by check, direct deposit, or (unique to their company) an Amazon gift certificate.

• Limited Payment Options
• Payment Frequency
• Few Publisher Features

Limited Payment Options

While Amazon has a lot to offer, the payment options can admittedly be limiting. While the company does have three ways of paying you, if you choose to receive checks, there's a $15 fee for every check, and if you opt for an Amazon gift certificate, you're obviously limited to spending your earnings on Amazon only.

Payment Frequency

In addition, Amazon only pays clients once a month, and you have to have racked up a certain amount of earnings in order to get paid by check or by Amazon gift certificate.

Few Publisher Features 

Furthermore, while Amazon offers a great variety of links and boasts itshelpful Site Stripe, the company does't offer many other publisher features like cookie tracking, web page building, or deep links. Depending on your needs, that can be a major setback.