Using the Amazon Associates Affiliate Program to Monetise Blogger Blogs

Using the Amazon Associates affiliate program to monetise Blogger blogs is a simple way to help generate additional advertising revenue.

The Google Adsense affiliate programme has been around for many years, and there are already several major competitors in activity, particularly for those resident in the US. However, bloggers around the world are already using another reputable affiliate program to monetise their blogs, and it's recently been fully integrated into the Blogger dashboard, to simplify its use.

Amazon Associates is similar to Adsense, in that adverts for products will appear on your site, but the program provides far greater freedom regarding which products you promote, and exactly how you choose to display them. This may prove very beneficial to bloggers, who are now able to promote products specific to their blog's content.

You can to sign up to whichever Amazon Associates program you prefer - US, UK, Europe, etc., or you can sign up for multiple accounts in different currencies - which is very useful for those whose traffic is international. It means you can promote the best books available on your blog's main subject matter from several continents. 

However, when advertising products in a currency other than your own you will be paid by cheque, so will require a bank account that accepts foreign currencies (usually a business account). Alternatively, you can choose to be paid in vouchers to spend on the appropriate site, but this isn't going to boost your earnings, so should be avoided if possible.

To benefit fully from using Amazon Associates affiliate program you will need to spend some time choosing products relevant to your blog content, then adding them to widgets, and installing the widgets to your blog or website; if you don't Amazon will automatically choose your products (in the way adsense chooses your ads), and will often repeat the same products in several widgets or posts, thus minimising your potential earnings. You can also add individual products (as many as you wish) to each blog post, in the form of a text link, an image, or both.

You are also able to add a full Amazon store to your site, filling it with individual products, or choosing entire categories you believe will benefit your readers. This store can be set to open in a new window or can be embedded into your website so it appears to be a part of your webpage. Setting up and maintaining the system is far more time consuming than running adsense ads, but I can see the potential for far higher earnings if the programme is used carefully and the blog or website recieves enough traffic.

Amazon Associates has created all sorts of wonderful widgets to maximise your internet earnings, from banner ads and favourite product collections to flash slideshows. And you can often change the size to help you integrate the widgets to your particular website or blog, in a professional-looking manner. You are also able to add simple text links which display pop-up product reviews when hovered over. This means any product you might mention when blogging (book or album tiitle, or virtually any other product you care to think of, from Amazon's vast selection) has the potential to become a product link with all the information required by a buyer - price (new and used), average customer rating, stock level etc. - and a button to add the item to their basket without leaving your blog or website. As long as they pay for it within 90 days you get 5% commission, and this rate will increase as you provide more referrals.

Setting up an Amazon Associates account through Blogger is very simple: you simply click on the 'Monetise' tab in your Blogger dashboard, as if you were about to create an Adsense account, and click on 'Amazon Associates.' Here you'll be directed to set up an Amazon Associates account in your chosen currency in order to get started adding products or widgets to your site. If you're not using Blogger you should visit Amazon Associates via a search engine and set up an account. Full instructions will then be given as to how to proceed adding books or other products to your website.