- I'm gonna share the top six strategies
that we use to maximize our earnings
in the Amazon affiliate program,
including how to easily recapture commissions
that most people are losing every time
they use their Amazon affiliate marketing links.
Hey it's Justin Brown here from Primal Video
where we hope you grow an audience
and scale your revenue with online video.
If you're new here, make sure to click that subscribe button
and all the links to everything we mentioned in this video.
You can find link in the description box below.
Let's jump into it.
Now whenever we're looking to buy a physical product,
Amazon is usually the first place that we look.
So we have absolutely no issues at all recommending it
and it just so happens
that they also have an amazing affiliate program.
So in this video, we're gonna be covering
these six simple strategies that we've implemented
to not only capture otherwise lost commissions,
but also to maximize our earnings
and how you can easily implement them
in your Amazon affiliate marketing strategy
right now as well.
Now just before we dive in, a really quick disclaimer.
Amazon is constantly updating their terms of conditions
for their affiliate program
and what is accepted one day
might be against the rules the next.
They are widely recognized
for strictly enforcing these rules
and sometimes without warning.
So even though this stuff is working for us right now,
always make sure to review their terms of service
to ensure that you are in compliance
and that includes doing your own due diligence
before implementing anything that we cover in this video.
Now as a little bonus at the end of this video
I'm also gonna cover the top three most common reasons
that I've seen people get banned from the programs
so that you can avoid the same problems
because honestly some of them aren't that obvious.
So strategy number one is
to sign up for multiple Amazon associate programs
not just the one in your region
but in other regions as well.
I think right now there are 12 different regions
or 12 different Amazon associate programs
for different regions around the world.
And a lot of people aren't aware
that they can actually do this
and this can dramatically increase your affiliate revenue
on Amazon especially if you combine it
with the next two platforms
that I'm gonna mention as well.
So each of the different Amazon affiliate programs
for each of the different regions
will actually only earn you a commission
inside of that region.
So in order to earn a commission on a sale
from someone purchasing in the U-S
you need to be signed up
with the U-S Amazon Associates program.
Likewise in Australia, you need to be a member
of the Australian Associates program.
And each of your affiliate links
for each of those associated programs
will only earn you a commission in one location.
So let's say that I have registered
for the U-S Amazon Associate program.
I send out my link.
If someone is from Australia they click on my U-S link,
they're then redirected to the Australian store
and purchase on there,
then I don't receive a commission for that
because my link is for the U-S program.
And likewise.
It works that way no matter
which associate program you're with.
Now to help with this, you can use Amazon's one link.
That's what they call it.
It's a service that helps with the redirecting
of the users to their local store
while still passing through your tracking details.
Now this is slowly rolling out.
It's definitely not out there for everyone yet
and it currently doesn't support all the countries
or all the different regions
and it only works if you're linking from your website.
These links with Amazon OneLink don't work on YouTube yet
so hopefully they sort that out in the future.
But this will lead us straight on to strategy number two
which is using Geniuslinks.
Now Geniuslink is essentially doing what
that Amazon Onelink promises to do
but it does it right now and it works really well
and it's also got a bunch
of extra functionality in there as well.
So what you do in Geniouslink is you add in
all of your affiliate details
for all of the different Amazon affiliate programs
that you've signed up to
cause you're now signing up to multiples
and it generates you one link,
one Geniuslink that you can send out to people.
They're gonna be automatically redirected
to their local Amazon store
and your affiliate link or affiliate tracking I-D
is passed along with this.
Now just from implementing Geniuslinks alone
we've had a big increase in our affiliate revenue on Amazon
because our links are now being tracked
across the multiple Amazon programs.
They also have amazing reporting in there
showing you all the links that you've generated.
If products are out of stock in different regions,
if something is no longer available
you can actually get alerts and those sorts of things
through to your email to let you know
to update that link and point it to a different product.
And there's a heap of other features
and really detailed reporting and stuff in there as well.
So pricing Virginia's links at five dollars per month
and it scales with the amount of link clicks
that you're actually getting.
So totally amazing service.
Geniuslinks, well played.
That brings us to strategy number three
is to use kit.co.
Now kit.co is actually now owned by Genius or Geniuslinks
which is probably why that's so good too.
So what Kit lets you do is essentially build out
kits or groups of Amazon links and put them in one place.
So for example we use this on our Resources page.
We've built our kits for different things
like the best live-streaming gear
or even my YouTube studio set up gear.
We've created kits for these
where it's one place that people can go.
It's all of our top recommended gear
or top recommended products
and all of them are direct links to Amazon
but they are Amazon affiliate links.
And just like Geniuslinks
it also does that automatic redirection
to the users local Amazon store and still passes through
your affiliate tracking information as well.
Now another cool thing with Kit is that
it's also its own search engine.
So you can use your YouTube S-E-O skills
to rank your products or your affiliate links
on kit.co as well.
And again if you're looking to level up
on the youtube S-E-O side of things
or the keyword ranking side of things,
then make sure you stick around cause I've got
a resource for you towards the end of this video.
Now in terms of pricing, Kit is totally free.
You actually get 100% of your Amazon earnings.
They make their money from people who create kits
and forget to put their Amazon Associate information in
and they use theirs in that case.
So as long as you're putting in
your Amazon Associate information you'll make 100%
of your Amazon earnings through kit.co as well.
So that's strategy number three, using kit.co.
Strategy number four is using redirect links.
Now starting out you might think
that you don't need to do this
but trust me this is gonna save you so much time
and potentially a lot of headaches in the long run.
So what I'm talking about is creating a redirect link,
a link that you share out that will redirect people
to your affiliate link.
So you're not just sharing out the affiliate link
that you get from Amazon,
you're using your own version of it.
So in our case,
a lot of our affiliate links are redirect links.
We use primalvideo.com/go/ the product or the service.
So then if for some reason
we needed to update our affiliate link.
We're able to just update that on our end, on our website
and that then is redirecting to wherever we'd like it to go.
So this alone could save you an absolute ton of time
because you're not then going to have to go back
to potentially hundreds of YouTube videos
or blog posts or articles or anything
to update each link manually.
You can do it once on your end cause you're just changing
where that link is redirecting to.
So effectively this is gonna let you quickly and easily
update a product or a link in one place
that's then gonna be pushed out everywhere.
Now in terms of how you can actually set up and create
and manage your redirect links for us right now for Amazon
we are primarily using Geniuslinks for this as well.
But to manage redirect links in general
outside of the Amazon stuff as well, then we also use
a WordPress plugin called ThirstyAffiliates
which is again really simple to use.
Now one thing I do wanna note here
is that Amazon says that you need to make it clear
that any redirect link that you use
is taking people to Amazon.
So for us we use the word Amazon in brackets
in our link text so that we're clearly indicating
to people that these links are going to redirect
and take people to Amazon.
Now this is something that they might update in the future
and the wording on this can still be
a little gray right now.
Now Geniuslinks have done their own reviews
and they have liaised with the Amazon Associates team
and for now this appears to be acceptable.
But do your own reviews and I will link an article
from Geniuslinks below in the description
if you want more information on this.
So that brings us then to strategy number five
which is a resources page or a gear page
or the-stuff-that-you-recommend-other-people-use page.
So this is one place where you list out
all of the stuff that you recommend.
Gear, books, audio books services, courses
and of course this also includes your Amazon links as well.
So for us on our website we have a resources page
primalvideo.com/resources and it's all the stuff
that we use and that we recommend to our audience.
So for us on this page we also have a combination
of some of the things we have mentioned
in this video as well.
We literally have our kit.co kits
embedded on our resources page.
Things like the gear that I use and recommend.
All of those kits are embedded on that page.
So not only are they working for us
in their S-E-O goodness on kit.co
they're also on our page to make it easy for people
to find everything all in one place as well.
And this is something that I wanna stress,
you don't need to overthink.
You could just create a simple one-page website
with something like Wix or a Squarespace or something.
Don't over complicate it.
Just make it easy for your followers or for your audience
to find the stuff that you use and that you recommend
without them needing to ask you.
I can't stress how huge this has been for us.
But the biggest strategy
and probably the most important strategy
is strategy number six and that is to be authentic
and to focus on adding value for your audience.
And I really should go without saying but only recommend
the products and services that you've tried,
that you've tested.
The stuff that you recommend for your audience.
There's too many people out there giving affiliate marketing
a bad name by just picking the products
that aren't necessarily the best products
that have the best commissions or the highest payouts.
But I also see these days that people are getting more
and more switched on to it and they can tell
when something's not authentic or not real.
So always try to come from that place
where you're adding value
and really trying to go that extra mile for your audience.
If there are multiple versions of something that you
recommend with maybe different add-ons or different pricing
spend the time to work out which one
you recommend people buy and link it to that.
Make the buying experience better for your users.
You're gonna end up saving them a ton of time
and you're going to maximize the likelihood
that they're going to buy from you
and that you'll earn a commission.
Now if you're mentioning a product
and there are additional add-on products
that are needed to make something work
then you could actually create
affiliate links for those too.
So for example we always talk about
the different types of cameras
and the different types of microphones
but we also create affiliate links
for any of the cable adapters or anything that's required
to actually connect the two together.
This way people who already have the camera,
already have the audio gear, can then easily get the add-ons
or the accessories they need to make the whole thing work.
So your goal here is to really make it as easy as you can
for your audience to achieve a specific outcome
and then they're going to look for your links
and look for your recommendations
to help them get to that outcome.
Now earlier in this video
I said I'd share with you three simple things
to help you avoid getting banned on Amazon.
So quick disclaimer.
Their privacy policy, their terms of services
are always changing
and this is just what we've seen people getting banned for.
So avoid this stuff and all costs and make sure to review
the terms of services or terms of conditions frequently.
So the first one is don't indicate any incentive or reward
for people to click your links, monetary or otherwise.
What a lot of people don't realize is that this also means
no mentions that people will be supporting you
if they click your links.
We've seen people getting banned for this
and we've even got a warning
for something similar in the past.
The second one is to always identify yourself
as an Amazon affiliate and make sure
that any earning disclosures are exactly as Amazon requires.
They set out some exact wording for this
and make sure you get the latest version
from their terms of service and use that.
And the third one is to make sure it's clear
that everyone who clicks your Amazon affiliate links
will be directed to Amazon.
Well it's not an issue if you're using Amazon's links.
If you're using any sort of redirects
then it does become a bit of a gray area.
As I mentioned earlier Geniuslinks has done their research
and they say that they've got the tick of approval
from Amazon but you need to at least indicate
next to those links that they go to Amazon's website
with an Amazon in brackets or something similar
if it's not otherwise clear and obvious.
So stay safe.
It's an awesome affiliate program.
You just don't wanna jeopardize your earnings
and have them disappear overnight because of one oversight.
They do monitor these stuff
and we've seen some big channels get shut down
so don't take any chances.
But enough of the negativity.
Now that you've got these tactics if you're looking to
maximize the traffic that you're sending to Amazon
then grab your copy of our free YouTube ranking guide
which is linked on screen now.
This is gonna help you with the tools and the strategies
to help you get your content ranking
on both YouTube and on Google.
I'll see you in the next one.