Difference Between Amazon Affiliate and Associate Programs

What is Amazon Affiliate?

Amazon Affiliate is a performance marketing program offered by Amazon that allows website owners and other influencers to earn a commission by advertising and linking to products on Amazon.com. The Amazon Associates affiliate program allows you to earn between 1% to 10% for every qualifying purchase made by someone who clicks your affiliate links and buys from Amazon.

The Amazon Affiliate program is free to join and easy to sign up for. All you need is an Amazon customer account to get started. Once approved, you will receive an Amazon Associates account with a unique tracking ID that you will need to add to any links directing people to Amazon. This allows Amazon to properly track referrals to credit your account when a purchase is made.

How Does the Amazon Affiliate Program Work?

As an Amazon affiliate, your role is to advertise Amazon products on your website, social media pages, YouTube channel, or anywhere else with an audience. Most commonly this is done through product reviews, best of lists, buyer’s guides and other informational content that recommends useful or popular products.

You can showcase and link out to any products available on Amazon. When one of your website visitors, subscribers or followers sees your recommendations, clicks your affiliate link and completes a purchase on Amazon, you will earn an advertising commission.

Amazon Affiliate Program Benefits

There are many benefits to becoming an Amazon affiliate, including:

• Easy program access - no application or qualifications required
• Huge product selection - recommend from millions of Amazon listings
• High conversion rates - people trust Amazon for secure shopping
• Account tracking - monitor your traffic, links and earnings
• Passive income - earn money when people shop through your links

What is Amazon Associates?

The Amazon Associates program and the Amazon Affiliate program are actually the same thing. Amazon uses the terms interchangeably. People joining the program to earn commissions from Amazon refer to themselves primarily as Amazon Affiliates.

Is There Any Difference Between the Programs?

No, Amazon Affiliate and Amazon Associates do not have any tangible differences. They are the same performance based affiliate marketing program. When you sign up through the Associates Central website, you are registering for the Amazon affiliate program.

You may also hear terms like Amazon Associates Central, Amazon Influencer or other variations. But no matter what terminology is used, they all refer to the same underlying affiliate marketing program.

Why Terminology Can Be Confusing

The likely reason why multiple terms like Affiliates, Associates and Influencers are all used interchangeably is for marketing purposes. Using different terminology allows Amazon to segment affiliate communications and promote certain parts of the program under different names.

But at the end of the day, every Amazon affiliate marketer is accessing the same tracking, linking and payment infrastructure regardless of naming conventions. There is only one unified affiliate program, even if Amazon brands it differently to attract different types of publishers.

Signing Up as an Associate and Affiliate

Becoming an Amazon Affiliate or Associate simply requires creating your Associates Central account, which includes:

1. Register for an Associates tracking ID
2. Agree to the operating agreement
3. Select advertising preferences
4. Start creating affiliate links

The signup process takes just a few minutes. And you can start earning money within your first 24 hours by advertising products, driving traffic and generating sales.

Is Approval Required to Join?

Another point of confusion is around getting approved for the Amazon affiliate program. Because it is open to almost anyone, no formal approval is required in most cases. Amazon has a very low barrier to entry, which allows first time and smaller influencers to join.

Approval typically only comes into play if there are issues detected with your account, site or traffic. For example, Amazon may review your application if you generate affiliate links but have no audience to promote to. Without signs of actual influence, an account may get flagged for inconsistent activity before commissions can be earned.

Avoid Affiliate Linking Issues

Once registered, just be sure to follow Amazon’s operating agreement. Two keys areas affiliates run into issues are:

1. Not identifying affiliate links - you must disclose Amazon affiliate links to avoid policy violations
2. Referring bad traffic - manually generating fake clicks on your own links can lead to terminating your account

As long as you promote your Amazon links properly and drive authentic traffic, you shouldn’t have any approval challenges. Just focus on providing value to your audience and sending quality users to Amazon for optimal sales commissions.

FAQs

What is the difference between an Amazon Affiliate and an Amazon Associate?

There is no actual difference - Amazon uses the terms Amazon Affiliate and Amazon Associate interchangeably. They refer to the same affiliate marketing program.

Do I need approval to become an Amazon Affiliate?

No formal approval is required to join the Amazon affiliate program in most cases. Approval may only be needed if potential policy violations are detected.

How much money can I make as an Amazon Affiliate?

Amazon affiliate earning potential depends on your audience size and promotion methods. Most affiliates earn 1-10% commissions on qualifying purchases through their links.

What are some tips for being a successful Amazon Affiliate?

Provide authentic value through product recommendations, disclose affiliate links properly, drive quality traffic to Amazon from your channels, and closely track your performance.