Making money is today easier all thanks to technology.

The internet has made so many things evolve and making money is one of them.

Amazon has taken full advantage of the internet and also invited people to make some money.

Amazon is one of the world’s largest online retailers and they post items on their e-commerce website where people come to shop online.

To increase their sales, Amazon invented the Amazon Affiliates and Amazon Associates programs.

People who own websites are now paid by Amazon to advertise different products on their websites.

The adverts are linked to Amazon’s website and when a visitor clicks on the link.

They are then redirected to Amazon and if they happen to buy that item, the owner of the website where the link originated from is given a commission.

It might seem like an easy way to make money, but there are rules and guidelines specified by Amazon that have to be followed.

Many people assume that Amazon Associates and Amazon Affiliates mean the same thing.

But there is one striking difference that not even the smartest of Internet Marketing gurus, ever care to mention in their blogs.

Amazon Associates – Refers to a Company that is making money by promoting Amazon’s products directly on their website, blog, Twitter or Facebook page.

Amazon Affiliates – Refers to an individual, who makes money by selling Amazon and it’s merchants products on his/her blog, Facebook page, website or Twitter account.

Although this major difference is downplayed in Amazon’s TOS for it’s Associates or Affiliates, it still does not make any perceptible changes in the way an affiliate/associate website operates.

The only thing that Amazon cares about is that every Affiliate or the Associate website display the pricing related official Affiliate Disclosure from Amazon, which goes on like this…

“music-store.co (your website) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. All prices on this site may change and those considered valid are displayed on Amazon.com.”

Amazon Associates

Amazon Associates was launched in 1998 and at this time, there were not so many affordable ways to make money online.

It was the first of the online affiliates marketing programs.

This program has more than 12 years proven track record of developing solutions for site owners, Amazon sellers and web developers.

To make money by advertising millions of new as well as used products from Amazon.com and it’s subsidiaries such as SmallParts.com and Endless.com.

To become an Amazon associate, you need to apply for the Amazon Associates program with a website address and describe what your site is about.

You then need to sign up for an account at Amazon.com,but if you have an account, the Associates account is listed under your existing account.

You can separate the accounts by creating another Amazon account then click “Join Affiliates” and it’s free.

You need to learn more about the program before you enter the URL and name of your website which is the next step.

This way, you will be on the safer side and avoid issues with the associates program.

When signing up for the Amazon affiliates program, you should sign up for the associates program from your country.

For example, if you are from India, sign up for Amazon India program and if you are from the United States, sign up for Amazon U.S associate program.

Amazon Affiliates

When you sign up for Amazon associates program, you become an affiliate.

If your request is accepted, you can now start earning money using the associates program.

As an Amazon affiliate marketer, your duty is to refer people to Amazon.com through ads and you get paid for it.

It’s easy and doesn’t require a lot. You only need to build as much traffic as possible to your website.

The more visitors you have, the more chances you have of someone clicking the ad on your site and getting redirected to Amazon.

If they purchase the product they clicked on, you get a share of the amount.

There is a myth that Amazon affiliates get only 4% commission,but that is not true.

The commission structure is what starts at 4%,but the rate rises when you sell more products per month.

For example, after you sell seven items, your new commission rate becomes 6%. One advantage of being an Amazon affiliate is that don’t get a commission for the product you recommend using the affiliate link.

You get a commission for everything the referral buys for the next 24 hours before the referral expires.

This is incredible especially during the holidays when people tend to buy more than what is recommended.

To put it in a nutshell, Amazon Affiliates is a program where you earn by pointing people to the right product and you get a share of the amount.

Amazon is, however, putting policies in place where you must follow certain guidelines to get accepted into the associates program.

You become an affiliate once you sign up for the account, register your website and it is approved.

This way, you can now start earning for your referrals.

An Amazon associate has a website and has created an account with Amazon,but it hasn’t been approved yet, so they are yet to start earning.