How to Use Amazon Affiliate Promotional Ads

Creating Amazon Product Promotional Ads for Your Website or Blog

My previous post provided some ideas on monetizing a Blog with Amazon products and becoming a Amazon Affiliate. This post provides some insight into the many Amazon promotional methods of monetizing a website or blog.

Once you are an Amazon Associate, you can promote anything that Amazon sells and they make it easy through all of the promotional material that they provide. The Amazon Associate's Resource Center is a good place to learn about tools, products and discovering new ways to boost your earnings.

The following promotional methods are available to an Amazon Affiliate:

• Search for any Product

• Link to Best Selling Products by Category

• Banner Links

• Set and Forget Banners

• Set and Forget Categories

• Promotional Links

• Rotating Banner Campaigns by Category

• Banner Links by Category

• Native Shopping Ads

• Mobile Popover

• Link to any Page

• Promotions and Bounties

Login to your Amazon Associate account to create the promotional links for your website or blog.

Search for any Product - Display and link to a specific Amazon product. You can conduct an all-product search or search within a particular product line. Below is an image showing how to Search for a Amazon product in Books:

Note that you can refine your search for a specific product or category.

You can conduct an all-product search or search within a particular product line. You can also search across Amazon and its subsidiaries (such as amazon supply) or search within a specific subsidiary. Alternatively, if you have it, you may enter the product's ASIN or ISBN.

Below is just a sample of the books displayed in Amazon's search list (out of 101,780 dieting books found) based on the Search Bar criteria shown above:

Note the Sales Rank column in the above excerpt which shows how each book ranks in sales for Dieting Books. This is useful information for determining which are the best selling dieting books. Researching how well their product ranks is key when it comes to Amazon sales. You can maximize your profit, by promoting and selling products that people are 100% interested in buying, instead of just guessing at it.

The Get Link button on the right is the link to get your link code for the product you select. Once you get the code, you insert it into your website or blog at the location you want it to display. The link is served by Amazon, so you do not need to download the graphic.

Below is the result of using Amazon link code to display three different ad forms for the same product ( the last book in the list shown above).

Click each ad below to test.

Link to Best Selling Products by Category - Start with the Best Sellers to find your most profitable products. Amazon updates their Best Seller list hourly (by category).

You'll be able to see what's currently getting the most sales in the main categories of Amazon, but since your site probably isn't as broad as most categories (i.e., "Toys and Games" or "Electronics") you'll need to dig a little deeper.

For example, you can create a link to the Electronics category Best Seller page which gives you a choice of categories to select, as shown below.

Electronics Showcase Link Sample which gives you a selection of categories.

To dig deeper to a specific product category, click on a product category shown on the Electronics Best Seller page, as shown above. I will select Office Electronics as an example to pursue further. The image below shows Amazon's method of digging deeper to select the product of your choice. ​​

The image on the left shows how you create a link to Office Electronics.

1. Selects the "Electronics"

category.

2. Selects the subcategory,

"Office Electronics."

3. You create the text for the link

that you want the visitor to

see.

Clicking the "Get HTML" button in the form creates the following Text link when you insert the HTML code into your blog or website.:

Clicking the link above takes you to the Office Electronics page where you can shop for phones, printers, shredders, calculators, projectors, scanners, label makers, laminators and more.

Linking to a Specific Product

Here's how to dig deeper if you want to promote a specific Office Electronics product, such as an HP ENVY Photo 7155 Printer (I have one, so I will use it for this example). Go to the Amazon Associates page and enter your product name into the Search Bar as shown below:

When you click on Go in the search bar above, you will go to the Product search results page as shown below:

Select the product you want to promote by clicking the Get Link button at right of the product. Get the HTML code and paste it into your blog or website where you choose to show the Ad. When your blog post or website is Published, Amazon will display the Ad on your site.

The table below shows the three types of Ads you can create, from the Amazon HTML code, for the same HP ENVY Photo 7155 All-In-One Printer:

Banner Ad Linking - Select the kind of banners you would like to display on your site. For optimal performance, place the banners near the top of your most frequently visited pages. Banners created using Adobe Flash will not work for mobile devices.

Amazon provides several types of banners for you to use on your website or blog:

1. Set And Forget Banners - Seasonal banners update based on the seasonally relevant promotions by holiday and/or category. Add the code once and Amazon will automatically display the latest seasonal events/offers, with no further updates needed by you!

2. Rotating Banner Campaigns by Category - Rotating banners campaigns are sets of high-performing banner advertisements. Each time your page is viewed, the actual banner creative displayed will be chosen from the rotating banner set.

3. Banner Links by Category - Amazon has approximately 150 different categories of products for which you can create banner links for advertising.

To select banners for your website or blog, you must be logged-in to your Amazon Account. Click on the Product Linking Tab and then select Banners from the drop down menu to access the banners. Select the type and size of banner you want for your website/blog, then copy and paste the HTML code into position in your website/blog page.

You can create a Rotating Banner showing different products within a category.

The Banner on the left shows an Amazon Rotating Banner (in the Electronics category) which will rotate 8 different banners within the banner display area. A new product banner will display each time your webpage is accessed.

Native Shopping Ads

Amazon's Native Shopping Ads provide highly relevant and dynamic product recommendations in a stylishly designed and responsive ad unit that can be placed at the end of content, or within the content, to create a more compelling visitor experience.

There are 3 different types of Native Shopping Ads:

1. Recommendation Ads: Allows Amazon to automatically recommend the best matched products based on your webpage content and your visitors.

2. Search Ads: Allows you to drive recommendations based on a search phrase determined by you or your visitor.

3. Custom Ads: Allows you to specify the Amazon products that you want to promote.

Currently, there are 4 Ad formats available for all Native Shopping Ad:

1. Grid Format: This ad format is the initial format for Amazon Native Shopping Ads. It is a multi-product, responsive ad format with rich elements like image, price, ratings, etc. We generally recommend placing this ad format at the end or within the product article pages.

2. List Format: This is essentially a list of links to related products. This may be suitable for you if you prefer a Ad unit with a more subtle user experience.

3. Card format: The Card format can be used to display an ad that lists a single product. It is suitable for in-content placement for articles which closely relate to the product. This format is available for Custom variant only, and can only be downloaded from the SiteStripe toolbar. Learn more.

4. Strip Format: A slimmer, borderless ad unit that is best-suited for in-content placement. Learn more.

Native Shopping Ad Types are described below:

• Relevant Recommendation Ads - You can show a group of the most relevant products to your visitors with the Native Shopping Ads. You can place Native Shopping Ads in product article pages to automatically display relevant product recommendations from Amazon based on your page content and visiting users. It's mobile responsive, so you can place it at the end of content and it will adapt based on the page container and device type. Allow Visitors To Shop with Ease - Offer recommendations that compliment your content for shopping ease. Customize Especially for Your Site Content - Refine the product recommendations by selecting category hints that align with your website.

• Search Ads - Native Shopping Ads allow your visitors to take advantage of search results from Amazon directly on your website. Include product recommendations based on search phrases or key words selected by you or entered by your visitors. Monetize Your Content with Search Capability - Display products your visitors are ready to buy, directly on your website/blog. Implement Across Your Site with Ease - Programmatically add to multiple pages by specifying search phrases pertinent to your website. A sample of a active Search Native Shopping Ad (in Grid Format) with a Search Term of "Smart Watches" is shown below:

• Custom Ads - With Custom Ads, you can handpick your favorite products that you would like to promote and place the Ad unit within your product article posts. It is flexible, elegant and adds to your content ( e.g.: My favorite camera bundles for 2018). When customizing Amazon Ads, complement your content with products that match your content for your visitor's shopping ease. Customize ad unit elements, including the title, to make it more compelling. For example, if you want to customize an Ad for your favorite cameras, you can select specific cameras as shown in the Strip Ad Format below:

In summary of Amazon Native Shopping Ads, they are easy to implement and get responsive action from site visitors.

• Flexible Placement Options - You can place the Ads at the end of content or within your content to enhance your advertising effort.

• Responsive - Amazon's Native Ads are designed to be compatible on all device types - smartphones, tablets & desktops.

• Easy to implement - Select the products for your Native Shopping Ad, copy & paste the Ad HTML code into your webpage/blog and forget it. Amazon takes care of displaying the Native Shopping Ad products from now on.

Mobile Popover Ads

You can enhance your hyperlinks (text links) on your website (for Mobile Users) by using Amazon's Mobile Popover Ads. As a disclaimer, I have not used the Mobile Popover Ads, but Amazon has A/B tested popover with more than a hundred associates and found that popover improves the performance of Amazon text links on Mobile by up to 30%. As an Amazon Associate, that can mean more money in your pocket.

• Popover Ads add product info, reviews, and price to your existing links for Mobile Users.

• Integrate once for your entire website.

• Streamline the mobile buying experience for greater conversion.

The image on the right shows how the Popover Ads show more product detail as the user scrolls over a webpage text link, using a Mobile device. (Visit amzn.to/pop on your smartphone for the actual demo).

Promotions & Bounties

Amazon offers to it's Associates ongoing and time sensitive promotions and bounties. You can select promotions from Featured Promotions, Set & Forget Promotions, Special Bounties Promotions and My Recommendation Promotions. You may find that some of these categories do not have a current promotion 100% of the time. From my experience, Featured Promotions and Special Bounties have ongoing or times sensitive promotions all the time.

• As an Associate, you can promote seasonal offers, best sellers, deals, ongoing merchandising themes, and product trends to help you maximize your earnings.

• Easily discover what has been added in the last three days.

• Filter by category, type of promotion, start dates, and others.

• See what banner sizes are available when you click on 'get banner'.

• And, more.

As an Amazon Associate, you will earn a fee for each purchase or Free Trial by a visitor clicking on your website promotional link.

NOTE: All Amazon Ads described on this page will have your Amazon Associate ID automatically inserted when you create the Ads.

Amazon Associates SiteStripe

The quickest and easiest way to link to any page on Amazon is to use your Associates SiteStripe. The SiteStripe toolbar will appear at the top of every page you visit on Amazon if you are logged in to Amazon.com using your same Amazon account as you use for Associates. To build a link to a page with the SiteStripe, simply go to the page you want on Amazon and click the 'Get Link: Text' button on the SiteStripe. It's that simple.

Plus, you can configure your SiteStripe or even turn it off if it's not right for you.

Below is an image of the SiteStripe bar at the top of your browser after you have enabled SiteStripe:

SiteStrip allows you to link to any page on Amazon using the Associates SiteStripe, without logging in to your Amazon Associates account. The Associates SiteStripe lets you build your Associates links right from the Amazon page itself (i.e., Amazon.com page). The SiteStripe will appear at the top of every Amazon page and provides quick and easy access for building links and sharing links easily on social media platforms. The Associates SiteStripe is a convenient alternative to using some of the Associates Central linking and reporting tools.

How To Turn SiteStripe On - To see the SiteStripe you need to be recognized as the Amazon customer corresponding to your Associates account. Ensure that you are signed-in to Amazon using your Associates account by looking at the top of the Amazon.com page.

If you are an Amazon Associate, and want to know how to turn on SiteStripe, go to the following link and scroll down. Learn More.

---

If this post has been helpful to you, leave us a comment below.

#AmazonAffiliate