You’re scrolling your Instagram feed, and you stop on a reel of someone describing how “instead of watching Netflix tonight, you could be making money online by pinning Amazon affiliate marketing pins” on your Pinterest account.
The steps look simple enough in the video.
- 🛍️ Pick a product.
- 🎨 Create a pin in Canva.
- 📌 Post to Pinterest.
You watch the video a few times until finally you decide to give it a shot.
So you get on Canva and make 3 pins, post them to your account and wait. 6 weeks later you wonder why you didn’t make any money? 🤷🏽♀️
Turns out there’s more to it than the video let on.
- How do you pick a product?
- Where did they get their image from?
- Is Canva free? Or do you need to pay for the pro version?
- Do you just pin this to your personal Pinterest account? Is there any other kind?
- How do you actually get paid for this?
And suddenly all that self-confidence begins to fade.
Maybe you’ve heard of affiliate marketing before, but you’re not sure how to actually get started. You like the idea of Amazon affiliate marketing; you just need someone to help you fill in the gaps.
In this blog post, I’m going to break down how I would do Amazon affiliate marketing if I had to start from scratch today, including the one trick that the influencers never mention.
And if you want to check out the exact program that I used to get started with affiliate marketing, here’s a link to their free live webinar.
What Is the Amazon Affiliate Program?
Affiliate marketing is how bloggers and influencers monetize their content. They recommend products they have used and love and share a unique link.
If someone clicks that link and makes a purchase, the affiliate earns a commission. Like a thank-you from the company for sending them a customer. 💛
It works the same on Amazon. The buyer pays nothing extra, while the affiliate earns a small commission, and the buyer gets a user-reviewed product. Win-Win-Win!
I should tell you that I am not an Amazon Associate today, although I have been in the past.
Personally, I think Amazon’s commissions are too low, and I’d rather spend my time promoting higher commission products.
That being said, Amazon’s affiliate program is one of the most popular affiliate programs, especially for beginners.
Why is this program so popular when it pays so little, you ask? Well…
- It’s free to join.
- Lots of folks are familiar with shopping on Amazon.
- Amazon sells just about everything, so you can find products related to any niche.
In addition to being a giant retailer with trusted name recognition, Amazon’s website is built for conversions (read: sales). You funnel people to their site, and they take over from there.
How Amazon Tracks Your Sales (and Why It Matters More Than You Think)
How does Amazon know that the person used your affiliate link? They track the cookies (not the edible kind).
When someone clicks your affiliate link, a cookie is placed on their device that tells Amazon:
- this customer came from you, and
- the commission should go to your account.
The cookie lasts 24 hours and applies to any purchase made on the site in that time, even if they don’t buy the specific product you linked to.
The “cookie life” is extended to 30 days for any items they add to their cart.
Here’s why that’s a big deal. You don’t just earn on one product. You earn on the whole cart.
And that’s the real secret to Amazon affiliate marketing that the reels skip right over. The people who actually make money with Amazon focus on cart value, not one-off products. I’ll show you exactly what that looks like in a minute.
How I’d Start Amazon Affiliate Marketing From Scratch Today
Contrary to what the influencers suggest, it’s not as easy as going on Amazon, picking any product, and making a pin. Here’s what I’d actually do.
Step 1: Start With Passion, Not a Product
Affiliate marketing at its core is about recommending products you can vouch for. So picking a random eye mask or water bottle isn’t enough.
Before you ever open Amazon, think about what you’re passionate about and who you want to help.
Otherwise your advice won’t be worth much.
People can tell the difference between a recommendation and an ad.
Step 2: Join the Amazon Associates Program
To join, you’re going to need a website. This is important because you have to tell Amazon where you’ll share your links and how you expect to drive traffic to their platform.
Some options for a website include:
- A blog
- An Instagram account
- A WooCommerce website
- A link hosting platform, like Stan Store
Once you have a site, head to the Amazon Associates website and sign up. After your account is created, you’ll land on your associate dashboard, where you can track link clicks and commissions.
Step 3: Promote a System, Not a One-Off Product
Remember, Amazon commissions are small. The way people actually succeed with Amazon is by increasing cart value.
So let’s say you use an eye mask at night to sleep. But it’s part of a larger sleep routine. You use a dehumidifier, an eye mask, a sound machine that mimics the ocean, and automatic blackout curtains. 🛌
That’s not one product. That’s a group of products you can promote as a bundle to help people who want to upgrade the quality of their sleep.
You’ve probably already seen this in action:
- Amazon clothing hauls. It’s never one shirt. It’s a series of related pieces.
- Luxury-for-less home decor. It’s never one throw pillow. It’s the whole cozy living room.
And remember that cookie? It applies to everything in the cart. One person buying your sleep setup earns you a commission on five products, plus anything else they grab while they’re there.
But cart value isn’t the only reason this works. It’s the system that actually helps people. An eye mask on its own won’t fix anyone’s sleep. A routine might.
When there’s a real problem you’re solving, your recommendation is worth trusting.
Step 4: Create Content Around the Problem You Solve
When you make content, you’re promoting your system rather than a one-off product. That’s true whether you’re on Pinterest or some other platform.
- On Pinterest, you’d aim to rank for search terms like “how to get better sleep,” with a pin like 5 Surprisingly Inexpensive Amazon Upgrades for a Better Night’s Sleep.
- On Instagram, you’d make content like POV: You stopped buying random sleep gadgets and built a bedtime routine instead. Now you’re sleeping like a baby.
A few rules apply no matter where you post:
- Use your own photos. Amazon doesn’t allow you to use their website images. This is another reason why having the products in hand helps. Your own photos build trust and give better context than a generic product image.
- Canva has a free tier. Even the free version has tons of templates, so no need to reinvent the wheel.
- Disclose your affiliate links with something like #ad or #affiliate.
- Don’t hide or shorten your Amazon links, and don’t include prices, since they change.
Step 5: Send Traffic to Your Own Site, Not Straight to Amazon
Here’s something the reels don’t tell you. Amazon runs its own ads on Pinterest. And you are never going to out-promote Amazon at promoting Amazon products. That’s a battle you cannot win.
So pins that are basically ads for a single product don’t really work in practice. Even if they did, you’d need to post a massive volume of pins every day to keep up with Amazon’s ad budget.
What Pinterest does favor are pins that lead to helpful content, like a blog post, that matches what the person searched for.
Someone searching “how to get better sleep” wants answers, not a product page.
That’s exactly why your sleep-routine blog post or carousel reel beats a pin that links straight to an eye mask.
It answers the search, it holds your whole bundle, and it’s an asset you own.
Step 6: Plan for Months, Not 6 Weeks
Remember those 3 pins? You can’t just make 3 pins and be done. That’s not how the Pinterest algorithm works.
Now, I know the influencers didn’t mention any of this. They’ve got maybe 10 seconds of your attention, so they can’t explain everything in that time.
With Pinterest, it can take months of consistent pinning for your account to gain traction and start getting you link clicks.
Other platforms have their own timelines. But it’s not instantaneous on any of them.
Amazon has a clock running, too. You need to make 3 qualifying sales within your first 180 days to stay in the program.
That sounds like plenty of time, but it can take longer than you’d think, depending on your content and how you promote it.
If you thought affiliate marketing was a get-rich-quick scheme, you’re going to be sorely disappointed.
But if you’re willing to put in the work up front, it does get easier and less daunting.
Eventually, it can even become somewhat passive once you have good systems in place.
Ready to Take Action?
Amazon affiliate marketing can work. Just not the way the reels make it look.
- Start with what you’re passionate about and who you want to help.
- Promote a system that solves a real problem, not a random product.
- Send people to content you own.
- And give it months, not weeks.
I’ll be honest with you. This isn’t for anyone looking for an easy button. Building a business and a brand takes real time and effort.
But building something that eventually runs without you comes down to having the right systems.
That’s exactly what this free live webinar walks through: how to build passive affiliate marketing income, step by step. And because it’s live, you can ask your questions in real time.
I admit I agree with the Instagram influencers on one thing…
If you’ve got time to watch Netflix, you’ve got time to watch a free masterclass and start building your affiliate marketing business. 👉 Save your spot here.
Cheers!
Just a heads up, this post may contain affiliate links. If you click and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products and services I genuinely believe in.