What is a bounty?

Whether it’s to cover the monthly fees of your hosting provider, boost your holiday savings, or earn a regular income, there are many reasons to make money with your own website and the Amazon Associate Program – and bounties are an integral part of the commission incomes you can earn.hb

YOU’LL LEARN:

• What bounty payments are
• Tips for implementing them onto a page
• How to integrate links to Amazon services

A quick recap: the Amazon Associates Program works like this. You include Amazon products on your website or blog by including affiliate links in your posts or pages.

When visitors to your pages click on these links, you can earn up to 12% of all the purchases made during the user’s shopping session. Commission incomes depend on the product categories purchased. You can find the distribution by product category here.

In addition to earning commission incomes by product category, you can also earn fixed incomes from your advertising. These extra premiums are not geared toward products, but are paid for the promotion of Amazon.co.uk services, such as Prime, Audible or Music Unlimited.

You receive a fixed advertising fee once a visitor to your website signs up for a trial subscription of an Amazon service – the fee you earn is called a bounty.

Promoting Amazon services is just as easy as promoting products – you just integrate an Associate link or banner into your website. You can use our SiteStripe Tool for this, or use an already existing banner from Associates Central.

If a visitor signs up for an eligible trial membership or creates a Baby or Wedding wishlist, you will receive a fixed fee (bounty). Click here to view all available bounties.

Tips For Success

The services offered by Amazon can be promoted on your website in many ways without having to make any changes to your site content or design. You can place a banner for the promotion of Amazon Prime on almost any page, because this service does not need a special product category or thematic orientation. Prime’s focus is on providing free delivery, as well as free video and music streaming content, so it appeals to an extremely broad group of people.

However, ensure that you don’t integrate the advertising media for an Amazon service in such a way that it’s in the main conversion path for any specific product. We recommend placing it in a sidebar of the page; this will reassure visitors that your site is still focusing on your niche, and that the Amazon service is provided as a supplement.

Look for opportunities to add the Bounty services where your website’s content matches one of the Amazon services offered, even in a less direct way. For example, on a blog post reviewing a film, add not only the Blu-ray disc for the title and a suitable player, but also an Amazon.co.uk video Prime banner.

If you’re providing affiliate links to products under a value of £20, we recommend a Prime banner with reference to free delivery for all Prime products on Amazon.co.uk. You could also promote Amazon Music Unlimited on a website about Bluetooth speakers or hi-fi hardware.

Audible fits for a website that discusses books, but can also be applicable for websites on the topic of headphones or MP3 players. And since Audible has a range of audiobooks for children, it could be promoted on a website for children’s toys or clothing.

A good point of reference here is the data for ‘services provided’, which you can find for your website in the Associate Central earnings report.

It’s useful for identifying previously unknown target groups, since the visitors this data describes have completed a trial subscription after visiting your website, without any promotion from your side. Remember to use hyperlinks for banners or articles in which you mention an Amazon service: this can definitely pay off.

Practical Examples For Applying Bounty Services

You can integrate bounty-paying Amazon services on all kinds of websites. Here are some examples to consider:

1. Do you run a blog in which you present various sewing techniques and outfits to your readers?

Just mention in one of your articles the advantages of Amazon Prime in terms of a free and fast delivery for inexpensive Prime items such as sewing accessories, buttons, fabrics, etc. With a well-placed Amazon Prime banner, you could potentially earn bounties for Prime trials or subscriptions.

Are you listening to music or an audiobook while you are sewing? Then let your readers know which music you prefer and which audiobooks you particularly recommend and place a text link for Amazon Music Unlimited or a banner for Audible to share with your readers.

2. Do you provide tips and tutorials on photography, or do you have a travel blog?

Write an article in which you explain the problems of data backup of your pictures during your travels or after your trip. Explain that, as a Prime member, one would receive unlimited, free storage for photos and place the appropriate banner or text link in your article using the SiteStripe tool to promote Prime.

3. Are you running a travel blog and do you use offline-available Audible audiobooks or Prime videos?

Write an article with tips to battle boredom – including your ‘must have’ film recommendations for long flights. You could do the same for audiobooks for your readers: just implement the appropriate banner or text link.

You can also use practical examples from everyday life that demonstrate the value of Amazon services. An example scenario might be that, a few days before departure, you notice your charger for the battery of your camera no longer works.

As an Amazon Prime member, you order a replacement device, and receive it within a short time before you travel, thanks to free premium shipping for Prime members. You can share this with your readers in an article and include a link to the Prime trial subscription.

4. Are you running a website dedicated to music production, explaining production steps to visitors and offering tips for the right accessories?

Any musician or producer will sooner or later be inspired by an artist or a particular song. Write an article in which you compare different music-streaming providers, where visitors can find the best variety of music from artists or genres, and use this as inspiration for their music production and to recreate the sounds. This is a perfect opportunity to link to Amazon Music Unlimited.

5. Are you writing about Bluetooth speakers or hi-fi accessories?

You could also compare music-streaming providers here, in an article which explores which provider has the best music-streaming quality for hi-fi lovers, or which wireless speaker is the best value for money.

Use the principles behind the examples above, and you’ll soon begin to appreciate that there are a lot of practical ways that you can integrate Amazon services into your site’s content meaningfully for your visitors – which means extra services for them, and bounty payments for you.