Amazon.com is not just a bookstore. They were one of the pioneers of internet marketing techniques, taking huge losses in their early years to build a whole new concept of marketing using online affiliate sales as the main driver for their heavily discounted books and other product sales. media. Today, they are well in the black, one of the most successful online businesses, still making the Internet change around them as they wait for the ways the Internet is changing sales and marketing. Best of all, they can help you make money on both a small and large scale, supporting your business with their technological acumen or allowing you to sell books from your own website in exchange for affiliate commissions.

Although most people think of books first when they think of Amazon.com, that is no longer their business model. They sell books. In fact, most of its online toolset has been built to support book sales: reviews, ratings, sales rankings, robust product descriptions and images, and user favorites lists combined with exceptional traditional tools. such as customer service and delivery have made them the best. online site to buy his books.

Today, however, you can find tens of thousands of other products, from toys and baby products to the traditional new line of books and pre-order options, from used books to collectibles and diapers. Why so many different products? It’s because Amazon doesn’t sell them directly.

Amazon is, in effect, becoming a clearinghouse for other sellers, as well as a primary seller of books. In 2001, after a series of failed attempts to expand their line of books and other new media, they launched Amazon Marketplace, selling used books at first to complement their new line of books. They are gradually expanding into the wide variety of products they have today. Amazon Marketplace competes directly with Half.com and eBay’s non-auction services; customers here can sell, as well as buy, whatever they want. And its newest addition, Amazon WebStore, further expands its services, allowing you to start your own branded store using its robust eCommerce services.

If you’re looking to get into the internet marketing fray, becoming an Amazon.com Associate may be the way to start. An Amazon.com Associate is simply an affiliate sales customer. About 40% of Amazon sales, according to the affiliate community (Amazon won’t say), is driven by Associate sales.

It’s very easy to join the Amazon.com Affiliate Program. Fill out a short questionnaire on their site and they’ll send you instructions on how to get pre-coded links to specific books and products. (You can’t just send customers to the Amazon site. Instead, you need to promote specific books or items.) You get a commission that varies: a higher percentage for higher-priced products, so you’d make a good deal on a Kindle but not as much on a paperback – and access to images and information to sell the items. Payments are not immediate. You must accumulate a minimum amount, and then you get paid quarterly.

If you’re just getting started with internet marketing, running affiliate link ads for Amazon products on your web page space is one of the best ways to get your feet wet. As a long-term business model, it’s not great, but the pennies and dollars for selling Amazon products add up over time, and ads are worth sticking with even after you’ve made bigger and better profits.

For your internet marketing success!