I’ve been making 100% of my income online for over 12 years now, so it takes a lot to get me to look twice at any new side-hustle that comes around.
It seems like every week there’s a new get rich quick scheme being tossed around the internet marketing circles.
And when you really dig in, the only people making money are the ones taking about it.
So 2 years ago, when I heard about people making money with the Amazon Onsite Program, I was pretty skeptical.
But, because I am familiar with making money on the Amazon platform, I kept my eye on the program and how people were doing long term.
Once I realized the program was completely legit and normal people were able to have success with it, I decided to dive in and try it for myself.
Unfortunately, my experiment came to an abrupt halt when my husband was diagnosed with Leukemia days after I applied to the program.
It wasn’t until almost a year later that I was able to consider the Amazon Influencer Program again, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that my 3 practice videos had made me almost $200, completely passively, without me ever even logging into the system.
Not bad for videos that took me less than 10 minutes to create and upload!
Once I realized that, I went on a mission to upload videos and up that commission.
Now, I have almost 70 videos and am earning around $500 a month after just a couple of months taking the program seriously.
What The Amazon Influencer Onsite Program Is
This post is focusing on the ONSITE portion of the Amazon Influencer Program. The AIP has many facets to it, which you can see here.
The ONSITE program is where videos that you create about products sold on Amazon, are featured on Amazon for a potential customer to see.
Then, if a customer watches your video and makes a purchase, you get paid a commission between 1%-5% depending on the category of the item.
The reason I am focused on this part of the program is because as the creator, you don’t have to worry about finding the customers yourself!
That’s one of the biggest hurdles to affiliate marketing of any kind, and Amazon is bringing the customer directly to us, making this viable for so many people.
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Where Amazon Shoppable Videos Show Up
Let’s take a look at Amazon and see where they are featuring these influencer videos, also known as shoppable videos.
You have likely already been watching a lot of these videos and not even realizing that people are making money creating the videos.
For this example, we are looking at a USB Outlet Extender.
At the bottom of the images, you can see there are 6 videos available for this product.
When we click on that, we will first see any videos created by the brand owner. These are the ones that say “Videos for this product”
Next, Amazon shows a few influencer videos for the product. These are the ones that say “Related videos for this product”.
The red box in the image above is where you can see those influencer videos for the USB outlet.
The next place we find influencer videos is below the product description and before the written product reviews.
This section is titled “Videos”
There can be multiple types of videos in this section as well.
- Brand Videos – Will include the brand name as the name on the video
- Customer Review Videos – The title is “Customer Review: then their description”
- Influencer Videos – Has a custom title and shows the influencer name/brand.
When you click into one of those videos, if it is an influencer video, it will look like this and say “Earns Commission” under their brand/influencer name:
So, in the example above, if I was to watch this video review for the outlet plug and then buy it, May would make a commission on the sale!
If you are on mobile, the videos sometimes show up below the reviews instead of above them, so make sure to check there as well.
How Much You Can You Earn From The Amazon Onsite Program
The big question everyone has is how much money can I actually make with my videos on Amazon?
It is definitely a numbers game with this program.
For an easy answer, I have found that a lot of people can get to $500/month with 100-200 high quality product videos.
So, if you want to make $2,000/month, I’d recommend trying to get to 400–800 videos.
I mentioned previously, my first 3 videos made $200 before I ever published another video.
Once I started making more videos, I started seeing increased commissions right away.
Between March & April, I added 25 videos and hit $75/month in commissions.
Then, by June I had about 45 videos and hit my first $100+ day.
How Much Does Amazon Pay For Review Videos?
When people say they get paid to do review videos on Amazon, they do not actually get paid for making the video, they get paid for the results of the video.
In the case of the Amazon Onsite Influencer Program, if someone buys a product after watching your review video, you get paid a commission based on the product’s category.
As you can see above, in the Amazon commission chart, the commissions range from .50% for video games and game consoles all the way up to 5% for luxury beauty items. I like promoting lawn and garden items which are at the higher end with a 4% commission.
If the product isn’t in one of the specific categories mentioned, it will fall into the “other categories” and earn a 2% commission.
Sticking with the Outlet Extender in the examples above, we can find the category by looking at the “Product Information” section of the product page.
For this product, it is in the Electronics category. Since that isn’t specified in the commissions chart, it falls into the “other” commission category and earns a 2% commission.
What Products You Can Review For The Amazon Influencer Program
Here’s the best part about being an Amazon Influencer…
You can review ANY product that you own as long as it is actively listed on Amazon.
You don’t have to have purchased the product on Amazon in order to review it on Amazon.
That’s one of the big misconceptions, people think they need to start buying stuff just for the reviews. Not only is that not the case, it’s not even recommended.
When you make videos about the things you already own, you can speak about them with first had experience and give the watcher helpful information to make informed decisions about purchasing the item.
Imagine all of the things you already have in your house!
There are probably thousands of items you use and own that are listed on Amazon.
Everything from the pots/pans you cook with, the shower head you installed last year, the dog food dispenser, and more.
Take a minute and look around the room you are in. I bet you can find at least 10 things you could make a 1-3 minute video talking about!
Just in my office, there are still hundreds of things I haven’t reviewed yet.
I can see my entryway from my desk, so let’s look together (I can’t believe I’m sharing this picture, lol)
Here are a few I have on my list just looking at our entryway:
- backpack purse
- keychain wallet
- hanging coat rack
- shoe spray
- lint roller
- football gloves
- crossbody purse
- clear 49er backpack for stadium
- hand sanitizer
- 5 different styles of shoes
- shoe rack
This list is just one small section of my house. I could make videos for each of those items in one sitting and have them listed on Amazon this week…In fact, I need to do that!
All I need to make the videos is my phone, a tripod/light and the products.
What You Need To Be Approved As An Amazon Influencer
There are two things Amazon requires in order to get approved in the Amazon Influencer Program, and then the Onsite portion of the program.
First, you need a social media account that is getting engagement from other users. Meaning they are liking, commenting, and reposting your content.
The number of followers is not as important as engagement. I’ve seen people get approved with less than 50 followers because their posts get lots of comments. I’ve also seen people with 5,000 followers get denied because their posts get zero engagement.
The social media account gets you approved for the Influencer Program. It is step 1.
Step 2 is submitting 3 review videos for Amazon to review.
You submit these sample videos to Amazon and they have a live person who looks at the video to make sure you know how to make quality videos that Amazon is looking for.
Once you have passed these two approvals, you can start uploading as many videos as you want and start earning commissions.
Start Your Amazon Influencer Journey Today
If you’ve been reading this post and thinking this sounds like something you would enjoy doing, I’d love to invite you to join me on this journey!
I created a brand-new course, the Amazon Influencer Mastery course, because I wanted to provide a step-by-step approach to starting and being successful in the Amazon Influencer Program.
With over 10 years of experience teaching people how to make money on Amazon in different ways, you can trust that I am able to walk you through the full Amazon Influencer process in just a couple of hours.
I know how hard it is to piece meal information together from YouTube videos and blog posts, so this is a spot you can go where everything is up-to-date and all in one easy to access place.
What’s In The Amazon Influencer Mastery Course
The course starts with a thorough overview of the program; how it works, how you get paid, my experience, etc.
Then, we move into getting you approved for the program, which is a multi-step process. Many people try this on their own and just give up completely!
So, I show you how to get approved so you can start making money!
Once approved, we get into the video creation process. All the different types of videos you can make, how to edit them, how to upload them, how to make good captions, etc.
Then, we finish off with some FAQs and managing your account moving forward.
Basically everything you need to be a successful Amazon Influencer from the very first step.
The course is mostly video where I’m sharing my screen, talking to the screen, or recording myself actually doing the stuff like making videos and editing them.
There is also an optional support group available as well, for those people who prefer more interaction and a place to ask me and the other members questions.
Seriously, this course walks you through the entire process from concept to making money with the program!
Check it out today!
Step-By-Step Course
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About Jessica @ The Selling Family
Jessica is an experienced content creator who has been sharing her knowledge about selling online since 2012. With a passion for Amazon FBA, creating and selling low-content books, and blogging, she has helped countless individuals and businesses succeed in their own online businesses. When she’s not working, Jessica enjoys spending time with her family, playing games, and watching her favorite shows.