As more people begin to use the internet as a primary way of earning a living, we've seen a rise in affiliate marketing. If you haven't heard it defined before, then affiliate marketing is an internet-based marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate's marketing efforts. In plain english, companies are willing to pay you a commission, every you generate a sale for them.

One of the more popular affiliate programs available on the internet today is the Amazon Associates program. Associates can earn great commissions for helping Amazon sell any of the millions of items in it's product catalog. Remember what the Avon Lady used to do, when she came around with her brochure to sell the latest schwag of the day. The Avon Lady would get a commission each time someone purchased an Avon product from here. Take the same concept, fast forward to present day, and replace the catalog with a website and you've got the Amazon Associates program today.

If you've ever had a job as a sales person, then you might feel right at home selling items for Amazon. Lets compare working a traditional sales job to the Amazon Associates program.

Traditional Sales Job:

1. You have a minimum quota you have to make just to keep your job.
2. You have a boss breathing down your back to get stuff done.
3. You've got to be at the store during certain business hours in order to make your sales.
4. You can only sell what is instock at your store.
5. You have to deal with problem customers, returns, customer service
6. Might have to train on a product just to be able to sell it.
7. Takes long to move up in the company even though you've been outperforming everyone else.
8. You may not feel like selling the items the store you work for offers.
9. Your entire market might be just a small town
10. So much non-sales related work, like taking inventory, loss prevention, cleaning the store, etc.

So why is an Amazon Associates sales job better:

1. There is no minimum amount you need to sell.
2. You don't have to hard sell anyone to make a purchase.
3. You are free to work on sales when it's the right time for you. No clocks to punch in or out of.
4. You are the boss, no one breathing down your neck, making sure you got the job done.
5. You are not limited to selling only what you have in your store, instead you have access to Amazon's million plus product catalog.
6. You don't need to train to sell Amazon products. You can use your existing knowledge to focus on what you can sell well. For example if you've ever worked in a hardware store like home depot, then you'll find it easier to sell tools and hardware from Amazon's hardware department, making good use of your current experience.
7. Amazon Associates who perform well, easily move up to the next commission tier. You don't have to worry about seniority or politics holding you back from earning more. If you produce sales, then you can enjoy higher amounts of commission per sale.
8. Because of Amazon's huge selection of brand name products in every sales category, it will be easy for you to find a niche market for you to focus your sales campaign on. You can sell the products that you feel comfortable with offering, and feel good about selling such a quality product.
9. Because Amazon is a global retailer, you are not limited in your geographic areas. You will be able to setup a website selling quality Amazon products to customers around the world. With the internet as your global marketplace, you can showcase your website to millions of online shoppers.
10. The Amazon Associates program is free and easy to use. Amazon handles all of the logistics as far as order processing, order fulfillment and customer service, so you can spend your efforts in the areas that really pay off like establishing your brand, and marketing your website.

As you can see, there are plenty of reasons why Amazon Associates is better then your traditional sales job. Now that we've come to this new realization, how can this work for you? The answer to that is simple, if you haven't done so already, go ahead and sign up for the Amazon Associates program. Now that you know you can make money with this program, you'll probably want to learn as much as you can. I'll list a few resources for you below.

Amazon Associates Resources:

1. Amazon Associates Central
2. Amazon Forums
3. Amazon Video Tutorials
4. Amazon Associates Blog
5. E-commerce For Everyone

When you are starting out with the Amazon Associates program, you'll probably continue to work at your day job, as you discover what affiliate marketing is all about, and as you start to earn some revenue. For a lucky few, you'll be able to start making the transition from just a part time associate, to a full time affiliate marketer.

Here are a few example Amazon Associate websites that are earning money on a daily basis as a result of doing some simple branding and marketing:

1. OnlineToolsandHardware.com
2. WeKnowPhoto.com
3. EcoFriendlyShoppingOnline.com
4. StockMyOffice.com
5. InsideandOutHomeDecor.com
6. SportsDirectMegaStore.com
7. GlamorousBeautySupply.com
8. OrderItOnTheWeb.com
9. Consoles-Store.co.uk
10. AllPhoneDeals.com
    

These websites were developed by E-commerce For Everyone, a company that specializes in the development of websites for amazon associates. These e-commerce websites are a great way to build up a good revenue stream. After taking a look at some of those websites, I'm sure it's alot easier to see how you can make money online with Amazon, and why people are ditching their traditional sales jobs to do Amazon Associate sales instead.