I think Amazon affiliate program is one of few affiliate programs which is given up by publishers because they don’t earn anything at all from it. Biggest reason for this is they were using same methods as they use for ppc sites. One important fact to remember is unlike ppc ads you don’t earn because they clicked on ads. These are CPA programs you earn only if visitors buy something. Key facts are,

Give them a reason to click - you won’t earn per click but if people don’t click on ads they won’t goto the site so there won’t be sales. So the first thing is get visitors to click on ads. For that you need to give them a reason. Contact has to be interesting. Also you can ask them to check Amazon to get more reviews of the products. Getting clicks is the first step.

Link to products with positive reviews – Better link to products with positive reviews because they might loose the trust if you try to tell them a product is good while many people review it as a bad product. Make sure those reviews in Amazon site confirm what you said about the product.

Price of the product – A plasma TV would give you a huge commission but how many people would buy a Plasma TV online without inspecting it real ? Also people tend to buy small cheap items more. commission you get might be nothing but still person might buy some other things along with it.

Right site for right product - Not all sites are fine for Amazon affiliate program. This might be great for Blogs and also forums. where people return after first visit.  displaying bunch of Amazon ads in side bar not gonna make you money. If you want to have better conversion rate then you need to recommend the product also give all information about the product good or bad.

Traffic – Its not easy to earn from Amazon Affiliate program unless you have decent flow of traffic to your site. After all this is a CPA programs you are not gonna get paid for impressions or clicks. Don’t give up because you don’t get any sales. Just watch if you get clicks. If you  get clicks then you gonna get sales sooner or later.

If you are new to Amazon Affiliate program then these fact are the basics you need to keep in mind. Don’t give up after a month or two. Also don’t try to relay on one single niche.