There's a bit of chicken and egg in the sequence of setting up a referral business. Future steps range from picking a product group for referral to setting up a WordPress web site. What order is right?
I believe the Affiliate program setup belongs first for reasons I'll describe below.
There were a few things I ran into that I had not anticipated when I started down the application. The first one was that Amazon would not accept an affiliation with a person from Colorado!! (And a few other states.) It turns out that Colorado had a law dealing with sales tax that Amazon found onerous. The law was killed two months ago. To get around this problem I used a friends address in Georgia and I'll reset this when the state list on Amazon includes Colorado. It is my suspicion that if you're in a state that has such laws, everyone gets over it and gets around it. Like Colorado, the consensus is that such laws are unconstitutional. Judge for yourself.
I also bumped into the requirement to enter my web sited name. The fact is that the web site name and everything else is in the future - the chicken and egg thing. I happen to have a few web sites so I used one of those. I don't know if the site is actually checked or not.
The process also requires a taxpayer ID and a deposit account. Amazon will send a check but that costs $15 per. The direct deposit is free, but you need to name an account. Forewarned is forearmed.
So if you need to enter website information, why not set up the web site and then go to the affiliate application? I can think of a couple of reasons. First, when I set up the web site I want to be able to actually build in the links that are part of being an affiliate. I don't want to go back if I don't have to.
But more important, I am seeing a wealth of information that is available about the Amazon program and products. This is only available after you apply for affiliate status. As an information junkie, I'm very please to wallow in the Amazon pages for affiliates. I think it will add to my preparations to build my sites. (Yes, plural sites. It's clear that one cannot stop at one.)
So, if you persisted to this point, you see I'm rightfully branded as anal. But thank goodness Holly kept it simple. Got me going.
(24 hours later - just checked my mailbox and I'm an approved affiliate! I was concerned because the application asked for my web site. I haven't begun that one. I used dbmurphyusa.com as above which has nothing to do with the program. They happily approved me and I haven't a clue what was checked regarding the site. )
I believe the Affiliate program setup belongs first for reasons I'll describe below.
There were a few things I ran into that I had not anticipated when I started down the application. The first one was that Amazon would not accept an affiliation with a person from Colorado!! (And a few other states.) It turns out that Colorado had a law dealing with sales tax that Amazon found onerous. The law was killed two months ago. To get around this problem I used a friends address in Georgia and I'll reset this when the state list on Amazon includes Colorado. It is my suspicion that if you're in a state that has such laws, everyone gets over it and gets around it. Like Colorado, the consensus is that such laws are unconstitutional. Judge for yourself.
I also bumped into the requirement to enter my web sited name. The fact is that the web site name and everything else is in the future - the chicken and egg thing. I happen to have a few web sites so I used one of those. I don't know if the site is actually checked or not.
The process also requires a taxpayer ID and a deposit account. Amazon will send a check but that costs $15 per. The direct deposit is free, but you need to name an account. Forewarned is forearmed.
So if you need to enter website information, why not set up the web site and then go to the affiliate application? I can think of a couple of reasons. First, when I set up the web site I want to be able to actually build in the links that are part of being an affiliate. I don't want to go back if I don't have to.
But more important, I am seeing a wealth of information that is available about the Amazon program and products. This is only available after you apply for affiliate status. As an information junkie, I'm very please to wallow in the Amazon pages for affiliates. I think it will add to my preparations to build my sites. (Yes, plural sites. It's clear that one cannot stop at one.)
So, if you persisted to this point, you see I'm rightfully branded as anal. But thank goodness Holly kept it simple. Got me going.
(24 hours later - just checked my mailbox and I'm an approved affiliate! I was concerned because the application asked for my web site. I haven't begun that one. I used dbmurphyusa.com as above which has nothing to do with the program. They happily approved me and I haven't a clue what was checked regarding the site. )
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