How To Integrate Amazon Associate Ads Into Your Games!

I have been integrating Amazon Associate ads in my newest games so thought I would write a tutorial explaining that process:

https://www.scirra.com/tutorials/9447/how-to-integrate-amazon-associate-ads-into-your-games

Game developers need to be aware there are many ways to monetize your games besides click banner ads that most people never click.

One way I have found that brings in more revenue and is easy to implement and allows me to choose the content of ads in my games is using the Amazon Associate Program.

I became an Amazon Associate when Amazon first launched the program and I have had a steady revenue using their ads in my media which includes on my website, integrated ads in ebooks and videos, and recently I have used them in games I publish.

In order to use Amazon Associate services and ads you must join the Amazon Associates program and you will need a dedicated website in order to get approved to be an associate.

You can get a free webpage from any service but I recommend you get your own domain name before applying to be an Amazon Associate and they will look over you website to make sure it meets their standards so don't put anything on your website that might not meet their approval.

You will also need a bank account routing number for direct deposit and a SS number for IRS tax records.

Once you are approved as an associate you can use the associate service to create banners and store fronts for your own website and the great thing about using Amazon ads is if someone clicks on a banner and buys ANYTHING you will get a percentage of the sale and the more clicks the higher that percentage will be and up to 10% on some purchases.

I recently included a test Amazon ad in a game I am publishing and on the first click someone purchased a Japanese soaking tub for $167.51 and I made 8% of the sale or $13.40 off that one click and I did not advertise a tub. It was a game ad and they just decided to purchase something else on Amazon and I still get a percentage of any purchase they make after clicking on one of my ads.

That is a lot better than 3 cents a click now don't you think?

I use ads relevant to my games so in a Football game I use Amazon ads related to football and the ads may be to other Football games or to Football collectors items or memorabilia that my users might be interested in and inserting the ads is very simple and you can use rotating ads so the user will see a new ad each time they play.

I also use ads for things that are very hot in the news and in my latest game I included an ad for Zelda: Breath of the wild and Horizon a PS4 game.

Once you get your associate account you should spend some time on the associate page learning all the ad methods you can use but inserting ads is as easy as choosing an ad subject that would fit well with your game and then copying the image and link.

You will set a sprite to the image and use the WEB Object to open the link in another window. Use another window so you don't interrupt your users game play. That window stays open even if they stop playing the game so the user can make a purchase or browse for other items of interest and any purchase made from that window will be recorded to your associate link and you get a percentage of the sale.

Here is a picture of game ads I included in my last game:

Here are the links I used from my associate account that open when you click those pics:

AD1: http://amzn.to/2lAbbmV

AD2: http://amzn.to/2mhFCgh

Don't worry- the links will open in a new window on Amazon and no purchase required. Now look at the top of the browser search box and you will see my associate link included in that website link so I will get a percentage of any sale made after that link is clicked.

I believe this is a great way for game developers that want to monetize games to make some extra revenue and my average Amazon revenue is around $300 a month and it goes up much more around the holidays or when a special or really hot product is included in my ads and I get a higher percentage because I have been an associate for quite awhile and Amazon rewards high yield associates.

I included a simple CAPX so you can see how I set up my ads and you can start today by getting an Amazon Associate account!

CAPX:

https://static3.scirra.net/uploads/articles/9447/Amazon%20Associates%20Example.capx

Nice write up lamar Very useful info! Have you experimented with Amazon Underground? Had any luck? I tried to get my game on there but they have some requirements about the game needing to have additional benefits that make it better compared to versions of the game on other markets. For example by adding additional levels or something similar.

Nice write up lamar Very useful info! Have you experimented with Amazon Underground? Had any luck? I tried to get my game on there but they have some requirements about the game needing to have additional benefits that make it better compared to versions of the game on other markets. For example by adding additional levels or something similar.

Thanks- I have looked at the underground but have not tried it yet.

I will have to go read their requirements.

I don't sell my own stuff through Amazon because they have some strict requirements and want exclusivity and I mostly use my own website to sell.

Read their contracts closely.

Well, I had my app on the Amazon market for a while but it wasn't exclusive there, it was also on iTunes, GooglePlay, Win App Store. Amazon allowed me to publish it, but the game got no sales whatsoever.

So I decided to try Underground. I had to delist the app and make a new listing, reupload etc.

And as far as I can tell with Underground, while it doesn't have to be exclusive to their market they DO want it to have features that make it significantly better than versions available on other markets. Or alternatively I think they will accept it if its a paid app on other markets.

In my case, my game was a paid app on WinAppStore and free with ads on GooglePlay and iTunes. So I was hoping that by removing the ads and pointing to the fact it was paid on WinStore, that would be enough for them to approve it. But nope! They said I need to add something to the game to make it eligible for Undergound such as 'extra levels'.

I might get to it in the future as an experiment.

Well, I had my app on the Amazon market for a while but it wasn't exclusive there, it was also on iTunes, GooglePlay, Win App Store. Amazon allowed me to publish it, but the game got no sales whatsoever.

So I decided to try Underground. I had to delist the app and make a new listing, reupload etc.

And as far as I can tell with Underground, while it doesn't have to be exclusive to their market they DO want it to have features that make it significantly better than versions available on other markets. Or alternatively I think they will accept it if its a paid app on other markets.

In my case, my game was a paid app on WinAppStore and free with ads on GooglePlay and iTunes. So I was hoping that by removing the ads and pointing to the fact it was paid on WinStore, that would be enough for them to approve it. But nope! They said I need to add something to the game to make it eligible for Undergound such as 'extra levels'.

I might get to it in the future as an experiment.

Interesting?

I also write and sell books and ebooks and I was going to publish on Amazon but they wanted exclusive publishing and I publish all over the world through different outlets and my own website so there was no way I would do that and then it turns out one of my other independent publishers sells through Amazon so my books ended up on there anyway without me doing anything lol!

I don't see Amazon as a prime target for game developers. Too many free games to compete with and it won't show up in any searches so you have to advertise it yourself.

Interesting?

I also write and sell books and ebooks and I was going to publish on Amazon but they wanted exclusive publishing and I publish all over the world through different outlets and my own website so there was no way I would do that and then it turns out one of my other independent publishers sells through Amazon so my books ended up on there anyway without me doing anything lol!

I don't see Amazon as a prime target for game developers. Too many free games to compete with and it won't show up in any searches so you have to advertise it yourself.

The small amount of experience I have with the Amazon App market does seem to match your view. Like I said I had literally zero downloadson Amazon, while in the same period of time I had maybe a thousand installs from GooglePlay and tens of thousands on iTunes... so clearly there is no traffic on the Amazon App Store. I even tried out their advertising to try and promote the game within Amazon and that generated no sales and cost too much compared to AdWords.

Hey, Im interested to hear about your books. What kind of books do you publish, I don't see them linked on your website? If you don't want to reveal your genre or whatever thats totally fine.

I published a print book on Amazon CreateSpace and I sell that on Amazon. Again its not exclusive though, I also have the same book published on IngramSpark as well.

Self publishing books is lucrative! I have plans to publish more in the future when I have time! Too many irons in the fire at the moment!

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> Interesting?

>

> I also write and sell books and ebooks and I was going to publish on Amazon but they wanted exclusive publishing and I publish all over the world through different outlets and my own website so there was no way I would do that and then it turns out one of my other independent publishers sells through Amazon so my books ended up on there anyway without me doing anything lol!

>

> I don't see Amazon as a prime target for game developers. Too many free games to compete with and it won't show up in any searches so you have to advertise it yourself.

>

The small amount of experience I have with the Amazon App market does seem to match your view. Like I said I had literally zero downloadson Amazon, while in the same period of time I had maybe a thousand installs from GooglePlay and tens of thousands on iTunes... so clearly there is no traffic on the Amazon App Store. I even tried out their advertising to try and promote the game within Amazon and that generated no sales and cost too much compared to AdWords.

Hey, Im interested to hear about your books. What kind of books do you publish, I don't see them linked on your website? If you don't want to reveal your genre or whatever thats totally fine.

I published a print book on Amazon CreateSpace and I sell that on Amazon. Again its not exclusive though, I also have the same book published on IngramSpark as well.

Self publishing books is lucrative! I have plans to publish more in the future when I have time! Too many irons in the fire at the moment!

The game arcade is just a website I am trying out.

I have been publishing books and ebooks and vidoes on how to subjects for many years.

I burned out on that for awhile so that is why I got back into game programming. I don't expect to make a lot of money from games but it makes enough to pay for my time and I can do that in between other projects.

I don't discuss or link to my other work on here because I don't want to be accused of spamming and that is totally separate from my game projects.