Affiliate Marketing – Affiliates’ Advantages And Disadvantages

October 22, 2008 on 2:23 pm | In Must See | No Comments

Affiliate Marketing is usually the way most new people coming online looking to make money choose as their business method. There are many reasons for this, not the least of which are the ease of getting started as an affiliate. However, with any business there are advantages and disadvantages do for those considering affiliate marketing I would like to focus on the key advantages and disadvantages to be cognizant of.

If you’re in a hurry here is an excellent affiliate marketing guide.

First we will look at the key advantages of becoming an affiliate;

1. No Need To Have A Website - Many affiliates simply send the traffic they generate directly to the merchant’s salespage to generate sales. It is recommended that you get your own website with and opt-in form so that you can build your own list of buyers, but it is not a necessity.

2. With A Limited Budget You Can Get Started – If you chose not to have your own website and only use free methods of driving traffic to your merchants’ salespages then your start up costs are virtually nil. You do not have to create any products, salespages etc. The merchants handle the sales and customer service so you have no worries there.

3. Your Commitment Is Minimal – Since you are not responsible for shipping or delivering products your actual commitment as an affiliate marketer is minimal. You do not have to track sales, products or website hits and conversions.

4. You Choose What You Promote – You can select based on many factors which products you are going to promote for your commissions.

5. Most Affiliate Programs Are Free To Join – You can sign up with only free affiliate programs so there is no cost here either to you.

6. Be Your Own Boss – You get to decide how much time you work each day in your business. No boss to report to or check in with.

Sounds great so far, doesn’t it? Well, not to burst your bubble, but let’s be realistic and understand that there are also disadvantages to becoming an affiliate marketer, and here are the main disadvantages;

1. Driving Traffic – As an affiliate your main focus will be to drive traffic to your merchant’s salespages so that your visitor buys the product and you earn a commission. Driving traffic, especially if you are going with the free methods takes a lot of time. In any business, if you do not have money to invest to jumpstart the business, then usually the alternative is to invest time. So, be prepared to invest to lot of your time to drive traffic to your affiliate promotions.

2. Sharing The Commissions – Obviously with affiliate marketing you will not be earning 100% commissions, other than in rare cases so while you are doing a lot of work getting customers for your merchants you do not get the full benefit of the sale. The ideal is to eventually come up with your own product in which case you can earn 100% from the sale.

3. Unscrupulous Merchants – There have been instance where unscrupulous merchants closed down programs without informing the affiliates and without paying commissions due so you could potentially have put in a lot of work and gained nothing in return..

4. Hijacked Links – There are those online who attempt to hijack your affiliate links and steal your commissions. There are also some, more internet savvy, customers who will try to go around your link directly to the merchant’s website so that you do not get the commission. Awful, but true.

Despite these disadvantages I still think that affiliate marketing is a phenomenal business to get involved with. For your own sake, however, do not think of it as a way to get rich immediately. You have to give it time and build on it with each day you work your business. Wishing you tremendous success in your new venture.

To your Success,
Chris

P.S. Here is the link to the affiliate marketing guide again. It is a video tutorial series on affiliate marketing.