Benefits Of Being An Affiliate Marketer


by Dan "DG" Girard - Date: 2010-09-05 - Word Count: 719 Share This!

Affiliate marketing has become one of the fastest, cheapest, and effective way to start an online business. Although the reward may not be as high as producing your own product or starting a traditional brick-and-mortar business, the risks are also much lower. Affiliate Marketing lets you get your feet wet without really knowing how to swim. You already have most of the skills, you just need to know how to apply them.

First, let's talk about what affiliate marketing is. In the simplest terms, you are an independent sales person whose job it is to promote (not necessarily sell) someone's product or service. Your reward for this promotion is a piece of the sale (known as a commission). In internet terms, when a customer clicks a specific affiliate link, and that customer buys something, you get a commission. This is a win-win situation for you and the product's owner.

Benefits for the Merchant

One of the biggest benefits for the merchant is a wider exposure of their product. Yes they have to give up a portion of the profit but it's worth it in the end to make more sales. This type of exposure means maximum exposure for no up front cost. The merchant only has to give up some money when the sale is made. In a traditional markteting structure, the merchant would have to pay for advertising, sales force, and other up front costs. That's all reduced to a minimum (if the merchant wants to promote on their own) with affiliate marketers doing the work.

Benefits for the Affiliate

One of the benefits for you as an affiliate is a low cost and simple setup of resources needed (e.g. website, email, etc.). You basically need a website (can even be set up on a free blog service), an email account, your affiliate link to the product, and an email auto-responder (optional). You job is to get customers to the site or get them to open an email, and then click on your affiliate link.

Another benefit for the affiliate is that you don't deal with customer service issues, like refunds. That is handled by the merchant. There may be times where you've developed a relationship with the customer (through follow up emails, etc.) and you may be asked a question. In that case you can forward it right to the merchant and they take care of it for you.

Affiliate marketing is also an excellent way to earn money while at home or as a part-time job. There are virtually no production costs. The product is already developed and proven by the merchant, and all you have to do to find as many potential customers as you can that looking for the product.

Affiliate programs are usually free to join, so affiliates do not have to worry about start-up costs. There are thousands of products and services you can choose from. You can find affiliate programs for every product under the sun. Surely, there is a product or service out there that is relevant to your website. You could even choose a product first then create a website around that product.

With affiliate marketing there is absolutely no sales experience necessary. Most affiliate programs offer excellent support (some in the form of sample emails, graphics, and sales copy) when it comes to providing marketing material. The simplicity of affiliate marketing allows you to be an affiliate marketer at the least cost and the most comfort.

In the end, you are responsible for your success as an affiliate marketer. The more traffic you get to your website means more potential customers who will turn into paying customers. As you become more comfortable with the process, you can expand your efforts. You could go deeper into the product or niche that you are currently promoting, or you can repeat the process for an entirely different product or niche.

The best benefit of being an affiliate marketer is the opportunity to increase your income; and you can make a profit even if affiliate marketing is only a sideline business. With your own affiliate business, you can earn easily earn extra income, although you do have to exert effort and use your imagination to maximize your earning potential. Indeed, affiliate marketing is one of the simplest and most effective business opportunities on the web today.

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Related Tags: affiliate marketing, beginner affiliate marketing, benefits of affiliate marketing

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