Can You Still Make Money In Affiliate Marketing?
September 10, 2011 by Rick Jameson
Filed under Affiliate Marketing
Rumors have come and gone on the Internet about the viability of affiliate marketing and making money. In fact not that long ago there was an article that asked the question,”Is Affiliate Marketing Dead? There’s a famous quote by Mark Twain that states, “The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” So to the rumors of the death of affiliate marketing being dead are greatly exaggerated. Affiliate marketing is not dead and is still a vital means of making an income on the Internet.
The interesting thing is that many people do believe that affiliate marketing is too saturated and incapable of making the kind of money it did five or six years ago. Yes, it was a lot easier back then, but using today’s tools and guidance you can still make a very nice income from affiliate sites and products.
If you consider that Adwords type advertising, and Internet companies such as Clickbank did not exist seven or eight years ago you will understand that the affiliate market is easier to penetrate than it was years ago. With Adwords, and Yahoo Marketing, for example, you have the ability to reach a worldwide market within hours. You can literally sign up for an affiliate product and advertise it worldwide within hours. Of course you need to have the capital to advertise it but it is easily accomplished.
One way to finance your advertising costs is to lay out a budget, specifically “how much can I invest to potentially lose. ” Sounds ridiculous but that’s they way it works. Decide how much you can afford to lose and build your advertising budget around it. Make sure though to research your product thoroughly, don’t leave anything to chance. If you break even your first time out that may be a sign that you need to refine your ad or ads to target high potential buyers.
Be very careful though. Sales are not final until the guarantee period has ended. Let’s say that you find the perfect product to sell on ClickBank. ClickBank mandates that the seller provide a refund for any reason for 56 days or eight weeks. This means that there will be some “buyer’s remorse,” so that nice 50 or 60 % commission comes out of your account.
Affiliate marketing can be a great source of income hedging. Hedging against the economy or hedging against a potential job loss or just to pick a few extra dollars. It’s alive and well especially if you use the right tools and resources.
Get tools and resources for affiliate marketing programs on the Internet. Visit our Affiliate Marketing Website.. This article, Can You Still Make Money In Affiliate Marketing? is available for free reprint.