The Good, Bad And Ugly Of Affiliate Marketing

Dec 3
10:09

2014

Jon Allo

Jon Allo

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Promoting the right types of products and services with affiliate marketing programs that work can provide great income streams as part of a wider online business model. Here are some pros and cons to look out for.

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The affiliate marketing business model is essentially the online version of a commission paid salesperson. You choose a company's services or products to market online. When somebody buys that service or product from your advertising,The Good, Bad And Ugly Of Affiliate Marketing Articles blog post or website, you get paid a commission from the company. Here are a few of the good and bad points of having an affiliate marketing business.

The Good Points Of An Affiliate Marketing Business.

Everyone Can Be An Affiliate.

The great thing about being an affiliate marketer is that you don't need to be an internet whizz-kid or have a degree in computer studies. It does not matter about your age, your background or where you live. Anyone can start an affiliate marketing business as long as they have access to a computer and the internet.

You Don't Have To Create Your Own Product.

You don't have to create your own product in order to profit online. Some affiliates make millions and have no products of their own. You promote other people's products and receive a commission for your efforts. There is a huge choice of products and services from physical products that are delivered to the customer's door to digital products that customers can download instantly to their computer.

No E-commerce Issues.

One of the great ways that affiliate marketing works is that the product owner takes care of all the payment systems, so there's no need for you to sort out payment processors or e-commerce shopping carts. They organize the deliveries, manage the customer support and basically take care of the whole sales process.

The Bad Points Of An Affiliate Marketing Business.

Too Much Choice.

Choice is a fantastic thing but too much choice can overwhelm you. There are an almost endless variety of affiliate programs and, if you're not careful, you can lose track of what you're doing, who your prospective customers are, and spend money on advertising that does not produce results.

You Don't Know Your Customer.

In the very basic form of affiliate marketing, when you direct a potential customer straight to a product owner's website you may never know who that customers actually is. You don't know how to get in touch with them or how to get them to buy from you again.

You Don't Have Your Own Customers Base.

If you have a basic affiliate marketing business without your own list of customers, you are effectively building someone else's business and not your own. You are pushing customers to them who may buy again and again. But you will only get the commission for the first sale.