15 Reasons to Become an Affiliate Marketer

15 Reasons to Become an Affiliate Marketer
by Rosalind Gardner
© 2004 Rosalind Gardner - All Rights reserved

There are HUGE benefits to promoting affiliate programs with your own home-based Internet business, and I've come up with a list of 15 great reasons to become an affiliate marketer.

Let's look at each reason separately:

1. No Production Costs - The cost to develop and produce a new product is prohibitive for almost anyone who wants to start a home-based business. With affiliate programs, production costs aren't an issue. The product has been developed and proven - all on the merchant's nickel.

2. Low Cost Set-up - Compared with building a brick and mortar store, starting a home-based Internet business is relatively cheap. You probably already have a desk, Internet-connected computer and word-processing software, which is all the equipment you may need.

3. No Fees for Joining or Licenses to Buy - I often compare doing business as an affiliate, with distributing a line of products in the real world. The biggest difference is that the distributor must often pay for a license to distribute products within a limited geographic region. Affiliate programs, on the other hand, are usually free to join, and geographic market reach is limited only by the affiliate's ability to promote his web site.

4. Choose From Thousands of Products and Services - What isn't sold online? That list must be shorter than the one describing all that IS sold online. There are thousands and thousands of affiliate programs selling every product under the sun. That makes it easy to find products related to your current or planned web site.

5. No Sales Experience Needed - When I started my affiliate business, I had absolutely no sales experience. That wasn't a problem, however. The companies I affiliated with provided excellent marketing material. Using their sales copy, I was able to get my first affiliate site up in less than a day.

6. No Employees - The largest expense of most businesses is employee salaries. Although there might be times when you need or want someone to work for you as an affiliate, it's doubtful you'll ever have to worry about hiring full or part-time employees. When you have a project you want to hire out, it is easy to find specialists in every computer-related field who can work for you from the comfort of THEIR own homes. You pay only for the project, and never have to worry about ongoing employee-related benefits and deductions.

7. No Expensive Merchant Accounts Needed - Setting up a merchant account for any business is a time-consuming and costly business. It's even more tedious for Internet businesses. However, merchant accounts aren't a concern when you're an affiliate. The merchant bears that cost and handles all processing of payments. You never have to lose sleep over potential chargebacks, fraud or losing your merchant account when you're an affiliate.

8. No Inventory to Carry - Even if you live in a small one- bedroom apartment, as an affiliate you can sell large items without storage concerns.

9. No Order-Processing - Forget the problems associated with collecting and storing names, addresses, credit card numbers, etc. The merchant does all that!

10. No Product Shipping - The cost and hassle to prepare and ship products to customers worldwide could be staggering. Affiliates never have to worry about packaging supplies or postal rates.

11. No Customer Service Concerns - Do you hate the prospect of dealing with nasty people or customer complaints? Don't worry about it! The merchant handles the snivelers.

12. Make Money While You Sleep - What other business allows you as a sole proprietor to keep your doors open and keep making money even when you take breaks or after you go home for the night?

13. The World at Your Doorstep - The Internet is the world's largest marketplace. You can drive more visitors to your online store in a day, than many small-town merchants sees in his or her brick and mortar business in a year.

14. Minimal Risk - The product you chose isn't making money? Dump it. Take down your links and promote another! It's that easy. There are no long-term contracts binding you to products that don't sell.

15. High Income Potential - If you have a job, your salary or hourly wage is probably pre-determined. Maybe there's not much, other than working overtime, that you can do to increase your income. With your own affiliate business on the Internet your income potential is limited only by your desire, effort and imagination.

There you have them - all the good reasons to start your own online affiliate marketing business. Start today and benefit from this incredibly simple, cost-effective business opportunity known as affiliate marketing. The time is right, and the time is now.

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Article excerpted from Rosalind Gardner's "Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 Last Year Selling Other People's Products Online". Rosalind is the 'Net's most recognized expert on successful online selling as an affiliate marketer. Visit her sites at:

Super Affiliate Handbook & Affiliate Business Blueprint

Who's Your GURU?

The other day I was talking to a guy at the health club I just joined. (Never had time when I was working for someone else.) We started talking about our personal trainers. If you aren't familiar with the term, these are fitness experts who are educated to design work-out routines based on an individuals strengths, needs and goals.

Anyway, Rick said something that struck me right between the eyes. "I got so confused reading all the books and fitness magazines. Everyone has a different opinion of what works the best. I finally figured if I was going to work out, I might as well pick one expert, listen to them and follow their program."

Later, as I was driving my sore body home, I thought about how appropriate Rick's comment was to Internet Marketing. Everyone's an expert. (Even people who have yet to sell their first eBook.) And there are a million programs, books, secrets, techniques and tactics that will work for you.

The problem is, you can easily fall into what my favorite business school professor called, "Analysis Paralysis". That's where a lot of people are stuck. They keep reading, and it gets in the way of actually doing something.

***** I was guilty *****

I was guilty of this, too. I must have bought several hundred dollars worth of books and courses before I found what worked for me.

Fortunately, the expert I decided to follow was, in hindsight, an excellent choice. And by following his advice and listening to his ideas, I have built up a couple of successful income streams.

My point isn't that my "guru" is the right one for everyone. The point is to pick one or maybe a couple of people you really respect, and model them. Of course, make sure they are actually successful in their own businesses first. But when you find someone you respect and whose style you like, listen to their advice and follow what they recommend in their writings.

***** Save Your Brain *****

Following this strategy can save lots of brain cells that you would spend switching strategies and tactics. It avoids confusion and gives you a good point of reference from which to work.

You don't have to keep reading and searching for the latest eBooks. Assume your guru knows the latest tactics and will advise you of how well they work.

I'm not saying you never look at another eBook or eZine again, it's just that you have one primary star you follow, it's that much easier to find your way.
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Jeff Mulligan has an MBA and 20+ years of marketing experience as an ad agency Senior VP and VP Marketing for two software companies. Jeff owns CBmall, a site that provides 15 different ways for ClickBank affiliates to earn income on 1,997 ClickBank InfoProducts.
http://www.cbmall.com
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