subject: Can You Really Earn Extra Income As An Affiliate Marketer? [print this page] Lots of people suggest affiliate marketing as either a full time business or a way to earn extra income. It's often described as an easy way to earn money online. Is it really that simple?
Sometimes it is, but not always.
It's not simple to get rich. Most affiliate marketers won't... in fact, most won't earn anything worth the effort. There's a reason why people say most businesses fail. It's the truth.
But some people will earn a very good living, and it comes easier to some than to others. That doesn't mean it's not real work or a serious business. While one can hit it lucky at times, for a long term business strategy you're going to have to work at it and know what you're doing.
Your first step is to learn the basics of affiliate marketing. It's a form of commissioned sales or lead generation, but you aren't an employee of the company you're making sales for or generating leads for. You run your own business.
This is where some people get confused, because so many people sell products online that talk up affiliate marketing as though it's an employer-employee situation. That's not at all the case, and I wouldn't recommend trusting any resource that claims business will hire you for this kind of work.
Not that it's impossible to work for someone who is themselves an affiliate marketer and work as their employee. Just that it's not the usual situation, and is not at all the relationship you would have with the companies whose products you'd be selling.
In its simplest, cheapest form, you'll need a website to put your affiliate links on. You can't just throw up banners and expect to make sales; you have to have something that will attract people to click through on your links. Information related to the links is one of the best ways; links that involve coupons are good as well.
Don't assume that you can hit it big in a market that sells high priced or high commissioned products right off the bat. These aren't necessarily your best bet for making money right away. Small items sell faster, and it's amazing what sells well online. Just look around your home or on Amazon and think about what people buy often.
If you can afford more risk and hope to get things moving faster, you can try pay per click affiliate marketing. There is significantly more risk to it, but when you get it right, profits come faster. So do losses.
As with any business, expect to deal with a learning curve. Instant profits are not the norm. Work at it, test different things, and you might make affiliate marketing work for you.
