by Don Clasen
You may be tempted to think it’s too late to get into Affiliate Marketing, that all the best spots are taken, the best money streams mined out.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Although affiliate marketing is already a $12 billion a year industry, the fact is, it’s a drop in the bucket. In contrast, the entire US economy was $23 trillion as of 2021. Affiliate marketing was less than one thousandth of one percent of that! And that’s just one country! We’re living in a global economy nowadays and the potential is unlimited.
Just think about it. If you had bought Apple stock in the 1980s, what do you think you’d be worth today? Or Facebook in 2007 when it “only” brought in $153 million in revenue? Just 14 years later they brought in $117 billion!
Yes, there’s no time better than now in 2022 for you to get started! This industry is still in its beginning stages and it’s a great investment.
Why? Because advertising is changing. You may remember major corporations doing “image” or “branding” advertising for instance, spending huge amounts of money on TV promoting an oil company for instance. They don’t do this because they think the average viewer is interested in buying an oil well or is even able to. They do this to keep their name out there. Coca Cola for instance is famous for doing this.
But this belongs to the heyday of Madison Avenue and large advertising companies handling large accounts and keeping their clients’ names out there and free of bad reputation. With the advent of the Internet, a new kind of public relations came about—customer rating reviews. Now the buying public can weigh in on what they think of products and a company’s service.
This has brought a new level of democracy into the marketplace like never before. More than ever, companies are going to be rewarded according to the quality of their products, their customer service and their regard for their public image.
And even better, it has opened the door to a new kind of profit sharing called Affiliate Marketing. Instead of paying gargantuan sums of money to Madison Avenue, companies are willing to share some of the sale with “affiliates,” who either love the products themselves or who just want to get in on something good. It’s a win-win-win for the vendor, the affiliate and the customer.
A Different Economy
The US and indeed, the world economy are much different now than it was a generation or two ago. When I was growing up, the focus was always on getting a good education in order to get a good job that would set you for life after you retire.
Those days and that economy are long gone now. Good jobs have been shipped overseas for cheaper labor and what are left here pay less and offer few benefits. As everyone knows, you’ll never get rich working to make someone else rich, and the wages people are making now barely pay the bills. Add to that the threat of inflation now, and how are you going to make it through the future? What is your plan?
Well, affiliate marketing is just the small business opportunity for you! In fact, I think of it as “the perfect business.” Just think of all its advantages:
Other people’s products
With most small businesses you are in a way, “buying a job” for yourself. It may be a job without a boss (which can be a distinct advantage if you hate your boss!), but you still have to be there “on it” every day, often with even longer hours. You have to have capital to invest in inventory or raw materials which may be risky. You have to deal with shipping, customer service, returns, employees—all kinds of hassles.
With affiliate marketing, you don’t have any of that to worry about, because you are promoting other people’s products, yet you get a percentage of the profit. They fulfill the orders, they take care of returns, customer complaints and everything else. But you get paid automatically. They will usually even provide all the marketing materials, things they’ve spend a lot of money and time perfecting. All you have to do is bring them traffic.
In fact, affiliate marketing can run on virtual autopilot, freeing you to have more time to pursue the things you want to in life. Even “while you’re sleeping,” money will come rolling in 24/7, 365 days of the year. How can you beat that?
Digital Products
You can promote and get a percentage of almost every product or service under the sun, but with AM there’s an even better opportunity in digital products. With a digital product such as an ebook or a study course, once the work has been done by the author, there’s nothing else to pay for. So they are often willing to share higher payouts with whoever brings them traffic.
Those percentages can be up to 80-90% depending on what it is. This can bring in greater amounts of money quicker for the affiliate marketer than other types of sales and online businesses.
And none of this is to compare with an even better way to profit, by writing ebooks yourself! That way you can gather a small “sales force” of other people selling it for you, or sell it directly yourself and keep virtually all the profit! And once the work is done, it just keeps producing for you year after year. No replacing inventory, no customer service, nothing like a traditional business.
Residual Income
Residual income is revenue through royalties, commissions, recurring fees, sales and the like. The idea is that once a work is done or a system set up, revenue comes pouring in without any further (or very little) work to be done.
This is how songwriters, performing artists, authors and the like become so rich. Once they finish a work, every time a copy is bought, a song is played, or a viewing ordered, they get paid a royalty or percentage, all handled by other entities. Just one hit song, a popular novel, or hit screenplay can sometimes set a person for life.
If you don’t make your money through residuals, you’re probably working according to some form of hourly wage. If that’s the case, then the only way you can increase your income is by working longer hours or working harder or more efficiently. And if the latter is the case, then that’s only if you’re self-employed. If you’re working as an employee, you’re even less motivated to do so.
All the same, there’s a cap on all that. It can only take you so far because you only have so much time and energy. But with affiliate marketing you can leverage your time and skills. The sky is the limit.
Scalability
You can take affiliate marketing as far or as little as you want. You can do it part time for a little extra income or go full time for a better life than you can imagine at the moment. You can set up as many offers or systems as you can handle or leverage. It’s all up to you.
Flexibility
You can work when it suits your convenience, and you can literally “take it with you” everywhere you go. All you need is a laptop or, if you can handle it, a mobile phone.
And because of the Internet, you can do it from any location in the world. Affiliate marketing professionals are often called “digital nomads” because they hop from country to country, seeing the world, all while making money, often with a minimal amount of oversight on their part. If you like to travel, this is definitely the business for you! You can even work with travel booking companies and the like as an affiliate.
The Learning Curve
But as with all new businesses, this one comes with a learning curve too. As such things go, it’s not a very steep one, but you should expect one all the same. It’s like a rocket lifting off a launch pad. At first, it’s expending a lot of energy but moving very slowly. But as it accelerates it has tremendous momentum behind it.
The nice thing is that it doesn’t necessarily take a lot of capital investment to get involved. You can go that route by taking courses or hooking up with experienced mentors for a fee. It may save you from a lot of wasted time and mistakes. But you don’t have to risk a lot either.
On the other hand there’s a new vocabulary to learn, new tools to use and new people to meet. All these can take time and getting used to. But they’re really not that difficult, and even if you’re a complete newbie, you can start making sales in no time. Being tech and social media proficient doesn’t hurt either. (I.e., are you a young person?)
And that’s what this website is partially dedicated to. At AffiliateFeast, we provide advice, offers and opportunities you can take advantage of. If you have any questions you can just write me at [email protected].