1. You do not need to create your own product. As an affiliate, you will be making money online through commissions which you earn from marketing other people’s products.
2. You do not have to handle or ship products. As an affiliate, all you have to do is to direct potential customers to the merchant’s website using your affiliate link. You do not need to worry about payment processing or product delivery.
3. You do not need to create a website or write a sales copy, which can be quite costly. If you already have your own website, all you need to do is to add your affiliate links on your website.
You can also still earn money online as an affiliate without a website by simply promoting your affiliate link. If you are writing and submitting articles as a way of advertising, all you need to do is to add your affiliate links at the end of each article. People who read your articles will then click on your affiliate link which can make you a sale. (This is a method a lot of affiliate marketers use, though sending the prospect directly to the vendors sales page is not the best method. More on that below)
4. There is no need for domain and hosting costs. When starting an online business, most people have limited cash. In affiliate marketing, there is no need to pay for hosting and having your own domain since you do not necessarily need to have your own website.
5. There are no requests for refunds to deal with. As an affiliate, you do not have to worry about handling any requests for refunds. You earn commission on every product you sell, and it is the product owner’s responsibility to handle any requests for refunds.
6. You can pick and choose the products you want to sell. There are many products you can choose from to promote. You can therefore choose those “hot” products that are popular and in demand, and that also match your interests or website theme.
I recommend that you have your own web site, however, for a few key reasons: With your own website you the opportunity to presell the customer on the product before they get to the sales page (warmed up prospects convert better than cold ones). This is especially important of the sales copy for the product is not that great. If you do not funnel the traffic you generate through your own site first, you have no opportunity to collect their names and e-mail addresses to build your own customer list. If you do not funnel the traffic you generate through your own site you have no opportunity to track the leads to determine which advertising is effective and which is not
Affiliate marketing sounds easier than it is, but it is not impossible if you are willing to put in the effort and follow the necessary steps. ClickBank (www.clickbank.com) is a great place to find affiliate product to promote, or to find affiliates to promote your product for you.
If you are looking for a push button cash machine, you are going to be sadly disappointed. I know other marketers will tell you how great it is to simply send out an e-mail to their list and rake in tons of cash, but they are not being entirely honest with you. What they are not telling you about is the amount of work they had to put into building that list and building their business to the point that it Is that easy for them to make money.
