There are many ways that you can make money online. The internet has given rise to eCommerce, and this in turn has paved the way for companies like Amazon. As a result, we now have things like affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is essentially where you get paid to promote and sell other company’s products.

For example, you can become an Amazon Associate. This means that you will provide links to various Amazon products on your website. When customers click on the link and make a qualifying purchase – you get a commission. But is this still a viable business plan and can you make money from affiliate marketing? Find out below.

Advantages of Affiliate Marketing

First, let’s look at the advantages of affiliate marketing. What makes it so popular? The following are some of the main advantages:

• You don’t have to develop and sell your own products.
• There is no shipping or delivery to organize.
• Someone else essentially fronts the main business’s costs.
• There is a vast range of affiliate platforms and products available.
• Anyone can become an affiliate marketer with minimum experience.

As you can see, it is an accessible business model. Anyone can sign up to affiliate platforms and start promoting products on their website. Also, due to the event of simple website builders like Weebly and Wix, anyone can easily create a website.

Also, the main advantage is that you do not have to do anything other than research products and advertise them on your content. You don’t have to design and manufacture products. Nor do you have to deliver products or deal with customer feedback – you are essentially a third-party marketing tool for the business that actually makes the product.

Disadvantages of Affiliate Marketing

However, affiliate marketing does have its drawbacks as you can see below:

• It is a highly competitive market with many other affiliate marketers.
• Commission can often be low.
• The commission is usually only based on qualifying product sales, not just clicks.

It is an incredibly competitive type of business – there are thousands of other people doing exactly the same thing. It also takes time to research the best products and to develop an SEO strategy to promote your website to hopefully earn an affiliate commission. You may also have to do additional promotions like creating business cards (You can use tools like Businesscards.co to do this) or social media campaigns.

So Can You Make Money Via Affiliate Marketing?

The short answer is yes. Affiliate marketing is still lucrative and there is certainly money to be made. However, you cannot expect to make a fortune overnight, with minimal effort.

Developing a successful affiliate portfolio and brand takes time and effort. Firstly, you must spend time developing a business website or blog where you can utilize affiliate links. This in itself is no small task.

Secondly, you must then promote your website or blog successfully to gain exposure. As a result, you may have to learn basic SEO, and how to optimize your web content for search engines like Google. This again takes time and effort, and you must be willing to learn new skills.

Lastly, you must also spend time researching products and develop strategies for your affiliate business. There are millions of potential products that you could promote – but which are suitable for your business? You must therefore be willing to spend time looking through platforms like Amazon, and finding out which products have the best potential to earn a commission.

So yes, it is perfectly possible to make money with affiliate marketing – but it may not be as simple as you may have initially thought!