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Is affiliate marketing still profitable or is it another scam? Here we look at 9 ways to guarantee a profit with the best contacts

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Affiliate marketing is in full flight

Affiliate marketing is recommending products, doing reviews discussing issues that all coincide with the work from home environment.
It is now the norm to buy something online and there is no fear factor anymore.
This has bought affiliate marketing more in the open and offers a whole range of opportunities.

Can anyone do affiliate marketing?

Newbies can access products on Amazon and many others and start a career on day one. However, this comes with some problems because having an understanding of what you are doing lifts the probability of achieving your goals. Amazon, as an example, cancels your account in three months if you fail to achieve sales. This will deflate you and probably push you to give up when it could have been avoided.

Is Affiliate marketing hard to learn

At Wealthy Affiliate, you can access a free basic training course to set you up with the correct methods to start your journey. Furthermore, you become an affiliate on day one so earning potential is possible.

This is where I and many others started a blogging career because they are set up for people just like you. They have lots of training, support, and a members forum that are there to help you.

You can't do it on your own. Some rules and methods will make a massive difference to your short and long-term results.

You are setting out to build a lucrative career so give yourself half a chance by learning a few rules instead of wasting a lot of time trying to Google your issues

Do you need a lot of money to do Affiliate Marketing

You can start without spending a penny if you have the internet, a computer, and the time it will take to build your product line.
As you get going of course there will be some expenses however the idea is that these can be covered by your income. However, it often takes a bit of time to gather traction so be prepared for some expense.

Don't troll the internet paying for advice

One of the biggest mistakes for new players is to try and streamline the process by paying for expensive courses that promise the world. They nearly always deliver very little in real value and just create disillusion in the whole episode. Many of us at Wealthy Affiliate have been there and done that thus we speak from experience.

What are the best affiliate offers?

The glib answer is the ones that pay the most however that is not always true.
1) Low priced and volume sales
2) High priced and occasional sales
3) Recurring income spread over many years

Many new entrants started selling Books on Amazon. These were easy sales however the $2 or so in commission would never make you rich.

You need a lot of volume which is not always easy to get.

Higher-priced items come with big commissions but generally a low volume of sales. You sell one home Gym to equal about 500 books however it is not all easy street

Recurring income is a small commission on monthly sales. This allows you to build up volume and add the commissions together to create a great recurring supply of income. It is virtually building a business over time.

Is affiliate marketing still profitable with good markets?

Finding good market offers

When you decide your path ahead and what you want to achieve you set out to find great offers for your niche area. This is the easy part.
For example type into Google SandshoesforWomen(space) affiliate. The offers will appear on the page.
There is also a bundle of affiliate aggregators that manage all the offers under one business.

• Wealthy affiliate has links to these
• Share-a-sale
• Clickbank
• CJ Affiliates
• Amazon
• eBay
• and about a 100 or so more
  

However, in many cases, you will be asked to demonstrate your abilities and experience to gather better companies.

In the past, many gravitated to Amazon as the best opportunity and it still holds true to some values. The commissions are now very low, the rules very strict and you are banished for poor performance.

When you build your plan and understand the direction you wish to follow the opportunities will follow

Are buyers penalised for using affiliate links?

Buyers are rarely if ever, penalised when buying through an affiliate link. The cost of commission is considered a marketing expense that would need to be paid through the normal course of trading.

In some cases, as marketers, we mask our links to hide the identity of the selected company to stop those wanting to bypass the system. This is easy to do and also measures the volume of people using the link.

Some will hesitate at an affiliate link because of their particular reasons not based on fact. For those people, we have ways of hiding the link details if we believe it to be a problem.

Is affiliate marketing still profitable and can you live on it?

Can you build a “live on” Income as an affiliate?

Great incomes are achieved by a whole range of people across a broad spectrum of society. The top earners are the Million dollar people and every range down to the bottom rung.

With affiliate marketing, there are no limitations applied to your ability. The more you sell the greater your value is to the company and the extra benefits will start to build.
You are not criticized for the hours that you work, the country in which you reside, your age, or any other factors that may create a hindrance to performance. It is an open market that accepts everyone and places no restrictions and limitations on performance.

Is affiliate marketing for everyone

Of course, marketing is not for everyone. It will take some time and training to establish yourself in the market and most just won't be bothered.
Many will want a quick fix or cash boost and be disappointed at a slow return. This is a career built over time for those willing to put in the effort.

Conclusion

This is the best job in town. However, it is not for everyone but those that take on the task can succeed exceptionally well.

Go into affiliate marketing with an open mind knowing what you want to achieve over the long term and apply those skills consistently until you reach your goal.

Is affiliate marketing still profitable by Peter Hanley

• Affiliate income
• Amazon what to sell?
• Blog post-marketing
• How to make money online from home