There is Too Much Opportunity Online, Not Too Little.
Sometimes we can lock ourselves out of opportunity by thinking that it is a finite thing. Those that are yet to experience the true opportunity within the online world have a tough time really understaning the scope of what the "Internet" opportunity represents for all of us.
Not only that, how even a playing field we are all on. Once upon a moon (not too long ago), you needed to understand technology, you needed to understand how to code, and you needed to have a significant amount of time/money on your hands just to get a business up and running online.
Now, with the evolution of technology, with access to all the sophisticated platforms you have at Wealthy Affiliate that simplify the process, and with the scale in which companies have adopted affiliate programs as one of the core company marketing strategies, opportunity is ripe.
As you understand the affiliate marketing world and as you create success within it, you will realize just how endless the opportunity is and have to come to the realization that there is going to be too much opportunity before you, and not enough time.
In this post I want to spend a bit of time putting this all into perspective.
Lets Look at Some Opportunistic Numbers.
It is hard to really get a hand on how vast the online opportunity is without taking a look at some core statistics that reflect the true "state of the internet", the growth it has had in recent years, and the number of affiliate/revenue opportunities that preside online.
There are 4.25 BILLION people online. The world's population is currently around 7.6 BILLION, of these people over 50% of them are now actively participating in the Internet. This means, when you set-up a website which is of course internet based, your potential reach is currently around 4.25 BILLION people.
Lets just think about this for a second. New York City has 8.5 million people. Now think about how many successful businesses there are in New York. There are close to 200,000 small businesses for those of you that are number crunchers out there. These are businesses with 1-500 employees.
That is 200,000 successful businesses in one city. A city that is 21250x smaller than the size of the Internet.
So questioning the idea of being able to create a business online and having a big enough audience, is questioning business itself.
So that is the first subset of numbers I wanted to run by you, the second is the sheer number of affiliate marketing products/services that you have access to promote as an affiliate marketer. With ZERO overhead, zero shipping, zero customer support, and zero dealing with refunds and returns.
There 550,000,000+ products and services you can promote. The Amazon Affiliate Program alone has 100's of millions, eBay has the same amount, Etsy has millions of sellers, and the likes of Walmart, Wayfair, Nike, and pretty much ever major (and indie) brand you can imagine has an affiliate program. Affiliate marketing has become their focus when it comes to marketing their products/services online.
There are currently 1.9 BILLION websites online. 85% of these being inactive. The other 15% (active) accounts for approximately 285,000,000 online. This means that there is less than a 2:1 ratio between products an affiliate can promote, and the total number of websites in existence. That gives me promise, and to me indicates there is a big disparity between the number of products that need help with their promotions, and the number of actual websites. In fact, there are WAY more products, than there are people promoting them.
This represents a significant, and long term opportunity for affiliate marketers.
In 2017, more than 1.66 BILLION people purchased something online. That means close to half of all people online are also doing a percentage of their shopping online. This number has grown significantly from when I started back in 2002 (and I thought the opportunity online was massive back then).
Global e-Tail sales amounted to 2.3 trillion dollar (US) in 2017, with projections showing growth upwards of 4.48 trillion dollars (US) by 2021. That mean the Internet opportunity is going almost double within the next 4 years!
As you can see based on these statistics, the internet opportunity is one that is growing at pace we have never seen. This should be very exciting to all of us!
People Like US Are Amplifying the Online Economy (Product Devs)
A trend that has become very obvious in the past few years is that new products are being developed by PEOPLE, not corporations. With platforms like Amazon, Etsy, EBay, & Shopify, selling your own products has become so cost-efficient and without technical hurdles, many people are setting up shop as a merchant.
They are also seeking out affiliate marketers to promote their services, or they are selling it within networks like Etsy, Amazon, or eBay which offer affiliate programs.
The rapid pace in which new and innovate products are being created, plus the abundance of "selection" that it is creating with consumers, is leading to even more opportunity for those operating websites and that have a presence online.
Don't Think Scarcity.
Get the idea of a finite supply or scarcity out of your head.
People have the tendency to think that there is scarcity. In reality, there is abundance and every year (for the foreseeable future), that abundance is getting amplified.
If you think it is scarce and you convince yourself of that, you are going to view the online world with tunnel vision. If and when you realize the sheer vastness of this opportunity, doors of opportunity are going to open everywhere.
Now it's your turn.
I want you to share your thoughts on the "internet" opportunity here, if you are new, what your assumptions are going into this business. If you are a seasoned affiliate marketer, what are some things that have reaffirmed the sheer size of this opportunity for you?
Recent Comments
325
I've noticed this opportunity doing research in Jaxxy.
For example, there are approximately 156,000 searches a month for "how to make money online". With the potential of 26,000 website traffic visits a month. For 1 year, this could result in over 1 Million searches and 300,000 website traffic visitors for this one topic alone.
I think any affiliate marketer or business owner would be happy to get even a small sliver of this traffic.
Opportunity is definitely out there.
Great post! Thanks for sharing.
I am a new member here but I wanted to get my website up and running fast so I did not do the training yet. My website was just indexed by Google and I know that when I write more content that my ranking will increase. Once I get everything written that I had planed then I will go through the training and make improvements as I go along. I have a lot to learn but in the long run I know that I will be making enough money to make it worthwhile. WA has a lot to offer you so stick with it and ask questions if you don't understand something.
It would be a good idea to go through the training as you go. There is information in the training that will make your initial content more likely to be indexed by the search engines and maybe ranked.
Exactly, that is part of the process of achieving success at anything. Sticking with it. People have the tendency to shift niches or shift directions of their business when things get tough, but that is certainly not always the right thing to do. Pushing forward, will often time reveal brand new and much greater opportunities.
Please retread my comment. I said that. Your comment said what I said. Please do not repeat what I said just to comment.
My wife and I were talking about this the other day... there are moments (especially when doing keyword research) that you feel like it's saturated, but I was thinking of Kevin Kelly's 1000 true fans and we got talking about what 1000 premium WA referrals could do for our family...
At first glance, 1000 seems like a lot (and it is), but to put 1000 into perspective, there are more than 1000 people in my daughter's school (in a city with 200 + schools)
I quick drive around my neighborhood and with houses and condos I'm sure there are more than a 1000 people within a few blocks.
Just doing some quick research now, it looks like there are around 475 cities in North America alone.with a population of 100,000 or more (many with millions)...
For those of us with bootcamp sites, just a single premium referral from each city in just North America would be life changing.
The next time I get a little discouraged I'm going come back to this post.
Thanks Kyle for putting our potential into perspective :-)
Jay
Very good post, Kyle, I've always known there was a way to make it on the internet years back. I just couldn't figure out how I was going to get it done until I found Wealthy Affiliate. Because I tried coding and found that it was going to cost quite a bit of money to ever get it off the ground. With this platform, it just took all the regular work out of building my website. This lets me focus on the more important business side with endless opportunities.
The sky's the LIMIT!
Wow, I haven't heard the word, "billion", this many times since the late, great Carl Sagan used to use it incessantly on his famous show, Cosmos.
All kidding aside - even though I'm still basically a newbie, 1 1/2 years of WA under my belt - I'm seeing progress in sales. Not much now, but at least something every month.
Someone once said to me, "If you put enough STUFF into the top of the funnel, some STUFF will come out the other end."
Thus, I will continue to post STUFF as often as possible and, eventually, I will be selling more STUFF - as my readership traffic increases.
I am getting a sense that it is just like getting my foot in the door. Soon, I feel that my web traffic will begin to grow exponentially - which will lead to more sales - exponentially.
It's only a matter of time.
Never quit - never surrender.
Jim
Awesome post Kyle!
I have just recently created a website to help business owners gain working capital.
I must admit, the internet has granted me the ability to reach out to prospects, inform them about my services and have them sign up for funding, when I'm not even present.
Talk about (time) leverage!
The vast opportunities the internet offers are unmatched, there's no better platform for new online businesses or older brick-and-mortar businesses.
I think the most powerful realization is, we are all just at the beginning of this ride, imagine what the internet might look like 20 years from now?!
Thanks again for all that you do here Kyle!
We can't thank you guys enough!
Namaste.
Wow, this is so true and I love it! The sky is the limit for us basically.
Just this last 2 weeks I worked on my WA training and online business sites. I joined an affiliate program and got a website to sell CBD oil products online. I also today joined a program to sell vintage jewelry online. Talk about multiple income streams down the road. This is my plan to reach my financial goals. - Shirley
I realize there is a huge opportunity online. I just don't know that what I have to say and do will be that interesting to people and earn me a living. I've never been a salesperson and really lacked confidence in myself most of my life. Just in the last years have I started to feel comfortable and branch out. If you don't try you will never know. Leap and that is why I am here.
I really appreciate this information Kyle. We had a debate with someone who thought that the online business has got no future at all and I was trying to show him how expansive the market is. This post adds more meaning to my answer and I will share with him.
Thank you so much
Paul.
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In my few months experience here I realized something interesting regarding online opportunity.
At first everything was overwhelming and it seems like every niche or every opportunity that I want to go for has been taken.
However, as I work through writing posts I started to see opportunities.
In short I feel it is difficult to see opportunity if you don't start dong something online. So when you don't see an opportunity just do something. Write a post, review a product, just make sure you are doing something and you will see opportunities the more you do.
For instance at times I can't find the pictures I need for my posts in all the free pic sites I know, that in itself is an opportunity.