Why I Chose Affiliate Marketing

In one form or other I've been making money online since around 2004 when I first started using eBay to sell a few items. It was this eBay experience that got me really interested in the online world of business and it was eBay that showed me it was possible to make money from the internet. Before that it seemed like some sort of magical process to me to be able to receive money - somehow - from an online source.

Over the years I dabbled in a few other things online that didn't really pan out. One project was an article directory I created. However, I got in a bit late and pretty soon article marketing become almost obsolete. Up to that point my site was quickly filling up with material and I was monetising it through AdSense. I had no idea about affiliate marketing at that time, although I had heard of it.

As a bit of an avid photographer, another thing I tried was uploading photos to stock sites for sale, however this process proved both laborious, and the administrators of said sites are extremely picky. You could spend days uploading high res photos and filling in all the meta data, only to have every single one of them rejected. Too much work and the payouts are way too small. But it is residual income if you can get them accepted and actually get regular sales.

eBooks

eBooks are really the thing I've made the most money out of. I've always been a writer of fiction, so when eBooks started to get popular I leaped aboard that fast-moving bandwagon and did pretty well for a while.

But it was when sales started to wane and it got tougher and tougher to make money selling eBooks that I really started to search for another way to make money online.

Affiliate Marketing

2 years ago I finally took the plunge into the world of affiliate marketing after thinking about it for almost a year. I'd actually heard of Wealthy Affiliate long before I finally joined up. I just think I wasn't ready to get into it beforehand.

What I liked about the idea of affiliate marketing is it wouldn't cost very much to try it out and give it a fair go. As far as expenses are concerned, there was no real risk factor.

Also, the idea of simply promoting other company's products for a commission was very appealing. I didn't have to buy stocks, store anything or even post anything (unlike eBay).

Affiliate market loomed larger and larger as the next thing I wanted to take a bite out of.

• Cheap to get started
• Very simple business model

Both major selling points.

Once I'd made a firm decision to give it a try, I joined Wealthy Affiliate, had a good look around during the trial phase, decided it was definitely the place for me and upgraded to Premium Membership without hesitation. I knew I was in the right place to get started. Logic told me so and so did my instincts.

It's true there is a lot of work and learning involved to get going in this business, but it's worth it. It may take a while to see some money coming in from your efforts, but it does eventually come and continues to grow and grow.

Anyone of practically any age (teenagers and above) is well and truly capable of doing the training here. It's very logical, well explained, and done in a step by step process. I like that it's a mix of video and text, and getting started off on the right foot is really a no brainer.

Down the track there is definitely more to learn to advance and enhance your skill set, but getting underway is fully achieved by methodically working through the Wealthy Affiliate training and applying what you learn as you learn it.

I like to build multiple sources of income, and I'm happy with my decision to include affiliate marketing in my online portfolio.