Affiliate marketing tip #4: Why affiliate marketing is so popular

bysmartketeer

6.8K followers

Updated 6 years ago

Have you ever wondered ...

Why affiliate marketing is so popular?

Well, it’s unbelievable popularity is rooted in his simplicity and his efficiency. It's a real win-win situation, which is not something fictional, but a successful and sustainable long-term “business agreement” with several distinct benefits on both sides. Here they are:

1. Considering things from the merchant’s point of view

a. Advantages

• Increased exposure; a simple, cheap, and very efficient way to acquire a much wider market coverage which usually leads to a larger market share.

• A simple and transparent system; there is no need for offices and warehouses, for complex and barely achievable marketing plans or expensive and time-consuming staff building strategies. The increased outreach and the bigger profit are almost guaranteed just for using a ridiculously simple rewarding system.

• Outsourcing options; the management of this super-simple system can be outsourced to specialized affiliate networks, creating a very convenient hands-off approach for affiliate advertisers.

• Risk-free and results-driven business; an affiliate advertiser has nothing to do with the so-called non-performance issue which can be found just everywhere in the traditional advertising industry; The affiliate commission will be approved only if the sale has been made; the performance oriented business model is a rock-solid no-lose position for the merchant who pays only for measurable, indisputable results.

b. Disadvantage

• Possible brand damage; the false or misleading advertising and promotional techniques used by affiliates can harm the brand (for example, cookie stuffing).

Conclusion: an affiliate marketing advertiser will obtain an increased worldwide brand visibility and more importantly, a bigger number of truly targeted prospects for a fixed, upfront established price, via cost-effective acquisition methods and without spending a big amount of valuable time.

2. Considering things from the affiliate’s point of view

a. Advantages

• Everybody can do it; literally! All you need is a common hardware, an internet connection, some basic computer skills and of course, some time. It’s definitely not rocket science and if you are ready to learn new things, you are good to go. There are hundreds of free affiliate marketing tutorials all over the internet and the merchants will also help you to develop the right mindset and the essential affiliate marketing skills; obviously, it’s in their best interest to make you as efficient as possible. To put it simple, all you need to become an efficient affiliate marketer is: an eager-to-learn mindset.

• You can start to market affiliate products even for free; when you are ready, you can take your efforts to the next level with a minimal, almost non-existent “investment” acquiring your own domain name and creating your own bare-bones affiliate website.

• Basically you can start instantly to run a viable worldwide business which is already functional and more than that, is managed entirely by the merchant. You don’t have to worry about products, stocks, inventories, complaints, payrolls, storage or delivery issues; in fact you don’t have to worry about anything …

• You are the plenipotentiary decision-maker and your options are almost unlimited. You can choose the merchants, you can choose the products and you can decide on your favorite promotional methods; if you are unhappy with your progress, you can anytime to reconfigure your whole affiliate marketing plan dropping an advertiser, choosing a new product or focusing on a different promotional channel.

• Is a completely risk-free engagement; you have nothing to lose. If a merchant suddenly disappears overnight, you can simply choose a new one to replace it; if a product becomes unavailable, you can start to promote something else.

• You are your own boss; you can have a truly flexible life working when it suits you.

• Your business is “open” non-stop; is up and running 24/7 worldwide, even when you sleep.

b. Disadvantages

• Fierce competition; due to all the existing advantages, there is also a high competition. If you want to succeed, you must learn what is right and what is wrong, and more importantly, you must be persistent; you have to find out how to promote efficiently the perfect product to the right person.

• Dishonest merchants; newly emerged programs can attract affiliates with higher initial commissions, dropping the commission rates just before paying the actual commissions.

• “Volatile” affiliate programs; merchants can end their program anytime without prior warnings and without paying pending commissions.

• Link hijacking; the affiliate can be deprived of his commission with so-called link hijacking methods used to remove the affiliate ID from an affiliate link or to replace the affiliate ID with a different ID. The link hijacking can be avoided using link cloaking or shortening solutions, but you should know, that all these services basically are redirecting the user and a shortened URL may send the user through three or even more redirects, each one representing a potential failure point that can prevent the customer from reaching the desired destination.

Conclusion: affiliate marketing is an easy-to-learn, low-cost and risk-free method to build multiple fair income streams working from home and focusing on your core skills.