If you’ve read parts 1 and 2 of the Affiliate Marketing in a Nutshell series, then you know what affiliate marketing is and what you need to get started. In this article, we’re going to be going through some of the pros and cons of joining the industry, so that you can make an informed choice about whether or not to join.
Affiliate marketing can be a very fruitful career choice, especially for people who are dedicated and good at motivating themselves. If, however, you need to see instant rewards and can’t plan for success, then the industry is probably not for you. Here are the key pros and cons of affiliate marketing, which will give you an overview of exactly what it takes to succeed in the industry.
Pros
No Marketing Knowledge Needed
One of the good things about affiliate marketing is that everyone starts from the ground up. While a degree in marketing won’t hurt, it’s definitely not a disadvantage, and affiliate marketing is all about trial and error. There are no books or tools which will guarantee your success, and the only way to improve is to try, try and try again.
Easy to get started
When you first want to dive into the world of affiliate marketing, there aren’t very many barriers in your way. The only things you really need do are get a website and join an affiliate program. Doing both of these things will enable you to get offers and then promote them. It’s best to find a niche that’s in an area of interest where you have knowledge, but beyond that, there’s really not much more to getting set up. The hard part comes later when you need to work out how to traffic more people through your site to then buy the products you’re promoting.
Worldwide Audience
The great advantage of affiliate marketing is that it allows you to sell to people all over the world. This can be really lucrative if you can work out where your key demographics are. However, certain tactics work differently in different places, so once again, getting a global audience is a game or trial and error.
Quick to Scale
If you find something that works, then affiliate marketing enables you to scale rapidly to make the most impact. You don’t need to worry about running out of the things you’re selling, all you have to do is sell.
Low Cost
When compared with other business models, affiliate marketing is still very low cost and, if you are savvy enough, it really is possible to do it on a shoestring. Multimillionaire YouTubers are often good examples of affiliates who started out small and grew their brands over time.
The Good Life
People really do get rich from affiliate marketing, and while you can’t trust everyone online who says that they earned millions from the industry, there certainly is a great number of people who have. And, even if you don’t plan to use affiliate marketing to get rich, it can make you a very decent second income.
Another great bonus about affiliate marketing is that it allows you to work from anywhere in the world. Although, as you will see at the end of this article, this can also be a con.
Cons
Time Pressure
It takes a lot of time, effort and practice to get good at affiliate marketing, and there is no guarantee that you will see a profit within the first few months of starting out. This puts a lot of people off in the early stages and, as a result, they leave thinking that the industry is a scam. It isn’t; it’s just not as straightforward as people think. There are billions of websites online, and all of them are trying to get people’s attention. That’s why it’s so important that you learn about SEO and build up your capabilities to a point at which you can at least get noticed. However, being noticed doesn’t necessarily mean that people are going to start buying from you. Therefore, you also need to learn how to get people to buy once they have visited your site.
All these layers of things you need to get right are what make affiliate marketing so challenging, but it will be very rewarding once you succeed.
Scammers
The affiliate world is unfortunately filled with scammers, and they can really give you a headache when you first start out. The most important thing to do is to read reviews, visit forums and get as good an insight into the lay of the land as you possibly can. Once you have done that, you will be in a good position about which programs and networks to join. And remember, if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.
Payment on Sale
This isn’t too much of an issue for most affiliates, but it can be frustrating at first. Remember, most reputable sites will only pay you for the customers who buy products, not for the ones that just click through. So, whilst you may drive a lot of customers to a merchant’s site, those visitors won’t necessarily earn you any money.
Loneliness
One of the things a lot of affiliates don’t realise before starting out is that it can be quite a lonely business. Sitting at home all day may sound like a dream while you’re stuck in the office, but many people actually find the reality to be less than ideal. However, we previously wrote an article about how to combat loneliness to help affiliates who were bored with being stuck inside all day.