If you’re not aware of affiliate marketing programmes at all or are not aware of just how much online business is done with this business model, I hope this post will be an eye opener. Leaving aside all the online – make money scheme nonsense (as I know my savvy readers do ) Affiliate marketing is the easiest way to get started with online business simply because a lot of the work has already been done for you. Your one job therefore is to get traffic to your affiliate links.
A Huge %age Of Online Business is Delivered By Affiliate Marketing Programs
I don’t have statistics or exact numbers to quote but would suggest that online affiliate marketing represents a pretty high percentage of business done online. One way to get an idea of this is to look at the number and variety of Franchised websites you can buy – all based around affiliate marketing programmes, or the merchants registered with companies like Commission Junction or Affiliate Window who act as affiliate agents.
A simpler way though is to have a think about the online transactions you have done in the last month or so – I’ll bet a number of those transactions will have earned an affiliate some commission along the way. I did this myself actually and here’s what I found.
How Many Of Your Online Purchases Are Via Affiliate Marketing Programs?
Starting from December 2013 then to include all those Christmas online purchases. I bought a number of items from Amazon and although some were direct from them, others such as some books and DVD’s came from third party affiliate sellers.
The good lady and me hired a house in Tenerife for a week via a holiday lettings (affiliate) website. I bought plane tickets for a journey to London and back via a 3rd party (affiliate) agent.
I paid for a hotel room in London via a live online booking process. Whilst this in itself isn’t affiliate marketing – I’ll bet that the software used by the venue was sold by an affiliate of the manufacturer.
On the other side of the coin – as an affiliate myself, I am working on a couple of websites which I aim to monetize as an affiliate. One is a guitar magazine site and I was able to find a couple of companies to affiliate with, the other a stand alone energy saving product that I will deal direct with the distributor – but as an affiliate.
For manufacturers or distributors an affiliate marketing programme means that they can build a huge virtual team of sales people working on a commission only basis. For the digital marketer it means that they get banners, links, email copy and everything else the company has created for promotion online.
Affiliate Marketing Is A Winning Model
The customer benefits from the cost savings since there are no salaried sales staff with company cars, phones and laptops, gas guzzling their way round the country. The planet benefits for the same reason.
If you think about my examples above: Although the end products were books, DVD’s a rental property, hotel room and plane flights – affiliates earned commission on the digital parts of the transactions. They did not have to package or deliver anything. That’s the beauty of affiliate marketing programmes.
It’s a win win situation all round really – probably more so for the distributor as they have nothing to lose at all. If the marketer doesn’t make any sales it’s his loss which is why getting the best digital marketing training is essential.
So at the risk of repeating myself: If you are looking to start an online business as either a source of extra income or as a complete transition to the digital economy then affiliate marketing could be the place to start. As I mentioned earlier, with the affiliate marketing model all you need to do is get traffic but that it where the digital marketing skills are needed. Find out more about affiliate marketing programs and digital marketing by clicking the link below.
