Pros & Cons of Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing – What is it and why do it?
To put simply, affiliate marketing is a business where marketers, AKA affiliates earn a commission when sales are made or when a particular action takes place. Most affiliate marketers get into it to earn passive income, while some starts off as a side gig and ends up being a full-time affiliate marketer. So, it really depends on each individual.
In this article, we will go through the pros and cons of affiliate marketing and hopefully by the end of it, you’ll be able to get a clear idea on whether affiliate marketing is right for you. Before that, you might need to know how to become an affiliate and what will you need to do to make a decent side income from it.
Upon joining an affiliate program, you’ll get your unique affiliate ID or link. Your job as an affiliate is to promote the product or service and get customers to make a purchase via your unique ID or link. You’ll get your commission based on how many customers you manage to convert by closing the sale or completing an action. Marketing assets with detailed information about the product or service will be provided by the merchant, so all that you need to do is promote it on your website, social media account, or whatever platform that you’re using.
Now that that’s clear, let’s look at some of the pros and cons of affiliate marketing.
PROS
1. Minimal to Zero Investment
As an affiliate, you just need to promote the product or service. The fact that you don’t have to invest in creating a product can already save you a great amount of time and money. In addition, most companies with an affiliate program offer a free starter package that consists of all the information and assets for you to start promoting.
There are so many free-to-use tools that you can use to write and promote the product. Of course, you can also spend a little bit on buying a domain and creating your own website.
2. Easy to Start
Professional skills aren’t a requirement in affiliate marketing – You know need to be super tech savvy or an IT genius to be an affiliate. You might have to do some research initially to find out which program is most suitable for you and follow basic steps to sign up as an affiliate. After that, the company you signed up with will most likely have an account manager guide you through the process and provide you with the necessary materials.
3. Billion-Dollar Business
Affiliate marketing is a billion-dollar industry and is growing rapidly. So, why wouldn’t you want to be a part of this industry that not only has proven to be thriving but also shows no signs of slowing down? The only thing you should be asking yourself is which part of this industry can you exploit.
4. Flexibility
This business gives you a high level of control in terms of how much time and effort you want to invest in doing it. Well, of course, your commission earnings will depend on that as well. Besides that, the flexibility also applies to the various types of affiliate marketing rewards. Most programs will require you to promote a product or service and you’ll get paid out when a sale is made through your link or unique ID. However, it’s not always a product or service, sometimes it’s getting customers to complete an action. For example, filling up form with contact information.
5. Market-Ready Audience
You have the entire web as your audience, which gives you enormous opportunity to close a sale. Moreover, as you go, you’ll stumble upon other companies that are more popular with similar products. This will help you because they have a market-ready audience who are ready to spend on products like the ones you’re trying to sell. In short, get ready to hitchhike!
6. High Income Potential
It may seem like as an affiliate, you’re only getting a small portion of revenue, but you’ll be pleasantly surprised. If you can generate a large volume of sales, your income might just surpass what your day job can give you. Furthermore, you might only need one article posting to give you a continuous stream of income.
7. Extensive Products & Marketplace
Typically, companies with affiliate programs will have a number of products that they want to sell. You can pick and choose which product you want to focus on promoting that can give you the best chance of sales, which translates to higher amount of commission. The more popular the product, the bigger the marketplace. Naturally, a product with high demand will appear on more marketplaces, making it easier for you to promote and sell.
8. Promoting Complimentary Products
Everyone likes free things – Increase your chances to close deals and boost sales by including complimentary products. This can either be samples from the company you’re promoting for or a little something that you’d like to give your customers. Either way, by putting in an extra something might just be what differentiates you from other sellers, which makes you stand out from the competition and ultimately increase your earnings.
9. Do What You Love Most
There are all sorts of affiliate programs out there. From fashion to tech, you’ll definitely be able to find one that appeals to you. This is important because people tend to place more effort into making it work when they’re interested. So, if you’re a fashionista and is always posting on social media, you might as well make some money out of it by joining a related affiliate program.
10. Work From Anywhere
This is probably one of the best things about being an affiliate. You can be a digital nomad and work from anywhere in the world. All you’ll need is a laptop and internet connection. More and more people are hoping on the band wagon for this reason alone.
CONS
1. Commission Based
There’s a reason why affiliate marketing is passive income and can never replace a job with a fixed salary – Commission based payment as it suggests, only pay out when a purchase takes place. While some people thrive on commission-based business models, it’s not for everyone.
2. No Control Over the Competition
As an affiliate, you’re expected to just follow the guidelines provided by the company. You might find that other companies selling the same products have a better approach or better product but remember, you don’t own any legal rights to the product you’re promoting. So, there’s really nothing much you can do about it.
3. Uncertainty
Affiliate earnings are extremely unstable. You might be hitting your income target this month, but you might not get much the next. While the opportunities are there for you to exploit, there’s also a lot of risks that you’ll have to consider before diving into it. Understand that affiliate marketing doesn’t guarantee a stable income.
4. High Competition
Yes, the marketplace is huge but so is the competition. The affiliate marketing arena is very competitive simply because there are so many players. Chances are, there’s already a good bunch of affiliates trying to promote and sell the same product that you’re selling. In order to stand out from the crowd, you’ll really have to think of unique ways to grab the attention of potential customers.
5. Working as a Third-party
In the affiliate marketing ecosystem, you’re merely a third party who gets paid for selling someone else’s product. You have no direct relationship with the customers, meaning, they can buy the product through your affiliate link for the first time and if they decide to repurchase, there’s a high possibility that they’ll bypass you and go straight to the merchant’s store or website.
Final Thoughts
With all the free and paid digital tools at your disposal, starting an online business has gotten much easier these days. It’s finding the right way to maintain it that poses great challenge. Like any businesses, there’s a certain risk factor in play, and affiliate marketing is no exception. However, you shouldn’t let this stop you from exploring as it can be highly profitable. You just need to do thorough research and study the programs before you start investing your time, money, and effort.
One affiliate program that has been gaining popularity recently is the BK8 Affiliate Program, mostly because of its high commission rate of up to 45%. BK8 is an online entertainment platform with a great variety of products and a good reputation. This platform is backed by many renown individuals as well as corporations, such as Robin Van Persie. Check them out – This might just be the place for you to grow your wealth.
Join BK8 Affiliate now!
