Affiliate
Marketing Pros and Cons
Affiliate Marketing Pros and Cons
Want an online business with a win-win opportunity for both the
merchant and the publisher? Try investing your money, time and effort
in affiliate marketing business and be overwhelmed by the profit
you’ll get out of it. It has been written in almost all articles
about affiliate marketing that it is among the greatest ways to
earn money online.
For those who didn’t know what it is, affiliate marketing
is a cooperative effort between the merchants and online publishers
or affiliates, whereby an affiliate is rewarded for every visitor
or customer provided through his effort. The moment a customer is
gained, a part of the profit from that customer will go to the affiliate
as a commission.
This compensation, otherwise known as affiliate commission may
be based on a fixed value for each visit (pay-per-click), registration
(pay-per-lead), or a commission for every purchaser (pay-per-sale).
This business has proven to be very beneficial. Among the advantages
that you’ll enjoy from affiliate marketing business are you
become your own boss, which means no one will dictate you when and
what to do; it gives you income 24/7 regardless of your location
and what you’re doing; you have the freedom to enjoy your
life and flexibility of working for yourself; it can supplement
your retirement; you can start even if all you have is a shoe string
budget; you can live where you want and stay engage in this business;
you can get as much or as little as you want; you can work for a
very minimal time; you can work at home; you take a break or a vacation
the moment you want it while continuously earning money; and a lot
more pros.
However, let me just remind you that it also has its downside.
The old adage that says nothing in this world is perfect is also
true in online marketing business. And that’s the reason why
this page is created - to give you the affiliate marketing pros
and cons.
Let’s start with the pros.
To the Merchant. Affiliate marketing offers the merchant a wider
place to sell their product and services. More websites will naturally
provide you more customers and will create more sales. This is particularly
true if the sites that you have chosen are in their niche marketing.
The only thing that’s left for the merchant to do is to look
for affiliate sites where your merchandise is a good fit and where
your target customers usually visit. Another advantage that a merchant
can get from affiliate marketing is that they can gain more and
more customers without spending valuable time in searching out for
them.
The banner ads on your affiliate website might draw interest and
drive the visitor to click on your website. Also, different consumers
coming from various websites can provide the merchant a good idea
regarding consumer trends and demands.
To the Affiliate Marketer. This kind of business has proved to
be an easy way to create additional income for their website. The
marketing banners that they stuffed under content help in making
their site look good. And these banners may create instant sales
wherein, they can get a commission.
Above all, the affiliate can have extra income from his or her
website without investing something in making his own product and
without worrying about customer support, book keeping, and ecommerce.
Here in affiliate marketing, the merchant handles it all. The affiliate
just needs to promote and resell the product.
To the Customers. The benefit that a customer could get out of
affiliate marketing is obvious – they get an answer to their
problem that they may not have found without the help of the affiliate’s
website. That’s if, and only if the merchandise or service
gives what it says it will.
That’s how advantageous affiliate marketing is. But lets
be aware that this online business also have some disadvantages.
Just like any other businesses, this one also involves shady and
even illegal practices. And we feel the need to share it with you.
To the Advertisers/Merchants. The merchant may suffer from high
commission costs as well as costly set up and maintenance fees that
are usually caused by lots of affiliate facilitators. And sometimes
the affiliates engage in false advertising and misleading the customer
in order to get commission.
This means that some affiliates sometimes make claims and promises
regarding the product and services which are completely wrong or
they extremely exaggerate it. When this happen, the merchant usually
suffers complaints and they definitely lose potential consumer.
To the Publisher/Affiliates. Sometimes unscrupulous and dishonest
merchants just close down programs without informing the affiliates.
And worse, they leave without paying commissions. There are also
some merchants who attract new affiliates by promising high commissions
then after a week or two, they dramatically drop those commission
rates. Aside from that, when hijackers interfere, affiliates typically
don’t get just commission, it goes to the hijacker instead.
Moreover, the shady and illegal practices involved in this kind
of business include false advertising, unlawful use of trade names,
logos, or other branding, spamming and hijacking.
In spite of those disadvantages, affiliate marketing is still considered
as one of the best ways to make money online. We just have to understand
that in any thing that human do, especially if money is involved,
there will always be cheaters and people who will be engaged in
illegal means. And you shouldn’t be one of them.
Keep in mind that it is always right and advisable to act ethically
and legally; work hard to make your customers and business partners
trust you and always see to it that you go beyond your customer’s
expectations.
About the Author Discover how you can
create a turnkey internet marketing system that builds massive downline
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income non-stop, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! Find out more here:
http://www.HowToBecomeSuccessful.com
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