Marketing Monday: Benefits of Affiliate Marketing

Last week I introduced affiliate marketing and described the two basic systems you can use if you’d like to try generating income using affiliate marketing. Here are some reasons why you should think about trying affiliate marketing in your business.

No product creation

One of the main benefits of affiliate marketing is that there are no products to create, store, package, or post. All you need to do is promote the product or service and the merchant does the rest for you.

Cheap (or free) startup

All you need to start with affiliate marketing is a website. Using such popular software as Word Press you can start one up very cheaply these days, or even free if you want to. If you’d like to make more than pocket change with affiliate marketing however, I suggest investing a little to make your website look professional. You don’t have to spend much, but avoid the free hosting and site creators  with other people’s ads on them.

Generating passive income

Sure, like any other business, there is work to be put in. No matter how many people promise it, there’s no get rich in five minutes on the internet either. That said, a great benefit of affiliate marketing is that you don’t have to be online, or even awake to earn money. Once your website is up and you’ve invested some time in search engine optimisation and promotion, you can earn commissions from website visitors on auto pilot.

If you work at it consistently, even for just half an hour a day, affiliate marketing can provide an easy and reliable income source.