The great strides made in the development of the Internet in the recent past has enabled information to be transmitted thousands of miles away with such ease and clarity that time and space are hardly of any consequence to the Internet Marketer today.
Marketing Programs have literally taken over the Internet and riding high, is Affiliate Marketing.
According to the Computer Industry Almanac “The world-wide Internet population for 2004 was 934 million and the projection for 2006 is 1.21 billion.”
Sean Michael Kerner in an article in Click Z News quoting a spokesman for eBay states “According to eBay their largest affiliate earned over $1.3 million dollars in January commission, the largest amount yet in their affiliate program’s history. Their top 25 affiliates averaged over $100,000 per month each and the top 100 affiliates earn almost $25,000 each per month.”
With this sort of statistics around, is it any surprise that thousands of entrepreneurs especially those Home Based Business entrepreneurs with very small marketing budgets are jumping on to the Affiliate Marketing band-wagon!
Given below are some of the Popular reasons for this desire and urge to do Affiliate Marketing:
1. Cost Factor: Most Entrepreneurs refrain from starting a brick and mortar business or for that matter a Home Based Business (non internet) because of the investment required. In Affiliate Marketing the set-up cost is negligible with most programs being free to join and the merchant even providing you with the tools, tips and websites.
2. Pick and Choose Products: With dozens of Affiliate Program providers and thousands of merchants having their own affiliate programs, there are several thousands of products to choose from. You name it they have it! In fact there are even Fortune 500 companies to choose from. The idea is to pick and choose your niche products and promote them.
3. No need for an Inventory. The hassle of purchasing, stocking of items and storing of finished items (in a production unit) and dispatching them are not there. There is no need to maintain an inventory. It is all handled by the merchant.
4. No need for Employees. In any business the wages of the employees is one of the major expenditures to contend with. Here the problem does not arise since the marketer himself will operate his home business and probably get the assistance of a family member to help him.
5. Necessity for Customer Service does not arise. Customer service plays a major role in the success or failure of a business. The advantage here is that there is no direct dealing with the customers. The website will automatically direct the customers to the merchants.
6. Two Tier Affiliate Marketing: An attractive feature of certain affiliate programs is that they have a Two tier system, whereby affiliates can sign up as sub-affiliates below them. When the sub-affiliate earns a commission, the affiliate above him too earns a commission.