Making Money Online With Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing appeals to people at all stages of experience for different reasons. But essentially everyone who likes it does so for the obvious reason that product creation is eliminated. The entry level marketer can choose a product and only worry about how to make money with it. Highly successful product creators have the entire marketing machine in place. So for them it is a lot like fairly easy product expansion. Plus they already have at least one email list created.

But the stark reality of affiliate marketing is an extremely high percentage of people either give up or fail to achieve a meaningful income.

Rest assured, there are concrete reasons why that happens.

But each person has the ability to prevent that from happening. The “catch,” and another word is “key,” is each person must unlock their own ability to succeed. Yes, that implies each person must assume responsibility for their own success.

All anyone who teaches affiliate marketing, or any other subject, can do is point the way and describe the path. A teacher can tell you what to do and how to do it, but as you know even that is not enough to ensure success. Only you hold the key and can unlock your own success.

Affiliate marketing is very basically a business arrangement between you and established businesses of all sizes. You market, advertise, sell their products and you are paid a percentage commission for each sale. You are responsible for "your end" of the business which means you do what you have/want to do in order to make sales.

That is affiliate marketing in the smallest nutshell I could find. Of course there are tons of nuances, techniques, strategies, and so much more. But if you are new it is best to eat affiliate marketing in small portions to avoid brain indigestion.

Naturally, everybody in business or who desires to earn money wants to know the bottom line. The bottom line means that which is most important to people. As it concerns affiliate marketing, you may want to know about matters concerning money.

* How much can you really make with affiliate marketing?

* What are the realistic income possibilities with affiliate marketing?

* What are the dangers in terms of what can happen or how much can you lose?

Those are all important and legitimate questions, and I'll offer a few words on all points. So let's talk about the best one first which is the first question:

What is possible with affiliate marketing?

I will give you the most extreme (and factual) example that I know. There are two gentlemen who started an affiliate business related solely to financial products. They made their website and set out for affiliate marketing glory. That was a little over ten years ago. Well, not too long ago it was reported in the Sunday Times newspaper, in London, that their "little" financial affiliate business was valued at just over $900 million. That was reported several years ago, so I presume it's worth more now.

They have been doing affiliate marketing in one single market for ten years. Granted, the financial market is perhaps one of the most profitable markets. But that does not really mean much - it is not an excuse of any kind. They were not lucky, either. They just worked hard with total committment.

What are the realistic income possibilities with affiliate marketing?

Realistic income possibilities... That is a tricky one because the definition of "realistic" can be both universal and unique at the same time. Indeed, you can point to the $900 million business, above, and say that is realistic. It exists; people have done it, so theoretically it is a realistic possibility. There are caveats attached to it, to be sure. If you are just starting out today, then it will be harder to do. There is more competition, for example. But on the other hand, today you have far more - vastly more resources than they had when they started.

Today there are millions of products available to promote via affiliate marketing. So I will never tell anyone that they cannot build an affiliate based business to a level where it is worth almost a billion dollars. I will not tell you that you cannot do that... because you can do that if you want.

But we must talk about the unique definitions of "realistic income possibilities." By that I mean as that applies to each person; how that applies to you, generally speaking.

Here is the rock-bottom truth about that.

You... only you are able to define and ultimately determine what you can realistically earn with affiliate marketing. If you tend to be unmotivated, a bit lazy and all those things, then you will realistically and most likely not do well in business - affiliate or any other kind.

A person who is willing to work hard, be committed with a willingness to learn and persist can very realistically earn a six figure income. There are many things that will make that easier or more difficult, but that is a doable and fair statement. You can use the affiliate marketing model and earn in the low six figure range in a reasonable amount of time.

What are the dangers in terms of what can happen or how much can you lose?

The worst case scenario in terms of dangers is you can lose all you have. But that does not mean you "have" to operate within that risk category when you do affiliate marketing. The way people have lost all they have is when they were reckless, took too many risks with their money, and had unrealistic hopes and attitudes. In other words...

They did it to themselves. They ruined their condition in life (lifestyle, etc) not because of affiliate marketing. They did it because of their mindset and attitude toward life and business. They could have been doing anything in business, and the result probably would have been the same.

The lesson is that you need to approach your affiliate business as a real business. You are not "doing" a hobby. This is not a game, and it is not a hobby. I do not care if you are just starting out and making nothing. You absolutely "must" approach what you are doing with as much seriousness as you can muster.