Put simply, affiliate marketing is a way of making money by recommending a product or service that is sold or provided by one company to somebody else who then buys it.
When someone buys that product or service as a result of your recommendation you earn a percentage of the sale price, you get paid a commission.
Is affiliate marketing legitimate and ethical?
Yes! Here’s why ..
All businesses need to sell things to survive. In the traditional sense, companies employ sales people to do the selling. When you go to a shop the sales staff get paid by the company whether they sell things or not .. and the company also has to pay staff for holidays and sick pay. An affiliate gets paid on results.
What are the benefits of being an affiliate marketer?
As a company or business owner
- You don’t have the responsibilities of employing people directly.
- You only pay people based on confirmed sales
- You can have 100’s (even 1000’s) of people talking about and promoting your products and services
As an individual
- You can earn money from more than one company or multiple sources
- You can ‘work’ at times that suit you
- You can be an affiliate full or part time
- It’s easy to learn and do
- There is no upper limit to how much money you can make
How much can you earn being an affiliate?
Being an affiliate is not like being an employee, you do not get paid a regular wage every week or month.
Your income will go up and down depending on the amount of time and effort you put in.
Different companies pay different amounts and percentages for different products and services. Some businesses pay you once and some companies who run monthly services pay you every month that somebody you introduce remains a member.
In cash terms that can be as little as a couple of dollars per month per sale right up to the companies who pay you up to $8,000 per sale. The point is that it is possible to make more than the full-time income of a ‘normal job’, in your spare time, as an affiliate.