Why I love affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing isn’t just a career for me. It’s a hobby and ultimately a lifestyle and obsession, much to my family and girl friend’s annoyance.
I see affiliate marketing as the banking sector of online advertising, it’s the business model that I’m most passionate about, being in affiliate marketing is like being a trader, it’s all about negotiations, looking at numbers and trying to glean a profit.
On the Flip side, affiliate marketing is totally liberating, there’s no fixed hours, you don’t need an office or even a desk, you can leave your shirt and tie in the bin, it’s great, literally, you can work from anywhere there’s an internet connection. What could be better.
The thing about affiliate marketing is, theres no rules or limits, it’s not like a traditional job, you are your own boss and you effort (with a little experience and intelligence) directly corrilates into financial return, it really is that simple.
I have this pipe dream of moving to a quiet rural village and living in a mansion with an indoor swimming pool and gym and basically living and working off the internet, food and other ‘life-stuff’ can be ordered online (via my own affiliate link for a nice discount), I’ll have a room that will be the command center with blacklights and an air raid siren and from here I will dominate the world with million of amazing affiliate sites that fund my anti-social but incredibly wealthy affiliate lifestyle. Then when I feel like taking a break, I’ll sit in my Aston Martin or Maseratti and play really loud obnoxious music by obscure classical composers whilst flinging £50 notes out the window to the awe struck peasants ploughing the land. Maybe thats a little far-fetched but ultimately I see affiliate marketing as the ultimate convenience work where your money works for you, rather than the other way around.
So, why do i love affiliate marketing?
1. Freedom -
I’m a very distractable person, I don’t like wasting time, I’d much prefer working the hours that suit me, and getting on with the things I want to do the rest of the time. Even as a part-time affiliate the benefits of the affiliate lifestyle are already clear, I spend around an hour to two hours a day, a little more on the weekends on my sites, the rest of the time its the 9-to-6 grind at the office and doing the things I want. I can’t think of anything other than affiliate marketing that fits so neatly into my life.
2. Lifestyle -
I’ve come to live and breath affiliate marketing, its a career and a hobby but for most affiliates its a hobby say for those exclusive few who’ve made it through to the ‘super-affiliate’ level. As affiliates are mostly part-time and as they work so independantly, there are countless social and networking events, event trips to Barbados that are arranged by both affiliates and networks alike. This ultimately means that all your mates, and possibly your girl friend are in affiliate marketing and you start going around telling people, preaching the values and ethos of affiliate marketing, its like a cult or religion, you start trying to convince everyone affiliate marketing is the future of the internet, of course no one else understands or cares but thats fine, the affiliate get-togethers are the perfect opportunity to meet with like minded people. And because affiliates are all around the world and only communicate via the Internet, your facebook, linkedin, twitter, and messenger swarm full of other affiliates.
3. Entreprenureship -
Affiliate marketing is all about results, marketing and understanding how things sell, its amazingly competitive and there are a whole spectrum of factors that need to be considered, additionally the speed at which innovations progress and the pace at which things can change online means that affiliate marketing attracts a certain kind of person, contrary to popular belief this isn’t your star trek geek, though there are a few of those, in reality, affiliate marketing attracts highly motivated deal closers, and innovators, people with vision and prescence, you’ll actually find its amazingly friendly, creative and progressive full of dragons den types and people who understand that business and marketing is about targetting and sales.
4. Money -
Affiliate marketing is full of opportunity and unexplored niche’s and products, its open game for new affiliates if they know what to look out for and because the principles of affiliate marketing are very straight forward its a very clear cut business, make sales, get commission, the more sales made, the more commission, simples. And the money is good, an affiliates biggest challenge is getting targeted traffic, that simply requires research, and a good site, once you’ve got traffic, converting these to actual customers is relatively easier. the best affiliates have made a killing…by some loose estimates some affiliates are making around £x,xxx,xxx turnover a month. Impressive and very reassuing. Of course it isn’t THAT easy, but with a little effort affiliate marketing can provide a substatial income.
5. Flexibility -
I’ve got a pretty hectic life, with a full time job, family, the gym and other hobbies, its hard to fit time in. With affiliate marketing thats not a problem, whilst of course a little consistency will certainly help, I actually only spend an hour or two a night working on sites, usually in from of the TV and in my pajamas. I’ve worked on the plane whilst travelling and even via a mobile phone whilst on vacation, not that I would consider doing that often, the point is, my affiliate sites tend to deliver a consistant income with relatively little effort and time allowing me to fit it in to my life when i choose. In thoery this means, i could work through the night on affiliate marketing and enjoy the sunny days, rather than being confined to the office for another 8 hour stint.
6. Costs -
a typical domain costs no more than £10 and decent hosting about £50 a month.if you find the right niche and get your site ranking, thats all you need to pay to cover your costs. You can argue time is money and thats true, but ultimately the costs are around £70 a month + your time (2 hours a night = 60 hours a month), if you’re making more than this a month in commissions, you’re home free! Again, because the business model is so transparent and because digital marketing is going towards a performance based model, affiliate marketing is one of the most cost effective marketing methods and relatively recession proof too!
7. Choice -
I’ve got some rally strange interests, in work I get told what to work on, in affiliate marketing, I choose what I want to work on, and the choice is endless, i can choose the subject, the products, the site design, even the method of affiliate marketing, this ultimately means you never get bored, there’s always more opportunity.
8. Education -
The internet moves fast, and affiliate marketing moves faster, and this means there is always something new to learn and test and there’s always a different way of getting from A to B. Thats what I love, the learning expereince in affiliate marketing is continuous and allows you to constantly evolve and improve.
9. Innovation -
Being in affiliate marketing means you are constatly exposed to the newest and latest of everything, literally, not only does it relate to new products, but also to law, marketing stratgies even politics and economics, after all all these things contribute to customers and the buying cycle.
10. Global reach -
from a global prespective affiliate marketing is still in its infancy, but when it does go global, there will be even more opportunity and we all have that first mover advantage on a captive market,the majority of the rest of the world are still coming to terms with the internet as it is. As for us as individuals, the spread of broadband internet now means you can also work from anywhere in the world, with this you could move somewhere hotter and cheaper in an eariler time zone, or even closer to family.
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