Can You Still Make Money In Affiliate Marketing?

by Rick Carbone

To quote Mark Twain," The rumors of my death, have been greatly exaggerated." The rumors of the death of affiliate marketing are also greatly exaggerated. It seems almost cyclical now but every so often someone will say that affiliate marketing is dead. During the late eighties and early nineties, a major financial institution's CEO stated that the credit card market was "over saturated" and predicted 0% growth in the near future. Oops, since then credit cards and credit card usage has grown to more than ten times.

Although there are many marketers that have said that affiliate marketing is dead and that it's almost impossible to make money in it, I don't agree. As a matter of fact I think that there are better tools and resources available today than there were six or seven years ago that make it easier.

As a matter of fact I think that today you have a greater chance of making money because of the technologies and products available. For example, six years ago pay per click was a fledgling market with a few small players. Today Google AdWords(R), Yahoo Marketing(R) and MSN are the top three players in a multi-billion dollar industry that gives a product worldwide exposure instantly. An individual can research an affiliate product on day one and day two have a targeted ad on the first page of the search results for the product keyword, providing hundreds if not thousands of potential targeted buyers to their website. The trick is having enough capital to pay for the advertising.

One way to finance your advertising costs is to lay out a budget, specifically "how much can I invest to potentially lose. " Sounds ridiculous but that's they way it works. Decide how much you can afford to lose and build your advertising budget around it. Make sure though to research your product thoroughly, don't leave anything to chance. If you break even your first time out that may be a sign that you need to refine your ad or ads to target high potential buyers.

If you are using a site such as Clickbank, remember that they mandate a 56 day or eight week "buyers remorse" feature. Sales are not final until this period is over, then you can start to determine your profit. Remember that buyers remorse can be as high as 50% depending on the product, so be careful. A 50% return rate can kill any profit in a program.

Considering the shaky economy and job loss statistics, it makes a great deal of sense to "hedge your bet" so to speak and have some additional passive income. Doing business on line as an affiliate is the perfect way to anonymously make some extra income with the right tools and resources. Any by the way, Affiliate Marketing is alive and well.

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