Does
Affiliate Marketing Really Pay?
by Stephen Brennan |
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I have been asked this question on
a number of occasions and it’s no surprise to me that the
general consensus would be a loud “NO”, given that we are told
that approximately 95% of Affiliates never make any money. But
the answer is "YES". Why?………
So many people go into Affiliate marketing in the same manner –
‘Hell for leather’ – without stopping to think that they may
need to do a little planning, give a little thought to how they
are going to go about it and in doing so, give themselves a
reasonable chance of success.
Some who already have a website, regardless of what it may be
about, can tend to go madly signing up for numerous Affiliate
programs or joining one or more of the larger Networks and
plastering their website with banners, images and text with no
thought as to whether the products they are trying to ‘flog’
actually have anything to do with the theme of their website. I
have actually seen a website about ‘teenage pregnancy’ with an
Affiliate coded banner for Viagra! I’m sorry, but is it me, or
is that ridiculous? |
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Others will get themselves a domain
name and a hosting deal and go merrily about creating a website
literally ‘packed’ with all manner of products. Sometimes so
many that they have to be catalogued and listed under their
completely unrelated headings. Some of these website are
extremely well designed and put together, but where’s the
content, where’s the reason for people to visit? You can also
forget about targeted traffic from Search Engines. You’ll never
get a Search Engine listing of any consequence without content
and some kind of form and theme to your website.
We’ve all seen the ‘Price
Comparison’ websites, and I can’t help wondering how merchants
view such websites, given that they are promoting a product
solely on the basis of it’s price. Please, I mean no specific
disrespect to anyone who may have such a website, in fact I once
did, before I decided to get serious by finding out how to go
about it correctly. Some Affiliate programs and merchants are
now excluding these types of website.
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There are those that announce they have ‘scoured’ the Net for
the very best of a particular product and are presenting it to
the consumer to save them the time and trouble. Apart from the
fact that people like to do their own ‘scouring’, they may also
not be able to help wondering exactly how much has been done. I
take my hat off to the Affiliate who has located, ordered and
paid for, then tried and tested a number of products simply so
he can recommend the best one in each category.
The Internet is full of these attempts at Affiliate Marketing.
The ‘Affiliate or Banner Farms’, the ‘Price and Comparison
Websites’ and the websites containing advertisements for totally
unrelated products and services are everywhere.
Of course Affiliate marketing can pay and it can pay well for
those who do their ‘homework’ and formulate a valid strategy.
Those who decide to plan, promote, present, and purvey (my four
P’s), before charging headlong into a waste of time and
sometimes money, can actually fulfill their dream of making a
living from their home.
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