Are you interested in learning about affiliate marketing? Is affiliate marketing worth it in 2023? I’m going to share 13 reasons why I feel it’s a big yes.
I’ll explain how affiliate marketing works, it’s cost effectiveness, its scalability, and how you can get your piece of the pie even if you’re a complete novice with no experience at all.
Is Affiliate Marketing Worth It in 2023?
With little to no money needed to invest, affiliate marketing is low risk and cost effective with no limit to its scalability. With a low learning curve, the effort involved is worth the rewards.
Let’s take a look at 13 reasons why affiliate marketing is worth your time (and money) if you’re looking to make money online in 2023.
1. Affiliate Marketing is BOOMING as an Industry
Have you ever bought anything online? Chances are you bought something online multiple times this week. And in case you didn’t realize it, so many of the things we buy online are actually the result of affiliate marketing. We read a review, we click a link to buy from the merchant we trust, and in 2 days it’s on our doorstep.
That’s affiliate marketing in action. Even just ten years ago, the idea of being able to buy EVERYTHING online was a stretch. In today’s world it’s a reality.
The fact of the matter is that affiliate marketing has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry over the past ten years and all the projections point to it continue to grow.
Affiliate marketing is estimated to be worth $17 BILLION globally. In the US alone affiliate marketing spending is estimated to be at $6.8 billon.
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So What is Affiliate Marketing and How Does It Work?
Affiliate marketing is all about connecting people with the products and services they’re already searching for online.
When you partner up with popular merchants like Amazon, Walmart, Apple, etc., you can earn steady commissions every time you connect a customer with what they’re looking for. Merchants basically pay for results instead of for advertising. And when it’s working for the merchants that means there’s no end in sight for the industry.
So what’s the basic everyday affiliate marketing process look like?
Let’s say you wanted to buy a camera for your next big trip. (I’m a travel addict so this is totally me.) You might make a Google search for “best travel camera”. You find an article on page 1 of the Google search result pages, read the review, and you like what you see. You click on the “Buy It Now” button that takes you to the website of the trusted merchant you’ve bought from a hundred times before like Amazon or Apple.
That “Buy It Now” link is called an affiliate link. It takes you directly to the merchant to make your purchase and simultaneously gives credit to the affiliate marketer for leading you there.
When the purchase is made this is called a conversion for the affiliate marketer. The merchant sends a percentage of that sale to the affiliate marketer as a commission. This is a process that can repeat literally hundreds of times a day.
2. Affiliate Marketing is Extremely Cost Effective
One of the main reasons why affiliate marketing is booming as an industry is cost-effectiveness. Unlike starting a traditional business, affiliate marketing has very low overhead costs. We’re taking about a low-risk, high-reward strategy that’s a win/win for both the affiliate marketer and the merchant.
You could actually start affiliate marketing with no money if you know what you’re doing. And if you don’t, there are some solid affiliate marketing training platforms out there that won’t empty your bank account.
Related Article at WorkFromYourLaptop.com!
Check out my list of top affiliate marketing training courses and find one that fits your needs. True affiliate marketing focus on you actually learning!
Make sure you stay away from the flashy, often ridiculous training platforms led by “gurus”. These are the ones you see on social media with ridiculous revenue promises and “done for you” systems. Affiliate marketing “gurus” like John Crestani and Keala Kanae will sucker your into low buy-ins that literally turn into spending tens of thousands of dollars! Don’t fall for the hype!
3. Affiliate Programs Are Everywhere!
Over 80% of all brands have affiliate programs. That’s HUGE!
It means that brands recognize that online business is where so many people will find their products and services, especially via mobile! And by allowing bloggers and affiliate marketers to share and promote their products, it’s a true win/win for bother merchant and affiliate marketer.
4. Affiliate Programs are Free to Join
Remember what I said about affiliate marketing having very low overhead costs? Very rarely do you find an affiliate program where there’s any costs associated with joining. Merchants WANT bloggers and affiliate marketers to promote their products and services. They don’t want any hurdles to stand in the way from this great form of word of mouth advertising.
Usually the only requirements for joining an affiliate program revolve around how much traffic your content is receiving at the time of application.
5. Affiliate Programs Can Earn Big Commissions!
Affiliate marketing is very scalable. Wouldn’t you rather have a true affiliate marketing business that’s scalable instead of taking mind numbing Swagbucks surveys for pennies?
Or how about a booming affiliate marketing business over that MLM you keep seeing people talk about like a cult where all they do is recruit? Nothing against MLMs, but man oh man, that is just something I don’t want to do ever again.
Real money, consistent money, is made via affiliate marketing.
Related Article at WorkFromYourLaptop.com!
Check out “Is Affiliate Marketing a Pyramid Scheme?” to see the difference between affiliate marketing, network marketing, and illegal pyramid schemes!
The average affiliate marketing commission ranges between 5%-30%. One affiliate program could reward your efforts with a 10% commission, while another offers a 75% commission. One affiliate program could generate consistent monthly revenue through pure volume of commissions, while another generates money because of single LARGE commissions.
Some high ticket products can literally earn you 6 figures from one sale! Now, before you go buying that Lamborghini, let’s bring you down to earth. Remember to think conservatively. It takes time to build traffic, and most of your starting commissions will be smaller.
That being said, the average earnings of a full time affiliate marketer is estimated to be between $52k and $90k.
The best recurring monthly commission based affiliate program I’ve found is this one with the average commission per referral at $121.
6. You’re Not Limited to Just One Affiliate Program! Go Big With Multiple Streams!
With affiliate marketing, every single website you build is like creating a new, independent business. And with each website you’re not limited to only one stream of income. You can find multiple affiliate programs that fit your niche. Each one generating revenue to your affiliate marketing business.
On top of that, your affiliate marketing revenue isn’t limited to just commissions that come from sales and conversions. Traffic alone can create substantial ad revenue and quickly make your business profitable.
7. The Learning Curve is Low
Just as with any business, getting the right training is crucial to finding your success. Affiliate marketing is no different. If you’re building a website, it takes time to build trust with Google. It takes consistent content creation. It takes an understanding of keyword research.
As I’ll show you further in this article, you don’t even need a website to be successful in affiliate marketing. You can be very successful with your affiliate marketing business using just YouTube, Instagram, or other social media platforms.
Once you understand the questions your target audience is making searches on, it becomes easier and easier to create content that is the answer to those searches.
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Ever thought about using AI to create all your content? Check out “Can I Use ChatGPT for Content Writing?” and see how amazing this AI tool can be!
8. You Have the Freedom to Build in Any Niche You Choose
What does it mean to choose your niche? True affiliate marketing means having the freedom to take your business in any direction you like.
What are your interests? What’s your passion? To be successful, it’s key to choose a niche that you have a real interest in. This places you smack dab in the middle of your own target audience and creating content will actually be fun and not a chore.
Too many times you see bizarre schemes online that make ridiculous revenue promises and promise “done for you” systems, only to find out that what you’re actually paying for is just the right to resell what you just bought.
That’s not affiliate marketing! That’s just buy and resell.
True affiliate marketing allows you to create content in a variety of niches, in areas of your expertise, in areas relevant to your interests, and then promote products and services to people just like you who are interested in them.
Have a love for travel and photography? Maybe you’re a chess lover. How about a food related niche for foodies just like you? How about doing all 3?
9. Affiliate Marketing Can Be Done With or Without a Website
The most straightforward approach to affiliate marketing success is through building a niche website.
When you create a website, it’s like having your own piece of internet real estate. Here, you can publish content relevant to your niche where your audience can find the answers they’re searching for and more.
And with the help of keyword research tools your articles will find themselves consistently at the top of Google’s search results. This means a steady stream of free, targeted traffic.
Not a fan of building websites? No problem.
You could reach a massive audience using social media like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and more and be very successful. The more avenues you use the great chance you have of finding your target audience.
10. Building a Website is Easy
Building a website can *sound* like a daunting task, but it’s actually simple and straightforward.
- First, you need a domain. Your domain is basically your web address. You can build on a free domain or on a premium domain.
- You’ll also need hosting. Hosting means having a service that monitors your website, protects it from any spam attacks, keeps it running, keeps it secure, etc.
- Once you have that you’ll need to choose a theme. Your theme is basically the skin of your website and what it looks like.
I build all my websites through Wealthy Affiliate. The hosting is top notch, I’ve never had issues with a slow website, and it’s very affordable.
11. Affiliate Marketing and Social Media Go Hand in Hand
The rise of social media has directly contributed to the rise of affiliate marketing. Platforms like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are very popular channels for affiliate marketers to promote.
This doesn’t mean you’re going to start shoving your content down your followers throats. I wrote an article on a scheme that was all about turning your Facebook profile into a lead trap. (Not good.)
Be smart about reaching your audience. Reach the people who actually want to see that content by joining groups, creating a dedicated page or channel, using hashtags, etc.
12. Affiliate Marketing Seems to be Disaster Proof!
Ok, let’s be honest, if the internet somehow went away tomorrow, affiliate marketing would literally disappear. Duh. But, when the entire global population was reeling in response to a global pandemic that no one had ever experienced before, affiliate marketing actually grew as an industry!
More and more people are shopping online. Businesses are turning to affiliate marketing as a proven method to reach new customers. In the post-pandemic world, affiliate marketing is still trending upward.
13. With Affiliate Marketing You’re the Boss, You Reap the Rewards!
Having your own business means you call the shots, decide your own hours, and you don’t have to split the profits with anyone. It also means there’s no one but YOU to point the finger at if you don’t put in the work.
Affiliate marketing isn’t a get rich scheme where you’re making money overnight. It takes time and effort. But the rewards you get from it massively outweigh any negatives. Trust me, there’s nothing like being able to work from your laptop.
Related Article at WorkFromYourLaptop.com!
Check out my newly updated review of the training platform I owe all my success to! Straightforward, affordable, and FREE to test drive, this is the training that delivered for me! Monetize your own website, YouTube, social media, and more!
Final Thoughts
Affiliate marketing is booming because it’s cost effective, scalable, has a low learning curve, and uses social media platforms to quickly find an audience. It takes time and effort, but it’s worth it.
Do you agree or disagree? Have you ever tried getting started with affiliate marketing? What was your experience? Have you had hurdles that stopped you from reaching your goals? Let me know what you think in the comments section below! I look forward to hearing from you and I always respond!
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So as someone starting off I have several different questions I could use clarification with. Do you think that certain niches do better than others? What would you say are the best companies to sign up with? Have you made much money this way? I don’t mean to ask personal questions, but I figured it can’t hurt! 🙂
As far as niches go, starting off you can’t go wrong a) choosing a niche you have a genuine, real interest in, and b) choosing a niche that is specific and specialized.
For example, basketball is an extremely broad niche, while men’s basketball shoes is much more targeted and specific. This leads to conversions because someone arriving at your website will find EXACTLY what they’re looking for and you come off as having authority in that specific subject.
I don’t mind the questions at all. Affiliate marketing has opened lots of doors for me. I’m a travel addict and if you follow my instagram (@batmantravels) you can see all the places I’ve been able to travel to because of affiliate marketing. Thanks for the comment!
Hi Eric,
You are definitely one of the veterans of affiliate marketing.
Just looking at your income proofs makes me remember what the potential of affiliate marketing is and hopefully one day, just like you, I will be able to share the exact results (or even better) 😛
Surely when you started affiliate marketing years ago things must have been different and operating now with a website that has authority makes it a lot easier, however, what are some of the most important tips that you could give beginner affiliate marketers to ensure success?
Thanks, Tatiana
I think the entire focus has to be on traffic and getting eyes on your content. You have to do solid keyword research to understand the searches your target audience is making and then create content that thoroughly answers those searches. That’s the only way you can build traffic. YouTube is a spectacular avenue for getting traffic as well. It’s all wide open to anyone getting started. Thanks for the comment!
I am a newbie when it comes to affiliate marketing. I just started getting to know about my opportunities in this form of marketing / money making technique, so it was really interesting for me to see just how many ways are there to gain more expertise (if I can say this). Your post has given me inspiration to keep going and not to think that it’s too late to start. Before starting off I was kind of puzzled about whether to start it or not. I just began to build my first website, and I still have a lot going on within my mind. Emotionally I got myself involved way too much in thinking that it would be too hard for me to maintain this sort of thing. Your take on this subject was so crystal clear to me that I decided to walk along this path until I finally get succeed. So I gotta say thank you! 😀
Thanks for the sincere comment there, brother! Keep up the great work and I’m glad this article inspired you!
I am an affiliate marketer. I read your review to see if there is anything that I have been missing in terms of developing my online business. This outline of the benefits of affiliate marketing is amazing. It is thorough, easy to read, and very accurate. Your graphic definition of affiliate marketing is very clear. Would it be possible for me to offer a link to your site on one of mine. Great job.
Always happy to help another affiliate marketer! Glad you enjoyed this and you can absolutely link and share this article. Thanks for the comment and keep up the good work!
In my opinion picking a niche that you truly enjoy is the key. Creating content is the name of the game and so much easier and fun if you love to talk about it.
How long did it take you to nail down a niche?
Great article and please keep them coming. Thank you.
Initially I was gonna do a whole website based on traveling and solo adventures. But once I found Wealthy Affiliate as a training platform, I realized there are probably a ton of people just like me looking to learn affiliate marketing. I never looked back 🙂 Thanks for the comment!
I’ve recently become a digital nomad and I’ve been curious to know more about incorporating affiliate marketing into what I’m already doing. So this article was perfect for me. I just need to find some time to learn more about it, but your article has been a perfect step in the right direction. Thank you.
Thanks for the comment! How are you a digital nomad currently? What’s working for you?
Great article on affiliate marketing and how to succeed! I wish you success and good health.
I appreciate it! Thank you!
Before I even truly comprehended what this business model was, I was seeing people claim that it was the easiest way to make money in a very short period of time, which was disappointing when I truly dug deeper into the business and realized there’s so much more than that. These are great points you’ve made, backing each one with facts. Thank you!
Don’t fall for all those gurus who claim you can make 6 figures in 6 months.. Affiliate marketing takes time and work, but with the right training it’s TOTALLY DOABLE! Thanks for the comment!
Hi Eric,
I just was searching on Google to know more about the affiliate marketing nowadays, and hub, I get the best explanation never I read before.
So, when I choose the niche did you recommend blogging about narrow or board niche? I’m confused on this point until now.
Have Nice Days ahead.
When choosing your niche, for sure target something very specific. We can’t be everything to everyone like Amazon. And even Amazon started off with a very targeted niche selling only books. As we build and grow our site, we can scale out, but that comes later. Go specific and it will lead to conversions as your audience will arrive at your site finding exactly what they’re looking for 🙂 Thanks for the comment!
Hey Eric, I see that you can have multiple websites and as many income streams as you want. Would you recommend a new person in the industry limit how much they try to do at first? The idea of multiple income streams I love, but I would be concerned about getting overwhelmed and trying to do too much. And what do you think the average newcomer should realistically try to accomplish in the first 6 months or so?
You can easily earn full time income off one website. Once you have steady traffic coming to it, you can monetize it in a number of ways to earn steady revenue on traffic alone without even getting sales and conversions. Starting off you definitely want to stick with just one website. Build it up and get that traffic! It takes consistent content creation and trying to do that with multiple sites would feel impossible.
Realistically, in your first 6 months make your entire focus on simply putting out quality content that answers the questions your audience is looking for. Get those page views, get your numbers up, and by month 8-10 your articles can really start hitting number that can make your monetization explode.
Content is king!
Hi Eric, very informative article about affiliate marketing. I share your sentiment. One of my favorite things about affiliate marketing is the freedom that it offers you.
In addition to that, it is a very low pressure way to make money online. Some people get caught up in all of the worries of putting yourself out there, or even worse, becoming an online salesman.
However, with things like Google Adsense, Mediavine, and other ad networks, you actually don’t even have to sell anything to make money online blogging, you can literally just focus on getting traffic to your website, and the ads will take care of the monetization for you.
Obviously, there is more money to be made with affiliate marketing, but in theory, you actually could also make some decent money just off of ads, and that’s a pretty cool thing because it allows you to really experiment with different ways to make money online in a very low-pressure environment.
Well put man. Like I said in the article, traffic equals revenue. And everything you said confirms that point. Thanks for the comment!