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Benefits of Affiliate Marketing
Written by Charles Mburugu for Gaebler Ventures
An affiliate is one who joins an affiliate program and signs an agreement or contract with the program to promote their services or products using an affiliate link. The affiliate program pays the affiliate a percentage from sales made through their affiliate link. Some programs a flat rate per lead. What are the benefits in becoming an affiliate marketer?
Affiliate marketing is a very effective way of starting an online business. Registering as an affiliate is free.
You can easily set up your business without any stock. As an affiliate, everything you sell will be shipped by the vendor. There are many other benefits which affiliate marketing offers.
Low start-up cost
You won't need a lot of money, as offline businesses do, to get started with affiliate marketing. In fact, all you need is a few dollars to create and host your website. There is an option of using free hosting from sites such as Wordpress.org or Blogger.com. However, if you want to stand out and build your own brand, it is advisable to have a personal domain name and hosting service. When you have your own domain and hosting, you can sell the site for a profit when its traffic builds up.
No need for own service or product
You don't have to create a new product to sell online. You won't have to worry about where to store your products. As an affiliate, all you need is a computer, good internet connection and some time to spare. The time you spend will focus on pre-selling your products or services. It takes a while to figure out the best ways of marketing your products. However, there are many helpful resources online which provide advice on subjects such as article marketing, social networks, and even link building.
To be successful in affiliate marketing, you need to know your product and create content on your website or email list. Content is the material you will write on your blog or website to attract traffic to your affiliate links. If you decide to start with free web hosting, make sure you purchase your own domain name when you have made some initial sales.
A domain is your website's name and can create a professional look and sound from the beginning. Domains can be purchased for as little as ten dollars per year at various domain sites. Go to Google and search for them. Remember to make your domain name memorable and easy to type. It should also be relevant to what you are marketing.
Many affiliate networks
Registering for an affiliate program is simple and you can begin your online business as soon as you are approved. With many vendors joining these affiliate networks every day, you are very likely to find something that you can pre-sell. When you join an affiliate program, always ensure you have filled out everything they ask for. After being approved, take some time to check the merchants so that you make a prudent decision of what would work best for you.
Charles Mburugu writes for us from his home in Nairobi. He has a graduate degree in Business Management from Kenya Institute of Management. He is interested in writing about branding, CSR and intellectual property.
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