Is Affiliate Marketing Profitable in 2019 and Beyond

I am sure you have heard the stories and seen the advertisements from people driving nice cars and living in beautiful homes. Affiliate Marketing has made them wealthy. Is this really true? Is affiliate marketing profitable in 2019 and beyond? Prepare to be amazed.

What is affiliate marketing and does it work?

Yes it does. It is a popular type of marketing where you recommend products to other people and direct them to the companies that sell these products. You become an affiliate or partner with these companies and every sale that results from your recommendation, you get paid a commission.

Millions of people all over the world are making part-time and full-time income in affiliate marketing online. This is not some new kind of fad. Affiliate marketing has been around in some form since before the internet, though it really didn’t come into its own until the internet began.

Many retail companies that have a website presence have an affiliate program. Those who are forward-thinking have accepted this form of marketing to increase revenue of online sales. There is no doubt that internet marketing and sales are how a majority of people prefer to shop.

The convenience of not having to leave your home and fight the traffic and crowds to buy products is how commerce will proceed for the foreseeable future. It has reached a level that you can even do your food shopping online and have the supermarket deliver it to you.

Seeing how this trend of home shopping will continue to grow, affiliate marketing is leading the way for a majority of retailers to stay relevant in this ever growing industry of online sales. In order for it to thrive, retailers need ordinary people like you to get involved and get paid for their efforts.

It’s a Win-Win situation

Affiliate Marketing requires very little monetary investment to start and operate

Getting started in affiliate marketing is not an expensive nor difficult endeavor to begin. However there are several so-called “training opportunities” and “affiliate marketing gurus” that will try to milk you of funds to provide you with their courses. You need to be careful not to get scammed.

Being that the words “Affiliate Marketing” are associated with a legitimate type of marketing, many other forms including those that have a problematic reputation like Multi-Level Marketing (MLM), are now promoting themselves as such. There is a big difference between the two.

I am not saying that all kinds of MLMs or Network Marketing / Direct Sales programs are bad. Some are legit. However those who are questionable will hijack the name of a legitimate marketing strategy claiming that they are one in the same when they are not, just to sound real.

The best feature that I like is that you the affiliate, has full control as to what kind of product you will be recommending to others. You are not limited in your choice or direction and will have free rein to choose a niche you have an interest or passion for to create your business around.

I know of a low-cost training course that will even allow you to start for free which is my #1 recommendation for success. But before I give you the details I just want to share some important and interesting facts about why affiliate marketing is a profitable business to start.

Affiliate Marketing Industry Statistics

You may have noticed many of the popular retail chain stores you used to shop at when younger, have either downsized or gone out of business. Making purchases on the internet is so much easier and affiliate marketing has a hand in that. Here are some interesting statistics.

• Approximately 81% of brands with over 150 million dollars in revenue use the power of affiliate marketing spending to drive sales to their websites
• Each year in the United States alone there is a 10% increase in affiliate marketing spending by retailers
• According to Forrester Consulting on behalf of Rakuten Marketing, it is estimated that by 2020 affiliate marketing will be at least a 6.8 billion dollar per year industry
• Some other marketing analysts have said that affiliate marketing can be as much as a 10+ billion dollar per year industry by 2020 if the rise in retail store closures intensifies
• In 2017 the affiliate structure changed in the Amazon Associates Program giving its affiliates a 1-10% commission on certain niche products to increase passive income
• In 2018 around 16% of all orders made online were attributed to the popularity of affiliate marketing and this percentage will increase each year
• Email marketing campaigns were the king of the hill as far as digital marketing revenue, but at the start of 2019 affiliate marketing generates just as much
• Affiliate marketing is suitable for all ages and demographics with the bulk of marketers between the ages of 25 to 54
• It was revealed in 2015 that the three most popular niche markets for affiliates were Fashion at 18.7%, Sports & Outdoor Activities at 14.6%, and Health & Wellness at 11.1%
• According to MOZ, organic search traffic results convert 5.66 times better than paid traffic making affiliate marketing ideal for website owners and bloggers
• The United States leads the world in affiliate marketing spending with the UK in second place, Germany in third, and the rest of the world combined in fourth
• When affiliate marketing is done in the correct and most effective way through the creation of quality content, ad blockers will not affect on possible conversions

These are just a dozen statistics from the rapidly growing popularity of affiliate marketing. To be a success in this form of internet marketing requires effort and is not as easy as some portray it to be. Don’t believe the hype of training that touts “done-for-you” and “autopilot” systems.

Some sobering facts about affiliate marketing

When starting in affiliate marketing it is important to realize that you will not make a lot of money in a short period of time. In fact, you may not make any money within the first year. This is definitely not a get rich quick industry, yet in the long run it can be highly profitable.

Affiliate Marketing success takes time and effort. Never quit.

It is for this reason I often recommend that people who want to become financially free through online affiliate marketing, to start their business while still employed. If you happen to be retired or unemployed at the time of starting, be sure your finances can survive the growing process.

Your ability to make a lot of money and the speed at which you earn it, will depend on many factors. Regardless of what those are, the determining factor comes down to you and how well you are at staying the course in building your business the correct way and not cut corners.

I liken the growing success of an affiliate marketing website business to the Katamari effect. For those not familiar with the popular Japanese video game Katamari Damacy, the player rolls a highly adhesive ball called a katamari that grows in size with each item that sticks to it.

This is similar to the snowball effect. When a snowball rolls down a snow-covered slope it will grow in size as it collects more snow. Whether you call it the Katamari or snowball effect, the concept is the same. Your affiliate marketing business will take time and effort to grow.

Why become an affiliate marketer?

Many will have varying opinions as to why you should consider becoming an affiliate marketer. Being that I have been successfully earning a living doing this form of marketing for six years, below are my top 10 reasons to start an online affiliate marketing business in any niche.

1. PASSIVE INCOME: Unlike other forms of marketing, you have the real potential to earn passive income in affiliate marketing while you are on vacation and even while you are asleep. Once your website is up and running, it will work for you everyday 24/7.
2. WORK FROM HOME: Or anywhere for that matter. All you need is a connection to the internet. No longer do you have to get up for work at an ungodly hour of the morning to commute to a job that ultimately makes someone else rich. Be your own boss.
3. GREAT RETURN ON INVESTMENT: Joining an affiliate program is 100% Free. All you need is a website that is indexed in Google and getting traffic for companies to accept you as their affiliate marketer. Your only cost is in training, a website and a domain.
4. NO CUSTOMER SERVICE: Seeing how all you are doing is providing information and recommending to your website readers where they can buy the products you are promoting, the customer service support is handled by the company making the sale.
5. PRODUCT FLEXIBILITY: Unlike Multi-Level Network Marketing and Direct Sales, you are not confined to a specific product or brand. In affiliate marketing you can promote any product or brand in any niche that you desire. This makes it easier to convert.
6. MULTIPLE STREAMS OF INCOME: The majority of affiliate marketers, myself included, have a few different niche websites promoting various products. When you get your first website running itself, start another one or two different niche websites.
7. EARNINGS BASED ON PERFORMANCE: Unlike a regular job where you get paid by the hour or on a salary, in affiliate marketing your income is tied to the performance you give in the building and promoting of your business. You get what you put into it.
8. YOU CAN BE AN INFLUENCER: Many people before making a purchase will seek out reviews from ordinary product users. They prefer these instead of biased reviews by the company selling the product. Your honest opinions can create an internet following.
9. LEARNING THE POWER OF SEO: Search Engine Optimization is vital to the success of a website being found high in search results on search engines like Google. Knowing how to write SEO content in your chosen niche will generate more organic leads.
10. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER: When you know how SEO works in relation to your own affiliate marketing website and blog, you will have an extreme advantage over a majority of other online marketers. You can then freelance that SEO skill to other website owners.

How much money can you make?

Affiliate Marketing can make you a lot of passive income on your computer if done right

This is a hard question to answer because it depends solely on the affiliate marketer and the niche that they decide to promote. The sky is truly the limit, but again, it will require an effort on your part in the form of planning, learning, building and being patient as your business grows.

Let me explain what happened to me when I first started in affiliate marketing. I used to think that all I had to do was share my affiliate links and the money would come rolling in. NOT!!! This kind of mindset is doomed for failure from the very start. This is not how to be successful.

I quickly realized that I needed my own website to reach a worldwide audience for the niche I wanted to promote, which was natural health treatments. By creating reviews and sharing my personal thoughts on various natural products, I could recommend them to my loyal readers.

You absolutely must have a website presence with the use of your own website or blog. Fortunately this is a very easy undertaking nowadays. Anyone regardless of their technical or computer skills level, can accomplish this with ease. Automation has made this possible.

The easier it is to achieve the technical aspects of owning a website and blog, the easier it is to focus your attention at creating quality content that will convert website visitors into sales. The first important step is to get proper training that does not cost a fortune and provides everything.

Best affiliate marketing courses 2019

Despite the fact that there are several ways to learn about affiliate marketing, many are not worth the money they charge you. Then you have the ones that are really inexpensive and cheap in what you will learn. Paying too much or too little most often do not produce results.

What you need is an all-inclusive training that provides you with everything you can possibly need for success. An online university in affiliate marketing that is constantly updated to keep pace with the ever changing world of SEO, social media, and search engine marketing.

It is really important to not just get your affiliate education in one place but to also receive full free access to all building and creation tools as well as getting live help and support 24 hours of every day. You might be wondering if such a place truly exists and without a doubt there is.

Where I have learned everything I needed to know for success as an affiliate marketer, they provide you with a training program that is perfect for beginners. Their name is Wealthy Affiliate and they have been successfully training online affiliate marketers since 2005.

Wealthy Affiliate has the best affiliate marketing courses in 2019 and beyond. You can learn how to create your very own affiliate marketing business the CORRECT WAY from the ground up. Then grow it and join affiliate programs as large as Amazon or as small as a local chain store.

JOIN WEALTHY AFFILIATE FOR FREE TODAY!

Affiliate marketing training for free

As is mentioned in the video above, when you join Wealthy Affiliate you do not need to pay anything, nor give your credit card or banking information. You will get the first 10 of 50 lessons absolutely for free as well as a programmed-for-you WordPress website to start building.

Though you can stay as a free member for as long as you like, you will not be able to advance to the rest of the training tutorials numbered 11 to 50, chock-full of money making information. After your first 7 days you will also lose the premium perks of live chat for help and support.

Seven days is more than enough time to go through all ten lessons and decide if affiliate marketing is right for you. Each lesson is task based, has a full text tutorial, and a video showing you exactly what to do. It should take you no more than two hours to complete a lesson.

When you know for sure that you want in on this popular ever-growing multi-billion dollar a year affiliate marketing industry, upgrading to the Wealthy Affiliate Premium Membership will not cost you much. Your first month is discounted to only $19.00 and then $49.00 every other month.

It is because of Wealthy Affiliate’s easy to understand starter affiliate marketing training for free, their low monthly cost, and extremely helpful community that has made them highly rated by Google, Alexa and awarded an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.

An A+ BBB Rating for Niche Marketing Inc, the Parent Company of Wealthy Affiliate

Is affiliate marketing a profitable way to make money?

I remember about a year after I started there was a rumor going around that affiliate marketing was dead or dying. I have no idea why that was said when the total opposite is true. This industry is not only still alive but it is also thriving and creating many wealthy marketers.

Wealthy Affiliate has played a major role in creating many of these wealthy affiliate entrepreneurs. Everyone begins earning at different times and at different levels of income because affiliate marketing is a performance-based method of marketing inside a niche.

All you have to do is look at how many retail store closings are happening all over the world. People shopping on the internet for what they need or want is how it will be done for a long time to come. Some may blame Amazon, but it was an inevitable marketing experience.

Major retailers that have website stores pretty much all have affiliate programs you can join for free, as long as you have a website to promote their products on. This popular form of internet marketing is not going away anytime soon. I recently wrote a blog about store closures in 2019.

DEATH OF RETAIL – CLOSURE OF 6,616 STORES IN 2019

The sooner you get involved in affiliate marketing, the sooner you will start earning money in an industry that shows no signs of slowing down. Do not be lured into some type of MLM or a form of marketing that limits what you can promote. Choose your own niche and be your own boss.

I will be more than happy to help you get started on the right track and continue to help you along the way. Come join me at Wealthy Affiliate and learn how you too can become the next affiliate entrepreneur success story. If you have any questions please leave them below. Thank you.