Thankfully the answer is still yes. However, it is not as easy as everyone thinks. There are hundreds of gurus out there who will tell you that you can set up a website, add in your affiliate link and the money will start rolling in. Unfortunately, this is not the case. As with any job, it requires work to ensure that your affiliate money keeps rolling in. You need to continue to provide value to your readers and ensure that you keep providing them with quality information to keep them interested. If you write a blog purely to make money, then your heart is not going to be in it. Try to write about topics you are passionate about and then the content will come naturally and it won’t feel like you are churning out content purely for sales.
There is a substantial amount of work that needs to be put in to get your affiliate site up and running and generating any significant amount of return. Having said that, affiliate marketing definitely has its benefits. You can be your own boss and work the hours you want. You don’t have to actually deal with selling any physical products as the work is all taken care of by the affiliate you are promoting. This takes away most of the stress and means the money you earn is just a little bit sweeter.
Here is our brief summary of the benefits of affiliate marketing:
- Some affiliates record profits of over £2 million! Yes that is £2 million just for promoting someone else’s products and services
- You get to work the hours you want
- You can do this work from anywhere in the world, freeing you up to travel.
- You don’t need to outlay thousands of pounds to get started. Just a web domain and some cheap web hosting is all you need.
- You have the opportunity to write about your passion. Love going to the gym? Then start a blog and promote workout dvds on the side.
- Literally anyone can learn to be an affiliate marketer. You don’t need a fancy degree or any qualifications, just a desire to learn and some dedication
The downsides of affiliate marketing are as follows:
- You may not see a return for your hard work for quite a while. It takes time for your content to be indexed and your website to start appearing in the search engine rankings.
- You need to be good at writing content. You can choose to outsource it, but ultimately that will cost you money. By writing it yourself, you have control over the content and the budget.
- Once you have built up your reputation, you need to be careful over what you promote. Promote a bad product or service and it can seriously harm your reputation.
- You have no control over the quality of service your referred customers receive.
- Once your membership is built up, you need to stick with it to constantly keep your readers engaged and coming back for more.
- Often, you are not provided with the details of who bought a product so you are not able to remarket and upsell similar products to that purchaser.
- An affiliate scheme can suddenly cease to exist and all your income may stop suddenly. That is why it is vital not to put all your eggs in one basket and promote a variety of different affiliates.
Ultimately, if you enjoy writing and have a niche idea for a blog then affiliate marketing is definitely a great source of income. It may not replace your day job, but I am pretty sure even £200 extra a month would be a welcome bonus for a few hours of blog writing each weekend.
