Affliate Marketing May Not Be Free, But Perhaps "Free" is Overrated
If there really is a “Home of the Free” in the world, it must be the Internet. Apart from the freedom to surf 24/7 to pretty much any destination you like, it offers free software downloads, free online games, free movie footage, free language translations, free music videos, free email, free voice communication, free calendars…the list of freebies is virtually endless.
Who could have imagined that so many entrepreneurs would make so much money by giving things away? Yet that is exactly what has happened. The basic dot-com business model, if you can call it that, has been to create something cool, put a price tag of $0.00 on it, open the doors to everyone on Earth, and then charge advertisers to promote their goods to visitors as traffic grows. Google, Flickr, Yahoo, and MySpace all operated this way at some point. Most still do.
Perhaps that is why so many of those who are new to affiliate marketing are shocked to learn that there are costs involved. The bottom line is that someone has to pay for all that cool stuff out there, and if isn’t the end users, it must be the marketers.
So what ecommerce expenses should you expect when you start an online business? It sometimes costs money to join an affiliate marketing program, obtain its software, or get trained in its methodology. It frequently costs money for hosting, web design and site maintenance. And it often also costs money to advertise.
You can economize, of course, by taking advantage of free web sites and blogs. Many of them feature graphic user interfaces that are intuitive, so you do not have to pay for graphic design. You can also collect your commissions and make funds transfers through a low-cost merchant account, such as PayPal.
The toughest cost to avoid however, is advertising. If you can’t afford pay-per-click advertising or billboard-like banners, then consider exchanging reciprocal links and ads, publishing blogs, and optimizing your site for search engines. Then when you earn a little, reinvest it in additional advertising. If you can earn a couple of bucks for every dollar you spend, why wouldn’t you want to pay for promotion?
If you find in the beginning it is hard to turn a profit with affiliate marketing, don’t be discouraged. Even such heavyweights as YouTube and FaceBook have struggled to earn enough revenue to pay for the gratis services they offer. Just keep tweaking your advertising and growing your presence.
Free or not, the market rewards only those who persevere and find their way through the swamp!