Last Updated on August 10, 2024 by Chief Pajama Officer
Is affiliate marketing a scam? That question pops up for the uninformed and I will tell you the answer… HELL TO THE NO! It is no different than your best buddy recommending a product to you. Ok, there is one little difference. The person that is doing the recommending gets rewarded by the product owner in the form of a commission.
Why is Affiliate Marketing Booming
Well.. wouldn’t it be nice to be working in your pajamas in the comfort of your own home? Or maybe in an RV while you tour the country? Or maybe from your phone while you are enjoying the sun in Bali.
Affiliate marketing is synonymous with freedom.
- Freedom from someone telling you that you are only worth $10 an hour
- Freedom from someone telling you that you can’t go on vacation because you have work to do.
- Freedom from someone telling you that if you don’t show up, you’ll be fired.
- Freedom from having to take that long commute into work.
- Freedom from all the bullsh*t that you have to deal with mentally from your peers.
- And the list goes on…
The pandemic has given everyone a taste of freedom (whether working from home or without a job). Corporations aren’t looking for what’s in our best interest, so we have to look out for it ourselves.
Affiliate marketing is just like anything else… an opportunity to ________________(you fill in the blank)
And the Internet is making it really easy to get started.
Is this something you’d like for yourself?
Well businesses love the idea of affiliate marketers… Really?!
Who Benefits From Affiliate Marketing
The short answer is Everyone.
Businesses whether large or small need to advertise and market their products and services. However, this can get very expensive and is usually offloaded to agencies and other companies that are established in the industry to do so.
What better way than to keep those costs down by allowing an army of people to become affiliates.
These affiliates drive traffic (people) to the businesses sales page. And the sales page which is created by the business converts that traffic into sales.
You got one job Bruh! Get the people to the offer.
That’s an oversimplification… but you get the idea.
In the end, a customer is happy to have been introduced to a product that will benefit them, a business is happy to make a sale and generate revenue, and an affiliate is happy to have made a commission by helping a business and customer happy.
Happy Happy Joy Joy!
Awesome right?!
Do I Have to Spend Money on Affiliate Marketing
You can spend a lot of money on affiliate marketing but you can also keep it down to a minimum based on the strategies that you learn from programs.
People did affiliate marketing way back when and did everything manually.
Today, there are tools that you can purchase to help automate the work.
An Email Service Provider / Autoresponder is definitely going to be a necessary tool.
In my humble opinion, it isn’t expensive to start, and when I say that, you could probably skip out eating take out a few nights to pay for a subscription to a tool that could save you hours.
Does this sound reasonable?
Do I Have to Quit my Job to Become an Affiliate Marketer
Not at all. Most people become affiliate marketers as a side hustle. And for some, they leave it at that.
Some people want to become millionaires and believe that that’s what is gonna happen and then the stars align. For most it doesn’t happen. But don’t let me burst your bubble.
It’s a journey and what newcomers don’t understand is that it isn’t all about knowledge. It’s gotta be applied and you gotta be in the right mindset.
You are gonna have to fail and pick yourself up and fail again and pick yourself up. We have been doing that all of our lives… that’s why we are here today!!!
But no, you don’t have to quit your job to start.
Are you thinking about giving it a go?
How Do I Get Started With Affiliate Marketing
I’ve personally vetted a bunch of them and I’ve put my top recommendations up in the menu bar above.
Most programs have what is called a front-end offer. It is usually low cost and gives you an idea about what the company offers. Kinda like a teaser. They lead you wanting more.
You learn the basics and what success looks like.
With just that, you are able to go ahead, take what you’ve learned and implement it.
Now if you need help, they offer an upsell where they provide advanced levels of training, one on one support, exact strategies to implementing what you’ve learned.
This costs a lot more and the value you get is in my opinion is better than what you’d get paying for a college tuition.
But you have to ask yourself, when was the last time you invested in yourself. Many of us will say college or sometime after high school.
Ask yourself if it’s time for a change.
My recommendation is to at the very least try the front-end offer. It gives you a chance to see what’s behind the door, and if it’s not for you, no harm no foul.
You will definitely get some sort of value.
Just to remind you that I’ve tried many front-end offers and this is what I get out of them:
- Marketing skills that I can readily apply
- Meeting new people that become friends who can become accountability partners
- Learning about awesome mindset resources (books, ideas, practices) that make you a better person overall
- etc…
Are you thinking about getting started?
Wrap Up
Affiliate marketing is not a scam. People who aren’t willing to put in the work call it a scam. Even if the work is sitting at your desk for a few hours a day. They just give up before the miracle happens.
It’s a great time to spread your wings a little and at least see what affiliate marketing is all about.
Based on everything I know now, if I had to start all over, this would be my #1 One Recommended Affiliate Marketing Program
