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Thursday, October 18, 2007

Join Affiliate Programs - 15 Reasons Why

By Jeff Casmer

If you’ve been sitting on the fence deciding whether or not to take up affiliate marketing, today is the day you get off the fence and on with your affiliate marketing adventure. Below are 15 reasons to partake and join affiliate programs.

1. No production costs
The average person can not afford the costs involved in developing a new product. Joining affiliate programs you do not have to worry about this. The merchant has already gone through the trouble and expense.

2. Minimum setup costs
Compared to offline businesses held in a rented or bought building, an online affiliate business is relatively inexpensive. For the most part, one only needs a computer with internet access. Many affiliate programs are free to join which means that if you already have a computer then you can start this business without any initial capital.

3. No Fees or licenses
An offline entrepreneur has to deal with the costs of distributing a line of products within a limited geographical region. Affiliate marketers however, do not have to worry about this fee or about the geographical boundaries.

4. No business borders
The internet lets you reach different people without leaving your home. Your site can see more visitors in a day than an offline merchant will see in a year.

5. No inventory
The majority of us can not, and do not want to fill our house with storage. As an affiliate marketer you can sell large items without storage concerns.

6. No shipping
The costs involved with preparing and shipping products from one end of the world to another can be mounting. Affiliate marketers sell products without ever having to consider postal rates or packaging supplies.

7. No order processing
Trying to remember all the names, credit card number, and addresses of each order is not only a pain but more than the average person wants to handle. Luckily an affiliate marketer does not have to. The merchant takes care of it.

8. No employees
Employee salaries are the largest business expense. You do not have to worry about employee related benefits and compensations. All the work can be done on your own at your own pace. Even if you did want to work with someone occasionally or outsource some tasks to a specialist they can help you from their own home and only when you need them.

9. No customer service
No business is safe from customer complaints, but many people do not want to deal with them, and with affiliate marketing you don’t have to, the merchant does.

10. No merchant account
Unlike merchants who have to deal with the hassle of setting up and maintaining a merchant account, affiliate marketers don’t need a merchant account. This means that they are free from worrying about fraud, charge-backs, and possibly losing their merchant account.

11. Low risk
Offline businesses are frightening due to the major risk you take when you invest in a product. No other business lets you dump unprofitable products faster and easier than affiliate marketing. If you decide that you are no longer interested in a product you are selling, you can just take down the links and replace them with new ones. There are no long term contracts binding you to products.

12. No Sales experienced necessary
The notion that you have to be a sales whiz puts people off business. But this is not an issue with affiliate marketing. Many affiliate programs come with excellent marketing tools such as prewritten sales copies and banner ads to help you make your sales.

13. Sell almost anything
Nearly every niche is covered online, which means there are products being offered for just about every niche. An affiliate marketer can find at least two programs that offer products for their desired website theme.

14. High Income Potential
Because the internet is the world’s largest marketplace, your income potential exceeds anything you could ever make in a salary based job or even as an offline entrepreneur. Your income potential is limited only by you -- your drive and your efforts. Those who put in the effort can see themselves very wealthy, very quickly.

15. Make money in your sleep
This is perhaps the best reason to join affiliate programs. The internet operates on a 24/7 basis. Thus when you shut down for the day your business is still open and still making you money.

If you’re still contemplating whether or not to join, think of this: to date affiliate marketing is still the most inexpensive, convenient way to potentially make millions. Join affiliate programs? Still need to think about it?

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com/

Jeff Casmer is an internet marketing consultant and work at home business owner. For more information on affiliate programs please visit his "Top Ranked" Internet Affiliate Programs Directory that gives you all the information you need to Work at Home in the 21st century.