17 Benefits of Being an Affiliate Marketer

No Production Costs

Developing and producing your own product to sell is a costly business. When you are an affiliate marketer, the products you sell have already been developed - all on the merchant's nickel.

Low Cost Set-up

Becoming an Internet marketer is cheap by comparison with setting up a brick-and-mortar business. If you have an Internet-connected computer – you are already halfway there!

No Fees or Licenses

Distributing a line of products in a specific geographic region often involves licensing or fees. Affiliate programs, on the other hand, are usually free to join. Furthermore, market reach is limited only by the affiliate's ability to promote his web site.

Sell Almost Anything

What isn't sold online? That list must be shorter than the one describing all that is sold online. There are thousands and thousands of affiliate programs selling every product under the sun.

No Sales Experience Required

When I started my affiliate business, I had absolutely no sales experience. That didn’t pose a problem, however. Most companies provide excellent marketing material. With the merchant’s help, I was able to get my first affiliate site up in less than a day.

No Employees

Salaries are a huge business expense. As an affiliate marketer, you'll never have to hire employees. When you have a project you want to hire out, it is easy to find specialists in every computer-related field who can work for you from the comfort of THEIR own homes. You pay only for the project, and never have to worry about ongoing employee-related benefits and deductions.

No Merchant Accounts 

Setting up a merchant account is time-consuming and costly. However, affiliate marketers don’t need merchant accounts. Merchants bear all the costs for payment processing. As an affiliate, you’ll never lose sleep over charge-backs, fraud or losing your merchant account.

No Inventory

As an affiliate marketer, you can sell large items without storage concerns, even if you live in a small one-bedroom apartment.

No Order-Processing

Forget the problems associated with collecting and storing names, addresses, credit card numbers, etc. The merchant does all that!

No Shipping

The costs and hassle to ship products to customers can be staggering. Affiliates never worry about packaging supplies or postal rates.

No Customer Service

Do you hate the prospect of dealing with nasty people or customer complaints? Don't worry about it! The merchant handles the snivelers.

Make Money While You Sleep

What other business allows you as a sole proprietor to keep your doors open and keep making money even when you take breaks or after you go home for the night?

Worldwide Marketplace

The Internet is the world's largest marketplace. You can drive more visitors to your online store in a day, than a small-town merchant will see in his or her brick and mortar business in a year.

Work from Home

Working from home is considered the best advantage to having an online business by those who despised a long commute to work or prefer to work in their pajamas. Parents, in particular, value having more time to spend with their children.

Work Anywhere in the World

An online business is perfect for those who love to travel.

Minimal Risk

The product you chose isn't making money? Dump it. Take down your links and promote another! It's that easy. There are no long-term contracts binding you to products that don't sell.

High Income Potential

If you have a job, your salary or hourly wage is probably pre-determined. Maybe there's not much, other than working overtime, that you can do to increase your income. With your own affiliate business on the Internet your income potential is limited only by your desire, effort and imagination.


That’s why affiliates love affiliate marketing. With my almost insatiable wanderlust, my favorite thing about affiliate marketing is the ability to work anywhere I am in the world. What will yours be?