Since I decided to take the plunge 5 years ago and start working for myself as an online marketer, affiliate marketing has been the best thing I ever got involved in and is now part of my daily schedule.

It is, without doubt, something that all people who are interested in starting an online business or those who already have an online business, should investigate and take up.

If you are undecided or have little knowledge about affiliate marketing then I hope that you find the below information helpful and that it will clear up any doubts that you have over what the key benefits of affiliate marketing are.

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1. Commission basis

For the affiliate marketer, this is a key advantage as every time that somebody makes a purchase, the affiliate receives a set commission of the profit.

For the affiliate merchant, this is an advantage as they only pay the marketer when they make a sale, so no money is wasted on marketing spend.

2. Huge audience

For the affiliate marketer - having built up various marketing lists or websites, they can make use of their huge audience base and ensure that the traffic they send over to the merchant is qualified and that sales are made, making the affiliate more money.

For the affiliate merchant - they receive access to a wider audience base than they may have had before, creating more interest in their products, resulting in more sales and all without investing any more money or time.

3. Ease

For the affiliate marketer - once they have set up their additional sites and links across to the merchant, it is very simple to manage, and often affiliates will continue to make money from sales without having done anything for months.

For the affiliate merchant - they do not have to invest time and money writing content or creating expensive images in order to promote their services/ products. Instead, affiliates will apply to be a part of their program and all the merchant needs to do is have many affiliates all working towards promoting their products/ services and wait for the sales to flood in.

4. Steady cost

For the affiliate marketer - building on the last point, an affiliate can keep receiving commission from sales of a product or service for years, despite not doing a lot of work to promote it. You do need to invest the time at the start but then you have a regular source of income coming in for the market life of the service/ product.

For the affiliate merchant - they set up all the costs so the chance to make a huge profit on sales without having spent much on marketing is very likely. They do not have to pay their affiliates much per sale to make the business relationship worthwhile, as it tends to work best on a quantity basis so everyone is happy with the set amounts.

5. Brand Visibility

For the affiliate - there is a lot to be gained reputation-wise from working with a range of brands and you will find that you get a lot more work should you be able to prove that you have succeeded with others in the past.

For the affiliate merchant - they receive free brand exposure on a continual basis, which is never a bad thing. If you have many affiliates working on promoting your brand, you'll soon see a boost in search engine rankings and online sales; Amazon.com is an excellent example of where this has worked in the past.

6. Outsourced expertise

For the affiliate marketer - they get the continued experience to improve and work on their methods of online marketing, investing only their time, not money.

For the affiliate merchant - they will be able to utilize all kinds of affiliates who are experts in SEM (search engine marketing) and SEO (search engine optimization) without investing a lot of money, yet still manage to get to the top of Google rankings.

7. Transparency

For the affiliate marketer - through the various affiliate programs, it is possible to see exactly when sales are made and payment is automatic, so you do not have to worry about chasing merchants for payments.

For the affiliate merchant - they can see and manage their R.O.I (return on investment) extremely easily and do not have to worry about tracking the origin of each sale.

8. Online market

For the affiliate marketer - there is an endless number of affiliate programs out there and the demand for online shopping is not going to decrease, so the earning potential for affiliates is huge. You can access any number of markets with your affiliate work, whether you choose jewelry, hygiene, pet insurance, or food.

 to find targeted long-tail keywords with low competition, ensuring maximum affiliate sales for you.

For the affiliate merchant - as previously mentioned, online demand is not going away any time soon, therefore merchants are able to continue to expand product ranges to meet a range of online markets with the knowledge that they have a number of affiliates on hand to promote quickly and at a low cost.

9. Home-based work (aimed at affiliate marketer)

If you become successful in the world of affiliate marketing then it is entirely possible to create a long-term Passive Income from it and a huge bonus to this is that you can work cheaply from home and be your own boss. You don't have to pay to sign up to affiliate programs and there is a huge number to choose from, all from the comfort of your own home.

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10. Overcoming tradition (aimed at affiliate merchant)

Using affiliates to promote your products and services will guarantee that you receive a lot more exposure than you would by using more pricey traditional marketing methods. Having a number of affiliates promoting what you are selling and only being paid when a sale is made, is one of the most cost-effective marketing methods ever as well as being incredibly successful.