In this post I’m going to provide an internet marketing business review, with a focus on the business side of affiliate marketing.
The intent is for you to be able to evaluate the business model from a holistic perspective and decide if it’s right for you, given a set of financial objectives and time/resource constraints.
Internet Marketing Business Review
Whenever I’m considering a new business opportunity I think about three things:
- Return On Financial Investment
- Return On Time Investment
- Lifestyle Considerations
For this review of affiliate marketing, I’ll take the same three qualifiers and evaluate possible online income opportunities against each.
Return on Financial Investment
The first element to consider with any internet marketing business review is what the potential return on investment is going to be, and how risky that return is.
With affiliate marketing, there is a lot of opportunity to earn a great return, and the risk is actually pretty low. There’s a lot of data freely available about what people are searching for online and what they’re buying. Most affiliate programs will tell you not only how much you will earn in commissions, but what their expected conversion rates are for targeted users.
When you put those two factors together, it means that you can be very smart about how you choose your website topics, maximizing your chance of earning a great return and reducing the overall risk for your investment.
Not only that, but starting an affiliate marketing business does not cost a lot of money. You can even get good training for free. How many businesses can you think of that you can start for under $100?
Return on Time Investment
Of course, saying that you’re going to start a business for under $100 means that you’re going to be putting in significant time in place of upfront capital investment, so the same logic holds.
If affiliate marketing provides a good potential for a strong financial ROI, does that hold true for your time as well?
I guess that depends on how you look at it, and how you value your time. For me, when I’m considering any new affiliate opportunity, I first calculate how much time I expect to put into it before seeing a return and then assign a monetary value to that time.
That’s because I view my time as an asset just as I view my money as an asset. An internet marketing business can be a good bet on either front. Read more on how to determine if a site is an asset.
Lifestyle Considerations
The lifestyle consideration is by far the most attractive element of any internet marketing business.
Affiliate marketing provides an unparalleled level of freedom. Not many jobs or careers let you choose how many hours you work, when you work them, where you work them, or even how much you earn.
Even most home businesses require some level of rigidity in terms of either time or location. Most jobs require you to be available during business hours, or go in for an occasional meeting, even if you work from home.
With most internet marketing jobs, and affiliate marketing in particular, there is no such requirement. You’re in total control, because it literally does not matter when you get things done, just that you do get them done!
So yes, all in all I consider affiliate marketing to be an excellent business opportunity, for many different niche sites.
If you’re thinking about starting an internet marketing business, you can click here to learn more about affiliate marketing, or click here to learn how to get started today!