Affiliate Marketing – Should You Take the Leap?

RoseAnn has been looking into making money on the Internet. She’s had it with her J.O.B., running her feet off waiting tables for impatient customers and an even more impatient boss.

She’s heard that her neighbor down the street earns an income online; she’s not exactly sure how, but she’s pretty sure it can be done legitimately. After doing some research, she’s come upon affiliate marketing and thinks it might be right up her alley. But does she dare take the leap and start putting her time and energy into building her own Internet business?

If this scenario sounds familiar, you too might be looking into a way to earn money from home and are wondering if affiliate marketing will work for you.

Well, one of the best things about it is the fact that it can be done at any hour of the day or night, and for as little or as much time as you can spare. So it doesn’t require quitting your job in order to try it out, although if you find success with it, the day you quit your “real” job will be something to look forward to!

Why do I say “if” you find success? It’s because most people who begin affiliate marketing don’t get to the point where they can fire their boss. Most people just don’t approach this business with the proper mindset or realistic expectations.

So how can you be different? Realize, first of all, that affiliate marketing, or any type of Internet marketing, is a business like any other. It takes time, patience, and a lot of effort. If you get into it thinking you’re going to be rich beyond your wildest dreams in a couple months’ time, you’re going to give up when that doesn’t happen.

However, you still must approach it with a positive mindset, or you won’t get anywhere. You have to believe that affiliate marketing work (because it does) and be willing to work hard and persevere until you see results.

If you have the right attitude and expectations, then it is definitely worth a try. Fortunately, it doesn’t cost much to get started.

You’ll need a website, which means you need to buy a domain name and a hosting package. Together, these can cost you as little as $75 or so a year. Pretty cheap way to start a business, wouldn’t you say?

I usually recommend that newbies also pay for some sort of training so they can get started earning faster. With all the free information out there, you could learn affiliate marketing without spending a cent on training, but it takes a lot of time to sort through it all and figure out what’s true and what’s not–time that could have been spent earning money.

So for about $100, you can give affiliate marketing a try for a full year. If you should discover that you just don’t enjoy it, you may be able to recoup some of your investment by selling your web site and walk away having lost mostly just some time.

RoseAnn decided to go for it. She is busily setting up her second affiliate site and loving it, and her first is beginning to show some monetary returns. She is still waitressing for now, but she is confident that her new pursuit will eventually allow her to leave it behind.