Busting Scams - From HYIPs to Identity Theft Insurance

One of the most popular money making "schemes" on the internet today is affiliate marketing.   Affiliate marketing is simply a full or partial out-sourcing of sales and marketing activities to a world of third parties -- pretty much anyone can market just about any kind of product.  It's one of the most amazing revolutions of the interent.  If you are responsible for selling a product to the world, you'd be nuts to ignore this way of selling.

For the company, it's a way to tap into sales that otherwise would never happen, with zero risk.  You get an army of people finding creative ways to sell your product and they are paid only on success.  But wait, there's more!!!  You don't even need to have a budget to cover their expenses!  They put their own risk capital into the cost of advertising.  It's a great deal.  They may even use methods you would not necessarily want your own people to use, but that's ok, everyone knows that these guys are third parties, and you can try to put some constraints on what they do.

For the affiliate marketer, it's a chance to truly be their own boss, and do a job that can be fun and rewarding.  But, being an affiliate marketer is not for everyone.

Let's be clear about this -- becoming an affiliate marketer means running your own business.  As any small business owner knows, this means you will work harder than you ever have before if you hope to succeed.  And you don't have a boss or anyone else to blame if you fail.  It is a 100% darwinist, capitalist, competitive market.  You will have excellent competition, not only from other products that compete with the ones you promote, but also from other affiliates of the same company. 

The next amazing thing about internet affiliate marketing is that you can do it with almost no spending on advertising.  I don't think you'll be successful trying this, but who knows, you might.  In any case, that's enough to get lots of people to at least try their hand at this game.  But in the end, you will probably need to do some paid advertising of one form or another. 

Unfortunately, some of the advertising of affiliate marketing programs, by who else but affiliate marketers themselves, is highly misleading at best.  Check this one out.  You have probably been tricked into clicking on one of these ads (like, er, now) --  they all look suprisingly similar (the result of marketing the method itself).  The materials you get from different promoters are going to cover more or less the same formula for how to do the job, each with a slightly different twist, and different "bonus" materials.  Some of the way these things are pitched make it sound like you can do nothing and get rich.  But "make money while you sleep" really means "...after working your ass off all day."  Don't get me wrong, I am NOT saying don't buy these.  Actually, I think there are some good reasons to go ahead and buy one of these programs.

First, as someone who has been in product management/marketing for many years, I can tell you that this is pure guerilla marketing at its best (remember that book?)  It is refreshing in some way to see a shameless dissection of why we buy, and how we are manipulated into buying.  The techniques obviously work (whether or not you can make money using them).  I actually bought this program for exactly the reason this jerk thought I would.

Second, I do believe one can succeed in these programs, but you will succeed for the same reasons you would succeed in any other job -- hard work, creativity, persistence.  If you find you have failed at independent jobs that require these characteristics, you are unlikely to succeed at this one.  If you know that you can handle independent work, survive some early failure, and persist until you win, you have a good chance at success.

Third, I think it's important for everyone to read these materials -- so you know what you are up against as a consumer!  And if you're considering starting an affiliate marketing program to help sell your products, it's worth knowing what these folks will be reading and doing to market your stuff.

Bottom line:  affiliate marketing is not a scam; however, some of the methods affiliate marketers use are misleading.  If you're interested in trying, give it a shot!  This one even claims you can get rich blogging!