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You are here: Home / Sales Funnels / Is Affiliate Marketing a Scam? (Affiliate Marketing 101)

Is Affiliate Marketing a Scam? (Affiliate Marketing 101)

By Michelle Shaeffer | 5 Comments

“Is affiliate marketing a scam?”

I can’t even count how many times I’ve been asked that question.

Let’s look at some options… as a business owner I can:

A. Try to do all my marketing one on one and reach as many people as I can by myself. (Limited reach, lots of time/energy invested.)

B. Pay for advertising and invest a few million in a Super Bowl ad that I’m taking the risk of not paying off. (Advertising budget needed, high-risk.)

C. Create agreements with people who will help share my products/services and pay them when a sale is made. (Greater reach, low-risk.)

So for me as a business owner, affiliate marketing makes perfect sense! I only pay when a sale happens.

It’s like any other commissioned sales force – real estate agents, car salesmen, even the sales people at stores like Nordstrom’s work partially on commissions. And we don’t tend to question if any of those careers are scams…

Many businesses would rather pay YOU to share their products and services, than pay for risky advertisements.

Here’s the basics of how affiliate marketing works:

Ready to find out how YOU can profit from affiliate marketing?  Awesome!  Join us in the Affiliate Profit Mastermind group – it’s free!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Malika Bourne says

    August 20, 2017 at 10:31 am

    Maybe later. I live in Colorado where there are some afflilate restrictions.
    LOL! Yea, really, asking if you are a scam..what will real scammer reply?
    I have an on-line store I run by myself. One mommy who decided to order something “really cute” from me for a party in a few days. She kept messageing me.. “It’s been 15 minutes and no reply from you. I has been 30 minutes no reply from you…. Are you a scam?” I got spamed 20 messages from her. I was in the ER then admitted for a days. Anyone can Google to check me out and check you, Michelle, as well. Neither of us have connected to N__g__ia. Any way, I had to spend some time to be sure each product more clearly stated responce time and to allow up to 2 weeks for delivery. I had to set up a better back up plan in case my back up was also injured unexpectedly.
    Thanks, Michele, you always inspire something new for me.

    Reply
  2. Joanne says

    August 20, 2017 at 6:22 pm

    Affiliate marketing is definitely not a scam. But, people do need to be honest that they are affiliates of a product before promoting it to people. It helps build honesty and trust with your people. I love being an affiliate of you because your resources are top-notch.

    Reply
  3. Shantanu Sinha says

    August 21, 2017 at 1:15 am

    Hello Michelle,

    I am not that much of an affiliate guy, but yeah for sure that’s not scam. I have watched people making through this.

    But the people need to be true, that what they are offering should, be real and the people who tend to purchase their products,
    should get the best quality delivered.

    After all all we do is based on a sense of trust and this can not be broken.

    Thanks for the share.

    Shantanu.

    Reply
  4. BISWAJIT SAHA says

    August 23, 2017 at 9:25 am

    Hi Michelle, thanks for sharing such important information about affiliate marketing.

    Reply
  5. Wayne says

    August 24, 2017 at 12:54 am

    I think affiliate marketing is great. As an affiliate I have the opportunity to make some money by recommending a product that I already use and believe in.

    It’s like you have a favorite restaurant, so yo tell people about. When they go try out the restaurant they mention your name and the restaurant owner puts a little bit on your tab. What could be easier than that?

    Like a couple other people said, you do have to disclose your affiliate connection. Your endorsement is compensated if successful.

    Reply

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