Is Affiliate Marketing worth it to start this year and invest in? And is Affiliate Marketing still profitable or is it crowded and saturated?
You might be asking yourself these questions, and I know where this comes from.
These are the same questions that most of the people ask when they are invited to start doing affiliate marketing in order to generate income online, but they are afraid to spend the time, money and effort and then, not make any money, especially if they have already tried many other methods of making money online and didn’t succeed with them.
They are worried that affiliate marketing might not work for them for many reasons such as the fact that affiliate marketing has been around for long time and it might not be profitable anymore.
You have done the right thing my friend.
I’m glad that you have asked yourself such questions and that you want to make sure that you are in the right place before you put in any time, money or effort.
I will show you here the truth (backed by stats) about the possibility of making money with affiliate marketing, and if it is still worth the investment to start an affiliate business this year and beyond.
So, without further ado, let’s start!
Is Affiliate Marketing Worth it This Year?
Yes, affiliate marketing is still worth it in this year and beyond for the seven reasons I will explain below, and there are thousands of new opportunities that are arising everyday in this field.
Does Affiliate Marketing Still Work?
Yes, affiliate marketing still works if done the right way like I will show you in this article.
It is true that the business model has been around for quite a long period of time and many people are joining this model everyday, but the opportunity is still increasing and you can succeed as an affiliate if you follow the tips and instructions I listed in my article; how to become a successful affiliate marketer.
The following section will show you the seven reasons why Affiliate Marketing is still worth learning and doing in order to earn income online.
7 Reasons Why Affiliate Marketing Is Still Worth Learning & Doing
1 – The Number of People Using The Internet to Look For Solutions & Products Is Increasing
The world’s population is always increasing, and the percentage of those with access to the internet is continuously increasing.
And every day, people are becoming more dependent on using the internet in order to look for solutions for their problems, or for products to buy in almost every field, and the number of those who pay online for products and services is increasing.
As you can see in this graph from Oberlo’s ecommerce statistics It is estimated that in 2022, there will be around 2.14 billion online shopper, which will be almost 25 percent of the world’s population.
And these all can be a target audience for those planning to invest in affiliate marketing.
And here comes the role of an affiliate marketer who wants to make it worth the investment and effort and earn an income with this model.
Affiliates are not salesmen, but rather, they are friends of the customers who help them find the best solutions for their problems and find products that will improve their lives and, in the process, make money in the form of affiliate commissions.
2 – New Products, Programs & Service Are Being Created Everyday, and New Affiliate Programs Are Coming
Neglecting the already existing products and programs, there are new products (physical and digital) that are being created everyday.
And many of these are looking for ways to promote their products and one of the most powerful ways is through hiring affiliate marketers, which gives you new opportunities everyday in order to promote useful stuff to your audience.
Not only that, but even the normal professional and brick and mortar businesses such as:
- Law firms.
- Insurance companies.
- Medical and health service providers.
- Home and garden services providers (plumbers, electricians, painters, …etc.).
- Construction contractors/
- …etc.
All of these business are now creating their own affiliate programs that allow you to make money not for bringing sales, but even for generating leads that might become customers for the these business later.
You might get paid up to $40, $50 or even more by some of these businesses for every lead or prospect that you generate regardless if they bought the service or not.
You can read my guide on how to find affiliate programs in any niche with the free tools and methods I personally use in order to find relevant and profitable affiliate programs in almost any industry.
3 – E-Commerce Is Growing
It is expected that in 2022, nearly, 13.7 percent of worldwide retail sales will be conducted through ecommerce websites.
More and more, brick and mortar retailers are either starting their own online stores, or they are going out of business because they can’t compete with the big ecommerce websites that offer a better customer experience and better prices as they don’t have the same expenses in running their businesses.
And many of the existing online retailers such as: Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Walmart, …etc. and many other have already started their own affiliate programs and are looking for affiliate marketers who will help them increase their sales in return of monetary incentives; affiliate commissions.
For example, Amazon’s total retail revenue in Q2 of 2019 was around $31 billion, which, when calculated on yearly basis, shows that the year-to-year increase in revenue was approximately 16%.
And this is great for affiliates as this will give them more opportunities to make money with these platforms as affiliates, which increases the likelihood of making it worth the time and effort to do affiliate marketing.
4 – E-Learning Is Growing
E-learning is a huge industry that is expected to reach $325 billion worldwide in 2025!
And how can e-learning business owners promote their businesses?
You guessed it, through affiliate marketers.
And what is nice about becoming an affiliate marketer who promotes educational products such as online courses, ebooks, mentorship programs, …etc. is that the affiliate commissions on such products is much higher than the commissions that come from promoting physical products due to the fact that producing digital products doesn’t require a big cost compared to physical products.
For example, on ClickBank, the world’s biggest retailer for digital products, many product owners who sell online courses and ebooks will pay you a commission that is anywhere between 10%-75% or even more on every sale that you bring them!
And their are many online training programs that pay very high commissions to their affiliates on their expensive courses or products that cost anywhere between $200-$2,500.
This will make affiliate marketing worth starting and doing more than it has been in the past.
5 – The Stats From The Biggest Online Retailers & Affiliate Networks
Amazon, eBay, Etsy and other big online retailers pay billions of dollars every year to affiliates who bring them customers, and they will keep paying their affiliates as long as they are helping them increase their sales.
Not only online retailers, but also affiliate networks such as ClickBank, Awin, LinkShare, ShareASale and others, these networks are fully dependent on affiliates to bring sales to the products listed on them.
Some affiliate marketing stats that will help you imagine the opportunity in this industry are:
- Awin (affiliate network) has paid its affiliates over $700 million in 2018.
- ClickBank reached more than $200 million in annual revenue, and most of their sales come through affiliates who get a 10%-75% commission on each sale.
- Affiliate marketing is a big industry that is worth over $12 million, and it is growing at the rate of 10% annually.
- Affiliate marketing, as the source of around 15% of the online sales is now in the first spot beside email marketing as the main source of online sales.
- Over 80% of the brands rely on affiliate marketing in order to increase their revenue.
And many other stats that will show that the affiliate marketing is really worth investing in more than it has ever been.
6 – Affiliate Marketing Requires a Low Investment & Is Suitable for More People
If you think about all the other options out there to start an online business, affiliate marketing is one of the least costly models and the one that comes with the lowest risk.
For example, at a platform like Wealthy Affiliate, You can start an affiliate marketing business for as low as $359 a year, which is around 99 cents a day! And that cost includes the step-by-step training, weekly webinars, premium web hosting with full support, keyword and content creation tools, access to a community of 1.4 million of fellow online entrepreneurs, and many other advantages that will help you learn and build your affiliate marketing from scratch.
You can even start with a free membership at this platform through this Wealthy Affiliate review.
And what is nice about affiliate marketing is that you don’t need to deal with customer support, product creation and fulfillment, shipping, returns, …etc. like it is with other methods such as dropshipping or selling on Amazon.
7 – Affiliate Marketing Is The Best Way t Monetize an Existing Website or a Blog
If you already have a website or a blog that you want to monetize, then affiliate marketing is the best way to go.
I have already written a list of ways to monetize a blog, and affiliate marketing has always been my favorite method as it could potentially mostly bring you more money, if done the right way, compared to other methods such as showing banner ads from Google Adsense or other advertising networks that will sometimes pay you a few cents for every click on the ads that you don’t control by yourself and might not be that relevant to your audience.
The above seven reasons assure you that affiliate marketing is still worth it to learn and do.
And despite that, but some might argue and ask the following question:
Is Affiliate Marketing Saturated?
No, affiliate marketing in general is not saturated, however, there are some mistakes that make people feel as if affiliate marketing is over saturated and these mistakes make affiliate marketing hard on newbie affiliates because they think that affiliate marketing is crowded.
For example, many newbie affiliates watch a training course where the coach show them how to start an affiliate business in the niche X, and then they all miss the point about how to research and find their own niches, and rather, they all go after that same niche in the course they have watched and that particular niche become a bit crowded and it stops working for them.
Another mistake that I have personally done in the past is that many affiliates go after a very broad niche or after an entire industry, instead of going after a well-targeted audience, which makes these affiliates unable to focus and unable to communicate with their audience in an effective way that would help them succeed and convert their websites’ visitors into customers.
With that being said;
Is Affiliate Marketing Still Profitable in 2022?
Yes, affiliate marketing is still profitable and will remain so for a long time in my opinion.
The key is to pick the right niche for you and treat it as a real business and not a hobby, and put the consistent effort into helping others solve their problems and making money in the process by recommending products that would help them.
How Much Can You Make With Affiliate Marketing?
It totally depends on you.
Some affiliates make millions of dollars a year and some make nothing because they either don’t take action, or worse, they learn from someone who doesn’t teach them what they need to learn in order to make it worth the time and effort to start an affiliate marketing business.
And if you want to make affiliate marketing worth the investment for you and not waste your time and money, then the following steps are for you.
How to Make Affiliate Marketing Worth The Time & Investment for You?
Step 1 – Treat it as a Business
Many people treat online businesses like hobbies, which are not.
Online businesses, like the offline ones, are real businesses that require a real effort to be put consistently in order to learn and apply what you learned.
And this means that you need to commit to yourself that you will work on your online business (affiliate marketing) until it starts providing you with the income you desire, and NOT to enter this field with the mindset of “I will try it for a couple of weeks and see what happens”.
This is why most people fail online and this is your GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY.
This means that there’s a proven formula for succeeding online with affiliate marketing, but you need to follow that formula and not treat it as a game.
However, what is great about this model is that affiliate marketing is the most passive way of making money online.
Compared to other methods, affiliate marketing requires less time than other methods such as dropshipping, online tutoring, freelancing, …etc.
And that makes the potential return on investment on starting an affiliate marketing business higher and totally worth it to start such a business.
Step 2 – Pick The Right Niche
Choosing a certain niche just because you heard that it is profitable or because you saw someone else making money in that niche doesn’t mean that you will succeed in it.
This is a long-term business, so, choose a profitable affiliate marketing niche that you are willing to be in for years and not one that you will hate working on.
Step 3 – Be Consistent, Persistent and Patient
As explained earlier, you need to be consistent and patient in learning and taking action in order to succeed in any business and make it worth the investment and time, and this applies to affiliate marketing as well.
Start with the mindset that you will keep learning and taking action until it works, and not with the mindset of “just trying things out”.
Almost anyone can succeed with affiliate marketing, but most people just decide to give up and not make it worth the time and effort.
Those who continue are the ones that succeed.
Step 4 – Learn it The Right Way
Many fake gurus out there will teach you affiliate marketing as a fast way to make money or getting rich overnight, which is untrue.
And that’s fine. If it was that easy then everybody would do it and it would stop working.
Affiliate marketing is about helping others solve their problems, find answers to their questions, improve their lives or fulfill their needs.
And if you start doing affiliate marketing with the mindset of helping others, then you will increase your chances of succeeding significantly.
In order to do so, you need to learn how people behave over the internet and how you can find what questions they ask, and find out what products can help them solve their problems or improve their lives and promote these products to them and make money in the process.
And if you want to learn how all of this process works the right way, then you need to learn affiliate marketing from the right people who have been before, such as the guys at Wealthy Affiliate who would provide you with all the necessary education and tools in order to focus on building and growing your business.
Conclusion & Your Next Step
As you have learned above, affiliate marketing is still worth the investment and it is NOT dead, not saturated and not hard if you learn how to do it the right way.
Most people fail because they lack the right guidance and they get overwhelmed or confused with what the many “gurus” out there who give contradicting advices or worse, who teach the wrong stuff.
This is why I will help you learn about the right place that will teach you affiliate marketing the right way and the one that will make affiliate marketing worth it for you to start in this year.
This is the place where I personally learned, and continue to learn everyday, and it is the place that provided me with all the tools and support for no additional cost other than the cost of the training itself.
The place that is worth investing in and learning affiliate marketing from is Wealthy Affiliate.
This platform has been there for around 15 years and has been trusted by over 2 million online entrepreneurs who wanted to change their lives for the better with affiliate marketing.
This platform will provide you with all of the following:
- A step-by-step affiliate marketing training that will transform total beginners into advanced marketers.
- A weekly interactive live webinar covering specific topics in depth.
- An easy website builder that will allow you to start your first affiliate website in under 30 seconds with no coding or technical experience.
- The advanced keyword research tool that will help you research what people need and find out opportunities to make money.
- An affiliate program research tool that will help you find profitable affiliate programs in your niche.
- A great community of over 1 million like-minded online entrepreneurs that are willing to help you succeed and keep you accountable.
- And much more.
And all of that for only the low cost of the training with no upsells and hidden costs like many other programs compared to other programs.
Even better, they also offer a free plan for you to see the platform and test the tools before you put in any money.
So, if you are serious about starting affiliate marketing the right way, then
==> Click here to learn more about Wealthy Affiliate through my review!
And if you still have any doubts, or if you don’t agree with me that affiliate marketing is still worth it and profitable, then leave me a comment in the comments’ section below, and I would be happy to answer you asap 🙂