Why Affiliate Marketing?

I have so many thoughts about what I want to do here. I will start by filling out some reviews about the Affiliate Programs I have started so far - Kind of a "first impressions" type of review. Lets be honest, I am NOT an expert by any means. In fact I'm starting this with no prior experience or knowledge about starting an online business. So where do we start? Well, I think we should start simple - Lets talk about what we want to get out of an Affiliate Program, and also why I'm choosing this program, instead of countless others available.

1 - Freedom. The daily grind is just that - a grind. I happen to like my job quite a bit, but it's the people I work with more than the job. The enticement of an online business, for me, would be freedom. I think it would be great if I ever got this to the point where I could possibly stay at home and raise my son. Although this probably isn't going to happen (I would be happy just making some extra income), it's still always good to have an ultimate goal in mind. Some people call it never being satisfied - I call it being driven.

2 - Residual Income. This is a term that will be thrown around a LOT when you start surfing sites and researching work at home business' online. Does it exist? I don't know yet - But it sure would be incredible if we could grow an online business to a point where it works for you. It's not going to happen quickly - I am fully prepared to go through plenty of failures, but I will certainly hope that I find a great program that actually delivers something in the ballpark of what they all promise.

3. Low start up costs. Even in my short time of researching Affiliate Programs there are already a lot of potential benefits that I see. Compared to the costs of starting a restaurant or a store, an online business provides a chance for us to invest as much or as little as we want. If we find a product or program we really like, we can invest our time & money in that program. If we don't really have any money to get started, there are a lot of completely free Affiliate Programs we can join. Don't be fooled - there are a lot of ways to spend BIG money. Advertising can be expensive! But comparatively speaking, the real loss potential is limited to what you put into it.

4. You choose what to promote. This is 1 of the immediate benefits I see for Affiliate Marketing. Almost every website you visit has an affiliates link at the bottom. I find the products I have used myself and then find ways to promote them. My personal opinion right now is to stay focused and concentrate on only a few things at a time. But I already know that I'm going to sign up for a GoDaddy affiliate program - I bought Traffic Blazer for myself and LOVED it. I have told all my webmaster friends about it (all 3 of them lol). And hey, if they are going to buy it anyway, I might as well get a little piece of that pie, right?

5. Nothing to build, design or keep in storage. This is a huge benefit, in my opinion, of Affiliate Marketing programs. You don't have to create anything. You don't need to design massive websites and spend thousands on advertising. You can simply promote other company products. You don't need a huge warehouse with inventory on hand and a shipping company thats ready to go. You simply promote other business' products & services.

So these are some of the reasons I am trying out Affiliate Marketing. I am 100% positive that I am going to fail much more than I succeed, but the basic principles behind it seem very solid to me. Now, finding the right commission structures and companies to do business with is a different matter altogether. I am sure that my failures & successes will be valuable information for someone though (hopefully you!)