The Profusion (and Confusion) of Affiliate Marketing Opportunities on the Internet
About three months ago, as I started dabbling in Internet marketing opportunities, my first experiences can be best described as total confusion and getting completely lost in a very murky labyrinth of hundreds of big-money-from-home opportunities flaunted on the Internet.
Along with the confusion and exacerbating my disillusionment, came the shocking realisation that many of these "quick-rich" affiliate marketing opportunities were scams and rip-offs.
In my quest to find Internet related opportunities to earn a living, I have been caught for a sucker more than once and have also lost money in the process of buying in on some of these "opportunities" in the belief that that the sweet sales talk in which these "products" are wrapped, couldn't possibly all be lies! It must be due to my nature, which perhaps is somewhat gullible, but more trusting the innate goodness (also implying honesty) of humankind.
After my three months sojourn of exploring Internet marketing opportunities I am a wiser, less gullible person. Still believing in the goodness of my fellow human beings, I am now more wary of the vulnerability of human nature, particularly when it comes to the temptation of greed.
To cut my somewhat lengthy introduction short, I have extensively read and studied and researched IInternet marketing opportunities, strategies and techniques to the present point where I can say I am marketing and succeeding in Internet marketing. My home business is working and it is growing. I am no guru, not by a long shot, but I know the essential basics about Internet marketing, affiliate marketing and, alas, network or multi-level marketing.
Network Marketing: The Internet's Cinderella
Network marketing is frowned upon by many and spit on by some Internet marketers and even avoided by some Internet directories and because of this, I initially shied away from network marketing opportunities. "They are pyramid schemes", I thought. I thought multi-level or network marketing was a typical example of a scam scheme, an Internet rip-off. I avoided familiarizing myself with some affiliate network marketing opportunities because I was under the impression it is about enrolling people into the scheme without a product/service or a dubious product or service and that it was all about building layers of people joining and earning commissions from their enrollments rather than from earning revenue from the sales of the company's product and/or service. To me this was like contributing towards blowing up a bubble and because the network had nothing to sustain it, the bubble was bound to burst or, at least, deflate, sooner or later.
These would indeed be pyramid schemes and it is because of illegal pyramid schemes and dodgy network marketing companies with dodgy products or services that network marketing got its bad name.
Don't Throw the Baby Out with the Bath Water!
It was only later that I discovered (out of curiosity about people's testimonies about the leveraged income possibilities with network marketing) that network marketing opportunities offered by reputable companies with real, substantive and marketable products and services offer the enhanced income generating opportunities for an affiliate Internet marketer.
The reason network marketing offers increased income earning potential over regular affiliate marketing opportunities is because of the network or down-line of people enrolling under you through whose sales you will also earn commission.
The implication of this multi-level income generating model is that once your down-line is firmly established and successful, your business goes onto auto-pilot and your income becomes passive income, like the passive income from an investment. Hence, a carefully selected network marketing enrollment offers an Income For Life opportunity into retirement.
Essential Selection Criteria for Choosing An Affiliate Network
A Last Word: Assessing Affiliate Networks Calls for Greater Scrutiny than would be in the case of uni-level affiliate marketing products due to the potential pit-falls of multi-level marketing as I have alluded to earlier on in this Hub. The negativity with which network marketing is viewed by some in the Internet marketing community and broader society are compelling enough reasons not to compromise any of the criteria I have listed and to go for only the top-notch companies, like a Top 50 Inc500 Listed Company
If you make the right choice, to combine Internet marketing with network marketing presents you with a very powerful affiliate marketing opportunity.
At the outset, and without wanting to offend, please allow me to caution about the use of the term "third world". "Third world" and "third world countries" are dated and politically insensitive terms, having the connotation of inferiority, backwardness, sub-standard, low etc., and also denotes inferiority of the people of those countries. Something like: "Third grade people live in third world countries". It is terminology associated with and rooted in imperialism, colonialism and the oppressive regimes of the "superior conquerors"
Notwithstanding the above and without venturing into the very role of imperialism and colonization in the creation of these discrepancies, the reality of wealthier and poorer nations cannot be negated. Hence, the more acceptable and less patronizing terms for "third world" would be "developing countries", or better still, "emerging market economies”. I think a shift in how people in emerging market countries are referred to and perceived would probably be a prerequisite for successful business and marketing ventures in such countries. It is inevitable that the perceptions and attitudes about the people targeted for marketing purposes will infiltrate the marketing approach and strategies.
Human beings have vastly more in common than the differentials of income, status and standard of living. As much as poorer people may not have the material means to be perceived as potential customers or clients, as much should their aspirations, their drive and hence their potential to achieve and succeed never be underestimated. With this in mind I have no doubt that the market for products with skills development and income generating components integral to them, is absolutely massive and gravely neglected in developing countries! Just consider this against the background of the sky high levels of unemployment in developing countries. In the vast majority of cases unemployment = poverty. However, unemployment does not equal a lack of ability. More often than not is it merely about the absence of opportunity which is sadly overwhelmingly more prevalent in emerging market economies. Furthermore, there are a disproportionately higher number of well-qualified and computer literate unemployed people in developing countries compared to the number in developed countries. Hence, developing countries offer very fertile ground and untapped opportunities for quality home based work and business opportunities.
This is especially true for internet marketing type positions that require a nominal financial investment to get started, and more so for affiliate marketing positions where the products have been tested and tried and where comprehensive guidelines for an effective internet marketing campaign are provided together with the tools, including product websites, to greatly enhance the chances of marketing success.
In considering the developing world for marketing purposes it must also be borne in mind that all developing countries have a strong developed component. In fact, there is a middle-class boom taking place in most of the developing world with the economic growth rate of many developing countries by far surpassing that of developed countries. This is the reason why these developing countries are also referred to as emerging market economies. It tells us a tremendous lot about the potential of these countries for new business opportunities.
As a person from a developing country, my primary focus as an internet marketer is without doubt on developing countries and my successes, within two weeks of starting off with internet marketing, with the promotion of the Top 10 rated home business opportunities, can bear testimony to that.
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