Affiliate marketing is widely considered to be the best internet business opportunity for new online entrepreneurs.  Largely accepted and used these days by all sorts of businesses, affiliate marketing has become a mainstream advertising and marketing method.

But is it easy to learn affiliate marketing for someone starting out fresh?  And what is the best resource available to help people to succeed?

What is the best internet business?

What I would like to share with you in this article is the main tool that I use. Through some pretty extensive research, I found affiliate marketing to be the best internet business opportunity for me. I wanted to learn affiliate marketing to start earning an additional income – a side hustle to my daily job. Whatever your reason, this is worth looking into.

So, what you will know by the end of this article is:

• What is affiliate marketing?
• Who is this for?
• Can I learn affiliate marketing online?
• Does affiliate marketing work?

A quick ‘heads up’.

Ok, so to keep this post transparent I would like to show you my number one recommendation for getting started with and learning affiliate marketing.  The program I use is, by all accounts, the best all-in-one platform that you will find online.

Training, tools, support and value for money are all major factors that you want to consider when you start a new business – anywhere.  The “Wealthy Affiliate” platform that I use has all of this, in bucket loads.  I’ll explain more, below, about why I consider this the best internet business opportunity after looking at so many other options.

What is affiliate marketing?

I a nutshell, affiliate marketing is an online business that is based on earning a commission for selling products or services.  Today, thousands of companies provide ‘affiliate programs’ for their products that enable online entrepreneurs (you and I) to inform and market via their own online medium.  That medium could be a website, youtube, social media or a combination of all.

When you sign up with a company to promote their products you are given a unique identifying code. This code is attached to your advertising link and is tracked via the company’s affiliate program. So when a visitor to your website, for example, purchases a product through one of your links, you earn a commission on the sale. ‘HTTP Cookies‘ exist on most affiliate links that enable you to earn future commissions on any subsequent purchases by that visitor to the same site.

As an affiliate, you promote a product or service and are paid a percentage of the sale when someone makes a purchase through your advert links. The merchant is able to track who referred the customer by using the tracking cookies. These cookies can remain for a period of time with the merchant. This means if your reader returns to the merchant’s site at a later date and buys something, you still get credited for the sale. Win/ Win for you and the merchant.

This is why Affiliate marketing has become so popular. It is certainly one reason why it is considered the best internet business opportunity at this time. And for Merchants, are able to reach markets (clients) that they have not been able to get to before with traditional advertising.

Who is this for?

Opportunity seekers looking for a magic bullet solution or a get-rich-quick opportunity need not apply.  Affiliate marketing does require a lot of consistent work, persistence and dedication.

But in reality, there is no real magic bullet solution to anything. There are a lot of ‘systems’ being touted that say they are ‘done-for-you’ and promise overnight success. I would be very wary of these and, from experience, would not recommend pursuing them. But if you manage to find something that makes you money that quickly, I would suggest it may not be sustainable.

If you’re willing to hard work though, the chances of success and obtaining excellent results are definitely worth it.

There are plenty of everyday people, who are using the exact program that I use, who are generating five, six and even seven figures a year from affiliate marketing alone. These people have simply followed the training and applied what they have learned and above all, have not given up. That is what sets them apart from the ones who do not succeed.

The opportunity is the same for EVERYONE. Anything is possible with the right work ethic!

Can I learn Affiliate Marketing Online?

So, I talk a lot about training. Finding training online for affiliate marketing is not that difficult. But finding good, up to date and fully comprehensive training, at an acceptable price, is a little harder.

I have reviewed a couple of other training programs but I like the Wealthy Affiliate University the best. This is the ONLY online training program, at this level, that offers a free trial login.  So you can set up a free login account right HERE.

No credit cards required or contracts etc .. just a true ‘try before you buy’ offer.

This gives you access to the first full 10 lessons, access to web development tools and WordPress templates so you can create 2 websites while you train.  Hosting is included plus awesome mentor/peer support and 24/7 technical support.

For such a massive market, online marketing still lacks industry standards for training and certification. However, Wealthy Affiliate leads the way with their structured and accessible course materials.

The Wealthy Affiliate Online Entrepreneur Certification (OEC) training consists of 5 modules (50 lessons) that show the process of creating and building an online business. You can learn to succeed within any niche of your choice.

Does Affiliate Marketing work?

I think the general industry uptake and progression speaks for itself here.

Merchants love the affiliate marketing model because it generally uses a “pay for performance” outcome. This means that it doesn’t cost the merchant anything until a product is actually ordered. So marketing costs are minimal.  It enables merchants to access audiences that they may not have been able to get to previously with conventional advertising. Affiliates also create niche websites to target specific audiences, so sales conversions are generally higher.

As for the affiliate marketer, most agree that this is the best internet business opportunity for them to start on a low budget with minimal or no risk involved. The opportunity to earn an income through this model is very good. It does not work for everyone, because not everyone has the same level of commitment or work ethic.

But in general, there is a massive market available to the affiliate marketing professional to work with and literally billions of online users searching for information online.

What is the Best Internet Business Opportunity?

In conclusion, the affiliate marketing industry is a huge business opportunity that is available for willing entrepreneurs.  Behind every ‘overnight success’ story that you hear about, there have generally been years of preparation, hard work and effort put in to get there.

So if you are intrigued and would like to have a look without having to commit I encourage you to give it a go and try the Wealthy Affiliate program.