This is a crucial question and requires careful analysis because this is the basis of all your activities here. You’re engaging in this enterprise for a certain reward. This motivation is called the profit motive, the driving force behind every economic activity. In fact, the economy as a whole may be characterised as one vast profit motive.
The profit motive has a psychological dimension, too — as does the economy as a whole. It could be put in this way:
- Profit Motive
- Expectation
- Fulfilment
The profit motive gives rise to an expectation whose fulfilment becomes the goal of the economic activity. However, not everything is up to the entrepreneur who undertakes the activity, so that there may be a gap between what one hopes to get and what they actually get.
Of course it would be great if there were no gap whatsoever between expectation and reality. But because we don’t live in a perfect world, we have to consider that there may always be a gap — that’s a kind of built-in risk management.
Using the possibility of the gap, let’s consider, first,
The Two Scenarios
- The gap is open (loss).
- The gap is closed (break even).
The Third Scenario
Not only is the gap closed in this scenario, but it moves in the opposite direct so much so that results exceed expectations. This is where the concept of Return On Investment (ROI) comes in. For every dollar invested by the entrepreneur, they get twenty-five cents back (25% ROI) — for every four dollars they get a dollar back.
Why’s ROI Being Considered At All?
— Because when we talk about expectations and fulfilment, ROI gives us a concrete numerical figure to base our own expectations on. Astute business owners — affiliate marketers included — consider ROI before venturing into any project. They try and assess the ROI even before stepping into the game — and its only fair to you that you should, too. Don’t settle for vagueness and generalities. Be concrete. Thus ROI.
So, the pertinent question next must be . . .
What’s Affiliate Marketing’s ROI?
This question, I might add, relates back to the overarching question of the title.
Let me cite Partnero an authoritative site on affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing typically offers a high ROI, with some programs achieving a return of $16 for every $1 spent,
Without getting into the complex maths of how this is achievable, one thing is certain: affiliate marketing falls squarely within the Third Scenario — where results exceed expectations. This may explain the widespread attractiveness of this business model.
There’s a specific reason for this: the size of the affiliate marketing industry. Before we get into that, let me point out that the simplest way to understand the size of any market is the turn over — how much money it makes aggregately. Thus the question . . .
How Big Is Affiliate Marketing?
To answer that question, I quote Rewardful:
Latest affiliate marketing statistics reveal that the affiliate industry has surged to $15.7 billion in 2023, with market analysis projecting remarkable expansion to $36.9 billion by 2030.
This question and its answer quoted above — are important because the larger the size of a market, the larger the opportunities for newcomers. Without the specialised knowledge you may be lacking at the moment, this is one way of assessing your outcomes should you choose to enter.
The dollar value of a market can still be an abstract notion. What does it really mean? Does it mean that you can do it, too? Or, is there a catch?
Yes, there’s a catch: you have to acquire the necessary knowledge to navigate your way through. It will take patience and hard work — anything that doesn’t have those two elements smack of a scam.
What we’re aiming at is legitimate revenue stream. And, for that to happen, knowledge is indispensable. And, to acquire knowledge you need a solid foundation — a platform — and not only any platform but a reputable platform.
Ok. End of digression. Now returning to the question of opportunities more specifically, I think that one of the best ways of getting one’s head around the notion of opportunity without getting into complex technical explanations is to visualise it in terms of space, the capacity, perhaps, of a social venue as an illustration.
Imagine a large disco hall where many people are dancing. It’s already crowded. But soon more people turn up — and yet they are able to accommodated.
The Upshot
If the space is large enough, it can always fit in a few more . . . and then a few more before it’s fully saturated. However, that’s not to be taken as an endorsement of entering the affiliate marketing without the necessary knowledge. On the contrary — and let me stress — it’s to be entered armed with the best knowledge possible. But here come the . . .
Beginner Pain Points
The catch twenty-two: to enter, you need knowledge/experience — but you don’t have these, so you can’t enter. This could be a line from an absurdist play . . . may be Shakespeare was the first absurdist, a proto-absurdist who summed up that sentiment memorably . . . “to be or not to be.”
Life can often feel like that — trying to enter a job market for the first time without the requisite experience as a condition of entry.
As the absurdist have it, the individual is trapped in an absurd existence — or an absurdist play in which they are the protagonist.
It doesn’t have to be like that.
3 Steps For Getting Out Of This Absurdist Play
- Focus on a single goal, first: find a platform
- Focus, next, on finding the easiest way to partner with an established brand
- Find out how much you can expect (get the exact no.s) to make just from this one business
Where Could You Find Such a Platform?
In this regard, let me point out that few if any affiliate platforms explore this issue as lucidly as possible and, more importantly, offer all three steps noted above, as Wealthy Affiliate. Because they are keenly attuned to the beginner paint points identified above. I think Wealthy Affiliate is structured not only to impart their considerable knowledge but also to give their students first-hand experience — by easing them into partnership with their brand from the start. Wealthy Affiliate tick all the boxes in choosing a brand. This is their business model. Not all brands are equally interested in giving beginners this headway.
More importantly, they will allow you to partner with them without prerequisites — as many other brands do.
In the video pictured below you can find out from Kyle — one of the Co-Founders of Wealthy Affiliate — how much money you could possibly make by partnering with Wealthy Affiliate.
If you have watched the video by now, then that’s how much you could potentially make with just one brand. Imagine what your income could be with more brands. Whether you actually make it will depend on what knowledge you’re able to acquire and how diligent you’re. But it certainly is possible. If you look back at the income projections above (ROI; the affiliate market size) , then you may understand why they make sense.
If you have any questions or would like to start a discussion on this subject, please feel free to email me at: soheil@affiliatepathways.com.
Cheers