If you asked a random group of individuals, “What is the best home based business?” do you have any idea what they would say? I think the answers would be all over the map. From consultant, to social media manager. Freelance Writer to Website Designer. Tutor to Life Coach. Travel Planner to Yoga Instructor. Music Arranger to App Designer.

Notice I didn’t have “online” in my question. Home based businesses do not have to be online based. Though most businesses would use online tools in some way or another.

Regardless what kind of home based business it is, I’d like to identify 10 key factors that provide a definite advantage to having an online business.

1. Little or no start up costs
2. Little or no overhead
3. No inventory required
4. You don’t need employees
5. Totally online based
6. Short learning curve
7. It is possible to start earning an income in a few months
8. Access to expert advice when needed, for free
9. Easily scalable
10. Option to provide residual income

I’d like to challenge you to think what kind of businesses that would meet all 10 of these criteria? I have a feeling you can guess what my recommendation is.

Affiliate Marketing!

What is Affiliate Marketing?

I have discussed what it is in a blog entitled The Best Way To Make Money From Home Let me summarize it here:

It is a system where a company who has a product or service to sell, enlists the help of individuals not connected with them who become affiliates to conduct a marketing campaign on their products or services and make sales. See how the term Affiliate Marketing was coined? These sales are tracked through a unique link they give them that the affiliate places strategically on their own websites.

Ideas For Affiliate Marketing, identifies 10 well-known companies out of countless who have embraced Affiliate Marketing.

I’d like to deeper into the 10 item checklist above to illustrate why to choose Affiliate Marketing.

Why Choose It As The Best?

1 – Little or No Start Up Costs

There is no Affiliate Marketing fee. You are not obligated to purchase anything. The chances are you already own a computer or tablet and will not need to purchase these. You will need an Internet connection, preferably through WiFi. Even if you didn’t have a home based business, you would have these modern essentials.

2 – Little or No Overhead

Initially your focus to build traffic will be done using online techniques like Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Once your earnings grow, it will make sense then to use paid ads to accelerate your business growth. No order taking mechanism is necessary as you are not the one doing the sales transaction. The company you send customers to will take care of that. They pay for the shipping and handling.

3 – No Inventory Required

The company that you send customers to is responsible for inventory. Not you. This is a huge advantage. If there are any problems, the customer deals with the supplier. Again, not you. Of course, it is in your best interest to do your homework and only choose companies that have a solid reputation in providing superb customer service.

4 – You Don’t Need Employees

Some home based businesses that are more involved with the product will need to hire help. But not in Affiliate Marketing. How does it feel not to deal with this headache?

5 – Totally Online Based

This provides a great deal of flexibility. You can pick your own hours to work the business. You don’t need to dress up to go to work. If you wished, you could work in bed, like the lady in the picture at the top. How about being able to go on vacation and spend an hour or two working your business on a sandy beach? That’s only if you wanted to. The amazing thing is once you have your business set up, it will be working for you 24/7 without you needing to do anything!

6 – Short Learning Curve

If you worked hard at it you could learn all about doing Affiliate Marketing in a few short months. Compare that to a university degree! And you may have to contend with paying back a student loan. This is a burden that sticks with you until it is paid off. Bankruptcy cannot have this loan forgiven, if things go sour in the future. Even if you learn at a slow pace, you should still take much less than four years.

7 – It Is Possible To Start Earning An Income In A Few Short Months

This income initially may not be enough to quit your day job. Momentum will build up. You control how quickly you earn enough to quit your day job. Everyone has a different pace so do not compare your progress with others. If you were on a college degree course you would need to graduate before you could get a job. Affiliate Marketing is not a job but a business. It needs to be treated as one.

8 – Access to Expert Advice When Needed For Free

When you join us you will discover that’s how our community works. It’s a pay it forward approach. When you become an expert on any skill, you also will be eager to help newbies who ask questions on that topic. In a conventional business, colleagues are not usually eager to help each other through the sharing of knowledge. Hoarding knowledge creates a feeling of job security.

9 – Easily Scalable

Most of your initial effort will be directed to make your website successful in attracting traffic, keeping your visitors interested enough to stay long enough to decide to click the link towards making a purchase. Once you have demonstrated this level of success often enough, you can use some income to pay for ads to accelerate growth. Pay Per Click (PPC) is one of the more popular ad typed because you can control costs more effectively. Successful Affiliate Marketers sometimes pay freelancers to do website work for them to leverage their own efforts. All these techniques have the effect of scaling up the business, without having to put in all those hours yourself.

10 – Option To Provide Residual Income

When you market consumable products, your customers need to replace them when they run out. This is a great way to create an Affiliate Marketing Business that will provide residual income. Another alternative for residual income is to sell services that are subscription based. Yet another is to link an Affiliate Marketing business to a Network Marketing Business you are already connected with.

Tools Of The Trade

I discussed the need to learn what may be new skills for many who wish to create their own Affiliate Marketing business. Trying to acquire these skills on your own can be confusing and waste valuable time. I call this the trial and failure method. You try something to see if it works. If you fail, it’s on to the next shiny object.

You will need to equip yourself with knowledge, tools and skills that are essential to build a successful online marketing business. Affiliate Marketing uses well-established process like Search Engine Optimization, within your website articles as well as utilizing techniques outside the article to help your Blog rank high in the search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo.

All these companies provide their own set of tools like Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Bing Webmaster Tools among others. Wouldn’t it be helpful to your business if you were able to be taught by experts with over 10 years of proven success with their students?

I hope I have helped you to come to your own decision that Affiliate Marketing is the Best Home Based Business. If that is so, you might as well be trained by the Best Organization in Affiliate Marketing.

My Recommended Training Platform

My highest recommended training platform is Wealthy Affiliate. They have been in business for over 14 years with headquarters in Canada. It was founded by two young visionaries, Kyle and Carson. Over 2 million entrepreneurs worldwide have started their online businesses here. I invite you to find out more about this amazing platform by checking out the article I wrote via the link below:

The Best Training In Affiliate Marketing That Turns Beginners Into Pros!

Here you will see how extensive the education Wealthy Affiliate provides. There are many clickable links there that provide more detailed information if you need it. You can sign up for free on this page too. I would love to hear from you in the comments window below. Or you can send me an Email at:

edwin@affiliatemarketingforleaders.com

I wish you much success in creating your affiliate marketing business.

Cheers!

Edwin