Affiliate Marketing Versus Multi-Level-Marketing: Which Is The Best Choice?
According to Wikipedia: “Affiliate marketing is a marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate’s marketing efforts. Examples include rewards sites, where users are rewarded with cash or gifts, for the completion of an offer, and the referral of others to the site.
On the other hand: “Multi-level marketing (MLM), (also called network marketing, direct selling, referral marketing, and pyramid selling is a term that describes a marketing structure used by some companies as part of their overall marketing strategy.
The structure is designed to create a marketing and sales force by compensating promoters of company products not only for sales they personally generate, but also for the sales of other promoters they introduce to the company, creating a downline of distributors and a hierarchy of multiple levels of compensation in the form of a pyramid. The products and company are usually marketed directly to consumers and potential business partners by means of relationship referrals and word of mouth marketing.”
If you’re considering creating a home business online then you really need to consider the differences between these two approaches because your decision could mean the difference between success and failure with your new venture. Just by reading the definitions above you can see there are major differences between the two Internet marketing techniques.
Many so called “Newbies” (new to internet business people) seem to choose the affiliate marketing path and there are several very compelling arguments as to why this is the case. First of all affiliate marketing is much more economical when compared to network marketing. Affiliates don’t incur the expense of having to purchase someone else’s product as is most often the case with MLM.
Affiliate’s product is supplied for them so they can concentrate on marketing their offering to their potential customers. AM is also cheaper in terms of having no overhead costs by way of housing the product or providing shipping and handling and financial services for payment. MLM sometimes have high initial startup costs usually related to purchasing the companies products.
Networking companies usually require associates to provide their clients directly either by cold calling or by enlisting friends and relatives. This has been a major criticism of MLM stemming from suggestions of exploitation of personal relationships. Affiliate marketers, in contrast, usually recruit customers through traditional affiliate marketing techniques.
MLM’s reputation online can also be a drawback when starting a home based business. In the past MLM companies have been the subject of controversy and have been the target of lawsuits because of their marketing tactics and promises of untold wealth made to their associates. Networking companies have been accused of creating pyramid schemes and price fixing with regard to their products.
Their approach in terms of recruitment of associates has also come under fire in the past and some have been accused of using cult like tactics to motivate their sales people. Affiliate marketers however work at their own pace and rely on nothing but their own initiate and hard work to succeed on the web.
Of course all network marketing companies don’t operate in the same manner but these are certainly important considerations for anyone contemplating an online home business career and should not be taken lightly.
Bob Withers is a professional sales and marketing person with over twenty years in the field. He has also turned his sights on Affiliate Marketing to apply his trade. Bob changed career paths four years ago when both he and his wife began working with Autistic adults in the US, which along with his Home Business and Affiliate Marketing, is his focus right now. If you want to get in touch with Bob or learn more about Affiliate Marketing and Home Business opportunities please visit:
Free Home Business and Affiliate Marketing Advice
This is my new Blog and having been away from it for a couple of years it’s great to be back because I really enjoy it. Just to tell you something about myself, my wife and I are currently working with Autistic adults in the state of Maine and we love it. Although we’re from Canada, originally from Newfoundland, this is our second stint working in Maine and the two men we are working with this time around are great. We’ve become very attached to these young men and we consider ourselves to be a family. Actually our job title is that of Therapeutic Foster Parents and of course we take it very seriously. One of the main reasons we take it so seriously is that we are advocates for these young men because at times they can’t speak for themselves.
The sad part about our job here in Maine is that we have to leave the country after 18 months. The reason for this being the company who hired us and sponsored us into the US could only get us into the country by way of a Training Visa with the main condition being we have to leave after 18 months. We were here under the same circumstances in 2007 and had to leave the guys we were caring for at that time at the end of 2008.
This of course was very difficult for the three men we were working with and living with at the time and it was also very difficult for us because we became very attached and as I mentioned earlier we became a family. One of the main benefits of coming back is that we get to see the guys we worked with on our first visit and we also get to do what we enjoy which is caring for and helping these young men.
Because of our love for what we do and for the people we work with I will be dedicating a Page on this website to Autism and to the people who live with it on a daily basis. I’m hoping this will help educate people who aren’t familiar with what is fast becoming a global concern and help to raise funds for research.
The other objective of this website is to offer Home Business advice and present opportunities to people who are interested in making a legitimate living by working from home.
I’m hoping to have a great deal of relevant content added soon and I hope people will make it a point to visit often. Thank you for visiting and for taking the time to read this information.
The following two videos should give you some idea of the majestic beauty of Newfoundland:
I’ve added a video below, one of which is actually an advertisement by a local brewery located in St. John’s, Newfoundland which is where I’m from. But it contains some great shots of the area and I like to think portrays what we, as Newfoundlanders, are all about: People who care about people, who work hard and play hard but aren’t afraid to laugh at ourselves. In the following videos you will see many examples of this outlook on life as portrayed by local entertainers performing at what we call “Kitchen Parties”.
These are events where neighbours come together to have a few drinks and entertain one another through song and dance. Please take the time to have a look.