There are many people going online and Google searching the words 'network marketing affiliate program'. It is hard to tell what they will come up with, a program that is an affiliate program or a network marketing program. This artice is not about which is better, network marketing or affiliate marketing but more about the differences between them!



If you surveyed 100 people and asked them whether they preferred affiliate marketing or network marketing, you would probably come up with about a 50-50 split.

In this article we will identify a few main differences between network marketing and affiliate marketing, and you can decide for yourself which one is best for you. You may find yourself interested in both!

First of all, in network marketing you can build a downline of distributors and get paid on their efforts several levels deep. Each compensation plan for the various MLM companies will be different.

So, it is very important to be aware of how you get paid with the company that you join. But it is not improbable to see your commission checks, earning percentages on products sold several levels beneath you.

With affiliate marketing, you get paid on your personal sales. In other words, you can earn money on frontline affiliates that you personally enroll. You will never earn any commissions with affiliate marketing downlines beyond the first level of your personally enrolled affiliates.

There are still make people making tremendous amounts of money with affiliate marketing, but they do not have the potentially large downline groups that an affiliate in a network marketing business might have.

Secondly, most affiliate marketing programs are free to join, while network marketing programs often require a joining fee to get started and in some cases an ongoing monthly or yearly admin fee as well. Again, there's nothing wrong with this, it is simply a difference in business models. For this reason, many people start and fail in affiliate marketing at just as high a rate as network marketing has experienced in the past.

The internet has greatly improved the odds for success in network marketing and as people develop more skills the success rate in affiliate marketing is beginning to climb as well. If there still is a problem with network marketing it is because most people cannot sell or recruit.

People will join an affiliate program and know right up front that they are going to be selling products and that's what they're expected to do. Many affiliate marketers never ever recruit anyone. Therefore, they need not worry about the multi-level affiliate programs.

These are true business people who make their money selling products online. The emphasis of network marketing is still on building a distributorship. So people spend more time trying to recruit people than they actually do selling products.

This should give you a few ideas of the differences between affiliate marketing and network marketing. Which way you decide to take your business is totally up to you.