Many people believe that someone who promotes nothing but affiliate products on a website is just running a money maker, not a true Internet business. In this article, we will discuss the pros and cons of affiliate marketing, and also shed some light on the whole debate over whether running a website promoting nothing but affiliate products means that your site is JUST a money maker.

Affiliate Marketing Pros

There are many benefits to adding affiliate marketing to your online business plan. Some perks of promoting other people's products and services include the following:

- No need to create your own products

- No need to ship out products

- No need to spend money: 99.9% of affiliate programs are free to join

- No need to handle customer support

- No need to provide your own services

Affiliate Marketing Cons

Of course, promoting other people's products and services does come with some drawbacks. Here are some points against adding affiliate marketing to your online business plan:

- You would basically need to test out each affiliate's products and services to know whether they are actually good. Otherwise, if you promote a horrible product or service, your website visitors won't trust you anymore.

- The affiliate program you are promoting may shut down, leaving you with no more chances to earn commissions.

The Great Debate

Now that we've covered a little about the pros and cons of affiliate marketing, let's talk about whether affiliate marketing is indeed a real Internet business. While many would say affiliate marketing is just a money making gig, others would honestly say that it's a real Internet business. Take, for example, a well -known Affiliate Marketer, Rosalind Gardner. Rosalind Gardner has made more than $500,000-plus per year simply by promoting other people's stuff. Some people would just die to earn $200,000 or even less per year. I bet if you asked Rosalind whether she believes affiliate marketing to be a true Internet business, she'd answer yes.

It really just depends on how much your online business depends on affiliate marketing. For example, let's say you ONLY promote affiliate products, and you do earn a handsome income from it, what would happen if 85% of your affiliate programs closed their virtual doors? That would basically mean that 85% of your online income has gone down the tubes. It's not really sounding so much like a real Internet business if you look at it that way, is it?

On the other hand, what if you promoted other people's products and services AND added tons of your own to your website? It means that you have COMPLETE CONTROL over your online business, because you won't be shutting down anytime soon, unless you want to. Thus you really should consider having your own products and services AND promoting other people's products to get the maximum earning potential from your online business.