Is Affiliate Marketing Really Gambling?

14 years ago

Gambling? Not at all.

Doubling the money is a very profitable avenue if the risks associated with such an operation are worthwhile. And what are the risks associated with affiliated maketing. I mean for those that have the money to invest and also do the work. I would say that they're less than 20%. I for one am not going to get tired of "gambling" with such odds.

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socomplete 14 years ago

Interesting, I find from my testing that once you find something that works its all about just scaling from there. For example I've been running a campaign and I've decided to move it to another platform with the same type of advertising and its doing great.

Even with success, I still have people who think what I do is crazy. I'm not even going to mention what I do anymore.
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nutzostyle

14 years ago

It's not gambling, its investing money in yourself. You can't really start a company without a little risk, so spending your own money is a risk but if you work hard at it then the risk is minimal. Just make sure you have done your research and your targeting is on point. Good Luck

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Kenster

14 years ago

Originally Posted by socomplete

Warriors, I want you opinion do you think affiliate marketing is gambling? And, do you think spending money to at least double your money is smart?

There are some people who think its crazy to invest $500.00 To make $1000.00 what do you guys think?

It CAN BE gambling if you are simply slapping up some keywords in PPC and hoping you struck gold.

But that isn't the smartest avenue to take obviously. It can be a solid business model with huge margins. If you are tracking, testing, learning, and putting diligent work into your campaigns, it is an INVESTMENT, not Gambling.

Gambling assumes pure, or at least a majority of success is result of luck.

Dont know about you guys, but I make my luck with CPA. Its my business and my investment, certainly not gambling. Of course even investments and businesses involve risks, but thats not the same thing as gambling.

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ChrisBa

14 years ago

It's gambling without a system/plan

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excoder01

14 years ago

Gambling = taking risk without education/knowledge.

The more knowledge and education you have, the less risk.

Affiliate marketing is only gambling if you're Joe Blo who spends money on PPC campaigns without having no idea what he's doing.

Knowledge + Experience + Providing Value = Solid Business.

Affiliate marketing is nothing more than selling something -- something other people stuff.

Investing without knowledge is a risk...gambling.

Investing with knowledge is making a savvy business decision.

Therefore, if you invest in studying solid marketing strategies, business scaling, leveraging, constant learning to adapt to new trends, and so on, then affiliate marketing is a business based on decisions.

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williamrs

14 years ago

In my opinion, affiliate marketing IS NOT gambling. If it were gambling I would be eating my fingernails now, because I'm really an unlucky guy! (You should watch me playing poker

).

Affiliate marketing is MATH. There are many factors involved on a campaign, you have to analyze your customers, understand people's mindset, write good ads, find offers that are converting well, create and split-test several landing pages trying to improve each element, choose the right traffic source... But there is no gambling here. If you bet on luck you lose. There are many numbers involved and making money with CPA would be hard (almost impossible) even for the luckiest guy in the world if he had to guess instead of determine.

Study, study and study. Test, test and test. Then repeat the process. It's hard, it takes time, it may require some money. But it's definetely well worth it.

William

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misterwrecker 14 years ago

Affiliate Marketing may seem like gambling in the beginning, but as long as you continue to test and tweak you should be improving your odds, where gambling your odds remain constant.

-John
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Kenster

14 years ago

Originally Posted by StedeTroisi

Yes, it is gambling at first. Gambling infers your odds of winning are small. The failure rate of Internet Marketers are around 97%. If that isn't gambling, I don't know what is.

Question: is worth trying? I say yep, just don't spend your life savings trying it.

- Stede

I wouldnt necessarily agree that because the failure rate is high, that it should be considered gambling. The failure rate is high because most people who get into CPA marketing try it for a few days and call it quits.

It isn't that hard to make money with CPA right from the start but of course it involves some education.

Gambling implies a substantial amount of luck involved. It takes time to learn about internet marketing just like trying anything new. But it isn't substantially luck at all.

If you go into CPA telling yourself you are going to put in a solid 4 months including education and taking action, the chances of succeeding are very high. The process involves time and learning...a lot more than luck

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elyshemer

14 years ago

If you learn the necessary skills and do the work then it's not gambling.
It's not much different than any other business - if you know what you are doing then it's not a gamble.

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Dayne Dylan

Banned 14 years ago

Originally Posted by socomplete

There are some people who think its crazy to invest $500.00 To make $1000.00 what do you guys think?

If they think that, then they can't do simple math and are crazy themselves.

I would invest $500 to make $1000 every waking minute. ;-)

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vinbytes

14 years ago

For me, affiliate marketing is not a gambling if you have a deep knowledge of it.

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jeswarrior

14 years ago

It's a big gamble if your business relies only on Google organic traffic. No doubt about that. Look now how many businesses lost their shirt thanks to Google's Mayday. Actually, Mayday started on March. Just some smart alec decided to rename the thread in May at WMW.

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Kenster

14 years ago

Originally Posted by jeswarrior

It's a big gamble if your business relies only on Google organic traffic. No doubt about that. Look now how many businesses lost their shirt thanks to Google's Mayday. Actually, Mayday started on March. Just some smart alec decided to rename the thread in May at WMW.

Of course there are very specific gambles you can make but the question was referring to affiliate marketing as a whole. There are more methods and strategies that revolve around good business practice and strategy and not luck. Of course luck plays a small role in anything we do, but thats the same in all businesses.

Any business is going to have risk and we make small "gambles" in any business. But the business model of affiliate marketing and CPA marketing is not inherently a gamble!

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williamrs

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Kenster

Of course there are very specific gambles you can make but the question was referring to affiliate marketing as a whole. There are more methods and strategies that revolve around good business practice and strategy and not luck. Of course luck plays a small role in anything we do, but thats the same in all businesses.

Any business is going to have risk and we make small "gambles" in any business. But the business model of affiliate marketing and CPA marketing is not inherently a gamble!

Agree 100%. The problem is that people use to thing that if something is not simple then they need to be lucky to get it.

The really big things that are definetely worth our time and effort are not simple, but they are not achievable only by luck either.

Making money online is not rocket science, but it still is science, and it means that in order to succeed you will need to study a lot, and then try, try and try again. The more you try the more you learn. There are many, many variables involved on a campaign and we need to make all of them work together. However, it's just like a mathematical equation, it's just numbers and luck is just 1% of the whole thing.

William

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4you007

Banned 14 years ago

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plainwords 14 years ago

Gambling, by definition, relies on luck. Like when you bet on a horse, that's gambling, because you have no control over the outcome. Or when you buy a lottery ticket. Likewise, speculating on currency or the sharemarket is gambling to a certain extent.

But affiliate marketing is absolutely not gambling... any more than a bricks-and-mortar store that sells other people's products is gambling. As an affiliate marketer, you are selling products or services to people who want to buy them. Like any business, there is an element of luck. But affiliate marketing success depends 99% on your own skill and efforts - that's the absolute opposite of gambling!
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calbeach

14 years ago

It takes a lot of hard work to be able to make money from affiliate marketing.

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CianMcCarthy

Banned 14 years ago

If it is then it's an unfair gamble, because you can tilt the odds so much in your favour it isn't funny!

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Kenster

14 years ago

Originally Posted by williamrs

Agree 100%. The problem is that people use to thing that if something is not simple then they need to be lucky to get it.

The really big things that are definetely worth our time and effort are not simple, but they are not achievable only by luck either.

Making money online is not rocket science, but it still is science, and it means that in order to succeed you will need to study a lot, and then try, try and try again. The more you try the more you learn. There are many, many variables involved on a campaign and we need to make all of them work together. However, it's just like a mathematical equation, it's just numbers and luck is just 1% of the whole thing.

William

Absolutely! For some reason, people think that if something is hard at first then you need to be lucky to overcome it. CPA Marketing, Internet Marketing, Affiliate marketing are all business models that require work to understand, implement, and then profit from but there is a process to learn everything and the work is extraordinarily low compared to the potential rewards its insane.

I am naturally risk averse and I was attracted to online marketing because you can literally make a multi million dollar business without risking a penny of your own. You can start with nothing but your time. Very far from gambling.

Originally Posted by CianMcCarthy

If it is then it's an unfair gamble, because you can tilt the odds so much in your favour it isn't funny!

well said. You can structure your business so there is no way to lose. Try and find a game like that in Vegas! :p