Main difference between Multi Level Marketing and the Affiliate Marketing is that in Affiliate Marketing, you have 100% control of the products you can promote Plus you can be An Affiliate Marketer for as many companies as you wish.
For Multi level marketing, also called MLM, very few MLM companies will allow you to deal with products from other companies.
It can be difficult to differentiate between Multi Level Marketing and Affiliate Marketing.
This article will explain everything you might want to know about both so that you can decide for yourself the best for you.
Having done both, l will give you my recommendation; so, let’s begin
What Is Multi Level Marketing About?
Multi level marketing is about:
- Recommending the company’s products to other people
- Recruiting other people to join the company.
Different MLM companies have different Percentages on how you get paid but the common feature is that there are 2 ways of earning money
1st Way
Through your retail customers.
The more customers, the more sales. To get customers, ideally, you have to start with your own family and friends.
I found it to be time-consuming. For them to buy from you, you have to show them the products and explain how they will be of benefit to them.
In most cases, it is done face to face. If anybody orders from you, you then have to buy the products and organise deliveries as well as how they will pay you.
Most MLM companies have a certain number of Money Back Guarantee days but the problem is that if a customer buys and then decide that they no longer need the products, you have to organise the refund.
You might have a website where customers can buy from but most customers would rather buy directly from you because if they bought directly from the website, they would be charged a delivery charge which makes the products even more expensive.
You earn almost nothing considering the amount of time you spend dealing with one customer.
The 2nd way
Through the people you have recruited.
You make a certain commission for every person you recruit and for any product that your recruits buy from the company.
This means that, for you to earn recurring revenue, the people you have recruited have to buy products from the company and also recruit other members; if they don’t, then of course you don’t earn any extra money.
Here is how Wikipedia explains it:
“the common feature that is found across all MLMs is that the compensation plans theoretically pay out to participants only from two potential revenue streams.
The first is paid out from commissions of sales made by the participants directly to their own retail customers.
The second is paid out from commissions based upon the wholesale purchases made by other distributors below the participant who has recruited those other participants into the MLM;
in the organizational hierarchy of MLMs, these participants are referred to as one’s down line distributors”.
Wikipedia goes further to explain:
“Beyond MLM participants being salespeople unpaid for the expended time and labor they invest, they are expected to sell products directly to end-user retail consumers by means of relationship referrals and word of mouth marketing.
Most importantly, they are incentivized to recruit others to join the company’s distribution chain as fellow unpaid sales workforce members, so that these recruits can potentially increase any “earnings” for the recruiter as the recruiter’s down line distributors”.
As a previous MLM distributor, I agree with what Wikipedia says except the part where they say that “salespeople unpaid for the expended time and labor they invest”.
If you start any business, you actually do not expect the business to start paying you straight away.
The only bad things with Multi Level Marketing Companies is:
- You are advised to start by recruiting your fiends and family. Sometimes this can bring problems when it comes to them recruiting their downlines as they will be competing for the same people.
- The company tells you that you are a business owner and even gives you a website.
The reality is that you do not own the business; if the company closes, you lose everything; your website, your commissions and all your downlines.
According to federal trading commission, about 99% of all people that join MLM lose money.
Now I will tell you about Affiliate Marketing.
Affiliate Marketing involves promoting other companies’ products or services where you get paid a commission from every sale.
The similarity between MLM and the Affiliate Marketing is that both deal with products But Unlike MLM, in Affiliate Marketing,
- The Business is 100% yours. You own your website and you can promote as many products as you wish in the same website and the products can be from many companies.
- You do not spend any money on the products, nor do you deal with any delivery, customer service or storage of the products.
- The owner of the product deals with or that (any customer related issues). Your work is only to drive traffic to the Merchants website and when someone buys, you get paid.
Every company you are Affiliated with gives you a link that is just unique to you and the link identifies you with the Products you are promoting.
Examples of those companies are Amazon. There are so many people who buy from Amazon but buys through an Affiliate Marketer but they do not realise because the price is the same whether they bought from an Affiliate Marketer or directly from the Amazon website,
The same with most of the things you buy; there is affiliate program for almost every product you can think of: Flights, Outdoor equipments, Kitchen equipments, Exercise equipments, entertainment equipments and accessories; etc
- Everything to do with Affiliate Marketing is done Online meaning that there is no face to face contact.
My Recommendation
Many people are made to think that you can make a lot of money from MLM because they see the lavish lifestyle that some MLM people post on social media.
I was there, it’s very difficult to make enough money to live on through MLM
When you are doing MLM, you end up not having a life. They call it “Home Business” but you are hardly at home as you have to go to find people to recruit as well as attending weekly company meetings.
It can also give you tension as you are told that you should speak to as many people as possible as they might be potential prospects.
This means that every time you are out shopping or in gatherings, you are looking at people and thinking; “who should l approach”.
I would recommend Affiliate Marketing mainly because the Business you start is 100% yours, your OWN Asset that nobody can take away from you.
All what you need is a website and a lap top or a mobile phone and you are ready to start your Entrepreneur Journey.
If you think MLM business is Better than Affiliate Marketing, then go ahead and look for an MLM company to join. I am just trying to tell you what I found and I wish somebody had told me about Affiliate Marketing.
If you think Affiliate Marketing is good for you, then I have Good news for You.
I am Affiliated with a company that will teach you Step by Step how to do Affiliate Marketing as well as help you in Starting and running your own Affiliate Marketing Business.
You can do the business at your own time and at your own pace; You could be anywhere in the World and Succeed in Affiliate Marketing; no Experience or any skill required but you need to put in the effort.
You can start your business with any niche. Just tell us the niche and you will be shown where to find the free products without storing them or having to deliver them.
On top of that you will:
- Be able to build 10 websites
- Host all your website within their platform
- Have access to over 1800 coaches who are from every field and background you can think of;
We have Stay home parents, teachers, plumbers, electricians, musicians, beauticians, health and fitness professionals, accountants, IT etc
The company is known as Wealthy Affiliate and the website link is www.wealthyaffiliate.com
They even allow you to try them first before you commit.
To try them out as a COMPLETELY FREE STARTER member,
you will be able to build one Free website
CLICK HERE to build your free website.
As a free member, you will be helped in starting your own Affiliate Marketing Business. You will also have access to 10 free lessons.
If you later on find that Wealthy Affiliate is of Benefit for you, we have a Super Affordable Fast Action 59% reduced Payment of $19 for the 1st Month.
This gives you access to all the benefits of Premium members that include:
- UNLIMITED support in your business
- Ability to build 10 websites and host all of them within the Wealthy Affiliate Platform. You will be shown step by step how to build websites.
The company has simplified it in such a way that you do not to pay anyone to do it for you. If l did it, You can do it.
- 120 lessons
- Weekly Webinars
- Video trainings that can be almost daily
- All the tools and Resources
- 24/7 website technical support
CLICK HERE to get Started
The Best thing with Affiliate Marketing is that people’s shopping habits have changed and they are Spending more money ONLINE; Statistics shows that there are over 60000 Google searches per second.
Imagine if your website is able to answer some of those searches by helping them with your products.
This is the Most Reliable Business; Its ALL online, your website is live 24/7; Tap into the Global Connected World.
If you are on the fence about whether to be part of Wealthy Affiliate or not, I advise you to Just Do it. It’s free to get started and it will be your decision whether to continue or not.
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