The recent downturn in the economy has taken its toll on millions of people. Unemployment is up and a number of brick and mortar businesses are seeing their business suffer as fewer and fewer people come in to shop.A souring economy isn’t necessarily bad for everyone, however. In fact, a receding economy can actually work in favor of those who participate in online affiliate marketing. In affiliate marketing, you don’t actually have to stock or sell products, you only have to refer customers to the Website where the product can actually be purchased, using a special link provided to you by the actual seller. If you can persuade your prospective customer to click your link and make a purchase, the seller rewards you with a commission.

Why can affiliate marketing succeed when more traditional businesses are failing?

Lowered cost of doing business. Many online marketers conduct business using small Websites that review the products in question. Web hosting has become so inexpensive over time that it is, in some circumstances, nearly free. Some Web hosts offer accounts for as little as $5 per month that allow you to host multiple Websites for that price. It’s possible, depending on the size of your site, to host as many as fifty sites using such an account. That’s far cheaper than trying to run a traditional brick and mortar store with rent and employees. The low cost of doing business online is quite attractive in a down economy.

Advertising costs are cheaper online, too. You can run a series of pay per click ads on the major search engines for mere pennies per visitor, and you won’t have to pay a dime unless someone actually clicks on the link In your ad. That means that you are only paying for results. In traditional advertising, you never know who is going to respond to your advertising. In a receding economy, you don’t even know if anyone will respond at all.

People are spending more time at home. In a recession, consumers tend to spend more time at home and less time out shopping, dining, or watching movies. When you combine a recession with $3 gasoline, people will absolutely stay home more. That’s great for the online marketer, as people who stay home are more likely to spend time on the Internet than those who are out and about. The more time your potential customers spend online, the greater your chances of making sales to them.

While a downturn in the economy is never something to be celebrated, there are some businesses that are negatively affected more than others when the markets turn sour. Affiliate marketing is one of the few business that can actually thrive when other types of businesses are failing, and the savvy marketer can continue to succeed even when others fail.

When you watch a football game on TV, you can easily see how games are won or lost in the battle that takes place on the line of scrimmage. Offensive plays are designed to protect the quarterback and/or to open up holes in the defense so that yardage can be gained.Defensive plays are designed to sack the quarterback or close holes that would allow yardage to be gained. Quarterbacks and coaches get the credit for wins and blame for losses but the battle is won or lost in the trenches.

Affiliate marketing is a lot like a football game just without the bruises and sore muscles. An affiliate marketer must design offensive plays and defensive plays that will put him in a position to win the affiliate wars.

When you are one of many marketers who are trying to sell the very same product to the very same consumers, you had better have a plan to get at least your fair share of the market or more.

Every niche market on the Internet is highly competitive. If it isn’t competitive then there can’t possibly be much of a customer base to sell to. That is just the nature of all Internet marketing and in every niche.

Maybe you do have a long and impressive list of paid customers. That’s great! It means you have already won several of the affiliate marketing contests and come out on top. The problem is there are always those up and coming marketers who want your customers on their lists.

Your list and your competitor’s lists may well contain many of the same names and email addresses. Just having a list will not be enough to assure you of a victory when selling an affiliate product. You have to design some offensive plays that will assure that your customers buy from you and not from your competitors.

So, you ask, what is it that I can do that will assure that my customers will buy from me? The answer is just one word… unique! You have to be unique. You have to offer something that sets you completely apart from your competitors. You have to make your offer for a product or service for which you are an affiliate more attractive to buy from you than it is to buy from you competitors.

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