One problem that has caused more people to fail in affiliate marketing than anything else is the lack of an initial investment. You can join virtually any affiliate marketing program for free. However it can end up costing you more than you realize. In this article let's talk about how much your affiliate marketing program is really costing you right now.

And affiliate marketing program can end up costing you in three different ways.

1. Time

To be successful as an affiliate marketer you must invest your time. This will vary from one affiliate marketer to the next because everyone has a different lifestyle they lead.

However one thing that does not change is selling products online as affiliate marketer takes a consistent effort. Many people fail because they do not understand how difficult this will be and do not invest the proper amount of time to be successful.

2. Expenses

Building an affiliate marketing business will end up costing you money eventually. You will either pay people to do things for you which is known as outsourcing. Or you will purchase things such as advertising or software to automate your business.

To sell any affiliate product online you need visitors coming to a website. As the Internet continues to grow it becomes more competitive and imperative you spend money promoting your product.

Today affiliate marketers do primarily pay per click advertising, social networking, or article marketing as their three primary forms of promotion. All of these are expenses that you will incur in your attempt to drive customers to your website.

3. Commissions

If you do not represent the right affiliate programs you can lose a lot of money. For example the difference between one affiliate program that pays 40% and has a one tier affiliate program and another program that pays 50% on personal sales and 10% on second tier sales is huge.

Super affiliates are people who earn unbelievable amounts of commissions selling products for their merchants. They are also people who have are earned the right to a higher commission.

If you become an affiliate that demands respect you can earn a higher commission than an average affiliate. Therefore it's important that you become successful so your affiliate marketing program does not cost you thousands of dollars in potential commissions.

In summary this is three ways to view how much your affiliate marketing program is costing you. The commission you earn ultimately comes down to your amount of time and effort, as well as money you spend promoting your affiliate products.