How to Use Foreign Currency Rate Fluctuations to Your Advantage as an Affiliate Marketer
by: Rosalind Gardner
When I started affiliate marketing back in early 1998, getting paid in U.S. Dollars was a huge bonus to me as a Canadian resident.
At that time, one US dollar was valued at $1.43 Canadian. By late 2001, the greenback translated into $1.60 Canadian.
Woohoo!
Even if my merchants' product prices and commission rates remained the same, I got a raise simply by virtue of fluctuating foreign currency rates.
For example, let's say that one month I sold 100 dating service memberships at $29.95 for a 50% commission and earned $1497.50 US. In January 1998 that $1497.50 was worth $2141.42 Canadian, and by November 2001, it was worth $2396.00 Canadian dollars, or almost $255.00 CAD more than in 1998!
Unfortunately, the U.S. greenback has been slipping steadily against other currencies since early 2002, and on January 14th, 2005, it was worth $1.20 CAD.
Using the example above, my $1497.50 USD commission check is only worth $1797.00 CAD in January 2005 - a whopping $599.00 LESS than it was worth in late 2001.
Affiliate marketers in many other parts of the world faced the same scenario.
Here are some examples of how the US dollar has been performing against various currencies since early 2002.
British Pound
January 2002 - 0.698241 GBP
January 2003 - 0.618284 GBP
January 2004 - 0.547846 GBP
January 14, 2005 - 0.53124 British Pound
Australian Dollar
January 2002 - 1.93418 AUD
January 2003 - 1.71592 AUD
January 2004 - 1.29591 AUD
January 14, 2005 - 1.30581 Australian Dollar
Euro
January 2002 - 1.13226 EUR
January 2003 - 0.941605 EUR
January 2004 - 0.791328 EUR
January 14, 2005 - 0.75643 Euro
Those are fairly sizeable drops across the board... and a pretty depressing situation for non-U.S.-based affiliates who earn their incomes in US dollars.
However, there are a couple of things affiliate marketers can do to protect their affiliate income from these disastrous declines.
The first option is to work about 25-35% harder to bolster revenues to 2001 equivalent values.
However, because I'm basically lazy, working harder is never my first choice.
The second option involves using foreign exchange rate changes to your advantage by selling products offered by merchants located in your own country, priced in your own currency.
(continued...)
How to Use Foreign Currency Rate Fluctuations to Your Advantage as an Affiliate Marketer
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About The Author
Article by Rosalind Gardner, author of the best-selling "Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online". To learn how you too can suceed in Internet and affiliate marketing, go to: http://NetProfitsToday.com.
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