Does an Affiliate Marketer need insurance?

Meg_Learner

I already write for Hubpages - have earned $40 over 2 years but haven't cashed it out yet. Squidoo has dropped a LOT of my content, I earned $3 there over 2 years. I already have some web sites of my own but they are not monetised, letting them get "aged" and adding content at present. Am now using PayPal business account but can't link it to my own bank account because I don't have one in my business name! So funding it by "gifts" from my personal PayPal. Already have a limited company name and will have another check round to see if any bank is willing to take me on as a business customer, even though I don't need a loan or an overdraft:D

InsideInsurance

Meg_Learner wrote: »

I already write for Hubpages - have earned $40 over 2 years but haven't cashed it out yet. Squidoo has dropped a LOT of my content, I earned $3 there over 2 years. I already have some web sites of my own but they are not monetised, letting them get "aged" and adding content at present. Am now using PayPal business account but can't link it to my own bank account because I don't have one in my business name! So funding it by "gifts" from my personal PayPal. Already have a limited company name and will have another check round to see if any bank is willing to take me on as a business customer, even though I don't need a loan or an overdraft:D

Well played for trying but a ltd company for something with $21.50 of revenue a year feels excessive.

Why not have basic google adwords on your websites for now as a passive way to generate revenue which will not materially affect your SEO (at least from a google perspective)

Mattygroves2

Bonzowaite wrote: »

I think that the business account refusal is a good thing since I imagine you would have been charged account management fees.

Most of the affiliate companies that I use pay by automatic bank transfer or cheque (US Amazon). A couple use Paypal. Provided you have a personal bank account, you can just have the payments deposited there. Each affiliate agency will keep a detailed account of earnings / payments that you can access via your account with them - just print them off each month to keep a hard copy for your own records.

Having a personal account rather than a business one is OK for a self employed person with very little income but isn't going to work for a Limited Company as you are likely to get paid in the limited companies name which means you need an account in that name. As soon as you withdraw the money from paypal then you've extracted it from the Company so either need to treat it as salary (and do the correct RTI) or a dividend payment which will again need the correct paperwork done.

InsideInsurance

Mattygroves2 wrote: »

Having a personal account rather than a business one is OK for a self employed person with very little income but isn't going to work for a Limited Company as you are likely to get paid in the limited companies name which means you need an account in that name.

It doesnt work for a limited company on a much more fundamental level which is that a limited company is a legal entity in its own right and so for you to hold its money in your account is basically a loan from the Ltd company to you with the associated tax implications etc.

Technically it isnt "ok" for a sole trader to use their personal account as it will be in breach of the accounts terms and conditions. With a very small income from the sole trader aspect you can probably "get away with it" but I still wouldnt advocate it to people without highlighting the risks.

Bonzowaite

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Well played for trying but a ltd company for something with $21.50 of revenue a year feels excessive.

Why not have basic google adwords on your websites for now as a passive way to generate revenue which will not materially affect your SEO (at least from a google perspective)

I think you mean Google Adsense rather than Adwords. Adwords is where you pay Google for clicks etc. Adsense is when you let them put ads on your site and earn from clicks yourself.

Adsense is a perfectly valid strategy, but you need plenty of traffic to generate enough money to counteract the fact that people are leaving your site by clicking on the ads and earning you pennies. I think that Adsense works best on the "lifestyle" type of blogs where you are not really promoting lots of products.

Personally, I prefer to keep the ads off my site and go for the full affiliate commissions without scaring off the visitors with pop ups etc.