Why many affiliate marketers fail to succeed

So many affiliate marketers disappear off the scene before they actually succeed in making money online. There seems to be a trend of reasons for this scenario. In this post I will touch on some of the most common mistakes and reasons and excuses why it happens.

 

Mistakes that keep success away

Some people make the grave mistake to enter the niche marketing or affiliate marketing arena with a totally crooked sense of reality. This is understandable to a degree. The reason being that so many websites lure people in, tell a couple of “get-rich-quick” fibs and just try to make a quick buck, regardless of taking the person behind the buck into account.

It is like a thief that comes in and steals your personal belongings. A thief is a person that thinks only of himself. He does not care about anyone else. The thief is oblivious to the sentimental and actual value of anything.

There are a few exceptions where poor people stole food to feed their families, which I personally would not condemn depending on the reasons why they stole instead of asked for the food.

IF you happen to have landed on such a selfish website and got hit in the pocket, don’t lose courage. You have found a website where we care about people.

Another mistake is when the thief himself tries affiliate marketing thinking that it is a “get-rich-quick” scheme. Such people don’t hang in for long enough to make it. They are used to ripping people off. Any hard work is too much for them.

This brings us to another obvious reason – hard work. I regret to inform you, the reader, that Internet marketing is not what it used to be. Some 10+ years ago, it was easy to make some money because of the way search engines worked. These days, it is a different story. Search engines are looking for good websites, real good websites that contain original un-duplicated and fresh material of value.

 

Now that is a mouthful. Let me explain:

1. Forget about copying content from somewhere else. The search engines cannot be fooled any longer. It is like handing your girlfriend a wilted flower. Once you are caught out, your website will likely be marked and dumped from the Google / Yahoo / Bing or whichever other search engines.

2. Your website should be user-friendly. That means it should be easy to navigate and contain appropriately related content. Just the other day I looked at a website where the Domain name had nothing to do with the content and even though the content was mainly about camera reviews, some of the posts in between had nothing to do with cameras whatsoever. It was all about training your pet. Remember, when people want to know more about cameras, chances are that pet training will rather annoy them than do any good.

Another killer is intro videos. It is extremely annoying when you open a website and immediately a video starts playing with some blaring music or loud voices. Immediately, your visitor feels annoyed that you decided to start your video without permission. The visitor may have been in a place where noise and sounds can distract others or cause issues you are not aware of. ALWAYS give the visitor the option to start the video when he/she is ready.

Another scenario: Your visitor may only have a few Megs of bandwidth left and would like to read your posts rather than using the last bit of bandwidth to listen to a video. BE CONSIDERATE. It is the least you can do.

Another reason for not starting your video or even having it on your landing or home page is loading speed. If the website takes ages to load, visitors will disappear before spending any time on your site. I did exactly that a few days ago when a website struggled to load. Eventually a video appeared. I was so cheesed off that I just closed the site and went onto another one. If anything of the kind ever happened to you, I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

3. As stated, the material should be fresh. That does not mean that old dates on your posts are detrimental to your site. As long as you have new fresh material as well, you cannot go wrong. Post fresh data as often as you can. Search engines LOVE it.

4. Readability is extremely important. This makes me think of 3 websites I visited. The one had around 90% of its content in all capital letters. I was tired of reading after the first two paragraphs and dumped the site. The next one was written in a weird font. When looking at the page with the idea of looking at art, it was very nice, but trying to make out what the person tried to say was another story for another day. The third site was much better in its font and layout but the paragraphs were endless without a single bit of white space or pictures.

I have now listed quite a few issues with websites to take into consideration when blogging online. May I ask for your view on this? Please feel free to submit a comment whether you find this site info valuable or not. I always appreciate feedback and try to accommodate good ideas.

 

Giving up

If you ever think of giving up, think again, scared of failure, get over it. Most great business people failed many times before actually making it. The difference with this system is that it is proven, much like buying in to a franchise like “Mug&Bean or KFC or Steers without the massive financial layout. It is very important that you enter this project fearless and with a “I will make it” attitude. If you do, that is exactly what you will get.

 

Reading

Yes, reading. You may not realize, but so many newbies fail because they don’t read. There are hundreds, if not thousands of posts explaining things. Some of the posts have training videos, others have example pictures and photos and some have a bit of everything. But if you don’t read it, you won’t get it.

 

Asking

If you cannot find your answer in a forum post, then ask. You will not be the first nor the last. The affiliate website I am going to link to at the bottom of the page, has never disappointed me. All questions answered in a nick of time.

 

Listening

Concentrate and make sure you grasp what the pros tell you. They have been there and done that. There is no need to re-invent the wheel. Just get onto the already moving wagon!

 

Distractions

Avoid the rabbit holes. I know, easier said than done. I battle with

this one every day. What I find works well for me, is to go through my emails first. Get it behind you and then you can concentrate on what you’re doing. Put the mobile phone on “silent” and get stuck into your post.

Don’t kill yourself though. Allow for some fun and games too. Make a habit of completing your post and then spend some time in the rabbit holes. Not too long though, it will cost you. Always remember that the more and faster you work, the quicker the money will arrive.

 

How hard do you have to work to succeed?

This question is not the easiest to answer although I’ll try my best. To some people, writing a blog post like the one you are currently reading, is a LOT of work. To others, it is just a breeze. To me it used to be a lot of work but as you progress, it becomes easier, quicker and more fun as you start interacting with your visitors and customers.

One thing you cannot get away from is persistence. You just have to keep at it. There is no way you can make it by waiting. If you want it to work, you have to make it work. If you cannot type, find someone who can and dictate. If you prefer to speak it, there are software packages that can put your voice into words on the screen (more details available on this if you get serious and join our team).

You may feel a bit hopless at this stage. If you do, I have a suggestion. I felt devastated at a stage, until I finally found a place that cares about their people. A company that is not in it for a quick buck, a company that has a track record of being the super center to train new affiliate and niche marketers AND to assist them.

My suggestion is that you give this some good thought. If you need a bit more to make up your mind whether this is for you or not, go for a free account and test the water. Once you feel comfortable, you can join us and start your road to success.

Do not expect to earn money within the first 6 months, unless you have a good knowledge of website building, WordPress and affiliate or niche marketing. I know of people that made it big within 2 months but they are few and far between. Most of us normal people can expect to start earning between 6 months and 1 year depending on your niche and your work input.

The good thing though is that all the work you put in from the beginning until you start earning, will carry you for a long time. It is like residual income. Once the site starts earning, you can’t stop it unless you drastically remove your links or do something to break the site.

 

Don’t lose your dream

You should constantly think about your online business. Think what you are going to do once you achieve certain goals. One of my goals used to be dreaming of the day when my online income equals my job income. Once reached, the next goal becomes the dream. As long as you keep that goal in your head and when you are down, think of it. It will help you through the rough spots and so will we as fellow marketers at Wealthy Affiliate. Whatever your rough patch may consist of, just share it and we will be there for you.

 

Once your site starts earning, you can plan for your stress free, debt free life ahead.

If you decide on marketing rather than a niche where you move products, you can be as free as a

bird. You can work from a cruise ship in the ocean or a four wheel drive truck somewhere in a desert. All you need is an Internet connection and you’re set. What a life!

 

So what now?

If you feel that it is not for you, you can disappear or still try the free opportunity to feel the water.

Check this post for a great review with links to the free account :  

If your mind is made up and you know what you are letting yourself in for, you can still sign up for the free account.

 

Hope to see you at the top soon!