Affiliate Marketing: What You Were Never Told!

Affiliate marketing and other income producing ideas are running rampant through the interweb (Urban Dictionary). I know I sound somewhat sarcastic, but I think there are a few things that need to be said (we probably should have said a few things about the housing market, but alas…it doesn’t matter now).

For some reason, I feel somewhat slighted about the way I was introduced to affiliate marketing and ad revenue (that is another story for another day that I will mostly likely never discuss–mainly because it is boring). You know the spill, right? Anyone can make money online. Are you tired of working? Do you want more money? You hear all the right things that tickle your ear enough that you decide to dive into this thing called the internet. Is it bad? No. Are you saying I should just quit and stick with a traditional desk job? No. I just think we need to talk about the hard things that most people decide NOT to mention. The truth is hard to hear, but will create freedom. Cliche? Yes. I don’t care.

It’s All About Truth, Trust, and Reputation

First and foremost, your visitors have to take precedent over everything you do. Yes, that means making money is a side quest. Following this idea about trust and reputation doesn’t mean you can’t generate a lot of money. On the contrary, you can make money–maybe a lot of it. I am just recommending you care more about your visitors (customers in that they want what you are offering….information) than generating a few hundred (or maybe thousands) bucks a month from ads and affiliate marketing.

Referring back to the previous paragraph, lets discuss what you sell and why you sell it (can be other products, your own ebook, or ads). Obviously, you are selling products because you want to be paid, and I am totally okay with that. In fact, and you can tell by looking at my site, I think offering ads related to your content is great and beneficial for your visitors. I do, however, think you should steer clear of offering any and everyone’s products on your site, even if they relate. What you must understand, especially in freelance web development, not all products are equal. Nothing can hurt your site more than promoting a product that is worthless (so yeah, you should test your products before you sell them). While you might convince someone to purchase something once, you may never gain that users trust back. Do you think that is worth 5o bucks?

Affiliate Marketing Is NOT Easy

I am sure you have been preached something different than “difficult” from day one. I think the confusion arises when people start discussing WHAT is actually easy or difficult. The CONCEPT of affiliate marketing is easy to understand. Actually being a successful affiliate marketer is not.

I am reminded of several gentleman who dreamt of amazing dreams. There is a lot of success among the bookshelves speaking of rags-to-riches stories. Sadly, there are more untold stories of  everyday people who failed. Just because Joe Blow with ABC.com succeeds doesn’t mean you will, not even close. Even more than that, the every day affiliate has made it more and more difficult to succeed. People are ad conditioned and tired of being played. If you don’t want to treat affiliate marketing like a business then maybe you should just consider blogging for fun. Long hours, tired mornings, and ZERO sales are possible. Sorry for the doom and glum, but this reality.

You Don’t Know Everything…So READ and LEARN

In a book called Think and Grow Rich, Napolean Hill tells a story about a man who should have talked to someone who knew more than he did. I will be paraphrasing but it goes something like this…

Shady Salesperson

A particular man jumped on board with the gold rush. He spent some money and bought supplies and land. He had some early success. After the early success, he went and bought some more stuff and got some friends to help. After this he did not have much success. After some time he decided to sell his land and machinery. The gentleman who bought the first mans “leftovers” hired a surveyor to, you guessed right, survey the first mans mine and land. The professional surveyor came to the conclusion that the gold was actually 3 feet deeper from where the first man stop mining. As the story goes the “leftovers” guy made millions because he hired a guy who knew more than he.

I only waste your time with the story to help you understand that sometimes you need to buy a book, hire some help, or read another affiliates blog. Oh yeah, I think there is another moral to this story. Never give up–or stop three feet short!

In case you are wondering, I have read Think and Grow Rich twice. I also believe, whether you are an entrepreneur or not, all should read this book.

The Naked Truth About Affiliate Marketing and Blogging In 15 Descriptive Words or Phrases

Here I go: Failures, Hard, Long Hours, Excitement, Disappointment, Struggling, Trial and Error, Frustrating, Diligence, Perseverance, Confusion, Anger, Intermittent Success, Luck Of The Draw, and Fulfillment

Should I You Quit

I am not asking an open ended question on whether anyone thinks I should quit affiliate marketing (haha). You need to ask yourself the hard questions. Do you believe in your website design? Do you think your site looks nice? Are you appealing to anyone? Would YOU buy from you? Would you buy any products you offer or are you only selling them because you want money? Do you even care about your readers, visitors, or customers? Are they a person or do they equal a dollar sign? Do you even care about what you are writing about?

Answering these questions and having a soul searching meeting with yourself will help determine the next few posts you write or blogs you start. Trust me, I have written several obituaries for blogs that I have started. The soul searching meetings are hard, but, at times, very necessary. Your next decision could be your hardest. But the next, next decision you make could be someones junk and your million dollars.

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