Why Affiliates Fail

Why is it that when we read around all these forums, eBooks, and blogs, that everybody is always saying, “yeah affiliate marketing is easy, you can get a profitable campaign running in no time.” Maybe I’ve been victim myself to saying it somewhere. Here’s the reality of it : affiliate marketing is not easy. I know there are many people out there who have read all the top blogs and bought a few eBooks, yet still can’t seem to get the hang of affiliate marketing. I know because I was one of those people. I scraped all the top blogs and read every popular post, read hundreds of forum posts, and asked people for advice. According to everything I had read, I had all the information to make an easy $250,000/year. Yet still I tried campaign after campaign with no success. If affiliate marketing were easy, you wouldn’t see the hundred posts a day saying “why am I not successful?” If you’re one of those people who just can’t “get it”, or blow your campaigns through the roof, I’m going to try and outline some of the possible reasons why.

 
Reason #1 : Information Overload

Especially when just starting out, I think too much information can be a bad thing. While everything in this blog is pure gold and you should read it, sometimes it can all be too much. If you spend a month reading every single archive of every single affiliate blog out there, you’ll end up :

1) Confused with all the different strategies to use.
2) With a month of time that could have been devoted to testing campaigns.

Sure you’ll know a hell of a lot about affiliate marketing, but the trick here comes into actually putting what you’ve learned into good use, and how to do that. Go to my affiliate marketing guide and just read the general guides. You can learn some general techniques that you should then go out and test right away. Don’t try to use every strategy in that guide at once…you’ll be in over you head which sets yourself up for failure and all the things that come with it.

Reason #2 : Nike is Right : Just Do It

I can’t even guess how many times this has been said/posted, but it needs to be said again. Just get out there and do it already. Read some general guides on strategies, and then test them right away! Research and pick a campaign, research some keywords, write the ads, get a landing page up, and click ‘Activate’! You can spend months researching and reading and learning and you’ll be a genius at affiliate marketing…a broke genius. By just testing things on your own, you’ll find out so many things that people aren’t telling you, and even things that people aren’t aware of.

So pretty please, if you want to start making money as fast as possible, stop wasting your time posting at forums and reading every blog out there. Some of the most popular blogs contain the least amount of actual useful information…

Reason #3 : Fear

Fear may be the biggest leading cause of Affiliate Failure Syndrome (AFS). If you’re afraid to take two steps backward in order to take 10 leaps forward, then the game just isn’t for you. Don’t be afraid to bid aggressively – you should be doing it at the start of a campaign anyway. One of the dumbest things out there to do is bidding your minimum bids on every keyword. Here’s what that will get you :

1) Bad volume.
2) Longer delay in building up stats.
3) Low revenue.
4) Discouragement from seeing no volume and no money.
5) Quitting.

Bid aggressively, start pulling in some nice numbers, and pull the data and learn from it. If you want to be an uber affiliate, DO NOT be afraid to lose a couple thousand dollars on a campaign. If you don’t want to risk your bank account cash you have now, go out and make a lemonaid stand and lace it with crack or something so people keep coming back for more, I don’t care – just get some money.

Reason #4 : Not Thinking Outside the Box

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in all my experiences, is that there’s so many ways to make money off affiliate marketing that people don’t talk about. Just because everybody has their blog about PPC marketing doesn’t mean it’s the only way to make good money. Sure I have methods that I don’t post about in this blog. Think of a way to make money from your affiliate offers and test it out. If it works, don’t tell anybody, why should they know?

You can also think outside the box when it comes to PPC marketing. Think of some crazy strategies and test them out. I recently tested a pretty unorthodox strategy with a campaign, and it worked out really well. It’s actually funny because now I see that a VERY large affiliate has adopted the same strategy. I was like what in the, that bastard is using my uber idea.

Reason #5 : Not Attending Events

This isn’t by any means necessary in order to make money, but trust me, it’s worth the investment. Go to a conference for the networking. Nobody knows that you’re not that good at affiliate marketing, and you aren’t planning on telling them that (although it’s a great ice breaker, “Hey, my name’s Paul. I suck at affiliate marketing and can’t seem to make any money. Interested in doing business?”). You’ll be able to chat with people in the industry, and most will at least talk about information that you can use to start making money (ie telling you a niche that’s converting particularly well, or a random tip here and there).

Reason #6 : Starting a Blog

Haha, if you want the most time to work on your campaigns, don’t start an affiliate marketing blog…trust me. Really though, a blog can be a great networking tool and they can be really fun, but when you’re starting out, focus 100% of your time on your campaigns. Wait until you’re successful and then start a blog, most people like reading that kind of stuff anyways. Most people start the “Hey I’m just starting and I’m broke, watch me on my journey to make money” blogs, and nobody really reads them until they’re like “well I just had my first $1,000 day today”. Save yourself the time and wait until you have your $1,000 day before you start a blog.

 

So yeah, if you’re stuck on campaigns and don’t know why, maybe give this post some thought. Take some information, learn from it, and start testing out things until something really sticks. Good luck and Godspeed.


19 Comments

  1. November 1, 2007

    Good stuff and think that most of this stuff applies across any kind of online marketing in general – not just aff. I’ve just done some stats for October, and I made no money and spent like 40% of my time reading other people’s blogs! About another 40% was spent on my own blog and I only actually spent 20% of time doing stuff that could make me money! Still, lessons learned :)

  2. Jim
    November 1, 2007

    Good read. I’m just starting out and I’ve found your site the most informative and helpful (plus you don’t blag about your new watch/car/house etc! ). Thanks for the info, keep up the good work.

  3. November 1, 2007

    Paul, Great reading! I have to agree with #2, people just need to just do it.

  4. November 1, 2007

    Man that blog one can soak up a lot of time. Good God! I post to mine like once every 2 weeks to 1 month and it still seems like it takes a lot of time. Right in line with that is

    Rule 7: Limit reading forums or blogs to 1/20th of your time you have available to dedicate to working. Because they’re big time traps. You’ll 99% of the time learn more by doing then you will by reading.

  5. November 1, 2007

    Great post I’m trying my ass off and still losing. I’m going to keep trucking though. It’s tough because of all the different offers. I’m sure there are sides to it but I’m just trying to do some e-mail/zip right now to see what I can do and keep things a little cheap.

  6. RJ
    November 2, 2007

    This was the best and most practical article that I have read. I have been researching and reading so much stuff and I am finally beginning to cut through all of the hype and fluff. It truly is a business that takes time and work..This post just confirms what affiliate marketing really is all about and I just need to get going and Do It! Thanks so much for giving your readers the real deal…

  7. Dave
    November 2, 2007

    I couldn’t have said it better. No gain without risk – affiliate marketing is not for the faint at heart… but then again – I have the desire to retire in style by the time that I am 35. This is the only way to achieve that while enjoying myself.

    Great blog mate – keep it up.

  8. November 3, 2007

    This is a very good article. I am interested in getting into affiliate programs and this got me off to a good start. So thank you =)

  9. November 4, 2007

    Great read! I think to many people are doing the same thing. I really liked your point about thinking outside the box.

  10. November 5, 2007

    Quite interesting

  11. November 5, 2007

    Totally agree with risking some cash! and remember the old adage of 80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers (a little different with online marketing, sure, but the theory applies)

  12. November 5, 2007

    Because they’re big time traps.

  13. November 5, 2007

    Every successful entrepeneur has failed so many times they lose count before they actually hit the one thing that puts them on the map. Persistence is the key to success, and I totally agree with you on #3, Fear being one of the key reasons for failure. In affiliate marketing (as with anything in life) you have to be fearless.

  14. November 5, 2007

    #6 is good. Initially, I got sucked into blogging and realized it took so much damn time up. Then I cut that out and just focused on making money and things have been going much MUCH better.

  15. November 8, 2007

    Hi Paul,

    Great post! I agree whole heartily with number 2. Just do it! Otherwise it’s information overload.

    That’s funny though, #2 and #6 seems conflict for my case. Lol. I got started in IM by starting my blog. But it makes me to know WordPress blog inside out :)

  16. Morp
    November 16, 2007

    Agreed, this a nice post. I admit, I made some of those mistakes in the past.

    I also believe that there are much more reasons why people usually fail.

  17. May 13, 2008

    I got sucked into blogging and realized it took so much damn time up.

  18. December 29, 2009

    I like your article !

  19. December 30, 2009

    that is good!

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