Affiliate Marketing: 5 Common Mistakes That Lead to Failure

Creating lifelong customer value with your affiliate marketing business. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

From the outset, I think most affiliate marketers will agree that making money online is not rocket science. While it may not be as easy as many squeeze pages like to make it sound, it also isn't as difficult as it initially seems. Once you have discovered the perfect niche and an affiliate product or program within this niche, making money is merely the benefit of following a strategy and sticking to it.
However, far too many people are unable to realize any level of financial gain in internet marketing and creating an online passive income. Individuals who are new to the world of internet marketing do not fully understand how focused, organized, and productive one must be in order to make money online. Through making mistakes, knowledge is gained. As a former newbie myself, here are five mistakes that most newbies make that will guarantee failure.
Newbies take what is given to them. I remember a few years back, there was an online ad network guru who was selling instructional videos on the ins-and-outs of using a very popular advertising program. In each example, he attempted to demonstrate his theories by using dog grooming as a niche. Inevitably, hundreds of thousands of dog grooming websites and blogs appeared online as a result of these instructional videos, as most people didn't understand the nuance in the example. This happened to me, as well. I remember that I downloaded an eBook that suggested I build affiliate review sites for products in niches spanning from cake decorating to teaching people how to give sermons. Needless to say, my affiliate earnings remained flat in those areas.
In addition to doing your research to discover the perfect niche for you, you should also pay attention to what your own passions and interests are and develop websites, blogs, and promotion of products around a knowledge base you already have.
They don't try the product first. Another mistake newcomers make when trying to create more passive income streams is one of total and utter ignorance. Often times, people are attempting to sell a product without being able to bring anything new to the discussion because they haven't tried the product first. If the product costs money to try, and you haven't purchased it, what makes you think that I will? Chances are a visitor to your website will understand your lack of knowledge about a product and be able to see through your smokescreen.
Making wild and unsubstantiated claims. Even though billions of people are online and--on any given night--millions are surfing the internet trying to find an easy way to make a six-figure income in their spare time, by making wild and ridiculous claims about your revenues and earnings will only lead people to identify you as a fraud. People are looking for help. They don't want to be swindled.
Wasting time learning by reading, instead of learning by doing. The internet is an incredible treasure chest of information. In starting to develop ways to increase your income by promoting affiliate products, there is the danger of spending far too many nights reading blog post after blog post or thread after thread on popular forums. After a certain point, you need to realize that there is such a thing as information saturation. At that point, the only way that information is going to stick is if you learn through your own experiences of successes and challenges.
Dropping out too early. This is a classic experience. The internet is a graveyard of abandoned projects and forgotten plans. Some nights, meandering through links on the internet is like walking through the dusty, ramshackle remains of an Old West ghost town after the gold vein went dry. People think that promoting a product will create a "virtual ATM machine" or will "create riches overnight." After three or six weeks of little to no returns, the creators vanish, leaving behind half-built visions of success. If you are going to make money online, then you are going to have to commit to the process for three, six, nine months or more. And, besides, why quit five minutes before the miracle?
Avoiding these common mistakes in internet marketing will not guarantee financial success beyond your wildest dreams, but you will probably avoid total failure. At the start, making money online is hard work that takes a high level of focus, dedication, and determination. Are you willing to see the payoff?
Jay Monroe is highlighting his money-making exploits on ThatsAwesome.org, a website detailing his experience with one money-making program.
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