Start Affiliate Marketing Business – 15 Things That You’re Doing Wrong
The Affiliate Marketing Business is widely acknowledged in the online world as one of the simplest businesses that you can get started with online.
The simplicity however, does still need structure, and this is where many go wrong and fail miserably.
Here are just some of the things that you can avoid To make your affiliate marketing business more profitable – long term.
1. You’re In The Wrong Niche
You’re stuck in the wrong niche and your lack of passion will directly affect the results that you achieve.This is the most fundamental and basic principle you need to follow.The main reason people are stuck in the wrong niche is that they’re usually drawn by the lure of money and the perceived financial reward. This is a critical mistake as one of the necessities for being successful in the long term is your passion for the product or service that you are marketing.Why? because you need to produce lots of quality content that is valuable, unique, and profound.This can only be achieved if you continually do research and want to find out as much as you can about your niche or product. Remember, the world is craving to hear from experts in their specific field, and if you can deliver the goods, you’ll eventually acquire an army of raving fans who cannot wait to hear from you. This is generally only possible if you are operating within your ideal niche.
2. Lack Of Training
There is no quicker way to learning than getting help and guidance from somebody who has already been down that road.
Following a training program is a definite requirement if you are new to the game and will get you going at the fastest rate possible.
More importantly, is that you implement and put into practice whatever you learn.
This is absolutely critical.
Most people however do not follow instructions when purchasing a course and then blame their failure on the training course.
Do not do this, it is a loser mentality.
There is no single training program that teaches you absolutely everything there is to know.
Once you’ve taken whatever you can from a program and implemented it, then move to another one, and so you keep on learning and seeing different perspectives.
It is no accident that the real students those that hunger for knowledge, are generally those who make it.
This hunger for knowledge will be key to your future success.
Then you have the complainers who want it all handed to them.
Which one are you?
3. Your Sales Funnel Sucks!
A funnel is basically a marketing process that takes a potential customer from the initial interaction with your business right up to them making a purchase and beyond.
The funnel consists of a series of pages and content that turns prospects into buyers.
The quality of the funnel will ultimately determine how successful your business is going to be.
Funnels generally consist of the following;
- Social media post or ad with enticing headline pointing to a blog article or download page
- The article gives even more content that is of great value to the reader.
- The reader wants more information, then signs up to mailing list t receive more
- Thank you page and series of welcoming emails.
- More informative and valuable material via email
- Suggest an irresistible, low-priced offer/product that cannot be refused.
- Immediate upsell with a slightly higher priced item
- Provide more content and training/webinars etc. suggesting the value of an even higher priced item.
This is just one example of a sales funnel process that can be followed to take a customer from engagement to sale.
The mistake that most marketers make is that they try to make a sale almost immediately, right at the top of the funnel.
This is a big mistake, people need to be guided through a process.
4. Focus Too Much On Making Money
How much can I make, how much is in it for me?
These are the questions that nearly every marketer asks of themselves.
Always trying to make the sale as quickly as possible no matter what.
After all, you’re in this business to make money and that is what you gonna do.
Ironically, it’s the marketers that give away the most value that actually make the most money.
They also have long-term, successful businesses that generate consistent profits.
There certainly must be something that they are doing right.
It would then be good practice to mimic these experts, instead of chasing after money, a strategy that clearly doesn’t work in the long term.
Potential customers can also sense this and tend to avoid handing over their credit card details in this situation.
People are unlikely to interact if they do not know who you are or what you represent.
Instead, they prefer to do business with and buy from somebody that they
know and trust or with whom they’ve previously interacted.
There needs to be some rapport and this can be cultivated from the start if you give value to your audience.
This will automatically cause them to be drawn to you, which ultimately leads to the sales that you’ve been chasing after.
I remember when starting out, that I was also guilty of doing this.
It must have been the excitement of trying to get my first sale.
Looking back though with the benefit of experience and hindsight, I now see things a bit more clearly.
So, stop focussing on trying to sell and on making money.This is not right and will backfire, instead, you should concentrate on helping people to solve their problems.
Show them that you really care.The results might surprise you.
5. Your Landing Page Is Not Effective
An effective landing page is where all of the magic is supposed to happen.
This is where people finally get to decide if they’re gonna move ahead with you or toss you away.
It also gives them a glimpse of what to expect and also to see what you are really all about.
This is an enormous opportunity for you to instantly make an impact.
This is however easier said, as most page visitors often leave very quickly in disgust after visiting a page.
The main reason being that their concern was not addressed.
You have failed to show them how you will be solving their problem.
A great landing page will make you money, while a poorly constructed one won’t do you any justice, and simply won’t convert as well.
You could have the greatest offer, but if it is obscured by a poorly constructed page then you’re leaving money on the table… lot’s of it
6. Chasing The Latest Deals
There are many great affiliate offers around, often with awesome incentives.Although this is good for marketers in general, this does not warrant that you jump around from one affiliate offer to the next. Especially true if it is not within your niche.This causes a divide in attention, leading to poor quality from your side especially with content creation and research. The main reason you’re continually chasing after the next big trending offer is;
- You are greedy
- You’ve got an inherent fear of missing out on a big payday
Well, guess what, the trending product which you are chasing after has already got many experts and good marketers.
People are more likely to make a purchase from them and you’ll be left with the scraps. It’s certainly possible to be successful with trending products, but you first need to have a process that’s already working well for you.You can then adapt this process to market new products. A good example would be if you had a team of reliable content creators and other experts who know what your demands are.
This needs experience and is not suitable for beginners. Another way that this will work for you is if you already have a large email contact list of people who already trust you.Suggesting new offers to them could also lead to lots of sales if this is niche-related.
7. Not Targeting A Specific Audience
Audience targeting is most crucial to your success.
Even if you can have the best product and offer on the table.
If you place this offer in front of the wrong people, it will simply not convert.
You might be running the best campaign with the best-looking page, it makes no difference. It all boils down to the audience that you are targeting.
A common mistake among many new marketers is that they market a product using the same message to different audiences. Example;If you are selling a special camera; Your Headline could read;
: Take Beautiful Family Photo From The Comfort Of Home This might seem good for family-oriented people, but will not resonate with other audiences The reason is that many types of audiences use cameras, and that is why your marketing message needs to be specific
Here are some examples;
- Wedding Photographers
- Bird Watchers
- Sport or Action Photographers
- Families
- Nature Lovers
- Wildlife Photographers
- Travelers
Because many different audiences use identical products or services, your job is to do some brain work and find them. All of the above audience will respond to a different headline, message, and ad copy.When they feel that you are speaking directly to them, the response will dramatically increase.
8. Lead Magnet
Not knowing how to create an effective lead magnet will be a massive hindrance to your success. It is essential that you know how to construct a lead magnet as this is the doorway to leads, sales, and a profitable business It needs to be something of value that is short and sweet and solves 1 specific problem.
If this can wow a specific audience then they are likely to hand over their details to get it. In this way, you are able to start building an email list, where you can continue to engage, and provide solutions to your list members. Here are some examples of downloadable lead magnets;
- Checklists
- To-Do Lists
- Mini-Courses
- Swipe files
- Cheat Sheets
- Resource List
- Free Webinar
- Infographics
This is one step that needs to be mastered because it allows you to start building a long-term business, which leads to great financial rewards online. Just creating a mediocre lead magnet is not good enough, it has to captivate people so that they can join your email list.
9. Not Understanding The Basics Of Online Marketing
Understanding a few core principles of online marketing and customer psychology will prove to be invaluable in your affiliate marketing business.
This is a set of skills that you need to learn and continually improve to make your online experience both easier and profitable.
However, don’t wait until you know everything about online marketing before deciding to get started.
It covers quite a wide range of topics, so here are just a few of them that you need to learn for affiliate marketing.
- Headline writing
You have literally seconds to make an impact, a great headline will do that for you. - Ad Copy
Good ad copy will always perform better than that which is poorly written, no matter how good the offer. - Content Creation & Marketing
Creating content that is relevant to the user, and knowing how to get people to engage with it. depending on where they are in a buying journey - Audience Targeting
Knowing how to target an audience is a critical step in your journey.
Even the best ad and landing page will not convert if presented to the wrong audience. - Social Media Marketing
This is basically where the world hangs out. Finding where they are and putting your message in front of their eyes will pay dividends. - Search Engine Marketing (Seo)
Done right, this will give you an almost unlimited source of free, targeted traffic.
It might take very long to get it, but definitely worthwhile - Email Marketing
Writing follow up marketing message sequences to continually engage with your audience.
As you can see there is a lot to learn but having these skills will bring you a lifetime of financial reward.
10. Searching For A Holy Grail
Stop searching for some type of secret that is going to bring you overnight success.Because it simply doesn’t exist. The real secret is no real secret at all, but a combination of a few sound principles that work together. Too many marketers fall prey to marketing ploys that promise to bring you unheralded success in quick time.
Many marketers take the bait, don’t do anything with it, and then search for the next one. Though it takes a lot of work and time to build an affiliate business, the basics are still the same.
- Find a product or service
- Must be something in your niche which you’re passionate about.
- Create relevant content that will be of benefit to an audience
- Market your content
- Give away free stuff
- Get them to opting
- More value
- Small purchase
- Bigger purchase
As you can see there is work involved, but much of it will only need to be done once.
11. Looking To Get Rich Quick
This could fall under the ‘being patient’ category’.Most people want results and they want it now!We live in a fast-paced world where instant gratification is demanded, yet very rarely experienced. This is of course not helped by marketers making ridiculous claims of success.
xxx $ in 30 days, which by the way could be true.
However, what they fail to mention is that they’ve already created the foundation and already have an understanding of how the process works. Stop listening to them and play the long game instead where you are focused on
- building a real business
- Continually learning and acquiring learning new skills that are related to your niche.
- .and your chances of success are exponentially increased.
12. Not Building A Business
Those who actually attempt to build a real business are the ones that eventually do succeed.
This is in stark contrast to people, who for different reasons seek to make extra money quickly.
This is normally on a part-time basis with a minimal amount of effort.
You should at all costs rather try to build a real business that is based on sound principles, one which is sustainable for a long time and would produce passive income.
I like to make the comparison to a professional sportsperson who practices every day and tries to achieve perfection, to the weekend player.
The difference is vast.
Play the long game and invest your energy, time, and money into learning and getting better all the time.
It may be difficult and frustrating in the beginning but the rewards are absolutely worth it.
13. Not Enough Spare Time
In my opinion, one of the biggest stumbling blocks to consistently working on your business is that you just cannot find the time.Well, that is a lame excuse! We are not dealt the same deck of cards in this life.
Some of us are born poor, others rich or with natural good looks, yet others still enjoy privileges that the rest can only dream of. Nothing is fair or equal… Period. Or is there?What is the one thing that the most affluent self-made billionaire has in common with the homeless person?They both have the exact same 24 hours in a day. The big difference is that they use this time for completely different things. Don’t complain about not having enough time, do something about it instead.When I realized how much time that I was was wasting by just sitting on the couch and flipping through TV channels and passing time being unproductive, I was shocked to the core. This is now the third year that I’m not watching any television, I stay off social media.
14. You Lack Consistency
The small tiny steps, consistently taken every day will eventually get you to the desired goal.
It does not matter how small and insignificant these little steps may seem, it all adds up, and in the end, with the sheer volume of your efforts, you reap the glorious rewards.
It could be a little research that is done every day or the writing of a paragraph or two in your article.
Maybe or could be the learning of new business skills or some work on your blog it makes no difference.
It all adds up.
After a period of one year when you look back at your achievements, you’ll be astounded at your progress.
Continue that trend for another year and you’ll be almost unstoppable.
Another huge positive that I have found by being consistent is that it becomes a habit after a while and almost second nature.
You even begin to enjoy doing the things that you used to find laborious and boring before.
Consistency is key!
Every successful person and master in their field possesses the consistency trait.
It’s time that you developed and start using it.
Not only will it be of benefit in your business but also in life, whichever path you choose.
15. You Are Easily Discouraged
One thing that is certain and is bound to happen repeatedly, is that you are going to face obstacles and disappointment in your journey.
It is quite easy to get discouraged when things don’t go your way, this is unavoidable.
The big question is how are going to deal with it?
Are you going to quit in disgust or carry on fighting?
Most people would, but you’re not one of them.
Discouragement and setbacks are necessary as they give a fair indication of who the winners and losers are.
Look at it as a temporary setback, something that builds your character.
When things do not work out, it is not a train smash at all.
This only means that there is something that you haven’t understood.
Just try to find the problem and you’ll feel a whole lot better.
When you refuse to allow any discouragement to get the better of you, it’s then just a matter of time before you see a breakthrough.
Allowing the discouragement to get you down only tends to show that you might not have a winning mentality which is critical for success.
Bonus – You’re Lazy
To succeed at affiliate marketing, you need to understand a certain core marketing process.This process needs to be learned and then implemented, unfortunately for the lazy people this does require some time and effort.You are also going to make mistakes which leads to frustration There is work that needs to be done, the problem however is that most people are just not prepared to do the work. What they don’t realize is that most of the foundational works only needs to be done once, and is then in place forever.
- Blog/Website
- Hosting
- Landing pages
- Social Media Platforms
- Ads
You are not prepared to do whatever it takes – you don’t want it bad enough.
