Connor BrookeLet me start by saying this-I have no idea what the true statistics are. Nobody does.
If you go onto internet marketing forums, you’ll see all kinds of failure rates thrown out there. Usually, they’re above 90%. For the sake of simplicity, let’s keep it right at 90%. This means that for every 10 people that “try” affiliate marketing, only one ever makes decent money.
Sure, some people might make $50 or $100 a week, but that won’t get you very far. Heck I can blow that in one meal out with my family to Olive Garden or something.
So what’s the deal? Why is it sooooo difficult to make decent money with affiliate marketing? I’ve thought a lot about this over the last three years, and I’ve come up with a few conclusions.
Reason #1: Hobbies Pay like Hobbies
Are you treating your affiliate marketing like a business? Be honest with yourself. To me, building a business takes a lot of focused effort. You can try to build a business on just a few hours a week, but I doubt it will go anywhere fast- especially if you’re using free traffic methods.
For example, spending one hour a day to write articles or do some forum marketing just isn’t going to work. You might be able to monitor/set up Pay Per Click campaigns with just an hour a day, but that takes more time than you expect.
For most affiliate marketers, it’s just something that they’re dabbling in. They try it for a little while, don’t see any success, and just go back to watching TV or playing video games all night.
To be successful, you’ve GOT to treat this like a business.
- Track your expenses versus profits
- Get a business license and tax ID
- Work the same schedule every day
Nobody ever built a successful business by “trying” it.
Reason #2: Lack of Focus
This is another huge one. You have tens of thousands of niches to choose from, thousands of offers to promote, and hundreds of ways to drive traffic. If you let all of that go to your head, you’ll lose focus, not finish anything, and fail.
Realize that every successful business focuses on one thing until it becomes successful. Only then should you think about branching out into other things.
For example, Apple didn’t start with the iPad, iPod, MacBook Pro, and all of their other handy dandy products. They started with a simple, standardized computer. As they built a good reputation and regular cash flow, they slowly migrated into their other product lines. Or think about Google. The first thing they mastered was the search engine. As the company grew and cash flow increased, they started to develop new products such as Gmail, Google Docs, Android, etc.
When it comes to focusing in affiliate marketing, here are the 2 things to focus on:
1) Traffic
2) Conversions
If you can focus on a traffic source, master it, and then focus on improving conversions- you’ll be making serious bank in no time.
Reason #3: Your Mindset Sucks
Your mindset is one of the easiest aspects of affiliate marketing to blow off.
“That’s just a bunch of New Age phooey, hocus-pocus, bologna.”
Well I can assure you that it’s much more than that. You can only live up to the level that you aim for. For example, if you go into this thinking that you’ll only make $5 a day, then that’s probably all you’ll ever make. Once you reach that point, you’ll start slacking off so your income won’t grow. But let’s say that your goal is $100 a day. Once you reach that $5/day mark, you’ll be happier but still not satisfied. You’ll keep pushing yourself until you finally reach that goal.
Now, here’s the thing- you’re going to fail. Dozens of times. Possibly hundreds of times. Without the right mindset, you’ll quit when you get knocked down. Maybe not the first time you’re beat up. Maybe not the fifth. But eventually, you’ll get worn out and just stop.
That’s why you need to have a “Why”. Why are you trying to build your own business?
Do you just want to set your own schedule?
Do you like the idea of unlimited income potential?
Maybe you feel like you can help people better with this business?
Want to pay for your child’s college?
Whatever the reason, you have to keep this in your mind. Remember why you’re doing this, keep a positive attitude no matter what, and aim high.
Conclusion
Are there other reasons why you might be failing? Of course. Maybe you resist learning new things as much as possible. Perhaps you are extremely limited with your time due to family, health, day job, or other things. But the vast majority of the time, it’s you. The only person to blame for your failure is you. Now it’s time to start blaming others, get out there, and build a business!
I’ll see you in the trenches.
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This article was written for Business 2 Community by Connor Brooke.
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I believe most newbie Internet Marketers already have a full time job. And they are doing their best to figure out this crazy business. Time is a big factor and most of us are bombarded with the latest marketing scheme that seem to come from IM guru’s themselves. It is important to stick to one mentor. Don’t our agree?
Paul