You’d be hard-pressed to find a more profitable and gratifying way to make money online than affiliate marketing – promoting someone else’s product for a commission. Having most of the hard work done for you already allows you to focus on money-generating activities like building your list, driving traffic and obtaining sales. Affiliate marketing gives you an unlimited earning potential and has, in fact, created many internet superstars.
Of course, affiliate marketing does take skill, knowledge, and a strong determination to succeed. If you think that you will become an affiliate marketer today and be a gazillionaire tomorrow, you are sorely mistaken. However, if you are serious about building a solid business in the affiliate marketing industry and do your best to avoid some common mistakes that can derail your progress, there is no reason why you cannot do just that.
So, what exactly are the activities that you want to avoid? Below I’ll touch on some of the most common blunders that newbie affiliate marketers make so you can keep clear of them.
1.) No List
Your list is probably the most important tool you will ever have as an affiliate marketer, and yet, so many people neglect to build one. Yes, you can make one-time sales by driving traffic directly to a sales page, but what you want is to be able to make numerous commissions from each and every customer. Having a list, especially a ‘buyers list’, allows you to nurture and grow a profitable relationship with people who will look to you for information on the best products available in your niche.
2.) Commission Based Focus
Yes, it is wonderful to find products to promote that have very high commissions. In fact, at JVZoo, you can find tons of products that pay out 100% commissions, but be sure that you are only promoting excellent quality items that help your subscribers instead of only looking at your potential income from each sale. Becoming someone with a reputation of recommending inferior products only to make a sale will hurt your reputation in the long run and you will find that as time goes on, you will be making less money instead of more.
3.) Being A ‘Seller’ Instead Of A ‘Helper’
Jay Baer, marketing consultant, speaker, & best-selling author said, “If you sell something, you can make a customer today. If you help someone, you can create a customer for life.” As an affiliate marketer, your job is to let the sales page do the selling and instead, be a connoisseur of expert advice and information pertaining to our niche. When you act more like an honest reviewer of products instead of a salesperson, you are more likely to gain the trust of your followers and in turn, make more money in commissions.
4.) Shiny Object Syndrome
While having several promotional products at a time is not a bad thing, it is possible to have too many irons in the fire when it comes to affiliate marketing. Be sure to have enough time and energy to focus on the things you have going on right now without getting distracted by the next big launch that is inevitably going to come along in the middle of your current campaign. Being an affiliate marketer required constant focus and self-motivation. The ability to see a marketing campaign through to its completion will be a valuable skill to you in your affiliate endeavors.
These four mistakes are common throughout the affiliate marketing industry. Make it a point to avoid these pitfalls and give yourself a more probable likelihood of being successful in your marketing endeavors.
