When I started this blog a year and a half ago, I knew that I was in for the long haul and in that time I’ve seen numerous bloggers make a big splash in the scene and then disappear as quickly as they entered. While I’ve chosen to keep a low profile and adopt a “slow and steady wins the race” mentality, it’s still interesting to watch the thundering herd of moneymaker bloggers migrate like sheep in search of greener pastures only to find out they’ve been left stranded in the desert with no shepherd to guide them home.
For the most part, there are common elements to success and conversely there are common elements that produce failure. While nothing in life is absolute or guaranteed, the following seven character traits are generally considered common shortcomings found in every washout story.
- Patience is a virtue
- Give up too easily
- No Self Discipline
- Lack of Concentration
- Target Popular Niches
- Can’t Close Sales
- Never Learn From Mistakes
- In the affiliate marketing world, patience is perhaps one of the most essential character traits you can posess. I routinely see people searching for “quick fixes” to gain traffic, backlinks, SERPS and pagerank without realizing that these things take time to develop. As the old saying goes, “Rome wasn’t built in one day”, in affiliate marketing it’s no different. Overnight success stories are few and far between but on the contrary, those who exhibit patience and work tirelessly to produce their visions usually meet with eventual success.
- All too often, when faced with adversity or challenges beyond expectations many people will throw in the towel and walk away from something before they’ve ever really begun. Perseverance is mission critical when attempting to make a career of affiliate marketing. The ability to reinvent your strategy when you’ve hit a brick wall is also pertinent to a successful business. Charles Goodyear, the inventor of modern rubber vulcanization, spent years of failure and a creditor even had him arrested and thrown into prison before he came to a semi-accidental discovery that he eventually patented. Had he given up on his dream, we might still be driving on wooden wheels.
- A methodical approach to anything in life will usually yield the intended results but if you lack foundation, consistency and an overall gameplan, you’re efforts will usually go unrewarded. Contrary to what any of the “get rich quick” gurus try to sell you, the truth is affiliate marketing is a time consuming job. When you are responsible for setting your own work hours, nobody is going to be there to make sure you punched the time-clock or if you completed your tasks at hand. A diligent approach such as making “thing to do today” lists and following them is essential for reaching both long term and short term goals.
- So many novice affiliate marketers waste hours of valuable time jumping from one idea to another thinking they are going to find the magic formula to success. They read every affiliate marketing guru’s blog and spend sleepless nights trying to duplicate the same success John Chow or Shoemoney claim they have but in the end, all they have to show for it is bloodshot eyes and a sense of unfufillment. Concentration is essential to the completion of tasks. Without it, you can wander the web forever without every having a penny for your thoughts.
- Many novices make the mistake of targeting too wide of a niche in their affiliate marketing efforts. Generally speaking, if you go to some keyword tracker application and search for the top keywords and phrases, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to conquer one of the more popular, overpopluated niches. Targeting several long tail keywords and alternate phrases can produce more fruitful results than racking your brains trying to figure out how to find your place in the widest niche. As the old saying goes, “It’s better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond” and mind you, the big ponds on the internet are brackish waters full of sharks and pirhanas who will eat you alive if you don’t swim fast enough or have a natural self-defense mechanism.
- Anybody who tries to sell you on the idea that affiliate marketing requires no knowledge of sales is either a clever salesperson, pulling a fast one or they’re sadly misinformed. Closing sales in the real world is essentially the same process as closing sales on the internet. The only difference being, in the real world, a good salesman can read the body language of a potential customer while using charisma and persuasion to close a sale. On the internet, affiliate marketers must be charasmatic and persuasive just as in the real world, except you can’t read a potential customers body language and see how they are reacting to your pitch so you can make adjustments. Honesty, trust and a good reputation are the most important traits if you are going to have people pay attention to you when you’re making a sales pitch on the internet.
- Learning from your mistakes is possibly the most important factor in attaining your goals and aspirations. Sometimes it’s from those mistakes that we find the greatest revelations which in turn lead us to our greatest accomplishments. Never be afraid to fall down and pick yourself back up again. It’s all part of the learning process and no matter what people say, everybody who achieves any modicum of success has picked themselves up, dusted themselves off and started all over again.
Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this article as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it. If you’re serious about affiliate marketing, please take a moment and subscribe to my RSS feed to keep informed of what the wonderful world of affiliate marketing has in store for all of us who choose to make our living in the world wide web’s most cut-throat industry.
Peace Out,
Dave
Also: Believe in your own ideas and go for it, even when others don’t get it!
Hey Dave,
Just ran into your blog today, you really hit the nail on the head here buddy. Fact of the matter is really quite simple, most people expect far too much far too early.
This stuff takes some work and their is a learning curve. When I started out back in 2002 I did not even try to make money online, rather I simply focused on quality content and learned about basic seo. I did this for about a nine month period - then I focused on making money online.
Nice site Dave …
Great post Dave :-)
Very thoughtful and insightful post. Thank you for it.
I agree with you that focus and perseverance are two very critical virtues that anyone willing to succeed must embrace regardless of the niche under consideration.
As a matter of fact success is just about holding on just a little bit more while the rest are dropping out.
I started marketing over three years ago…didn’t see any of my work/education paying off until late last fall. Ask me why I stuck with it…I can’t really tell you.
But, to any newbie trying to reach that ellusive $100/day mark, don’t give up, you’re closer than you think.
Great stuff Dave,
Layne
Dave,
This is one of the best articles I’ve ever read about affiliate marketing. I’m doing it in my spare time and haven’t had the results I expected but I’m going to stick with it because I know I can do this.
:-) Danni
Superb article. I have thought of tossing the towel several times in the last year out of frustration. It’s pleasant to see others who have shared my experiences and have seen their way though the quagmyre of this industry.
It does take a lot of persistence to get to that elusive $100 per day mark but if you set your goals relative, such as $10 per day first, then $25 per day and so on, you’d be suprised how quickly you can reach that level.
It is hard work and it can be frustrating at times but the internet affiliate marketing industry is just beginning to boom !!
Hi, I’m new, but have been reading your posts for awhile. I am starting a new bargain affiliate marketing site with my husband. I have never done anything like this before but am excited and nervous, afraid to mess it up or miss a step. Your site has given my a lot of inspiration !!!
The most important thing is patience and the rule “Slow and steady wins the race”. There are many people who start too many blogs simultaneously and then have lost all of them. Even I know a person who has network of 100 blogs then he earned several ten of thousand dollars for providing services. He was in hurry to collect the money and then he lost everything because he couldn’t satisfy all his customers. Such stories are very horrible.
Lack of concentration is for sure one of them. I spend my time during the day doing analyses on other websites, and often can see the tell tale signs that the webmaster is not focused. Time, and new ideas completely clutter their site leaving visitors lost.
Great post! Especially #3 and #4. This post is motivational indeed!
If someone can’t “Never Learn From Mistakes” then he/she should say Good Bye to this career forever. If someone doesn’t have ability to learn and soak others experience then Internet and blogging is not the right career.
Absolutely. There’s no way that you can get through even a few months of affiliate marketing without getting your fingers burned a time or two.
Frustration is something we learn to overcome, we learn very quickly because with all the decks stacked against us (Google SERPS, Adwords, scammers, hackers, content thieves) there’s no way you can succeed without feeling like quitting ona daily basis.
As the old Nietzche saying goes “That which doesn not kill you only makes you stronger”
Nice post Dave..
Holy smoke. This is one of the best posts I’ve ever read about affiliate marketing. You are the man Dave !!! I’m subscribing to your RSS feed right now.
I was seriously doubting my skills but after reading this I’m totally inspired to keep plugging away at this business.
Great read. I bookmarked this article for when I get down and out.
I haven’t quit my day job (or school) for an affiliate marketing career so I rarely get frustrated. My blogs and sites are just extra spending money for me but hopefully someday it can be a career for me. I guess I will have to learn patience and self discipline if I’m going to be successful at it.
with a huge smile on my face I’m telling you this: It was as grate day as it is right now, God blessed, like all other, with shinning sun above the clouds, the day when “I waked up” and it was early in the morning I discovered this story you wrote and it cheered me up.
In front of my notebook I searched over the Internet.
I searched the Internet for another way of course to provide my self income staying at home. I was ready to quit butnow after reading this words here I am renewed.
I’m glad this article has inspired some of you. I actually wrote this as a reminder to myself for when I’m slipping in my work.
I’m learning by trial and error how I messed up when I targeted a popular niche I would never get a foot up in. Now I’ve learned to narrow down my niche and be more specialized. It has worked wonders.
Nice article mate !!
Dan
I am the type that never learns from my mistakes. I just keep on making them. I think it might be time for a change.
Hi Garret,
Well at least we have an article here that serves as a real eye opener!
Great insights Dave! It’s about time that we spread the reality on what we really need to do as affiliate marketers. =)
[…] Reasons Why Affiliates Fail 7 Reasons Most Affiliate Marketers Fail July 5th, 2008 When I started this blog a year and a half ago, I knew that I was in for the long […]
I came here to read your eBay article today but I’m sticking around more after reading this article. You have made all good points about not having success in affiliate marketing.
I fail on all 7 of the items. I think that I’m not cut out for this business :-(
Alyssia, it is a rough business. I know I’m not cut out for it as a career. I still need affilaite programs to monetize my websites but I’ll never make it in the PPC marketing side either.
[…] 7 Reasons Most Affiliate Marketers Fail by Dave at AffiliateBestPrograms So obvious and yet so often forgotten… A cool post by one of the bravest bloggers I’ve found in this niche. […]
Perseverence is the most important and that goes hand in hand with learning from your mistakes.
I might also add, “Start Small”. Don’t rush in with a huge Adwords budget and toss a wad of cash at it thinking you’ll come up like roses. Start with a small budget, say $50 and work from there until you can successfully turn a profit. Then increase your spending as you learn what you’re doing.
I have been running an affiliate marketing site for 2 years and i am only now starting to make any money from it. Here are a few tips
*make sure your do some SEO (check the forum here for tips on that) on your site (remember both on and offpage optimisiation)
* If you are using product descriptions i strongly advise you to re-write them as you will get penalised for duplicate content (so you pages will not rank high or at all in google)
*you may want to look into ppc advertising to get traffic to you site in the short term as it will take time for your seo to take effect
*Last but not least be paitent it takes time to build a good quality site and generate income!
My problems are with patience. I start new projects and don’t go back to the old ones to finish them. It is so easy to do when working with the internet. You see a thing you think will be hot. You buy a domain, set up a site and then do a little promotion. It’s so easy but it makes you spread yourself thin and you end up with a bunch of mediocre applications.
I was about to give up my search marketing campaigns. I have spend too much money for Google Adwords and not making one sale, it’s all money into the drain. But now I read this great story it has me believing to go back to the drawing room and make a new plan for execution.
thank you for raising my spirits. It has been a bad week for me.
I think we must overcome all of these factors to make a success in business.
After searching for quick fix after quick fix the would be affiliate marketer becomes so frustrated with the prospects of success that they eventually give up, the sad irony being if they had spent that same time that they wasted on looking for quick fixes, studying and educating themselves on how the many aspects of the industry work, they could have seen success very easily.
I’ve done so many things wrong over the years that I can’t image now what I was thinking. One thing I can recommend is to buy a mp3 player and download as many podcasts, audio books, seminars, tele-seminars, etc that you can find about making money online, running a business, marketing, etc. Then listen to these as much as possible. Also read, read, read. One book I especially like is Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. If you can’t afford to buy it, just borrow it from the Library.
I have been in affiliate marketing for 8 months now and outside of ebay,have not made a sale. However, I’ve been averaging 1500 a month for the last few months in ebay. I know that I will reach my goals because I know that this does not happen overnight.
Been there, done that. I’m in the same boat as Jessica. I’m not doing much of anything but I’m going to hang in there. The economy is rough and that might have something to do with it but I’m not giving up yet.
I think the main reason people fail is they give up to easy or they don’t have a good plan for bad times. You must be prepared to survive the worst times in any business.
Thank you for the great post and reminders. When you’re a beginner, there sure is a big learning curve in this fields, and yes, it takes patience not to become disheartned.
Pretty good ideas. It’s precisely the common thing every person who easily surrender lacks and worst, really don’t have that kind of principle in life. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I will surely apply those skills; I know it will be very helpful.
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