Can affiliate marketing work for you? Absolutely! Billions are spent each year in this growing industry, and the time for you to get involved has never been better. Affiliate program sales are still the best way for the newbie to get started online. Nonetheless, as a beginner, there are some major pitfalls you must avoid. Here are some tips to help the novice stay out of trouble.
Pitfall number one: Avoid the temptation of joining too many affiliate programs all at once.
True, many will advise you to join lots of affiliate sale schemes and cash in on everything that’s out there. I could not disagree with this strategy more strongly. Expertise is required for you to succeed in anything in this life, online or offline. So— join ONE program and become the expert in that product.
The more practiced marketer can join multiple programs because he or she has the know-how and the tools to juggle multiple obligations, but, starting out, join one and ONLY one affiliate program, and become expert in that product and that niche.
Pitfall number two: Never, ever try building your own site until the proper time.
Again, you’ve probably heard the importance of building your own site as quickly as possible, developing a blog and some kind of subscription list. These are all VERY important tasks– but not yet!
To start out with, use the site the affiliate vendor has already provided for you, and learn to drive traffic to it. You might not make a ton of money to start, but you will learn invaluable skills which will benefit you later.
Still, no matter how ugly and stupid a site looks, some folks just think it’s a matter of pride to have gotten their site up in record time!
But if you are asking me, “Does affiliate marketing work, and can it work for me?” I would tell you “Of course– but only if you put your pride to one side and take it one baby step at a time.”
Pitfall number three: Avoid the temptation of paying for traffic.
The beginner has little money to waste, so stay away from pay per click (PPC), traffic exchange programs and any kind of purchased leads or subscriber lists.
There is nothing wrong with these sources, and they can be very profitable when you know how to use them, but stay away from these until you have more experience and have funds to risk.
Those just starting out should look for free or very low cost traffic. Article marketing, Squidoo lenses and forums are great places to get good, targeted traffic, and they cost you absolutely nothing.
If you really want to try out PPC, learn to do good keyword research so you can find a wide range of low-cost, low-traffic search terms. There is little point chasing after the expensive search terms when you may have little or no money to spend.
By all means, when you are making a bit of cash and have gained some experience, and when you have a sense of what works for you and what doesn’t, then go explore the more elaborate, more sophisticated marketing strategies.
Will affiliate marketing work for everyone? No, it will not! Not if you saddle yourself with too many new tasks. Information overload will lead to burnout! What a shame that would be— you will have missed out on the tremendous opportunities that lie in affiliate program sales. The greatest pitfall of all? Failing to keep things simple!
Does affiliate marketing work? You bet it does! Visit www.affiliatemarketerinfo.com and see how affiliate program sales can change your life.
