One Surefire Way NOT To Make Money As An Affiliate
by Bruno Carlson
When I first started up in the affiliate marketing business
several months ago I made a classic newbie mistake. And because of this mistake I ended up turning what should have been a decent start into a big disappointment.
That disappointment almost caused me to throw in the towel
and give up on ever making money on the Web.
Here's what happened:
I wanted to make money FAST. Like yesterday. I wanted to have
it all immediately.
I had heard that the Web was a big "numbers game" and that the
more numbers you could pull in, the better your chances were for making money.
I had also heard a lot about affiliate programs. And how anybody (even a guy like me with limited business experience) could make a potful of money just by selling other people's stuff.
After all, the commissions are great and the overhead cost is
practically nil. All I needed to do was figure out a way to get
the word out there to a huge number of the right people and they'd be beating a path to my affiliate sites.
I had read a few things by some of the super-affiliates and they made it sound so easy. This was going to be a piece of cake if ever there was one.
Not!
--Catching "Program Fever"
You see, I figured that since it was a numbers game, I needed big numbers.
As in big numbers of PROGRAMS.
I ran across several "ezine-in-a-box" type deals, where you sign up for a ton of programs all under one roof and then just watch the profits roll in (in theory anyway). One of these deals even had a free website that went along with it, a sort of shopping mall with ads for a bunch of the programs I had joined.
Now my thinking at this time was sort of, what the heck, the more the merrier! By signing up for a whole slew of programs I would end up making a whole slew of money.
Wrong again!
I don't need to tell you that it didn't work out nearly as well as I'd hoped.
--Spreading Myself Too Thin
I had WAY too many brands in the fire.
At that time, with my experience being so limited, I needed to
concentrate my energies on ONE specific program.
The reason for this was that I didn't really know much about
affiliate marketing yet. I needed to learn about it.
I also needed to learn how to market a program and its products. I needed to do some real get-down nitty-gritty WORK.
Like research.
I needed to learn about WHAT it was I was selling. And then HOW to do that selling.
By having so many different programs going at the same time there was no way I could give each the attention it deserved. Actually, most of the emails which my programs sent me for training went unread, filed away in a folder to be read someday
in the future. Meaning never...
The solo ads I sent out were faceless, voiceless and boring. Mass-produced by somebody (me) who knew VERY little about writing ad copy. Sure I knew a little bit about formal business correspondence. But this was a horse of a different color.
So remember:
By focusing on just one program at a time in the beginning you'll learn a LOT about the whole affiliate marketing business. You'll also have the opportunity to learn about sales writing and how to put your whole self into your ad presentations.
In other words, you'll be learning how to create enthusiasm for a product.
And as we all know, enthusiasm is catching! People will feel that enthusiasm coming from you and they'll become interested in what you're selling, as long as you've targeted the right customers.
When I signed up for a jillion programs all at once there was no way I could possibly be enthusiastic about even one of them. All I could be was LAME.
Ho hum. No wonder nobody bought anything!
So find a program you believe in and follow through with it. Learn all you can about it and its products. Stick with it and continue to find new ways to market it. It may take a little while, but before you know it you'll be making sales. And with each sale your confidence will rise!
And then maybe you can start to look for another program or two to promote...
======================================
Online home biz and writing coach Bruno
Carlson would seriously love to help YOU
get an attitude for online success. Sign
up for his Attitude Marketer newsletter
today at
http://www.BrunoBiz.com ======================================
| DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware. |
More Affiliate Promotion Articles
More By Developer Shed
 developerWorks - FREE Tools!
|
Join this webcast, to learn how the Rational Process Library can help with compliance issues, drive process improvement, and assist in service-oriented architecture (SOA) or Agile development. We will take a peek into the Rational Process Library with content around software and systems engineering (including RUP), operations and systems management, program and portfolio management, and asset and SOA governance.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Attend this launch webcast with Scott Hebner, Vice President of IBM Rational Marketing and Strategy, for an overview of Rational’s new software offerings and resources to help modernize and accelerate software innovation on i on Power Systems – while ensuring past application investments are protected and continue to grow. Learn how these solutions are helping customers extend their core i5/OS solutions toward modern architectures such as SOA and web technologies to deliver business improvements that stand the test of time.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Discover how IBM Rational AppScan Standard Edition can help you detext vulnerabilities in your web applications in the Web Application Security eKit. IBM Rational AppScan is a leading suite of automated web application security solutions that scan and test for common Web application vulnerabilities. The new Web Application Security eKit provides you with valuable resources, including white papers, demos, and additional information on the benefits of testing your Web applications.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Manage, govern, and share services across your organization by using WebSphere Service Registry and Repository. Follow the hands-on exercises to learn how to navigate the Web interface to publish, find, reuse, and update services.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Portfolio Management is about effectively managing portfolio value by aligning portfolio investments with business goals. This complimentary e-kit provides a collection of materials that can help you understand how IBM Rational enables and automates best practices for improved governance and clear visibility into portfolio and project performance across the entire IT project lifecycle.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
This paper is about the critical role that a discipline called integrated requirements management can play in helping to ensure that your business goals and IT investments are continuously aligned—whether you are sourcing, integrating, building or maintaining software. It also looks at ways that automated IBM Rational® products can work together to help you use requirements in the very best way.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Get a free trial download of the latest version of IBM Rational Performance Tester V7.0.1, a load and performance testing solution for teams concerned about the scalability of their Web-based applications. Combining multiple ease-of-use features with granular detail, Rational Performance Tester simplifies the test-creation, load-generation and data-collection processes that help teams ensure the ability of their applications to accommodate required user loads.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Visit IBM developerWorks to try the IBM SOA Sandbox for process. The SOA Sandbox for process focuses on providing a trial environment with the necessary tooling and components required to gain a better understanding of business processes and how to best improve existing business processes to derive value quickly.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Join this Rational Talks to You teleconference, to hear how Enterprise Generation Language (EGL) eliminates the need for tedious and error-prone low level coding, so developers can focus on business requirements. EGL extends the Rational software development platform with a simplified programming language that enables developers who have little or no experience with Java, Web technologies or Service Oriented Architecture, to create enterprise-class applications and services quickly and easily. It also allows developers who may have little or no mainframe programming experience to quickly create traditional mainframe components.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
WebSphere Process Server delivers a unique integration framework that simplifies existing IT resources. Often, as IT assets grow to support business demand, so too does their complexity and manageability. In this webcast, we’ll discuss how WebSphere Process Server helps deliver an SOA infrastructure that provides a common model to orchestrate, mediate, connect, map, and execute the underlying IT functions. Discover how WebSphere Process Server simplifies integration of business processes by leveraging existing IT assets as reusable services without the complexities of traditional integration methodologies.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
All FREE IBM® developerWorks Tools!
|
