how to do affiliate marketing the right way.

10 Annoying Things On The Internet

Is affiliate marketing hard work?

We’ve all read the sales pages claiming that all we affiliate marketers have to do is churn out some sort of online content each day and we’ll get rich. Plus, we can do it in our pajamas for just a few hours a day, leaving us endless free time to enjoy life.

Heck, those pages say it’s so easy a two-year-old can do it, don’t they?

So, with that in mind, why do so many claim that affiliate marketing is hard? What makes it so difficult?

If we take the over-hyped sales pages out of the equation and bring this back to reality, most of us know that starting any new business requires much more than just showing up for a few hours and doing a couple tasks to be successful.

On the other hand, when we work for someone else to help build their business, many times just showing up is enough to get that weekly check.

Adopting The Business-Owner Mindset

There isn'ta risk when you work for someone else. Well, wait, there is one risk — the risk oflosing that job. But, the overall success of that business is not on the shoulders of the employees, is it?

With affiliate marketing, our bank balance depends on the results of our actions each day. Just showing up is not enough — it is all on our shoulders.

I talk a lot about mindset. Not really from a “think it and you will achieve it” mindset, but more from an employee-mindset vs. a business-owner mindset.

So many of us are raised to get a good job and enjoy the security from someone else deciding what we’re worth each week via the number on our paycheck.

That feels safe and easy in a way, doesn't it? Show up, get paid. Do well, get a raise.

Overcoming The Employee Mentality We Were Brought Up To Expect

But, how many of us were raised to get out there, start a business, and be 100% accountable for the bottom line?

I can tell you that I sure wasn't raised that way. The idea of doing something so risky… so

 so crazy… was not even a consideration.

That is why I personally found affiliate marketing to be difficult – the mindset shift. Getting things straight in my mind was very challenging for me, especially when I first started out.

Well-meaning friends and family would ask things like, “You’ve been doing this online thing for a weeks now, so why can’t you pay your bills with it yet?”

Ugh!

When you are stuck in employee-mindset mode, those types of questions are horrible and defeating… and it’s hard to handle that. Those questions lead to feelings of (dare I say it)  failure and are very de demotivational. In fact, I know plenty of people who have quit affiliate marketing because they were not living up to the expectations of those around them who spoke from an employee-mindset.

Once I started reading and learning from those that lived outside the employee-mindset, things got tremendously easier for me. Sure, the learning curve is challenging and the changes online fly at me each day at an amazing rate, but that is not the hard part.

The hard part, for me, was learning to change my mindset to accept that this is what it’s like to be a business owner. That change in mindset was freeing… empowering even… and things suddenly became much easier.

What do you find to be the most difficult thing about affiliate marketing? What changes did you make to overcome it? Share in the comments below.

Jennifer Ledbetter

What does it take to do affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a low-cost way for merchants to build awareness and showcase their products and services. The model is simple; it works as a commission-based referral system. A partner or affiliate markets a merchant's products for a "piece of the pie."

Affiliate marketing experts often make an income that can tally over five figures per month, however only 1 to 5% of thousands of marketers achieve this level. When an affiliate reaches this elite level they are often referred to as a "super" affiliate.

How does one become a super affiliate? Can anyone do it? Super affiliates have common tactics that they embrace and put into place. Anyone can become a super affiliate, but it will not come without blood, sweat, and a hefty time commitment. The typical super affiliate possesses the following traits:

• Persistence
• Patience
• Thirst for Knowledge

These three traits combined with the following strategy gives you the formula for the makings of a "super" affiliate.

1. Find a Unique Niche
   The mistake that many affiliate marketing hopefuls have in common is that they try to offer everything under the sun rather than focusing on a specific niche market. Do not scatter your efforts, focus on your niche, promote it, and sell it well.
2. Search Engine Marketing
   Once you've built your affiliate storehouse you will need to promote it. Many affiliates use pay-per-click engines. I suggest that you learn how to achieve organic search results or hire a search engine marketing company. This will save you from spending all your profits on pay-per-click engines. Only use pay-per-click engines if you know what you are doing, otherwise all your profits may end in the hands of Google Adwords or Overture.
3. Know Your Product, Know Your Audience
   Create a resource. By taking the time to learn about the products and/or services that you are offering you can create information that builds your credibility. That credibility builds trust. If your viewers do not have trust in you more than likely they will not purchase from your storehouse. If you want more information on the psychological process that an online buyer goes through I suggest that you read my article on the Five Levels of Internet Marketing and the Sales Process. This will help you in creating a web site that converts well, which in return will increase your cash flow.
4. Don't Put All Your Eggs in One Basket
   Promote products from different merchants. This way if you have a problem with receiving payment from a merchant, or their products do not convert well the effects on your business will be minimal. Watch out for exclusivity agreements; remember this is your business. Protect yourself and diversify so that you do not feel the famine effect if something goes wrong. There is absolutely nothing wrong with promoting niche products from different merchants.
5. Seek Knowledge and Embrace Change
   If you are familiar with Internet marketing at all you know that what worked three months ago may not work today. Stay on top of the trends. Seek knowledge, start by learning something new about affiliate marketing daily. For example remember those marketing tools called "banner" that use to drive sales at an astronomical rate a few years ago? Well those banners developed a term called "banner blindness." That means most online viewers will not click on banners even if they do pertain to what they are looking for. To be a "super" affiliate you must always spend time reading, learning, and embracing the changes in Internet marketing.
6. Don't Give Up
   It's hard to do, and most of the time those dabbling in affiliate marketing give up way too soon. Monitor your statistics, watch to see what is working and what is not. Make changes when necessary. Do one thing daily to promote your storehouse and be patient. Before you know it you will start getting payments.

Remember that it will not happen overnight. Encompass and develop the persistence, patience, and knowledge. Then follow the tactics I've mentioned above and you are on your way to becoming a "super" affiliate

Laura Lake

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Affiliate Marketing: How Long to Make Money? the truth

What Is Affiliate Marketing ?

What Is Affiliate Marketing – A Simple Definition

The easiest way to describe ‘Affiliate Marketing’ would be the following:

Affiliate Marketing is basically selling someone else’s products or services and then in return, you receiving a commission for doing so.

The concept of ‘Affiliate Marketing’, is that you get paid when you sell or promote someone else's product.

As I am sure you can imagine, this is a very attractive proposition for many people, especially if you have a blog but do not have any products or services of your own to sell.

Throughout this blog, we will be showing you the very basics of Affiliate Marketing and explaining how you can start your very own Affiliate Marketing blog from scratch, with very little money.

12 internet marketing myths and how to avoid them

You've read all about it.
 Working in Internet Marketing and having an online business so you can make money from home is the most promising thing you read about on the Web these days. There’s so much information on how to make it big out there, but what should you believe? What’s genuine, and what’s a scam? What is everyone saying, and how much of it is true? We've picked out the greatest myths about Internet Marketing that you’ll come across and analyzed them here.
And, the list goes to twelve.

1 – Having an online business is easy.

It’s strange how everyone thinks that Internet Marketing is the easiest thing around to do: it’s just like saying that winning in offline business is just as easy.
Of course, there’s a heavy dose of luck involved (just like in everything we do!) but it’s mostly hard work and precise strategic thinking that helps you get to the top.

2 – Internet marketing is free.

There are tons of freebies out there that will help you get started. These freebies can be free blogging services, free CMS templates, free stock photographs, free content, you name it. But have you ever seen any “serious” Internet Marketers working with free stuff? Check it out for yourself: we all tend to feel on the spot that a blog, business or online entity is more trustworthy when their owners have invested in a domain and email accounts. Plus, there are so many tools and services out there out there that are absolutely necessary for your online business to thrive, and they’re all too good to be free!

3 – Working in Internet marketing is too expensive

(the exact opposite). You don’t have to invest in absolutely everything out there. You can find hundreds of thousands of resources, from tutorials to web services to email marketing programs to paid seminars to templates – the list goes on and on. However, the prices on all these vary. If what you need boils down to creating, hosting and advertising a decent website for starters, you really won’t have to invest that much from the get go. You can check out our article on how much your blog will really cost to get an idea of what you’ll be looking at.

4 - You’ll have much more free time by working at home

making money online and being your own boss - you can put any amount of time in it you want. WHAT A LIE!! This is the reason for the exact opposite: Exactly because you work at home and you are your own boss, you have to put much more time into it. Productivity while working at home, may just be the hardest thing you've ever come across – even tougher than working for that old boss of yours! You’ll find that you’ll have to do your own research (and a bit of soul-searching) to find your own methods and times of working.

5 – Everything in Internet Marketing is a scam.

Yes, the market is crawling with Nigerians that want to scam you out of your hard-earned money. Yes, there are a lot of people selling sketchy products or using shady black-hat methods to steal your trust and your cash. But it’s not everything! With a bit of research, you’ll be able to find trustworthy products and services that will help you do exactly what you’d like to do with your online business. Plus, don’t think that the only way Internet Marketers make money online is through excessive spam or unorthodox methods. That’s not true! The most successful online businesses are perfectly legal, value-giving entities with products that help people in the best way. Not everyone’s a crook!

 6 – Creating and maintaining an online business is only for the tech savvy.

You don’t have to be an expert at anything to be great in your online business. There are myriad online tutorials and books to help you learn everything, from designing and creating a website, to advertising your valued content. I hardly knew how to handle a MacBook when I first started, and just look at me now! Besides, I still can’t code or program a darn thing besides my VCR! (And maybe my alarm clock.)

7 – Internet Marketing will help you make a ton of money in no time.

It’s guaranteed success… or not! Nothing in this world gives “guaranteed success.” Anyone that tells you that is flat out lying! The only thing that will guarantee you a level of success is your own hard work and methodical, strategic planning. That will definitely get you high, and the more hard (and correct!) work, the better!

8 – Spam is the way to go.

Tell everyone you know, your friends, your family, bug and spam everyone on your social networking list. What a mistake! If you alienate even your friends, no one will want to see the likes of anything you have to offer! The only way to bring followers onto your websites and your subscriptions is to offer quality content or products. Never send any unsolicited email, or anything that someone hasn't subscribed to. It’s a surefire way to never get ahead!

9 – I’ll just write about whatever the heck I like, whenever I like.

Here’s one myth we read on this great article on Internet Marketing Myths from The Rating Blog, with another touch to it. This will get you places if you’re very, very lucky, like a few people (see Maddox) but most likely, you’ll have to be really special for you to get anywhere without writing quality, proofread content. In order to maintain and grow a successful online business, you will have to provide your readers and subscribers with value and quality, frequently enough to keep their interest. You may write a great article or blog post at one point, but if you don’t keep it coming, you’ll lose more subscriptions than you gain.

10 –  I can't challenge the greats, so why should I even try?

No, you can't challenge the greats! You can’t battle Dell, or Google, or Digg. You can definitely try (the sky’s the limit!) but don’t expect to rank up top with the giants without some totally hard work and endless hours. However, this doesn't mean that you shouldn't even start because everyone’s doing it or done it before. In that case, no one would ever open a shop or become a doctor or lawyer – there are so many of them! As long as you have your passion and hard work, you can choose to do anything you like, no matter what the competition. Like we keep saying, what you need is strategy, research and an appetite for success!

11 – Anyone can succeed at Internet Marketing.

This isn't such a myth so much as just an unfinished sentence: anyone with a vision, passion and motivation for hard work can do it. If you’re not really into it, or just doing it for fun with no plan and no research, it’s likely that you won’t make it very far (you can always take luck into account, but it can’t be the only thing going for you!) You can’t go from zero to hero in a day with no effort. Keep trying, be hardworking and patient, and you’ll see success in your online presence! I’ll re-post a story from a forum I've read recently: There was a guy who created a thread saying something along the lines of: “Yay! I've just made my first dollar!” After some replies mocking the guy for just creating the thread for this “accomplishment”, one guy replied: “Why do you mock the guy? He’s done much better than the 99% of the other Internet Marketers around.” And this is true: only a very small percentage of people involved in Internet Marketing will actually make it into a business. It requires a lot of patience and time devoted to it, and most people seem to become discouraged after the first few months.

12 – More traffic means more money.

In the time of meta keywords, where you put all your keywords hidden on your front page (remember those?) Internet Marketers tried every way possible to bring hundreds – hundreds were a lot back then – visitors to their websites. This was successful, because there wasn't much competition for traffic back then. Now, users know for a fact that if a website dissatisfies them for a second, they can turn to thousands more. You can bring hundreds of thousands of people to your websites, without making a single sale! You need to gain your readers’ trust, and their purchases! You need to offer your readers quality products and content so you can successfully sell your stuff (or yourself) to them and gain profit.

These are just a few of the myths about Internet Marketing we hope we've debunked today. Have you any suggestions of how growing an online business can be misread? We’d love to hear about it