Affiliate Marketing is Hard
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Q: I have been trying the affiliate thing for about six months now, and I am not seeing any kind of progress. And I have this fear that I am going to be stagnant and never really break out and make some more money to really support myself. Should I give up?
A: I hear this a lot, and the problem is that some people perpetuate affiliate marketing as being an easy route to riches.
The reality is that it is not. Affiliate marketing requires a lot of time with the learning curve and testing, as well as a financial investment for anybody hoping to see a grow their business quickly.
So, I guess it depends on your level of passion for it.
Are you doing something in this space that really matters to you, and you want to continue with it, or is it something where you are unsure about your future plans?
I think you really have to have it in your heart that you want to succeed as an affiliate.
Let me share a little story with you about following your passion.
My father often told me a story about how when he was younger, he wanted to go into advertising. He had a statistical background, but wanted to get into something more creative.
However the more interesting job paid poorly, and he went with the stable, boring job.
This decision haunted him for years… decades. He often wondered what if he had taken that job in advertising and done something where he had a passion.
Instead, he worked many of his years for the Federal government in a bland 9-5 day. He started counting down the days to retirement many years out, because he couldn’t stand the doldrums of his work.
And then, with about seven months to go before retirement, he passed away.
All of that time and regret that was supposed to result in a happy ending… well, it didn’t.
That had a great impact on me and pushed me to focus on doing work that was fun to me – essentially stuff that didn’t feel like work.
It can be scary and hard to go out on a limb and take that risk, but you’ve got to do it if you want to work on your terms.
As Bob Marley once sang, “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery.”
It’s not easy by any means, but if you find your place as an affiliate and you really enjoy what you are doing, it will be so fulfilling.
This all reminds me of the keynote address by Jim Bouton at Affiliate Summit 2006 East.
If you’re note familiar with Mr. Bouton, he’s a former New York Yankee, best-selling author, and the inventor of Big League Chew.
I stumbled on to the secret of success, and that is persistence.
I just kept going out for the team anyway, even though I wasn’t successful.
Every summer out there playing ball. Persistence… persistence was the key.
You don’t have to be educated, you don’t have to be talented, you don’t have to be rich, you don’t have to be lucky – it’s available to anyone.
I’m convinced most people don’t fail, they simply stop trying.
So ultimately, I would say you should not fear tomorrow, but rather embrace it and own it.
If you want to be an affiliate, then just make it happen.
Work a little harder, put a little more into it, and focus on something you care about, and it will happen for you.
Just be persistent.
- Posted in Ask Shawn Collins
14 Comments
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On June 25 @ 10:10 am posted[...] Affiliate Marketing is Hard – Shawn Collins has some helpful words for those who fear failing in the affiliate marketing industry [...]
This is a motivational read. Thanks Shawn.
reply to this commentShawn, great story. Passion is everything. If you don't have passion and persistence you will not succeed.
reply to this commentGreat post and I agree that you should follow your passion but what if your passions don't equate to profitable niches? For example, I'm very passionate about politics but I'm probably not going to make that much money as an affiliate pursuing my passion of politics.
Therein lies the problem…what if the things you are passionate about aren't profitable in the affiliate arena?
And the other question I have is, if a person pursues only their passions, then they'd probably have very few websites – unless of course they are passionate about a variety of things! It seem to me all these affiliate gurus have numerous websites. Are they all passionate about them or are they just pursuing niches where there is money to be made?
I struggle with this dilemma all the time – do you pursue your passion (no matter how little money there might be) or do you pursue niches where there is money to be had regardless of your passions?
Travis
reply to this commentHi Travis -
I think you underestimate the potential in political cash. In between elections, it's quiet, but right now, you could do rather well with politically themed offers from places like Sticker Giant and CafePress, as well as Google AdSense and BlogAds.
I have a growing political blog and I am seeing it work nicely first hand. And we've got another 5 escalating months of traffic to come.
As far as your other question, most of those “gurus” are fakes. The genuine ones are chasing trends – that could be interesting, but to me, it's not fun.
Also, test a lot of things and try going against convention.
For instance, just because you have a political site doesn't mean you have to focus solely on political offers.
Work your demographic – depending on your angle and content, you could do well with financial offers, luxury items, etc.
reply to this commentYou need not to give up I tried it for three years from my country and it was so difficult.
Because we have no credit Card or debit card then. So I have to use virtual card purchase from the USA and I persisted because I know when the clouds are thick it will surely rain, so I keep on refining my ad suddenly I got it right then came in google stoped my ad and said I should go to adword learning centre.
But I know that they news about affiliate marketing is through so I persist, many company in CJ refuse giving me link because of the reputation my country had online but I refuse to give up because I know am on the right cause and in me I knew I was genue so I persist each month I renew my internet connection pay for antivirous and many others but I know am pursing I right cause but today this story has changed.
martin
reply to this commentWhat a story!
And this is the story of so many others!
Affiliate marketing is by no means easy… and what often leads you to fail (or stop trying) is that fear. It is really so important to have a passion for what you do – no matter what it is! If you’re enjoying yourself, why would you want to stop or give up? Passion for something ultimately leads you to be persistent and persistence will get you results.
reply to this commentWow…great read Shawn. I really can relate to it!
reply to this commentShawn:
You bring up a point I never thought about before – using demographics to my advantage. It never dawned on me that I could promote products/services NOT related to politics…duh!
This gives me some hope and a renewed energy to maybe finally pursue what I'm really interested in. Thanks!
Travis
reply to this commentWow great story, sorry to hear about his passing.
reply to this commentShawn: Very true message and well put. “Persistence”. Too many people do think that affiliate marketing is slapping up a mini-site, writing a little copy about a product, and then somehow magically the sales will roll in. If it were only that easy, I'd be a millionaire many times over by now!
reply to this commentThis is very inspiring. Thanks a lot!
reply to this commentThis keeps enthu.. HIGH.
reply to this commentThis keeps enthu.. HIGH.
reply to this comment