There are a number of affiliate marketing problems which come to light once you have had a good crack of the whip and tried out affiliate marketing for some time. Those who make a living from it are a small percentage of those who have tried it. It is possible to earn a living from affiliate marketing but you need to persevere and treat it as a business and not a ‘get rich quick’ scheme. Here are some of the problems I have encountered over the last few years as an affiliate marketer. Anwering your own affiliate marketing problems will better prepare you to answer those of your potential customers, so see problems as a good thing!
Affiliate Marketing Problems – Cash Flow
If cash flow is an issue you can concentrate on content creation although this can take some time. For me, I learned a lot of skills but my time was being wasted and no sooner had a ‘work online’ course come out, the ideas in it fast became obsolete. Many of the courses I took relied on ranking websites on Google and of course this is now harder than ever, even with great content. See How to market your website for free and How to generate lead for free if you are on a tight budget. However, by learning how to generate content which Google will rank, I managed to develop some momentum through blogging. You can see my main strategy in my ebook Niche Blogging For Profit.
Shiny Object Syndrome
Shiny object syndrome is the tendance to look for ‘something better’ on a constant basis! I would persevere for a few months with one idea and, with a lack of tangible results I would look for the next ‘shiny object’. There are literally thousands of empty promises online of a better life with this new system which offers ‘instant’ cash flow.
Being distracted continually by the next course and then the next one keeps you from making consistent effort in a single direction. Your energy is dispersed by always changing tact and this stops your progression. You need to persevere in a single direction and stay on the path until you see results. Find a mentor and stick to a path, with consistent effort until you see results. This is a major issue for many would-be affiliates and one of the top affiliate marketing problems which new affiliates face.
Giving Up Too Easily
At one point I had around 100 websites all with affiliate products on them after following a system which taught how to rank sites and make money through collecting emails. Unfortunately for me, none of my websites ranked at all on Google and so I got no traffic. Rather than giving up I used the experience to be my teacher and get a better understanding of how an internet business really works.
Don’t expect it to be easy and keep working on your self. Failure is not an option! The problem I faced was a strategy based on ranking on Google. Don’t base your entire business on Google’s organic rankings formula. Instead focus on getting traffic from a variety of sources: social media, email, organic and paid traffic. That way if one source dries up or Google change their algorithm overnight (which they are known to have done) you aren’t wiped out as a result.
Expectation Of Easy and Fast Success
When you expect too much from your internet business without putting in the effort required, you will always be disappointed. Don’t expect an overnight success. An internet business is like any other business and isn’t easy. You need to work hard at learning and implementing what you have learned. If you don’t have the results you want take steps to understand what you need to do differently. Get a strategy and stick to it for the long haul but keep fine tuning it and analyse what works and what doesn’t.
There are many great things about an internet business. You can sell digital products almost on autopilot. Once all systems are in place your primary concern is traffic generation. As things get moving you can see things change dramatically. However, you still need to put in the effort to learn and get things going. The time this takes is different for everyone depending on the route they take. Expect to work hard at your affilaite marketing business before you see any results and you can eliminate a lot of affiliate marketing problems from the outset.
Resting On Your Laurels
To ‘rest on your laurels‘ means that you get lazy or complacent about what you could achieve because you’re too busy basking in the memories of your early success! A couple of affiliate sales doesn’t amount to an online business. You need to keep working hard on your business for it to work for you.
Don’t assume you have cracked it with a couple of sales. Plough your cash back into making consistent sales and building a long term sustainable income from the internet. I fell for this too when I thought I had ‘made it’ once I made a couple of high ticket sales. But you can’t build a life on one or two sales no matter how big they are.
Use any sales commissions to build your business up by ploughing it back into the business. Consistant sales means you can increase your advertising budget and scale up. But if you spend what little you earn as soon as you earn it you’ll soon be back to where you started.
Avoid resting on your laurels and focus on continually building your internet business. You can eliminate a number of affiliate marketing problems if you don’t assume you have ‘arrived’ after small successes.
No Traffic To Your Blog
This is probably one of the biggest affiliate marketing problems. You follow a course of action full of enthusiasm, and even build a website and learn how to create affiliate links. It’s all quite good fun for a while and then it hits you – several months have passed and you haven’t made any money. In fact, you have only spent money and a lot of time, and you seem no closer to achieving your goal.
The truth is, there is a lot to learn and it will take some time to learn even just the basic skills for affiliate marketing. Once you know them you need to keep momentum up and keep moving forwards. Knowing is not enough. Don’t get stuck in ‘education’ mode. Remember that learning is not the same a doing, and doing is not success in itself.
Not Setting Goals
As an affiliate marketer you need to set goals for your business. It can be very easy to get lost and end up browsing the internet and watching videos without actually implementing anything that you have learned. Don’t be a ‘busy fool’ and make sure you are spending 80% of your time on money producing activities and 20% on learning once you have a direction.
Not setting goals is one of the biggest affiliate marketing problems. Without a goal you can end up wandering around just doing the most enjoyable activities online. Focus on money producing activities and focus on generating traffic, leads and then sales. Set clear intentions for what you want to achieve and when you want to achieve it by. Otherwise time will slip away and you will find you have been wasting it on unproductive activities.
Not Having A Clear Path
To set goals you need to have a direction and purpose for your business. Making money is not always a good enough target to motivate you. You need to make sure your goals are in line with your values otherwise you will end up sabotaging yourself somewhere down the line. See “How to get lots of money for anything fast” to align your subconscious and conscience mind for setting and achieving goals fast. This book is a must have for any affiliate marketer. It helps you  focus on what you want and clear any conflicting desires or alternative negative beliefs.
Not Having A Mentor/Community
Having an internet business can be a lonely pursuit and it’s easy to drift off the path with self doubt, uncertainty and insecurity. Having a mentor and being part of a community can help immensely with the purpose and direction of your internet business. Many affiliates choose affiliate marketing simply because they work well on their own and want to have a flexible job and no boss. Also many affiliate marketing problems can be solved by searching forums, YouTube and Google for answers. However, it’s also nice to have a ‘go to’ community you can pose questions to when you’re having difficulties. Access a community and mentor for your affiliate business here.
Not Taking The Right Actions Consistently
You might do some of the right things to build your business before getting bored and looking for something new. (This comes back for shiny object syndrome). However, you need to take constant and consistent actions which bring in sales consistently over the long term. Knowing the best actions to take and taking them consistently over the long term will bring you the greatest success in your online business. Get an online education and make sure you know (and not just think you know) the best direction for the fastest results.
Not Understanding Affiliate Marketing Properly
Another one of the many affiliate marketing problems which affiliates face is taking the wrong actions and neglecting to educate themselves. Unless you understand what your main problem is you won’t focus on the right activities. Are you working for financial freedom or keeping busy to distract yourself? If you keep doing the same things but aren’t getting anywhere you need to stop and focus on what your business needs.
Are you short of traffic to your website? Is your opt-in rate too low. Are you making any sales through your sales funnel? If not why not? Are you giving value to your list? Asking and answering your own best questions will lead you to affilaite marketing success. Providing you do it for long enough and keep at it. It’s a business like any other, even though it has many advantages. You need to learn how to work on your self and on your business.
Develop The Owner Not Just The Business
Working on your business can be a labour of love for many affiliates. However, if you treat your business as a hobby it will reward you with ‘hobby’ money. Treat it as a serious business and you can make some serious money. Unless you continue to develop yourself, not just your business, you can find yourself working hard for little reward. Make sure you focus on the right activities, not just the ones which you prefer. Focus on money producing activities and don’t be a ‘busy fool’.
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