The BIG Problem With Affiliate MarketingAnd how to overcome it…
Affiliate marketing is where ordinary people can sign up to a company’s partner (affiliate) program and earn commissions promoting their products.
Amazon’s Associate Program is probably the biggest example. Anyone can join and promote just about anything Amazon sell and earn commission.
Pretty sweet right?
Consider the fact that most large companies have an affiliate program and you can start to see the potential.
The formula for success is simple too…
TRAFFIC (people) + CONVERSION (the percentage of people that buy) = AFFILIATE COMMISSION 🙂
You can tell there’s a BUT coming…
BUT (you were right)…
Most people that try this super simple way to earn extra money…
FAIL!
Why Do People Fail At Affiliate Marketing When It’s Such A Simple Model?
Before going on let me suggest you confirm for yourself that most beginners fail.
By simply searching “what percentage of people fail at affiliate marketing” Google responded with 95% FAIL and an excellent article which you can read here (I’ll wait)…
Let’s break down the formula…
Traffic is marketing speak for people that are looking for a RESULT. Nobody wants products they want what the product gets them…
You don’t want a ‘drill’ you want a hole in the wall to ________ .
You don’t want a course on affiliate marketing you want a way to earn an extra $500 /month to get you your dream car / house payment / holiday etc.
And you find these people using either FREE methods or PAID methods.
FREE Traffic Methods are called free because you don’t pay for them. But they do take TIME…
Usually a lot of time. If the saying that time is money is correct then free traffic methods are not really free?
PAID traffic Methods or advertising. You pay money upfront to get people to look at the affiliate product you’re promoting hoping to make more in commission than you spend.
Conversion is the percentage of the people you send to see the offer that end up buying.
Obviously the higher the conversion percentage the better right?
The amount of commission is also important. Earning $30 if the conversion is 1% is OK if you can get the traffic free or under .30 cents per visitor (your breakeven point).
Also earning $10 is OK if the conversion percentage is over 10% and the cost under $1 per visitor.
In my opinion most people fail at affiliate marketing because building free traffic takes too long, and paid traffic sources are too expensive to be profitable.
And this is because affiliate marketing attracts millions of people looking to profit. Meaning its SUPER COMPETITIVE.
So get your coat and close the door on the way out…
Hold on.
There is a way.
In fact there are quite a few.
As Tony Robbins suggests…
“If you want a specific result find somebody that’s doing it and model them”, though I’m sure Tony said it in a cool way.
But I took Tony’s advice.
How You Can Do Affiliate Marketing PROFITABLY Even If You’re A Beginner
This is my adaption of the PROVEN method I was taught by the people I modelled.
Done right affiliate marketing takes some skillz
Which take time to learn.
I highly recommend you skill up, but when starting out it is possible to fit some training wheels to our affiliate marketing bike?
So we learn the ropes…
Profitably – right?
This is what swung the pendulum my way and should work for you too…
So my ‘niche’ is helping people like I was a few years ago, people looking to earn extra money through affiliate marketing without the time to do all the ‘content marketing’ stuff to attract free visitors and with a limited budget to spend on paid advertising.
If this sounds like you…
The game-changer was discovering what I call ‘Ultimate’ affiliate programs because they do 3 CRITICAL things…
- They get people the RESULT they’re looking for. They WORK. Happy customers 🙂
- They pay you the affiliate potentially LIFETIME affiliate commissions. Which can build steadily over time to become your financial foundation to support whatever it is you want.
- They do ALL the follow up marketing for you. There’s a reason why marketers say “the fortune is in the follow up”. This is huge because it frees you to concentrate on the one task needed for success; …finding more people that want the result (traffic generation).
One problem…
They’re really hard to find.
The White Rhino of affiliate programs.
So far I’ve only found two and some pretenders…
Click here so see them, but please be quiet they spook easily >>>
Thank you so much for pointing us to such a beautiful article .I’ve been working at Affiliate Marketing Place for quite some time .I resent I have encountered a problem I could not solve and I was failing to achieve my goal .But after reading your article I found a way to solve my problem .I expect these traffic to overcompensate and succeed .
Thank you for this interesting post on affiliate marketing and the challenge for those new to this space to tease out the good from the bad. Nice job with your layout and story telling too. I agree that at face value Affiliate Marketing can appear super simple to the uninitiated, and in a certain way the business model.
But the challenge is to master those “master” those simple steps of finding the right affiliate products to promote to the right audience and having the patience and perseverance or marketing resources to find that audience.
Cheers
Rui
Hi Rui, thanks for commenting.
For me, things changed when I found what I call Ultimate affiliate programs because they do so much for their affiliates.
The term Affiliate Ecosystem was new to me, but does a nice job of explaining some pretty cool affiliate features.
Great post! You’ve got a lot of good info and helpful tips here. Just what I needed. I’m starting out in affiliate marketing and as you mentioned, it takes TIME, especially if you’re on a budget. There’s a lot of stuff to learn.
This is the first I’ve heard about the “lifetime affiliate commission”—which sounds pretty cool. I’ll be on the lookout for more “ultimate” affiliate programs.
Thanks for the article!
Yes, ideally you want lifetime affiliate commissions and if possible a way that builds these from multiple companies so you’re never dependant on any one company.
You might like this article on affiliate ecosystems that do this…
Thanks for visiting Anna 🙂
Hi
Thanks for this inspiring and helpful post.
Affiliate marketing is the best and seems to be the easiest way (as you described it) to make money online, and thousands of people are entering into this venture every day.
But according to statistics, 95% of affiliate marketers fail for some reasons you mentioned here.
And I agree with you and with Tony Robbins because the best way to shorten the time to succeed in whatever field we work in is to find someone who has already made the path we’re on and follow their steps. In other words, find a mentor.
I will be looking to put this advice into practice in my business.
Blessings!!
I am brand new to affiliate marketing, and I found this article very helpful. You broke it down into a simple, easy to understand formula. The Tony Robbins quote Is perfect for this article. You highlighted how tough the market is, and your stat that 95% will fail is eye opening. I agree, it does take time. Sometimes too long. I have found an affiliate program that so far has been great for me. Thanks for the article.
Thanks Jim, I’m glad to hear you’ve found a great affiliate program that’s working well for you 🙂
Affiliate marketing sounds really easy and it is. You simply look for a company/platform which offers an affiliate program, you sign up, get your affiliate link and that’s it! Easy as 1,2,3. The dilemma and why most people fail is because not everyone that’s currently on the internet is here to buy something. Of course, a big percent are buying but another huge percent aren’t. Websites may be getting traffic but if the traffic doesn’t convert then it’s sometimes hard to follow the same path that has lead you nowhere. Affiliate marketing is not as easy as people make it seem like it is.
My luck changed when I promoted what I call ‘Ultimate’ level affiliate programs because they are proven to work for people. Happy customers help conversion so if you can combine a program that delivers happy customers AND multiple income sources over a potentially long term your chances for success get a whole lot better 🙂
>>” >Check out my case study here >>>
Affiliate marketing is easy if one knows the best approach to practising it. I must confess that I love every bit of details made available here concerning affiliate marketing and how to be really successful at it. Getting the traffic and getting them less than every amount gotten on them is what truly make profitability awesome. Thanks for sharing here
Just loved this post. I read the links and it made me more aware over why 95% of people fail at affiliate marketing. It was then great to continue reading your post and have your excellent advice on the next step to up my game with Ultimate Affiliate.
You’ve given me much food for thought with this excellent post. Thanks.
Lily
Thanks Lily 🙂
Picking proven to work products that aid the growth of recurring income streams from multiple companies has really helped me.
Thanks for visiting Lily.