Affiliate marketers are easily distracted. It’s not a big deal when they’re just experimenting — it doesn’t cost them much time and effort to sprinkle some affiliate links on their pages. The danger comes when they approach it more seriously and start spending money (on pay-per-click ads, typically) to promote affiliate products. The problem: lack of focus.
Distracted Marketers
The typical affiliate marketer is a distracted marketer. Their inbox overflows with messages from other Internet marketers promoting new money-making products and joint ventures. Those Internet marketers know that the distracted marketer is a prime mark, because he or she buys products and services based on hope — the hope of making money. They understand the reseller meta-market and know how to play off that hope.
The distracted marketer is, unfortunately, a poor marketer. Poor in both senses of the word, as in not a good marketer and not a rich marketer. And it’s not through lack of trying. It’s through lack of focus.
The Successful Internet Marketing System
Affiliate marketers are presented with new Internet marketing systems on at least a monthly basis, each claiming to be the “Next Big Thing” (NBT) in online selling. None of them work, however, without focus.
Let’s look at Affiliate “Project X” as an example. APX (as it is known) presents six different methods for making money by promoting ClickBank products. But only a foolish person would try to implement all six methods at the same time. Instead, the smart affiliate reads the e-book (at least twice — it’s a dense, though-provoking read) and then selects a method to follow. Once the decision is made, the affiliate must focus on nothing else. Or else no money will be made.
For example, let’s say an affiliate decides to follow APX’s “Workhorse” method. The simple way to describe this method is “write and submit articles that promote affiliate products”. But that simple description is deceiving, because it doesn’t really capture all the work required to be successful with article-based affiliate marketing. The APX author describes the “Workhorse” method as being “idiot-proof”, but only if the “idiot” follows these exact steps:
- Find promising ClickBank products to promote.
- Do keyword research around those products.
- Filter the list of keywords to drop the duds.
- Write articles around those keywords, with affiliate links (usually cloaked) embedded either in the articles or (most often) in their resources boxes.
- Submit the articles to a select few sites. (APX recommends three sites specifically.)
- Repeat ad infinitum.
Each step takes time, especially if done manually. (Hence the popularity of tools like Keyword Elite.) The first two steps also tend to be particularly distracting as you come across interesting products and keywords. Writing good articles takes effort and often seems very daunting. And, of course, you won’t see any fruit from all this labor for a good while, at least a month or two. It’s no wonder that many affiliate marketers abandon the process when they’re only partway through it, distracted by the latest trendy system for making money.
Follow Nike’s Advice
Really, the path to affiliate success is quite simple. All you have to do is follow the Nike Rule: just do it. Find an Internet marketing system you’re comfortable with and stick to it. (APX is one place to start; affiliate marketing newbies who prefer videos may find Dominating CB easier to digest, though not nearly as thought-provoking as APX.) Unsubscribe from all your mailing lists if you have to, but don’t let yourself get distracted by new opportunities, not until you’ve given your chosen method the full attention it deserves and have truly determined if it works for you. Don’t go fishing elsewhere until you’ve exercised the system to its fullest. Otherwise you’re just wasting your money.
Read Eric Giguere’s GeekAffiliate blog for insightful essays and product reviews on all aspects of online marketing. Be sure to check out his award-nominated AdSense blog.
Technorati Tags: affiliate marketing, Internet marketing, online marketing, Nike, ClickBank, Affiliate Project X, focus
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