You'll NEVER Make it as an Affiliate IF...

[Linda Buquet]

What are some of the main reasons affiliates fail and how can you avoid them?

I often talk about the POSITIVE traits necessary to achieve affiliate marketing success. Well following are some of the NEGATIVE traits that cause many affiliates to fail in our business. The 1st concept is pretty interesting if you really think about it.

We've all heard the saying "Do what you love and the money will follow!" Below you will read thoughts from a super affiliate and an affiliate manager that are telling you the same principle applies to affiliate marketing. Too often affiliates get into the game simply for the money. They go after markets they think will bring them big money and fail due to too much competition. They are lured by big money and end up using gray or black hat marketing methods that sometimes cause short term gain but are not sustainable long term. ScreenGlare makes some great points below.

Why YOU Will Never Succeed at Affiliate Marketing "Let’s face it, most people get into affiliate marketing thinking they are going to get rich quick!

You want to become an affiliate to make money, not to fulfill a need of “users”. Everyone wants to make money, but if you decide to become an affiliate solely based on the pursuit of money, it will show early and you will not last long. Create something that users will find useful, learn how to sell through the site, and you will be well on your way to making big money."

So What Is An Affiliate To Do? ScreenGlare goes on to other good points about some of the main reasons affiliates fail and how to avoid them.
Here’s Why YOU Will Never Succeed at Affiliate Marketing...

Lisa Irby at the 5 Star affiliate forum says: "Another problem is that people spend so much time searching for the money instead of relying on their passion to lead them in the right direction. What they don't realize, if they choose a niche they truly love then their passion for the subject will drive them in the right direction. Suddenly it doesn't seem like work... you end up making money and having fun. That's what happened to me."

Lisa says: "Affiliate marketing doesn't seem like a job. I just find topics I enjoy that help people and then the money just comes as a result of doing what I enjoy."

[yanbiz]

Hi Linda,

The pursuit of money is something because we all want it. That brings me to the WHY we want to make money, what would we do with all this money?

True wealth in life is about every aspect of our life and money is only one of them. Did you know that less than 5% of people who win the lottery are not happier or better in life after their millions?

Affiliate marketing business is something that needs to be earned and it's only with consistent efforts, actions and some sort of sacrifice that you will truly enjoy your haverst. It's like everyhing in life, you really enjoy when you made an effort and unfortunately in our North American society, everything is sold to be effortless and immediate. The high failure rate in this business is probaly a reflection of this mindset spreaded in our society and broadcasted in our medias. It's a personal observation only.

People are sometimes more confortable in mediocrity (even if they complain) than in success because it's all that they know. To become successfull can sometimes be unconfortable because we step out of our confort zone and because we are not educated this way.

[Linda Buquet]

yanbiz,

So very true! Interesting point about lotto winners not being happier after they get lots of money.

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on this!

[rlitton]

It is hard to hang in there when you work hard everyday at trying to make money and you have not been able to break through yet. I am being patient and I keep trying, I can't seem to find my way in this online business world.
But anything worth having is worth working for.

[Linda Buquet]

"But anything worth having is worth working for."

That's true so keep trying, rlitton.

Think of it this way... (new analogy I've never tried before.)

Let's take a simple minimum wage job that's considered easy enough high school kids do it all the time. Working at McDonalds.

Imagine if someone put you to work there, all by yourself with no training, no boss, no inventory, no money in the register. No NOTHING, just you.

You have to figure out how to make burgers and how to advertise. You have to find a way to get money in the til so you can make change. You need to learn how to run the shake machine and find out where to order the french frys from. You burn lots of frys, drop burgers and give people the wrong change. Because you had no training and are trying to learn it and do it it all by yourself.

I'm being kind of silly, but seriously you've had no training. How long do you think it would take you to learn that simple job ALL BY YOURSELF? You need to learn it all. Then you need to make mistakes and fail THEN you need to get back up and figure out how to do it better, until you make it. This biz is harder to learn than working at McDonalds.

Only the strong survive in our business...
Working alone, learning as you go...
Are you one of them?

Sounds like it to me!