8 Affiliate Marketing Myths You Need to Know

What is Affiliate Marketing? If you have clicked on my blog then most probably you know the answer to this question but still here is a quick definition in my own words.

  Affiliate marketing is the most popular source of passive income. It is a form of marketing in which you act as an intermediate between seller and customer(whether it's me or you). You promote the product, service, e-book, software, etc. of the seller, and for generating each sale you earn a commission out of it.

  If you are an Affiliate Marketer then the most amazing thing for you would be a notification in the morning on your mobile phone 

                 
"You've got a new sale."

  and there's is nothing wrong with that. If done by right way and means, it can be a money-printing machine.

  
  But wait..., there are so many myths about it which you should be aware of. you might have heard about some of them.

      Wanna know them, so let's get started.

 MYTHS THAT MAKE YOU THINK IT IS TOO EASY

 #1. It's easy to make your first penny

       If you're thinking the same way about Affiliate Marketing then rethink about it after reading this blog. I'm sure it will make some difference.

     Affiliate Marketing needs a lot of work, hard work. There's a lot of competition out there, as almost each and every blogger or non-blogger is pushing their work in it. So you're not going to be bringing in some money immediately.

    Everyone like you and me supposes that we have to do is to just setup a site and choose a lucrative affiliate program,i.e., Clickbank, Shareasale, Jvzoo, Amazon, eBay, etc. and the links on as many platforms as possible and let it run its course.

   No, It's not gonna happen like that. Did you know that of all the people who try affiliate marketing, only around 3-4% make sales?

    I am not trying to demotivate you and saying you to put a full spot on your dream to earn from affiliate marketing. But what I am saying is before you even start an affiliate marketing business you need to accept that it could take up to a year to make a single dollar out of it. That depends on your consistency and hard work.

  So, Why people say that it is easy to earn by affiliate marketing?

  Let me explain it to you. By term 'easy' they and I mean by the same efforts required to pass the high school exams

  If you want your marketing strategy to work, you need to be familiarized with the process and put in immense efforts.

  You would be asking the reason for why I am saying so,

  Ok! let's suppose you visited an affiliate site and found a buy now or learn more about button. By that time you are not supposed to buy that certain product or service from the site you just visited until you are convinced by the authority of the site.

  Well, the same applies to your site visitors. You will need to monitor how many of your visitors are clicking the links of your affiliate programs and how many of those are actually following through to purchase. You will need to figure out who your audience is and what is working for making a purchase by them and what is not.

  So affiliate marketing is not an easy task. In order to be successful, you need to accept that there are no shortcuts. You have to work for it.

#2. The more visitors you get, the more you earn

  You don't need millions of visitors to make you a millionaire. You can make a million dollars just by 1000 hard fans(loyal fans). That's the truth about making money online.

  When I started my affiliate marketing business, I think more website traffic will lead to more money.

  But the truth is, out of thousands and millions of your website visitors mostly are just random visitors. Only a few of them can be your potential customers. Now what you have to do is to change these potential customers into your regular buyers by giving them the quality content they want so they become ready to buy from your links.

  In affiliate marketing, you need to aim to achieve a relevant number of quality visitors rather than a large number of uninterested visitors.

  The major issue online business face is conversions. There are several mediums you can use to get website traffic like Quora, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat etc. but when people come to your website, how certain are you that they will take the next step?

  So to generate conversions you need to do extensive research and figure out what your potential buyers want.

  The success of affiliate marketing depends on the ability to create recurring revenue in your business.

#3. It doesn't need any knowledge, learning and content marketing strategy

   Earlier in this blog, I have explained to you that you have to put the same efforts in affiliate marketing as for clearing the high school exams.

  In the exams, you don't get marks just for writing or filling your exam sheet. You need to learn and read the subjects thoroughly to get good grades.

  The same implies to affiliate marketing.

• What kind of affiliate programs gets success

• How to build up a relationship with the visitors?

• How to market properly and effectively to get visitors to attract to your affiliate programs?

  and many more.....

  You can't succeed if you don't know the basics.

  You should also know about the Content Marketing Strategy. You need to divide your strategy into three stages:

  ➝TOFU (Top of Funnel)

  ➝MOFU (Middle of Funnel)

  ➝BOFU (Bottom of Funnel)

                                                   (Source: Shopify)

 

  So if you want to succeed in affiliate marketing then you must have a strategy for each and every layer of the funnel.

  I will not go in deep of this strategy and will recommend you to check out this SHOPIFY'S BLOG about content marketing strategy after knowing all the myths about affiliate marketing. 

#4. It's a get rich quick method

  When I started my affiliate marketing business I thought it would be easy and fast to make money out of it. I thought what I have to do is just promote links of popular affiliate programs like Amazon, ClickBank, Jvzoo, etc. on as many platforms as I could like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. and even write

 • Blah! Blah! Honest review + bonuses

 • Top 10 Blah! Blah! 

 And in just a few hours or days I would be making a couple thousand of Dollars out of it.
 

But after that few hours and days passing I realize that it's not gonna happen and I want you to understand the same. It's not get rich quick scheme, but it can be a money-printing method by applying proper means of efforts, consistency and your valuable time(which you are investing right now reading this blog). 

   Remember affiliate marketing is not a means of success in short-run but in long-run the success is sure and will be yours. 

  In that long run:

 •You have to build trust with your visitors. 

 •You have to give out some really profitable  and helpful content to your visitors to make your site an authority in your niche. 

 •You have to make your own ecosystem, so when you are brought down in Google ranking due to change in its algorithm, still, you will be able to make the same money you were making before the change in algorithm. 

  

  So if you're going to start affiliate marketing, then be ready to put in some strong efforts for one or two years then only you'll be making a serious amount of money out of it. And by a serious amount of money I mean 5 to 6 figures of money. 

MYTHS THAT MAKE YOU THINK AFFILIATE MARKETING IS HARD

#1. Affiliate marketing is R.I.P. and strategy of Yesterday

 

  Due to Google's new algorithm for SEO, link building is becoming outdated which can discourage affiliate activity. Even if this is the case, there are many new ways to use SEO and build your brand. 

  You might come across a couple of links probably with Google if you are not managing your program, but for the most part the the entire notion of affiliate marketing still makes sense to Google- it was other relevant and related resources to consumers. 

  Here is some data the shows affiliate marketing is not R.I.P. and is on Boom

a) Fast growth with no signs of stopping! 

     Affiliate marketing spending is bound to grow by 10% in the next few years 

(Source: Business Insider) 

b) Affiliate marketing is a global industry worth over $12 million

     In 2017 it was over $12 billion with the US and the EU you leading the way. The AM sector is growing rapidly. 

(Source: IAB) 

c) 81 of brands rely on affiliate programs

    Almost every popular brands and publisher like affiliate marketing as it involves very small investment and about 25-30% sales of these brands and publishers are due to affiliates like you and me. 

(Source: MediaKix)

d) The rise of mobile in affiliate marketing

    Affiliate marketing spending on smartphones has increased by 50% in 2019-2020.

    

    So never think that affiliate marketing is going to be outdated ever as more and more brands and publishers will rise more niche will be created to explore and make money. 

#2. You need to choose a popular niche to make some serious money and all profitable niches are already taken

  It is true that popular niches do better with affiliate marketing, but that doesn't mean you do not have a chance at success. Stay in line with your goal and mission statement of your company (individual) and find affiliates who understand the relevance of working in a market where you are comfortable.

  

  As I have mentioned earlier as more and more brands and publisher will come into the digital marketplace, more niche will be created to explore and make money. 

  

  Understanding your competition is the key to getting ahead. In some cases looking at how you fit in the industry gives a dose of motivation.

  

  Fortunately, the internet has tons of data about affiliate marketers. So don't forget to check those out.

#3. You need a website or blog to start affiliate marketing

           But in reality, you don't need 

  Having a website is not mandatory, what is necessary is you promoting the product or service according to the terms and conditions of the creator. 

  

  Usually, most of the people who start affiliate marketing follow the path of creating a website or blog to communicate with the targeted audience and showcase their product and service......  and then wait for traffic, clients, and sales.

  But what if you don't need a blog or website for affiliate marketing.

  Now you would be asking, "If so, then how will we get our targeted audience?" 

  

  Be active on social media platforms like Quora, Facebook, LinkedIn and follow the groups related to your business. You can share tips and tricks related to your niche to build more contacts.

  When you give value to your targeted audience consistently, people will surely notice and follow you.

  Remember money is on the list, not on the website or blog. Try collecting e-mail addresses of your target audience in exchange for valuable resources you provide to them.

  Here are some of the services you can use to collect emails: Leadpages, Instapages to create professional-looking landing pages and send people to those pages to collect leads(e-mails). Here you are not using a website or blog but using a third-party service to collect leads.

  

  Here are some of the ways you can use to collect leads:

a) E-books: The process of creating one might take a bit of time, but if you create a successful e-book then its result is quite significant and long-lasting.

  You can even combine e-mail campaigning and creating e-book by emailing your audience the e-book(s) you make.

b) YouTube Videos: Time consuming, but effective. If you are someone who loves making films and videos then you would surely love to make some money while doing something you are passionate about.

c) Facebook and Instagram: I don't think there is any need to tell you about this platform as these are the world-famous platforms you can use to connect with more and more people.

d) Forums/Online communities: Medium, Warrior, and Reddit are some of the online communities you can join related to your niche.

  I hope you understand that website or blog is not essential for affiliate marketing.

#4. You need to be an expert in your niche

  Just remember experts are not born, they are made with patience, perseverance and passion to learn new strategies.

  Affiliate marketing is all about finding the right offers to promote to your targeted audience.

  

  You don't have to be smart to successfully make money with affiliate marketing. As long as you have a passion to succeed in this field, you can always take up affiliate marketing.

AT LAST:

  A successful person is always passionate about his dreams and don't care about the myths and talks which try to stop him and I am sure you're the same successful person.