Affiliate marketing is an exciting, dynamic and constantly evolving industry. It provides opportunities for beginning affiliates to make money online. In their eagerness to start making money,they make deadly mistakes. The purpose of this blog,” Affiliate Marketing Mistakes To Avoid,” is to provide you with practical things that you can do, that will help you avoid making such deadly mistakes. Here are some of the deadly mistakes:
Being A Sales Person Can Be A Mistake To Avoid
Some might not see anything wrong in trying to sell stuff to their audience. They might reason, is that not why I became an affiliate marketer, so that I can sell products and make money?
Yes, I do understand, that you want to make money, and we all do for that matter. But we want to do it, the right or correct way. And being a sales person is definitely not the right way to go about doing it.
Let me ask you this question, if you don’t mind. How will you feel, if a pushing sales person is always trying to get you to buy his products? I am sure you will become irritated, and you will do something to put an end to that burdensome, persistent and inconsiderate sales person won’t you agree?
So do you now see the reason, why it was stated that you should avoid being a sales person? It makes sense does it not?
Being a sales person can be detrimental to your success. Rather, you must be not a sales person, but a people person. A people person, always puts the needs of his target audience above his own desires. Have you heard of the expression customer first? That is what you need to do. A people person, will put the interest of his audience first, he sincerely wants to help them and is always driven to satisfy their needs.
Hence being a sales person can hurt your chance of success, but rather being a people person, can bring you success, because everything will fall in place nicely for you. So it is vital that you avoid the affiliate marketing mistake of being a sales person.
Publishing Mediocre Content Can Be A Mistake
You have no doubt heard of the expression content is king. That could be true to a certain degree. Because a bad or poorly written content, cannot be expected to be king. Rather, the content that is capable of being king is a well written content.
However, beginning affiliate marketers fail to take this point seriously. Instead of doing their best to write quality content, they resort in doing the opposite, writing poor quality content.
But maybe you might vehemently protest, that you are not a good writer, that you cannot spell or string few thoughts together.
Believe me, I do understand where you are coming from. But you want to make money online, is that not your desire? So do you then think that writing a poor quality content is going to make you money?
In fact, why do you think that most visitors to a website do not click on links they see? One reason is that the content is terrible , it is of poor quality.
I hope you are not getting discouraged, of what is being said.The intent is not to dampen your spirit or zeal for affiliate marketing. My intent of writing this blog, ” Affiliate Marketing Mistakes To Avoid,” is to help you to avoid the many mistakes the beginning affiliates make.
Instead of writing a poor quality or mediocre content, from now on, make it your resolve to start writing good quality content.
Can you do it? I have the utmost confidence that you can do it, if you set your mind to it. I have used in my blogs, the riding of a bicycle, to illustrate this point.
When first learning to ride a bicycle, you don’t automatically do it perfectly or correctly is that not true? It took you many many tries, before you were finally able to ride your bicycles flawlessly and independently, to your amazement and joy.
The same can be true of writing a good piece of content. It is going to take time and effort on your part. You are going to practice, practice and practice, until you get it right. Is it impossible? No it is not impossible. Is it possible? Yes it is possible.
What else is going to inspire you to write a good piece of content? It is love for people and a strong desire to help them. If you cultivate such love, you will do all you can to overcome any obstacles . Why? Because you want to help them.
Besides, you have tools available that you can use, to help you write good content. If for example you spell words incorrectly, or your grammar is wrong, these tools will make the necessary correction for you. What could be easier than this.
Still dear reader, if you are not sure of yourself, why not hire someone to write your content? Remember what we said about content? We said that content can only be king,if it is a quality content.
Affiliate marketing is a beautiful industry, but the competition is intense. In view of this, you should always strive to be the best. Strive to outperform the competition.
Ignoring Basic SEO Can Be A Mistake To Avoid
Another important item that affiliate marketers ignore when they come online, that has contributed to their quick demise, is ignoring SEO basics.
You have to accept this fact, that affiliate marketing without some knowledge of search engine optimization is a recipe for failure. Publishing high-quality content which was discussed in the preceding paragraphs, without proper on-page SEO is fruitless.
In view of this, you have to have knowledge of the basics, such as meta descriptions and title tags. What is a meta description? A meta description is an HTML element that provides a brief summary of a webs page. It is the snippet of text, often 160 characters long that appears below your page title in search engine result pages.
What is a title tag? A title tag is an HTML element which specifies the title of a web page. A page’s title tag is shown as part of the search snippet in a search engine.It appears as the clickable headline for the search result and it is important for user experience, SEO and social sharing.
You want to make sure then that these are correctly or properly written. These are basic affiliate marketing mistakes to avoid. What are the characteristics of a good meta description?
- Keep it up to 155 characters
- Use active voice and make it actionable
- Make it unique
- Include a call to action
- Use your focus keyword
Characteristics of a good title tag:
- Use no more than 66 characters
- Make sure your title tag accurately describes your page
- Put the keyword first
- Don’t forget to mention your brand name
Again, it is vital that you do not ignore the basics of SEO. Why? Because SEO makes it easier for search engines to understand your content and rank it properly.
Another basics of SEO that must not be ignored is keyword and keyword research. I know you might be getting apprehensive about all this SEO stuff. But really though there is no need for that. All that is required is that you have a basic understanding of it.
And you have platforms such as Jaaxy, which is an excellent keyword research tool, which will be of great help to you.
Again the point being made is that you cannot ignore the SEO basics, because your success as an affiliate marketer, depends on you having a basic knowledge of SEO.
Promoting Too Many Affiliate Programs
The reason why most new affiliates want to promote too many products, is the idea of generating multiple streams of income. And believe me there is nothing wrong with making money in multiple ways. In fact this method is recommended by successful people.
Besides, trying to make money with just one program or product can be risky as an affiliate marketer. So many things can happen. The program that you have spent much time, effort and resources to promote, might suddenly go out of business, and worst yet they might even steal your hard earned commission, and loose everything.
Have you heard of the expression, don’t put all your eggs in one basket? That is true to certain extent. If you put all your eggs in the same basket, and that basket drops, all your eggs will break, and you will loose all your nice investment.
So what is the moral of the story? Is that you should not promote just one affiliate program, but rather you should promote many instead of just one.
Here again , there is a need for caution. By saying that you have to promote many programs, does not mean that you have to go out and sign up for lots of affiliate programs so that you can promote them. That is one of the deadly mistakes that some beginning affiliate marketers are making. You have to be reasonable about this.
Promoting too many affiliate programs, cannot be a good business decision. Why is that so? The one who chases many rabbits at the same time will not catch any. To a certain degree it is true, because all the rabbits will be going in all different directions, this will prevent you from being focused and you will expend lots of energy, trying to catch all those rabbits. And of course you will end up catching non.
The same can also be true when you try to promote too many affiliate programs or products. And one thing that you must keep in mind, is that as an affiliate, you are obligated to really get to know your program or product. Deep or detailed knowledge of your program will enable you to answer questions about your program intelligently and write good and detailed content that will bring you good results.
In view of this, promoting too many programs can limit the time you spend on each program, so as to know the product in detail. In effect then promoting too many products, can cause you to be less focused, give yo only a superficial knowledge of the products, drains your energy and thus render you less effective. You will become the Jack of all trades and a master of none.
The wise thing to do therefore, is to promote few products, which are of high quality, and you have a better knowledge of.
Avoid Mistake Of Not Understanding Your Niche.
This is another deadly mistake made by beginning affiliate marketers. The truth of the matter is, you cannot be successful, if you do not know and understand your niche.
Don’t make the mistake, of choosing or operating in a broader market.You will face overwhelming competition. You will be less effective in such a market, and the inability to really get to know your audience.
Let me ask you this question, which is easier to maintain, the whole house or a room in the house?
No doubt you will say the room. And you are correct. So the narrower and more targeted your audience, the opportunity you have to really get to know and understand your audience. With an added advantage of being an authority in your particular niche.
You should not just base your criteria for selecting a good niche on interest and passion, but it must also be based on the profitability of the niche. You have to know the make-up of your audience: age, educational background, income level, habits and interest.
Also, what about the product you want to promote, is there a demand for it in that particular niche? Does this particular market or niche provide opportunities for future growth? What trends do you see, that might have a positive or negative impact on your chosen niche?
And there are tools and guides that will help you make an analyses, to determine whether a niche is profitable. The point being conveyed here, is that you should not make the mistake of not knowing and understanding your niche, this can be deadly affiliate marketing mistakes to avoid at all cost.
Avoid Mistake Of Not Collecting Customer’s Email
Here is again another deadly mistake that you must avoid at all cost. You cannot expect to be successful, and not utilize email marketing as part of your marketing strategies.
I am sure you have heard of the expression, the money is in the list, and that statement is true. Many of the successful marketers, are successful because they have built an email list. With that list, they can market to them year in and year out. generating large income from their list.
Unlike the social media followers, which belongs to the platforms and not to you, the list that you build actually belongs to you. So it is a valuable asset which must be cherish and respected.
In order to build a list, there are certain things you must do. You have to create an opt-in form on your website, write good quality content, and be willing to give your visitors something of value for their email address.
All email service providers such as:
All have features that will not only help you create your opt-in form, but also automate your email marketing campaigns. In view of this, email marketing is valuable for your success, is a deadly mistake not to use it to build your list.
Promoting Low-Quality Products Mistake To Avoid
With the eagerness to make quick money online, some resort to promoting any products, including products that are of low-quality. This too can be a deadly mistake. Promoting products of inferior quality, you risk loosing your trust worthiness, credibility and thus your reputation.
Hence before you do promote any product, it is vital that you do your due diligence. Check to see if the product is of high quality, and you might also want to check for the reputation of the vendor or manufacturer. It is imperative that you do your due diligence, because your own credibility and reputation is at risk.
So again, my advice, always strive to promote high instead of low-quality products. Products that will actually benefit customers, in this way you build trust, maintain your reputation and thus, repeat sales.
Being Impatient Is A Mistake You Must Avoid
Beginning affiliate marketers, have the mentality, that affiliate marketing is easy and a get quick rich scheme. If that is how you think, it is equally important that you change your way of thinking. Because this is not a business, where you are going to make tons of money overnight. It is a long term endeavor, that requires hard work.
If you have the mindset, that results are going to be instant, then you are setting yourself up for failure. Sadly though, many have done just that. So avoid their mistakes. Hence this blog.”Affiliate Marketing Mistakes To Avoid“wants you to have the proper and correct mindset, that it is a long journey, that the results are not going to be immediate, and that the desired results will come after working hard. So instead of being impatient, you have to be patient.
Not Tracking And Testing A Mistake To Avoid
You must get in the habit of tracking and testing. Why? The commission that you have worked hard to generate can easily be stolen if you don,t track. It is therefore advisable to track your conversion and sales.
It is also vital, you track the performance of your website. If you don’t track performance, how do you know if goals and objectives are being met, and what adjustments you can make? Thus by analyzing your performance, you can make changes based on your analytics.
And there are software tools that will help you track your conversion and sales, as well as your performance.So make it a habit of tracking and testing.
Not Investing In Premium Tools A Mistake To Avoid
Every business requires the right tool in order to succeed. Think of a carpenter, to drive a nail in a wood, he will need not a saw but a hammer is that not true? The saw is the wrong tool for the task. If he uses the saw to drive the nail, he won’t be successful. But using a hammer, will cause him to be more efficient and effective.
Similarly, in order for you to be successful in your affiliate marketing business, will require that you have the right premium tools. Some useful tools for you:
- PromoRepublic-content builder and posting tool
- Keyword research tool
- Grammarly- content editing
- A2hosting
- Sharesales- General web services
- Semper plugins- marketing tools
- Site123-page builder
- Pressable
Conclusion.
Beginning affiliates come online, hoping to make money and thus be successful. But rather than being successful, they fail because of making deadly mistakes. This blog,” Affiliate Marketing Mistakes To Avoid,” is designed to help new affiliates avoid making similar deadly mistakes. Hence we indicated that if you are to be successful, you have to avoid:
- Being A Sales Person
- Publishing Mediocre Content
- Ignoring Basic SEO
- Promoting Too Many Affiliate Programs
- Not Understanding Your Niche
- Not Collecting Customer Emails
- Promoting Low-Quality Products
- Being Impatient
- Not Tracking And Testing
- Not Investing In Premium Tools
My hope for you dear reader, is for your business to flourish and make money online. That could only happen if you avoid these deadly mistakes discussed in this blog,”Affiliate Marketing Mistakes To Avoid“.
And if you found this blog,”Affiliate Marketing Mistakes To Avoid,” to be of value, I will appreciate it if you could share it with others. And should you have a question, or you feel I need to make improvement in some areas please leave me a comment.
Sincerely,
Sten
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