Affiliate marketing has become one of the easiest ways to make money these days. The ease at which you can join affiliate programs makes this a simple way to start a business without any or very low set up costs. That along with a simple commission structure and easy payments more and more people are turning to affiliate marketing.
However, time after time again I see the mistakes affiliate marketers are making which can mean they fail and then give up.
In this post I will be going through the 4 biggest mistakes and how to rectify them so that you can become a success.
1. Choosing the wrong product
There are of course an abundance of products that you can choose across most niches when you are looking for something to promote. But choosing the right product can sometimes be a lottery. Be guided by others in your niche, chances are if they are promoting it and have been for a while it’s a great product. Also, go with your emotions if you have a passion for a particular product or service then run with it.
Try to avoid seasonal or crazes as this will only work for short periods. Go for evergreen products and services where possible that way you can earn all year round, year after year.
2. Joining too many affiliate programs
It is so easy to make this mistake. Start with a few products and then slowly add more as you go. I have made this mistake previously as you get so into the affiliate programs you just join everyone going. Believe me it will not help you as you then have the issue that you try to promote all of them together which comes across rather unprofessional.
Start with a few, say 4 maximum, and then promote these well. Once you are established as the go to person for these products then introduce more. Try to go for recurring products as this will give you a regular income. In the internet marketing space this could be web hosting or email marketing service providers. Membership sites or insurance packages are two common ones across various niches.
3. Never using the product or service
Always test or review the product or service that you are about to promote. A lot of companies can send you products to review, I used to do this when I had my Amazon business (not sure they still do this though). It is definitely an option in the digital products space. Especially on site such as JV Zoo.
Signing up for a free trial to review a product is a great way, but long term using the product yourself will always get you better results. There are a couple of reason why this works best.
- You can give a more detailed review on your own experience good or bad!
- If people ask questions about the product you can general answer them.
All in all resulting in more sales and commissions which is what we all want.
4. Promoting unrelated products
If you have a website all about dog treats say, do not then promote products for beauty or internet marketing. This would be the biggest way to get your visitors running to the hills and not returning. They are visiting your site mainly to solve a problem they have, give them a solution not something that is not relevant.
Do some searching and find relevant products and services that you can promote before you even start your website. Search your competitors as see what they are promoting chances are you can join the same program. There are 1000s of companies that are using affiliates now so I am sure you can find something to promote. If you really can’t then it’s time to change niches.
Free Training
If you are starting out with affiliate marketing I highly recommend seeking out some guidance and training. Unfortunately there are so many scams out there with people saying, “I have earned’t this that and the other and I used this product”, but take it from someone who has tried every quick fix product going. There is no quick fix!
Eventually someone pointed me in the right direction and I found probably the best affiliate/internet marketing training site on the internet. Well I think so ! The site is called Wealthy Affiliate and it’s totally free to join. I was so impressed I just had to do a review explaining all the features and benefits you can read it here
Some affiliate programs that I promote
Here are the most popular affiliate programs that I promote, through my blogs and social media channels. I use all of these on a daily basis, so have no issues in recommending them.
Wealthy Affiliate – Start your own business with Free websites, hosting and training.
Thrive Architect – WordPress page builder ideal for building any type page or post quicker and easier.
AWeber – Email marketing service provider
It is simple to sign up for all of these and commissions are paid on a monthly basis for any sales achieved. Feel free to check them all out and I am happy to answer any questions you have about any of them.
Let me know what your best products or services are and why. Use the comments below to state the product and niche (no posting links please 🙂
Disclosure :- Affiliate links may be used within this post. This means that if you purchase
through my site after clicking a link then I get a small commission, at NO extra charge to yourself. This helps me to continue giving great free content. Thanks
If you found this article helpful please so others can benefit … For Pinterest use the images below to get more repins and reach.
Can you clarify in more detail what you mean about the wrong products? Are you referring to a poorly reviewed product by others, or something that is way too cheap / expensive?
Is there any good way to keep up with new product releases in my niche, I’m worried about competing on keywords with seasoned websites that have reviews with lots of backlinks already.
Craig, bad products are ones that don’t work eg software. Or promise things but don’t deliver. And yes they could be too cheap or expensive and in both cases don’t sell. As regards to keeping up with new releases that depends on what niche in the internet marketing space there is Muncheye which is good. Just Google product releases and then your niches see what comes up. If you are doing all the research using a keyword tool such as Jaaxy then as long as it ticks all the boxes – low QSR and low competition they go for it. Trust this helps 🙂
Hi,
Yes, choosing a product that people know nothing about can be hit and miss when it comes to making an income. It is also better to stay with one or two affiliate programs you can trust and learn their ways of operating, than picking a whole bunch, then running into management problems.
This is a very good article which I enjoyed reading. Thanks for sharing it!
Thanks for your comments Stella glad you liked the article
Thanks for this. It is good that I have this as a guideline. I still stuck in choosing the right product. I have been going with my guts so far but I am thinking that My website is still new as well that why I did not make any sales yet. I will follow people with the same niche like you suggested. How do I sign up for a free trial? Didn’t know that they do that. I have just joined WA back in August, so far so good, I am still building the traffic through my content. Will corporate your stategiey now since I am almost finished with the training. Thanks for a great post.
Not every product has a free trial but no harm in contacting them to find out. Good luck with your business
You’ve pinpointed the four main mistakes beginning marketers tend to make when doing this online thing, I think. It seems to me a lot of the mistakes can be avoided by thinking through what you’re trying to do.
Choosing the wrong product or one not related to the website you’re building or the niche you’re settling into is mostly a matter of thinking about whether the people you want to be coming back and back and back to your site might be interested in the products you are endorsing and for which you are making space on your site.
Not trying a product for which you’re doing a review is just a matter of integrity. You can’t build trust (which is what you need to succeed in selling to strangers) if you’re not trustworthy.
Trying to join too many affiliate programs is probably the result of an over-abundance of enthusiasm (and underestimating just how much time and effort each one is going to need from you).
Thanks for the reminders….
Thanks for your comments Netta
Great info, as a newbie in affiliate marketing, I had a lot of takeaways from your article. The most common mistake I still make is promoting products that I have not personally tested. I have no idea that affiliate programs do offer free products for bloggers to review. I am currently promoting products through Amazon and eBay, I will have to confirm with them if they still offer that services. Would like also to know the terms and conditions.
There are so many products I am not promoting because its very difficult to promote them without using them
Thank you so much, I really enjoyed reading your tips
Thanks for your comments. I am glad you have found it useful. Good luck with your affiliate marketing journey.