One Surefire Way NOT To Make Money As An Affiliate

By Bruno Carlson
Posted Tuesday, August 10, 2004

When I first started up in the affiliate marketing business several months ago I made a classic newbie mistake. And because of this mistake I ended up turning what should have been a decent start into a big disappointment.

That disappointment almost caused me to throw in the towel and give up on ever making money on the Web.

Here's what happened:

I wanted to make money FAST. Like yesterday. I wanted to have it all immediately.

I had heard that the Web was a big "numbers game" and that the more numbers you could pull in, the better your chances were for making money.

I had also heard a lot about affiliate programs. And how anybody (even a guy like me with limited business experience) could make a potful of money just by selling other people's stuff.

After all, the commissions are great and the overhead cost is practically nil. All I needed to do was figure out a way to get the word out there to a huge number of the right people and they'd be beating a path to my affiliate sites.

I had read a few things by some of the super-affiliates and they made it sound so easy. This was going to be a piece of cake if ever there was one.

Not!

--Catching "Program Fever"

You see, I figured that since it was a numbers game, I needed big numbers.

As in big numbers of PROGRAMS.

I ran across several "ezine-in-a-box" type deals, where you sign up for a ton of programs all under one roof and then just watch the profits roll in (in theory anyway). One of these deals even had a free website that went along with it, a sort of shopping mall with ads for a bunch of the programs I had joined.

Now my thinking at this time was sort of, what the heck, the more the merrier! By signing up for a whole slew of programs I would end up making a whole slew of money.

Wrong again!

I don't need to tell you that it didn't work out nearly as well as I'd hoped.

--Spreading Myself Too Thin

I had WAY too many brands in the fire.

At that time, with my experience being so limited, I needed to concentrate my energies on ONE specific program.

The reason for this was that I didn't really know much about affiliate marketing yet. I needed to learn about it.

I also needed to learn how to market a program and its products. I needed to do some real get-down nitty-gritty WORK.

Like research.

I needed to learn about WHAT it was I was selling. And then HOW to do that selling.

By having so many different programs going at the same time there was no way I could give each the attention it deserved. Actually, most of the emails which my programs sent me for training went unread, filed away in a folder to be read someday in the future. Meaning never...

The solo ads I sent out were faceless, voiceless and boring. Mass-produced by somebody (me) who knew VERY little about writing ad copy. Sure I knew a little bit about formal business correspondence. But this was a horse of a different color.

So remember:

By focusing on just one program at a time in the beginning you'll learn a LOT about the whole affiliate marketing business. You'll also have the opportunity to learn about sales writing and how to put your whole self into your ad presentations.

In other words, you'll be learning how to create enthusiasm for a product.

And as we all know, enthusiasm is catching! People will feel that enthusiasm coming from you and they'll become interested in what you're selling, as long as you've targeted the right customers.

When I signed up for a jillion programs all at once there was no way I could possibly be enthusiastic about even one of them. All I could be was LAME.

Ho hum. No wonder nobody bought anything!

So find a program you believe in and follow through with it. Learn all you can about it and its products. Stick with it and continue to find new ways to market it. It may take a little while, but before you know it you'll be making sales. And with each sale your confidence will rise!

And then maybe you can start to look for another program or two to promote...

About the Author
Online home biz and writing coach Bruno Carlson would seriously love to help YOU get an attitude for online success. Sign up for his Attitude Marketer newsletter today at (http://www.BrunoBiz.com)