Valuable Advice for Any Beginning Affiliate Marketer

Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at 4:35 pm

If I could give only one piece of advice to a beginning affiliate marketer, it would be this: stop the spending. Most oftentimes, new Internet marketers and affiliate product marketers grab up products and software packages left and right.

Whenever they see anything for sale – especially if it’s the next big ticket product – they’ll buy it. They’ll get seduced by the copy; and they’ll whip out their credit cards, buying when they really shouldn’t. So, my advice to you is STOP!

Now, you might protest. You might say that you need the information. You might grumble stuff about needing to spend money in order to make money. But ask yourself where you read lines like that. Did you read them on a sales page? Did you hear them coming from someone who sells the products you’ve recently purchased?

If so, that person was almost definitely saying it to loosen up your wallet. So tighten up your wallet again. Build up a resistance to buying.

Now, many people do not realize this, but the Internet is just brimming over with free information. Much of it is comparable to what you will find in products you might pay $30, $50, or even $100 for. While you might expect to get more from those products – or at least some guarantee to their quality – purchasing them is usually unnecessary – entirely.

In most cases, 90% of people who purchase these E-books skim them, consider incorporating a few new interesting ideas into their business models – but, for the most part, ignore the bulk of the text and go on their merry way.

If this is what you do with these E-books, too, (and it probably is), then your wallet would be better served by saving all that cash.

Instead of purchasing E-books you can’t and won’t use, save your money and spend your time getting a first class education from completely free information. If you’re an Internet marketer or affiliate marketer, spend some time on sites such as Problogger.net and the Problogger forum.

Rather than focusing on all sorts of tricks – which have probably never worked once for you – spend your time attempting to improve your current business model, which is likely flawed, but contains many functional elements.

Ask yourself whether there are considerable leakages to your current model that could be improved. For instance, are you tracking all of your advertising efforts? If not, how can you expect to know which ones are successful and which ones are not? Also, are you advertising in every possible place where you could get a decent return? If not, you’re leaving money on the table!

So, rather than consistently shooting for the moon – and spending hundreds of dollars to figure out how to do it – keep that cash in your wallet. Instead, work on slight, but continuous, improvements to your current business model.

This un-sexy approach – slight, but continuous improvements – is precisely what major companies, such as Toyota, have used to continually get better and better, capture a larger market share, and out-compete competitors who are stagnant or are risking too much.

And there you have it – The suggestion I have to any new affiliate marketer is not a “tactic” at all. Instead, I want you to avoid the gimmicks, cut back on unnecessary spending, and focus on your own business model. After all, you know far more about your own business model than any guru does.

So focus on continuous improvement; focus on making more and more affiliate product sales each day; and try to avoid all of the “must have” products. In no time, you’ll be earning what you want.

Good luck and please do share your success stories with us! I love to celebrate with affiliate marketers when they’ve achieved various milestones!

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