The Myths Of Affiliate Marketing

The myths about affiliate marketing abound the internet. This causes businesses, both sellers, and would-be affiliate marketers to abandon their hopes of selling or earning money online this way.

If you’re an experienced affiliate marketer you will know the types of products you can sell is almost without limit and the market you can sell to is growing by the minute. For someone who is starting it’s reassuring to know these facts.

In this post, I will reveal some of these affiliate marketing myths and the confusion they cause. By the end of the article, I hope to have dispelled the myths and you will understand that affiliate marketing is a great business to begin.

Before Starting…

Do you understand what affiliate marketing really is?  

Here is a definition of affiliate marketing I came across, on missyward.com, that I found amusing but in a way quite true.

Selling stuff you don’t own, to people, you don’t know and earning a commission each time they buy from you.

This almost makes affiliate marketing sound like something we shouldn’t be doing but it can and should be done ethically. So here’s another definition that’s a little longer and makes it sound a more honest way to earn money.

Affiliate marketing is a way of earning money when you as a publisher or affiliate promote products from a company that produces or sells the products. As a publisher, you will earn a commission when someone follows a link on your website to the manufacturers or sellers website. In general, to earn anything they have to make a purchase.

I hope you now have a good idea of what affiliate marketing is, so let’s get going with myth number 1.

1. It’s Difficult To Start An Affiliate Marketing Site

This might have been true a few years ago but today it’s really very easy. The many online site builders or WordPress have made the process of starting a website very easy. Today there is no need to know any HTML code, building a website is accessible to everyone.

Setting up the website is quite easy, then you will need to write content for your site. This isn’t really difficult but is time-consuming. The main drawback in setting up an affiliate marketing site is the amount of hard work you have to put in and not the difficulty.

2. Affiliate Marketing Is Easy

The concept of affiliate marketing is quite simple and many people think it’s a question of adding a few affiliate links to a website and then wait for the sales to roll in. Unfortunately is not that easy otherwise, everybody would be doing it and the percentage of people who succeed would be much higher.

Every year hundreds of thousands set out to make a fortune with affiliate marketing. Only a very small percentage make enough to quit their jobs or improve their lifestyles. Why do so many fail?

In my opinion, it’s because they start with the wrong mindset. They think it will be easy, they are not ready to work for several months without any return.

To be successful you need to accept that there are no shortcuts, you have to work for it. You must be determined and patient. Another point, you don’t know everything. Yes, you can find a lot of information for free online but it will you take a long time to find all the info you need and then sort out the good from the bad. So it’s an excellent idea to get some good internet marketing training.

Set out with the knowledge that to create a successful affiliate marketing business you will have to work hard. In addition, know that you require determination, perseverance, and training. Be prepared for obstacles and setbacks. Accept all these facts and you’re ready to change your life and reach your goals.

3. All The Good Niches Are Already Saturated

Are all the good niches really saturated? In my opinion no! There may be a lot of competition in a niche but not saturation, they are not the same thing. Another point, if you’re asking this question then you’re already having negative thoughts and you won’t get very far with your business.

A much better way to look at it is to examine what the other niche sites are doing and see how you can do it better.

Remember when choosing your niche don’t choose a subject that’s too broad. Choose a focused part of the niche. This has several advantages:

• Less competition – easier to rank in the search engines
• Over time you can become the expert in this specialized niche
• Easier to makes sales as people trust you

There’s still room for you in a niche, find your specialized niche and become the expert.

4. You Need Lots Of Affiliate Programs

A mistake that many beginners make is to join many different affiliate programs. They then try to promote too many products. Doing this you will struggle to promote anything properly. You risk becoming overwhelmed and even confused.

Find a few products related to your niche that can help your readers solve a problem and then do a good thorough job promoting these products.

5. You Will Make Lots Of Money Quickly

Affiliate marketing isn’t a get rich quick scheme, but with the work and effort, you can earn some serious money. Many bloggers fail because they become disillusioned when they don’t make any money after a couple of months and they just give up.

To earn online you need to build trust and this takes time. Be ready, don’t be one of the failed aspiring affiliate marketers.

6. There Are Too Many Affiliates Already

Whatever business you start there will always be some competition. Affiliate marketing is just the same. Although there may be many affiliates for a particular product, the majority are probably making no money.

Even if there are affiliates that are doing well, try and do a better job and become one of the most successful affiliates in your niche.

7. Affiliate Marketing Will Soon Disappear

Affiliate marketing has been around for 20 odd years and is still thriving. Online sales are growing and will continue to grow in the coming years. Look at the affiliate marketing growth expectations in the image below. This doesn’t look like something about to disappear anytime soon.

Product creators will always look for ways to promote their products and there will always be people (affiliate marketers) ready to do it for a commission. It’s probably the most profitable way to monetize a small website.

Over the years the way an affiliate marketer achieves sales has changed. It’s no longer just a question of putting some links or banners on a website. That might still work to a small degree but today to be successful an affiliate marketer has to build trust.

Your aim should be to help people and solve their problems. By doing this you will build trust and once you have their trust they will be more likely to buy your recommendations.

Google may make some changes in the future to their ranking algorithm that could hurt your sites temporarily. You must adapt and grow to profit from the changes.

8. I Will Lose Credibility If I Have Affiliate Products On My Site

This is something that many newcomers to affiliate marketing might believe. You have probably seen websites with affiliate banners placed all over the place. Or other sites promoting products that clearly provide no value for their readers.

Affiliate marketing shouldn’t be like this! You should only promote products that are genuine, useful, and if possible that you have used yourself. Recommend products or services to your audience that you know will help them and provide value.

Only include a few affiliate links in each post and you can make most of them discreet text links. The most important thing on your site is your content, you don’t want to distract your visitors with flashing banners or ads.

As a guide, think of things you hate when you’re visiting sites, for example, pop-ups, auto play videos, blinking or flashing adverts, animations or sound. Avoid these and use affiliate ads in moderation and you will keep your credibility.

9. There’s No Money In Affiliate Marketing – Affiliate Marketing Doesn’t Work Today

Well, that’s not true, just take a look at some of the well-known affiliate marketers who publish income reports.

• Pat Flynn Smartpassiveincome
• Harsh Agrawal Shoutmeloud
• Spencer Haws Nichepursuits
• Perrin Carrell Authority Hacker

These results are from well-known internet marketers and they may be exceptional results from talented marketers. However, they started out a few years ago, like you and me, knowing nothing or very little about internet marketing.

I have seen some completely unknown marketers achieve some incredible results. You can see some of their stories in this post.

There is money to be made in affiliate marketing. It won’t happen overnight, you need to work hard and never give up, and who knows… you may be the next internet success story!

10. It Costs A Lot Of Money To Be An Affiliate

One of the great things about setting up an online business is the costs are minimal. The minimum you need is a domain name about $13 per year and hosting about $10 per month. Which is just $133 dollars for a year.

Do you know of any other business you can start for so little?

Okay, I did speak about getting some training earlier in the article and I think it is definitely a good idea. See where I learned affiliate marketing, you get easy to follow step by step training, hosting, tools and 24/7 support.

This will add to your costs initially but in the long run, will probably save you money. You will start earning faster because you will avoid some of the mistakes you would have made. Also, you will have support whenever you have a problem.

Summing Up

I think you can see that these myths are very misleading and should be ignored. Affiliate marketing helps companies make more sales and gives the affiliate marketers the chance to work from home and enjoy the freedom they’ve been looking for.

Don’t underestimate the power of affiliate marketing it’s a great way to create an additional revenue stream for a very small cost and almost no risk. The biggest risk is wasting your time!

At the same time, it is a business, set it up correctly, work hard and you should do well.

Don’t fall for the myths, check the facts and learn how to become an affiliate marketer using ethical and honest techniques. Always remember your primary goal should be to help people.

Don’t Believe The Myths!

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Do you know any other affiliate marketing myths or have you fallen for any of these? Please let me know in the comments below.