(text transcript of this video is below)
So you’ve been researching affiliate marketing and you’ve decided it’s something you’re interested in. If you really want to be successful in affiliate marketing, you’re gonna have to follow these five simple rules. It doesn’t matter what you’ve read or heard so far, there’s a lot more to affiliate marketing than you’ve probably been told.
Research has shown that lessons incorporating a narrative are much easier to learn from and more fun to watch, so in this lesson I’m going to tell you a little story about Bob.
First thing’s first – Bob has to get out of the “get rich quick mindset”. I recognize that not everyone watching this video shares that mindset, but if any of you do, you have to get out of it now. A lot of product creators out there know you’re much less likely to buy their product if they tell you the truth say it takes a lot of time and hard work, so they lie to you. If you’re going to succeed in affiliate marketing, it’s going to be from a lot of time and hard work, not some push-button magical system or copy/paste shortcut.
Which brings me to my second point, and it’s going to sound a little cheesy but it needs to be said. Bob HAS to commit to his new affiliate marketing business, and in order to do that he needs to promise that he will stick “with it” for a set period of time. I would recommend that it needs to be at least six months, but a year would be better.
After Bob has set that timespan, he needs to do a little math and figure out EXACTLY how many hours he can commit to his business every week. Pick a number of hours you know you can work each week and hit those hours every week no matter what – come hell or high water you need to give that attention to your young business. It may mean waking up a bit earlier or going to sleep a bit later, or even sacrificing a bit of time with your friends or family but you need to figure out how to give your business a minimum of ten hours a week. If you can give more, that’s even better; working more each week means you’ll build your business faster than someone working the bare minimum.
And that leads us into our third point. Bob is going to be working on this business for hours upon hours for the next several months if not years, so it’s important that he’s passionate about the topic he chooses for his first website. A lot of products in this industry will tell you to pick the affiliate offer you want to promote first, but you’re MUCH more likely to succeed if you lead out with your passion – not a desire to make as much money as possible. Bob is going to be working on videos, articles, blog posts, eBooks, and more several hours a week in the coming months, so it’s important that he has a passion for the subject matter. If not, he’ll burn out and his business will ultimately fail.
Building out a website that has high quality, helpful content and is worthy of building a following takes a lot of time and effort, and it can really take its toll on a person. That’s why it’s extremely important that Bob not spread himself too thin. He needs to pick a subject that he’s passionate about and stick with it. If he picks two or three websites and tries to build them all out at once he is extremely likely to get overwhelmed and do sloppy work. You need to focus all of your effort and attention on one website for the first few months. Trust me, there’s always more content you can create, graphics or website features that you can tweak, or things that you can do to spread the word about your website.
And that brings me to our very last point – Bob is building a business, and businesses require a substantial time investment AND some financial investment as well. Anyone that tells you that you can be a successful affiliate marketer without learning how to build a website is lying to you. With the technology we have these days it’s not very hard to do, but it requires a few dollars a month and, as your business grows, you’ll probably need to invest in a few other tools as well. You shouldn’t dread putting money into your business – you should embrace it because it means you’re moving in the right direction. It’s like having a fast-growing child that you don’t want to become malnourished. If you’re starting on a tight budget that’s fine, but just commit to not skimping on your business when it counts. Just because it’s an internet business doesn’t mean you can do it all for free.
So I hope that you and Bob have learned a lot about what it takes to succeed in affiliate marketing. If you work consistently, you work hard, and you keep moving forward the reward of being a self-employed affiliate marketer is very much worth all of the pain and struggle you’ll face in these early days. Just keep reminding yourself why you’re doing this and, in the end, you’ll be very happy you followed these five rules.
My name is Ian from NoMoreBSReviews.com and I hope you found this lesson helpful. For a bunch of other free affiliate marketing tips and training, visit my website at www.NoMoreBSReviews.com. I never charge for my lessons and I’m always working hard to do what I can to make sure you’re successful in your affiliate marketing journey.
Until next time, best of luck to you all and I’ll talk to you again soon.
Please comment below or +1/share using the buttons to the left if you found this video helpful!
Love the fact that one has a chose to listen while working on their day job or read while their spouse is sleeping. Definitely helps with juggling schedule.
Totally agreed!
Hey Ian,
Thank you for the info on time management and how to be aware of the product I decide to build my business around. I do have more than one niche I am going to work with, but thanks to your advise I know now to do one at a time and put the work in on the one first.
Thanks a lot!
Thanks Ian,
I have come realize that the term “guru” has lost all of it’s original meaning along with “diva” and “awesome”. Three perfectly good words ruined by flagrant misuse. Also thank you for the review of CB Passive Income. You saved me money and heartache. And you turned me onto WA. Yea!
Haha, glad you found it helpful, Joan!
Hi Ian. Thanks for giving us a great reality check on what really needs to take place to make this all feasible. I have spent a LOT of time researching different “marketing gurus” that promised just what you warn us about. Keep up the good work!
Brad
No problem at all, Brad! I’m glad I could help 🙂
Hi Ian, always telling the truth about A. M. ,and I like you for that and really appreciate it. my concern here is that I have a really really tight budget that if I should say, I would be able to pay for the next month premium offer then my budget is done. That means if I should decide to invest in my website or something here then that means , my next month premium membership may suffer. And if i decide not to invest in my website or anything here too then it suggests that I wont have a more successful business online. What should I do then?
Hey Michael! This is going to be a long road with the proper funding, but if your funds are so tight that you’re facing decisions like training vs. a website, you need to get more funding in your business (and it won’t come from the business for at least several months, more than likely). That means supplementing the internet business with a job for the time being, or another entrepreneurial venture like selling items at a flea market, having a garage sale, selling some items around the house on eBay, etc.
If you can’t get more funds to make a $50 investment in your business here and there over the next several months, unfortunately I would advise against pursuing an internet business entirely.
I hope that’s at least somewhat helpful insight! Let me know if you have any follow-up questions.
Well said, nice video Ian. Thanks
Much appreciated guidelines amidst a Tsunami of info, lessons, modules…
Still… “desperately seeking to make my 1st dollar from internet!!!”
🙂
It just takes a lot of time and hard work. Stick with it and eventually it’ll happen.
Thanks Ian for taking the time out to enlighten me on what is truly important.
Of course!
Thank you for your down to earth approach to IM. I definitly have a passion that I want to pursue, but I lack knowledge about internet marketing and start out with basic skills in internet techology. And I must learn to write and speak english more fluently too. So it is a lot to do! But I will comitt to the tasks. I need advice to nail my perfect niche as I have different experiences (at age 57 ) so there are several options and I need to choose 1 niche and stick to it! Love from Norway
No problem at all, Anne! And your English reads perfectly to me 🙂 If I can help you with anything at all as you continue along, don’t hesitate to reach out! I’m happy to help any way that I can.
Great advice as always! Thanks Ian!
No problem at all, Safiyyah! Really glad you’re finding all of this helpful 🙂
Hi Ian
You are to be congratulated, Your honest approach is refreshing and your doing the internet a great services . Only wish we could multiply you.
all the very best for 2014
On the crazy busy weeks, I wish I could multiply myself too, Mike! Haha but seriously, it’s disappointing that this industry has such dishonesty associated with it due to the people that are in it. I’m sure more honest voices will come through in time, but as of right now there are very few of us fighting the good fight. Thank you very much for stopping by and letting me know how you felt – it’s always nice to know all of this work isn’t falling on deaf ears! Take care and let me know if I can help with anything else, Mike!
Hi Ian, I have seen this video before, but today I am looking and thinking about this w/new eyes and insight. Lately as I have told you I have been thinking about promoting click bank products, Amazon w/o a website with paid solo ads. to try to get some money coming in faster. I also have been wondering about free url scraper software script (for CPV targets and display placements). Direct CPV and You tube scraper CPV Den tools. I guess I have the shiny new objects syndrome, because it looks so easy and lucrative. I also been confused about concentrating on one site or passion, I am interested in multiple passions. I think the first niche I like to try is the make money online, then health, and skincare. But I also want to be a affiliate Amazon marketer like the deadbeat millionaire. Make thousands of of click bank products and other affiliate programs . So it seems I have so many ambitions, I suppose I do need to start out first thing first setting my foundation website. I could start out with a review website about a best selling IM membership Programs. Perhaps start out with WA. It sounds like bootcamp where I should start.
You could do that, yes. Although I agree that you should narrow it down to one and pursue it for at least several months without distracting yourself (lack of focus will ensure that you never, ever succeed in this industry, unfortunately) I don’t think the path you’ve mentioned here would be the best starting point. I agree that WA is a great starting point, but not pursuing the bootcamp. The niche is extremely saturated and it will take months of consistent effort before you see any return on your efforts at all (there are HUNDREDS of review sites now). I would recommend following their Online Entrepreneur Certification course and picking a niche that isn’t so heavily saturated. Additionally, make sure it’s a niche that you have a lot of value and/or insight to offer your visitors. If you’ve never made money online, it could be very difficult to compete with many of the other IM review sites run by people that were successful in internet marketing/niche marketing prior to starting their review site. They’ve experienced first-hand what makes their business work and what doesn’t, so their insight on products is usually pretty valuable as opposed to an internet marketer that’s never run a profitable business online.
Those are just my two cents, but I’ve seen many new internet marketers wander that particular path and unfortunately very, very few have succeeded. I hope that helps.
Soooo lovely to see you’re still here, still being genuine, and still giving good advice and value.
Of course! Good to see you again too, Loris. I replied to your email – let me know if I can help with anything else!
Thanks for the tips Ian, time commitment is something i have to work upon..
I’m glad that I could help, Prem! Thank you for watching and commenting!
Thank you for your review on Sniper X. I don’t purchase anything that tells me I will have great success… only IF I purchase their product. Not anymore. I used to pay for the gurus to tell me what to do, and although I didn’t spend a whole lot of money on products, I still lost money and some time. I learned that, ,I, being part f the larger crowd of the people that bought their programs, I was partly responsible for making them all the money they spoke about making. I found this out when a certain “marketing millionaire” was looking for students and I had to pay into the system monthly. I was thinking, hmmm, I’m not making any money trying to promote this guys site. I understand that I’d paid a reoccurring monthly fee, Now I’m sure if I somehow got in on the bottom floor and had persevered, I might have made money, but I have a full time j.o.b. and I do a lot of hard work, labor intensive. I worked not less than 12 but sometimes 14 to 15 hour days. Schedule changes happened so now I’m back on 8 hour days thank God. I would come home and had not much energy left for anything. I was and still am looking for a way out of my current lifestyle.
I LOVE Affiliate and Internet marketing. I want to make this my living. I’ve learned that “gurus” ( not all of them) make their money off the sweat of others.
I love your site, because I know I have a place to come to to learn about products out on the net. I know I have to create my own site ( I have) and work at it. I know now, it’s going to take time. And I know, that before I buy anything, I have to read reviews like yours to make up my mind.
Thank you, for exposing and not ripping us off.
K.
Thank you for sharing your experiences, Karen! And I think the rule you listed at the beginning of your comment is probably a very good one to follow. I wish you the best of luck and appreciate your support very much. If you need anything along the way, don’t hesitate to reach out!
Appreciate the helpful tips and I plan to adhere to them.
I’m very glad that I could help, Terri!
Thanks ian, i m very new to this but at the same time i want to make it happen no matter what, i seriously want to thank u from getting scammed by George Brown’s Google sniper scheme. But at the same time i would like to request u to kindly guide me on how and thru where should i get started.
Hey Rajesh, have you gone through the step-by-step checklist in my free eBook which can be downloaded under the “Where to Begin” tab?
That was really a great information Ian. Thank you for being honest with your reviews and pointing out the scams and con artists. God bless. Keep going forward.
Thank you very much for the encouraging words, Abu! Some days I really, really need them with a lot of the “heat” my reviews create from product publishers and their affiliates. I am very happy that I am able to continue helping others like you though!
Hi Ian I would like to thank you for helping dodge a bullet or two and as well as open my eyes to other reviews that you’ve posted. I appreciate the work you do for newbie’s like myself.
No problem Laura, I’m glad that I could help!