If you are a work at home beginner then being an affiliate is THE most lucrative means to start making money fast. But being an affiliate and being a successful affiliate who's making money are two different things. You'll be surprised that 87% of affiliates don't make more than $175 a month. Are you one of these struggling affiliate marketers? Here are 7 reasons why you could be among those who don't make money.
1) Saturated Market
One of the most common mistakes that many affiliates make is to join an affiliate program that promotes a product that targets a highly saturated market. That means that the target market you are trying to sell to is full of others who are trying to sell the same thing. Areas such as "internet marketing" and "website traffic" are areas that relatively new affiliates should be weary of since it's very hard to sell anything in these markets unless you've already made a name for yourself. Stay away from these highly saturated markets and find "niche" markets that you can easily dominate and promote to. This will greatly help you make a profit.
2) No interest in product
This is a mistake that many affiliates do without knowing it. They simply join an affiliate program because it's "cool" or because someone else told them to. And they figure that by being an affiliate they will get the same benefits. Don't be fooled. If you don't have a personal interest in the product you are promoting you won't put in the effort to actively promote it. And this will ruin your chances of success. If you like what you promote, then it shows through your websites or your written words and this positive influence is transferred to your prospective buyers as well. Make sure you join an affiliate website that promotes a product that interests you.
3) Low profitability
Many affiliates join an affiliate program simply because the payout per sale is huge. Often a single sale might pay you $99.00. And you think it's a good product to promote. But you forget the fact that to earn $99.00 you have to sell a product that's $299.00. Thus a single sale could be hard to make as compared to a much lower priced item. Therefore concentrate on joining an affiliate program that pays a higher percentage yet has a product price that is low or moderate. A 50% commission of a product that costs $50 is a good deal because you will be able to sell more of that product that the high priced ones.
4) No pre-selling
Many affiliates simply advertise their affiliate URL. They put their entire faith on the main affiliate website that they are sending people to. Thus your success is in someone else's hands. Why take the risk? Why not pre-sell the idea of the product and get the prospect into a buying mood by preparing them for what they will find at the affiliate main site? A well constructed product review can be the ideal pre-sell for any product. Advertise your website that reviews the product and let the prospect visit the main site via your website. Once you "prep" them up, the sale is far more easier to make.
5) No Link cloaking
As I mentioned before, many affiliates use their affiliate URLs in advertising. This means that their affiliate Ids are plainly visible to anyone who wants to replace it with their own and thus steal a sale from you. Thus you must employ some form of link cloaking or encryption so that your affiliate links don't get stolen or hijacked. Why chance it when you can prevent link theft?
6) No focus
A common mistake of an affiliate is to join an affiliate network and start promoting ALL of the network's products at once. This "shot gun" affect can shoot down your profits simply due to the fact that you have no focus and thus your advertising efforts are wasted. Always pick one or two related products and maintain your focus. This way you can tune your marketing efforts without the other product cannibalizing your profits.
7) No targeted traffic
And lastly the most common mistake is to have no targeted traffic. Website traffic means nothing unless you get targeted traffic. Simply joining click exchanges or traffic exchanges will not make your affiliate checks soar. You simply MUST employ methods of FREE targeted traffic generation and keep generating traffic in this manner if you want your profits to increase as well.
There you have it. If you can avoid those 7 mistakes, then you will become a Super Affiliate that finally earns the kind of money you've always dreamed of.
Khemal Dole owns and operates http://www.PaychecksDirect.com, a completely FREE service that teaches many beginners and even experts how to work at home. Sign up for his FREE 14 day Work At Home Beginner's Course and learn how real people make money from the internet.