8 Things You Must Know BEFORE You Start Affliate Marketing

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When I first began affiliate marketing, I often faced hours and days of incredible frustration. Like many new Wealthy Affiliate members, I wanted results now, and tried to rush through the process. Naturally, this lead to terrible results, and I found myself backtracking and essentially starting my training all over again from scratch.

Before we get going, please note that this is strictly MY opinion based on research and experience. Admittedly, this post will likely be highly controversial and others will disagree. And that is fine. You are more than welcome to add your input and I won’t be offended in the least. Yet, please do me this one favor…

If you do disagree, please base it on actual facts and data, not on what makes you feel good.

I have no interest in debating with someone who’s brother’s nephew’s second cousin from their third marriage read on a blog somewhere that a guy found a Post-It note stuck to his dog’s back that contained the secret to affiliate marketing and he made a gajillion and one dollars in a week. We good? Cool.

So, without further ado, in hopes of helping recent members, here are eight things I wish I would have known before I started affiliate marketing…

Number 1: How Do I Identify the “Perfect” Niche?

First of all, there is no such thing as the perfect niche. It's a myth. If there were one, everyone would be doing it, right?

Nevertheless, you may still find the perfect niche… for you. How so?

A good affiliate niche needs two things: you and an audience willing to pay you.

Think about your hobbies and interests. What interests do you have that others might be interested in? What expertise do you have that you can share? What is something that you always wanted to learn yourself, but never had the time?

Once you have created a list of passionate niches you might like to go into, head of to the Jaaxy research tool and start to run the numbers. Test different keywords within that niche and see if there is a viable market out there for what you would like to offer. It does you no good to create a hundred posts that only four people in the whole world are interested in.

Look for keywords that have high volume search traffic (over 40, but the more the better) and low competition (under 300, but under 100 is best). After you run through about 15-20 keywords, you should have a pretty good idea as to whether you are onto a potentially profitable niche or not.

Number 2: How Many Niches/Products Can I Have On One Site?

My advice on this is simple: One niche per site, but as many products related to that niche as you would like.

A HUGE mistake I made in the beginning, and one I see a lot of new members still making today, is getting lazy and trying to cram everything into a single website. Unless you already have a well-known brand or celebrity status, a so-called multiple niche site generally does not work.

Think about how you surf the web. Put yourself in your visitor’s shoes. If you went to a website on, say, snow skiing for example, yet you find that half the articles are software reviews and make-money-online advice, how long would you stick around?

By cramming random niches together in such a way, all you do is confuse your different audiences and, thus, lose them all.

Keep it tight.

Number 3: How Long Will It Take To Start Seeing Traffic?

Perhaps the number one question asked by new members. Everyone wants to know, “where da money at?”

Like many people, I really, really, really wanted this thing to be like the movie, “A Field of Dreams”. I had the misconception that if I built it, they would come. Alas, if only it were that easy. It really does take time. How long?

Well, first, the good news. It normally only takes a few days, or perhaps a week, for a new blog post to get “indexed”. This means that Google has acknowledged that it exists. And sometimes you hit the lottery and, depending on the keyword you are targeting, you may actually rank quickly. BUT…

Here’s the bad news. Based on my research, input from other successful bloggers and affiliate marketers, and my own experience, on average, you are looking at approximately 35 weeks before any post will reach peak traffic. That’s right… almost nine months. Sorry.

Instead of letting it frustrate you, just look at it like it is your child. It takes roughly the same amount of time to form a newborn baby. That’s just nature. So, why should this be any different? Put it out there and let nature take its course.

Write a good quality post, publish, and move on. Control what you can control and forget the rest (more on this later.)

Number 4: How Many Blog Posts Do I Need?

I share with people all the time that affiliate marketing is not get-rich-quick. This is a business like any other, and we need to plan for the long haul. While some people have had success in a shorter amount of time, I always recommend a conservative estimate of one year.

One year is long enough to determine if a site and/or niche is going to be successful. As noted, it will take Google approximately 35 weeks to really rank your posts well, so by the time you reach 12 months you should be seeing steady traffic and making at least some money. Then it grows from there.

But here is the catch: that 12 month “clock” does not start until you hit a certain number of good posts. Any less than that and Google just isn’t going to bother. How many, you ask? I say at least 30.

You should count on writing at least 30 high-quality articles in order to really get some traction on your site.

At approximately 30 posts, Google no longer sees you as a “new” website and will start to pay more attention. And it’s easy to understand why. New sites come and go every day, because most people aren’t willing to put in the hard work required. So, by only looking at “established” sites (i.e. 30+ articles), Google saves themselves a TON of wasted time.

And that’s not that many, really, in the grand scheme of things. If you were to write one article a day, you could hit that in a month.

Now, of course, most of us can’t do one a day. And that’s okay. It’s about consistency. Some of us can only do two or three per week. Others may only get one good article in a week. Or in a month. No worries. Just keep going and don’t give up.

The point is not to make you feel bad if you write “slow”, but to just give you realistic expectations. For example, I just turned 50. Let’s say I was only able to write enough that it took my site five years to get off the ground. So what? Who cares?

In five years, guess how old I am going to be if I don’t build an affiliate business? 55.

And guess how old I am going to be if I do build an affiliate business? Yep… 55.

So, if I’m going to be 55 either way, why would I not keep working on it, regardless of how slow I am? Remember the Tortoise and the Hare. Slow and steady win the race. Slow is okay; just don’t quit.

Number 5: What is Compounded Patience?

What do you mean you’ve never heard of Compounded Patience? Where have you been, living under a rock?

Okay, I admit it; I made that phrase up. lol

What I mean when I refer to compounded patience is that by combining patience and delayed gratification with the power of compounding, much like a bank account, you will eventually tap into exponential growth. Think of it this way…

Why do you put money into savings every month? Because it grows and grows, and eventually pays big, right?

Using two pieces of data from earlier — 30 posts and 35 weeks — consider this. Let’s say you were one of those rare immortals that could actually write an article per day. So, naturally, it takes you one month to hit your 30. Now what?

Put that site on the shelf and let it marinate for 35 weeks.

In the meantime, you do a little research and find another niche you like. Write an article per day and it takes you one month to hit your 30 for that niche. Now what?

Put that site on the shelf and let it marinate for 35 weeks.

And so on.

Can you see now how you could potentially have 12 profitable websites up and running in a very short time? Once you hit that 12 month mark, you are starting to see money coming in from site number one. And in month 13, site number two starts paying off. And on and on and on.

People tend to overestimate what they can accomplish in a day, and underestimate what they can accomplish in a year.

By having the patience to delay your gratification for 12 months, and by tapping into the compounding effect of multiple websites, you can potentially succeed beyond your wildest dreams. Just imagine where you will be in two years. Or three. How about five?

Number 6: How Long Do My Blog Posts Need to Be?

There is a old saying in Internet marketing: Content Is King!

As you might expect, Google ranks great content. It will only rank less than stellar content if it has no alternative. So, what exactly is great content?

Of course, you want content aimed at your target audience. Your articles should revolve around what they are looking for. That’s pretty obvious, right? But in order to determine what will make your content great, you must look at something that may not be so obvious… the competition.

Whenever you begin to write any article, do a search for that keyword. Look at the first page of results you get back. Remember, Google gives us nothing for free.

If you want to be in the Top 10, you have to deserve to be there. No one is just going to give you their spot; you gotta take it from them. So, how do you do that? Create better content.

If their post is full of fluff and information that even the cat knows, then you write something unique that provides real value. If their post is 500 words, you write 1000. If theirs is 1000, you write 2000. If theirs is all text, you add images. If they have images, you add a video. And so on…

You have to do whatever is necessary to create the ultimate resource for your reader. Add bullets. Add handy links. Add a freaking podcast episode where you interviewed the top expert in your niche. Do whatever it takes.

How long does your post need to be? I don’t know… what’s it going to take for you to knock them off the throne and steal their crown?

Number 7: Do I Have to Pay for Ads?

No! Never, ever, pay for advertising your site until you already know if it is a viable niche or you have money to burn. If I had a dime...

Yes, you can pay for traffic to come to your site (I did). And, yes, it can and does really help (it did). Unfortunately, I see too many people spending a ton of money on marketing long before they know what they are doing (I spent waaaayyyyy too much!)

Spending money on advertising is not a golden ticket. You can waste a ton of cash just trying to tweak your offer, and most new marketers simply don’t have that kind of money to burn.

Stick with free, organic traffic until you better understand online marketing. You’ll thank me later.

Number 8: Should I Set a Goal?

Most people have heard of SMART Goals. While it is debatable how effective this system actually is, it is still important that you set a goal for yourself.

Good goals are what drives us. It’s the thing that keeps us up late and wakes us up early in the morning. Your goal should inspire you to do whatever it takes to make it in this business.

A good strategy for making goals is the be precise in some things and loose in others. You must be firm, yet flexible. Here’s what I mean…

For example, let’s say that you set a goal to lose 10 pounds in a month. Contrary to what many people might think, this is actually not a good goal. Losing 10 pounds in a month is an outcome. You cannot control outcomes. There are too many variables.

What you can control, however, is that you will go to the gym every day. That is a goal. You have absolute control over that, because it is only dependent on your decisions and your actions.

Thus, you should absolutely set goals for your affiliate business. Just make sure they are goals and not outcomes.

Your “goal” should not be to have 1000 visitors to your site every month. Again, that’s an outcome you can’t control. Instead, your goal should be to write one article per day. Your goal should be to create one video per week. Your goal should be to communicate with five fellow WA members in the comments, or spend 15 minutes per day in the Live Chat asking questions and helping others out. Those are things you have total control over.

Conclusion

So, there you have it. The top 8 things I wish I would have known before I started affiliate marketing.

Yes, I know some of this can be scary. But I also feel it is important for us to have honest expectations of what this business truly entails. But if you maintain an honest mindset, and you never, ever, give up, I promise that you will be successful… it’s only a matter of time.

Please leave your thoughts and comments below and let me know what you think. Do you agree, or am I unequivocally off my rocker? :-)

Thanks.

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Recent Comments

372

I don't think you are off your rocker. You have made some very good points. I have been here about 7 months. My goal (or outcome) is to see some monetary reward by one year.
I hate the thought of starting up a new website- but you may be on to something- and it makes good sense.
Thanks for taking your time to put down your findings.

Thank you.

Don't be afraid to "start over", but don't give up too soon either. Believe it or not, many people don't hit it on their first site. It may take several before you hit that one big success. But that's okay.

Leave those other ones alone and they will still pull a little. Consider them the icing. And when you do get one that absolutely nails it, that's your cake. Take everything you've learned from those others and push it to the moon.

Hang in there; you've got this! :-)

This is great! You're keeping it real and you're inspiring at the same time. It's the no BS guide to life lol. Thanks for this, your suggestions do help frame expectations and they blow a little of the smoke away that some people like to set the stage with. I appreciate your honesty.
Thanks, Shannon

Hahahaha... Thank you. I think I just found the title of my new book: The No BS Guide to Life :-)

Seriously, just hang in there. Remember, even if you are not hitting the exact timeline, it doesn't really matter. Like I said in the piece, in five years we're going to be five years older anyway, so who cares?

You can always tweak your site or write more content. As long as you never give up, you eventually WILL be successful. :-)

I really love and appreciate this post! I am one of those impatient people waning results straight away - I'm happy to be patient, but if I don't know I need to hold that patience for 35 weeks, I'm gonna be getting frustrated at 4 weeks. The time frame is super helpful to me, thanks so much for sharing!

Exactly. That's why I wanted to get this out there. Will it scare away some people. Probably. But then again, they probably weren't going to wait 35 weeks anyway.

But since I almost quit myself when I didn't see immediate results, I thought it important to set some realistic expectations for others experiencing the same thing. Thank you.

Very true - the ones that run were never going to wait patiently anyway.

I see that you have only been here a few months also - have you started seeing a few results yet given that it hasn't been 35 weeks yet? Out of curiosity, where did you find the 35 week figure?

Definitely useful to have realistic expectation and an understanding of exactly how things happen. I'll definitely be following your advice of starting a second website as soon as I have my 30 posts up - I'm only at 11 so far.

a very good post and especially came in time for me; are almost 4 months on WA, I finished training, google, bing, yahoo indexed me on the front page (2-5, depends on the day), but I still do not have any income; I have to educate my patience lol
have a nice day

Thank you. Yes, hang in there. I have found that most people quit way too early, and some bow out right before they were about to hit it big. At four months you are just starting to reap some rewards... keep putting out great content and wait. You'll get there :-)

Thanks for sharing some great information and tips. For someone like myself ( 18 months in ) still consider my self a lot slower than most to post regularly.

Currently at 24 posts.......not a lot but other than a few low quality, low word count early posts they are all on Google Page1 / 2, so feel like doing something right.
Making a few sales and building (last 3 months going up slowly).

Really need to put more content out but like many..... time,families, other distractions slow you down.
Anyway, keep thinking of the tortoise and the hare........:)

Thanks again..has given me some motivation to keep pushing.

Yes, we all have other commitments, so honor that. Just do what you can do and never give up. The only "race" is against yourself.

And, by the way, if you have 24 good quality posts that are already ranking, then you may consider yourself "elite"... That's about 23 posts more than most people ever get to with a new blog. lol

Well done, sir :-)

Everybody have different approach on everything. When I started with affiliate marketing, I had that same idea that I will earn money very fast. Going through trainings I realised that there is too many things to learn at once and I cannot push it.

Because I was new to affiliate marketing, there were a lot of things to learn, and doing it fast I missed important parts. When you push it, you are just going from one lesson to another without remembering a thing. Just following what Kyle is doing and doing the same, doesn't lead you anywhere. You will have your site established, your affiliate links added, some content on it, but you will not understand how everything is connected and how it works. You have to understand what you are doing.

Your post is very useful for everybody, not just beginners. People often have a wrong approach, and after couple of weeks they give up because they don't see any income or just lose interest after realising that there is much more work that has to be done before seeing any revenue.

Seeing bigger picture is what people need to do. Not just focusing on money, it will come but after you do something to earn it!

Marko

Thank you, Marko. You basically just described my journey as well. Alas, I don't think we're unique in that respect, which is why I wanted to share and -- hopefully -- outline some realistic expectations for new members.

Too many come in wanting to make it immediately, and then when they don't they start talking about how it's a "scam" and start looking for any excuse to complain. My response is usually, "No, affiliate marketing works... but you didn't."

Great post I have written a post today though we are talking about different things I agree with everything you have written ✍️

The Post was fun and I laughed on those who always have something to say you lost them through genealogy Lol 😂

Really a great post and to your success

Thank you. Yeah... I've met more than my fair share of "bother's cousins" in my time. I find them hilarious. lol

Me too you cracked my ribs 😂

Great post! I did not know that about it taking an average of 35 weeks for a post to gain traction in Google. When I look at my site stats a few days or even weeks after I post an article, my organic, non-social-media traffic is always super low so I just assumed I sucked at SEO or was missing out on something. Good to know!

Yes... and THAT is precisely why I decided to bring it up. I have seen too many people "panic". If you don't know what to expect, it's easy to think it's something wrong with you ("I suck!") and quit too early.

Excellent post A.J...I'm one of the "slow" writers...I'm a bit O.C.D. .and want my pages and posts to be perfect - factually / visibly / readably (if that's a word) - so it takes me a while and I average a little over a post a week. I sometimes beat myself up over this but it's just how I roll and I found your post most encouraging - thank you.
I agree with all of your points - excellently written and very true - and you are most certainly not off your rocker!
Thanks again for the great post
Jane

Thank you, Jane.

I was once like you. I would agonize over every word, trying to make it "perfect". After missing several key assignments in college, my writing professor pulled me aside and gave me one of the best pieces of advice I've ever heard...

Get it write (written), THEN get it right.

Writing depends on the right hemisphere of our brain where creativity lives. But editing comes from the left, or logical part of our brain. It is very difficult to do both at the same time.

So, try breaking up the process and do one thing at a time. I think you may find it enlightening :-)

Thanks AJ, appreciate the advice. It's kind of how I work but it could do with tightening up for sure!
Have a great weekend
Jane

A lot of our problems as humans starts with being inpatient. We want it and we want it now. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to work most of the time.

I initially thought that I could get into WA and start earning immediately but the more I read members opinions and went through the training, the more I realized that "ain't no free meal, even in Freetown". And I relaxed and started preparing myself for the long haul. Thanks for all the 8 tips, I did find them very good and informative.

Thank you. I've been in the business world for over 30 years now, and affiliate marketing truly is amazing. And best of all, anyone can do it. But like any business, it takes a heck of a lot of hard work and patience. Unfortunately, some people aren't willing to acknowledge that.

Take care, and if you need anything let me know... I'm only a click away :-)

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