How to Fail at Affiliate Marketing Your Reverse Approach to Success

byapache1

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Updated 2 weeks ago

Here are 15 steps to fail Affiliate Marketing Oh and you are welcome.

Let’s give Affiliate Marketing a slight twist for a change.

Hopefully when you finish reading this will give you some thoughts on how you are going and which way you are heading, stalling or the other way most people think of.

If you want to learn how to fail Affiliate marketing these steps will help you do that.

Note:

If you don’t want to put in the hard work and effort in building a website and creating content based on your chosen niche, the easiest way to fail is don’t start at all and don’t’ bother reading this blog, once done you can later wonder what if?

However for others don’t’ be fooled by the first group of steps tor failure, there’s a twist to this post.

With Affiliate marketing, success often hinges on knowing what not to do as much as what to do.

By reversing these steps, you will find the true and right path to success in affiliate marketing.

So grab a cuppa or Beer in Kyle’s case, and get ready to explore how to turn failure into triumph as an affiliate marketer.

OR if you still insist of doing the wrong things, keep going the way you are it won’t take that long to fail and is much quicker than succeeding.

So let’s see how you go and perhaps there are some steps you are already doing or not that can show you which way you are heading towards failure or moving forward to success.

Your choice.

15 Steps to fail Affiliate Marketing.

1: Choose a Niche Without Research:

Diving headfirst into a niche and just looking to earn a quick buck is the way to go.

Don’t worry about what it is, how broad the niche is and just compete with the high authority sites, that way you don’t have a chance to rank against them.

Also forget about your audience because you won’t have them anyway as you don’t care about them all you want is money, money, money.

So you are off to a good head start to failure.

2: Build a Generic Website:

Create a website that lacks focus or one that is far too broad.

Be as vague and generic as possible and make it difficult for visitors (if you get any) along with the search engines to understand the purpose of your website.

Then again they will understand your purpose, that is to be the cheesy salesperson instead of the helpful content creator that cares about your readers which obviously is not you.

3: Ignore SEO Practices:

Forget about optimizing your website for search engines properly, better still focus more on trying to rank with overuse of SEO such as keyword stuffing and using black hat even some grey hat methods.

Use fake clickbait titles to get them in but don’t worry about the fact it has nothing really to do with the content. Just draw them in and sell the heck out of it.

Focus on the older method of doing things just for search engines that result in poor visibility and minimal organic traffic instead of producing helpful and relevant content.

4: Overlook Audience Needs:

Disregard the needs, interests, problems, and preferences of your target audience when creating content.

Create thin content and short content like around 500 words because you don’t want to offer too much value in your content as it takes more time and effort to write.

Who wants to write more? it takes too much effort. I am sure there is a movie you prefer to watch instead where you can fall asleep during it anyway.

Just become that lounge chair athlete you are used to being.

If you do write longer content by some weird chance then fill it up with fluff and useless words just to fill up space.

Don’t bother to help your readers find an answer or problem they are seeking just sell, sell, sell.

Remember you don’t care about them you just want the money.

5: Avoid Consistent Content Creation:

Posting your content once in a blue moon or when you feel (which is more likely).

Don’t bother to update any old content that may provide valuable and updated content for your audience.

This requires more work besides your readers won’t know the difference anyway.

They are the dumb ones if they somehow find your site and end up buying from you. So why bother with the extra work to keep updated and to the current times.

As long as you made that easy money even if you manage to rip them off with misleading or inaccurate or outdated information.

Besides, who cares if it takes longer for search engines to scan your content? They are search engines, I wrote my content so they should be quicker to indexed then rank me.

So, post as less as possible so no one knows you exist expect for the three personas, me, myself and I.

6: Don't Bother to Establish Credibility:

Skip this building trust crap with your audience, besides they should know you are recommending the product or service.

Because you said it buy this they should get it anyway even if you just copied the same details as what the merchant states.

Don’t worry about doing product comparisons, you already know which is the higher commission so that is the one people should buy not the cheaper alternative where you get less commission even if that product is better overall.

All they have to do is link the affiliate link. That is if you are still with the affiliate program.

Remember you just want money quicker.

Why should you care about building trust with your audience and building a relationship in order for them to revisit you again.

They don’t need to know if you are an expert, have some authority or even have experience their job is to buy and then go away.

So what is the point of showing trust on your niche when they won’t come back anyway. You can just sell to the next sucker that comes along.

The reader’s job is to just click the link and buy that’s it.

7: Disregard Affiliate Disclosure:

You feel that all you have to do is write some content however pathetic it may be, promote the product or service and provide a link.

It is that simple so why bother with showing this so-called transparency and disclosing your affiliate partnerships and having a privacy policy page.

As for your About Me page, just say I am an affiliate marketer and here to sell you a product or service. All you need to do is click my affiliate link and buy so I can get my commission and you get the product.

Disclosure covered done and dusted simple and short and to the point wo what is wrong with that? That is all they need to know about you.

They can see you are selling who cares about this crap about disclosures they should figure this out anyway themselves.

You think to yourself that no one really cares about me so why worry about any legal repercussions I am small fry.

They won’t find me or my site anyway amongst the millions of sites out there.

Amazon Associates

Oh and If you are an Amazon Associate don’t disclose the actual wording they want either, if you don’t do as asked they will close your account for not following their rules they ask of you.

Besides you can always apply again with Amazon and try your luck again and again and again while expecting to make some money along the way.

Then again each time you get your account close you get a new affiliate link so you need to change your old one and replace them with the new one.

Wow more work think I might forget about Amazon let alone having to make 3 sales within 180 days all over again.

8: Promote Irrelevant Products:

Choose affiliate products solely based on high commission rates, without considering their relevance or value to your audience.

Don’t worry about what your niche is so why not just promote things like hiking shoes and equipment or other high and popular niches regardless if your niche is on skincare and nothing to do with it.

Remember you just want money and to be a millionaire within a few months or sooner.

9: Rely Solely on Paid Advertising:

Invest heavily in paid advertising especially when you first start expecting this will give that money to you quicker.

Who cares if I don’t’ have or set a proper budget monthly on this. I expect to be making money quickly and in no time so that is fine.

I will be rich not poorer for wasting money too early with paid advertising or other PPC Campaigns. This will not happen to me only to others.

Besides proper planning means I have to think and plan I just want to sell not be a business owner even though I have my website which is mine.

These are just minor technicalities.

Unless you are already mega rich anyway and don’t care about wasting money so soon.

Then again why do affiliate marketing when you already have the mullah right?

10: Neglect Audience Engagement:

Don’t bother to communicate with your audience through comments, emails, or social media let them just buy the damn product so you can make money, and be done with it.

Who cares about what they think or say?

If they do give you so-called valuable comments or feedback, just ask them to keep buying more I am sure they will love your negative approach (not).

11: Ignore Analytics and Data:

Don’t bother monitoring every once in a while with analyzing any website metrics, or finding out some posts are not indexed or have an issue.

You don’t want to waste time fixing things properly, that takes more work and effort.

Just be ready to blame the search engines for getting things wrong as it wasn’t you.

Even though you have produced thin or unhelpful content they must have misinterpreted what you were writing about.

12: Neglect Mobile Optimization:

Do not worry about the importance of mobile responsiveness, or having your post and website optimized for mobile uses.

The so-called experts say it could lead to a poor user experience, maybe they could get a better mobile or just use their desktop or IPad instead.

That is their issue not yours you wrote the content they should look properly to see the post better on a larger screen.

Perhaps if you do why not promote desktops for your skincare niche then they can see your post the way you see it.

Here’s a thought why not on your skincare niche promote desktops get higher commission and say now you have a desktop you can check out more posts and see it properly.

So no need for optimization for mobile learn to use the desktop instead.

13: Neglect Continuous Learning:

Stop investing in your knowledge and skills within any training platform.

You just want to create a website add a bit of content here and there and sell.

Why do you need to learn more or keep up to date with changes happening they should just be as is.

You don’t need to be told how to do things the right way. Besides learning takes more time. You just want to sell who cares about keeping up to date as long as you make money.

Plus you prefer to just sit back watching TV or whatever and expect the money to come rolling in with little or nothing to do on your part.

Again that is extra time, work and effort which lead me to the next point you don’t need to worry about.

14: Expecting Easy Money Without Putting in Effort:

So you found out that going through the training and building a website takes time and effort on your part.

You feel that you can just push a few buttons and expect money to come rolling in like many of the Get Quick Rich methods that state it is so easy to do and earn your first $500 or $1000 within a week.

It can be very frustrating and test your impatience knowing you have to make the added effort and write more content regularly.

So why do all this work for something you won’t see straight away. You want quick fortune not to build a long-term business online.

15: Give Up Too Soon:

So you found out that going through the training and building a website takes time and effort on your side.

You now start to see that those push a few buttons and expect money to come rolling aren’t working so you feel Affiliate Marketing is just another scam.

You find you are not making the money those Get Quick Rich methods tell you.

You are not earning $500 in a day or that $1000 within a week.

So you get angry blame everyone else under the sun for your failures expect you of course.

Start to wonder why should I work and make the extra effort.

Might as well go and find a 9-5 job and follow the bosses orders, at least I will get paid regularly, providing you don’t’ get fired for not doing the work asked of.

So after all this you decide you don’t want to learn more, you don’t want to make the extra effort to be successful online as an affiliate marketer.

So you give up quickly, not realizing how close you could have been.

Now, let's flip these steps around to create the path to success by doing the opposite! The right way with Affiliate Marketing.

Steps towards Success in Affiliate Marketing.

1: Choosing a Niche Without Research:

Don’t fall into the trap of selecting a niche without doing some thorough research. It can create more issues for you later one if not earlier when trying to rank online.

It is best to select a niche that you either have a passion, hobby or interests in.

Note that with your website you will be creating content on a continue basis so make sure you either know more on the topic or be prepared to learn more.

This can be done by doing your research and also checking on the search engines what others are writing about the same niche you are in.

Here at Wealthy Affiliate you not only have the hubs to help you more on what to write be it yourself or using the AI assisted Platform.

You can also look into the niche finder tool on your dashboard to break down your broad niche idea to something more specific on your topic.

Doing proper research is vital to your success not just for selecting a niche but also when creating content.

2: Building a Generic Website with No Clear Purpose:

This can follow on from above when creating a website for your selected niche.

Do not create a website that is so generic that lacks a distinct identity or purpose. Not only for your potential visitors who seek clear direction and value but also for the search engines as they want to know what your website is about and if it is being useful for your readers.

Creating topics at the start on anything and everything will confuse the search engines which may further cause issues in your post being indexed let alone ranked.

This is part of why it is important to know your niche and not a broad one as stated above.

Plus the fact that a very broad niche is mostly likely covered by much high authority sites, most of who have experience and expertise on the topic and has been doing this for years.

You need to break down your niche to a more specific audience and focus on that.

For example:

Instead of focusing on health and wellness as a whole, which is far too broad.

Don’t write anything and everything in health and wellness.

Here is an example using the niche finder tool

The main niche is Health and Wellness however once you select the niche you will get these first 10 ideas you can create your niche on.

Weight Loss

Nutrition

Fitness

Beauty and Skin Care

Mental Health

Sleep

Alternative Medicine

Senior Health

Yoga

Lifestyle and Wellness

Now some of these can also be a bit broad but with the niche finder you can select each one at a time and hone down a bit more to be more focused on a particular area at the start.

As I mentioned Skin Care a few times, lets break it down further using the niche finder tool you have here.

So I click the option for Beauty and Skin Care shown above and get an extra 10 ideas to think about your niche.

Organic Skin Care

Anti-Aging Solutions

Hair Care Products

Bath and Body Products

Nail Care

Makeup

Men's Skin Care

Acne Treatment

Sunscreen

Lip Care

As you can see even here you have many options to take and can even go deeper if you wish or later use some of those not only as a niche idea but also create categories for some of the options.

You can do the same for whatever your niche is or if you are thinking of creating a niche when you start.

This is best to first select one area write at least about 10 posts then create a new category select another niche idea do another 10 posts and rinse and repeat.

You have 10 ideas here and doing 10 posts on each one will give you 100 posts not to mention some of what was use above that. You also have your hubs to give you more ideas as well.

So you have plenty of options to learn and gain from but it all relates to dong proper research when selecting your niche.

Best to first focus and break your niche down to something more specific like Skincare for woman over 40 as an example.

So start small and expand as you gain more insights from your research and create more content on each category.

3: Neglecting SEO Strategies:

We know with all the latest updates Google has thrown at us and yes there will be more SEO has taken a bit of a hit but as a result it is not dead as some would want you to believe.

So don’t overlook the importance of SEO when creating content.

You don’t need to go overboard using SEO just follow the basics like keyword in your title, in your first paragraph and somewhere else in a h2 heading and perhaps once more somewhere near the end.

That’s it

SEO is still important just make sure you are not being blinded by the many SEO plugins telling you to do this or that when you don’t need to overdoing it can have a reverse effort to want you would like to have.

Also while I am on SEO plugins you don’t need to pay for added plugins they promote it is not needed.

Just do the basics mentioned above and create great useful and helpful content with your reader in mind not for the search engines.

4: Ignoring Audience Needs in Content Creation:

I just mentioned creating helpful and useful content aimed for your readers.

That is of the greatest important after all, it is your readers you want to buy from you. So thinking of them is paramount and should be your first focus not search engines.

They are or will be your lifeblood for future success so look after them and help them find an answer, solution or give an understanding to what they are seeking one that helps them.

5: Inconsistent Content Production:

Sporadic content updates or long periods of silence can cause a website to fade into obscurity, losing relevance and engagement over time.

Search engines continuously use their bots to scan websites and check their content to see how useful it is for the user experience.

However they won’t visit you each and every day. Creating content once in a blue moon won’t cut it.

If they see you haven’t written anything for a while they take it as though you are not serious about your website.

To them your site is not worth either indexing let alone any content you have to be indexed and then rank.

So write regular content even if you do 1 a week each week just be constant about it.

Don’t publish 5 posts one week and nothing for a few months.

Search engines want to see constancy.

Think of it as fibre for your website like your body.

The more regular fibre you have the better your body will be, and the same with your website.

This is aside from looking after other areas for both body or website.

The more regularly you write ,the more likely they will visit your site on a regular basis rather than once every few months or longer.

6: Failure to Establish Credibility:

Part of what is required these days compared to the old days of online marketing is showing credibility as a website and content creator.

This goes in many areas like Google E.E.A.T. Guidelines.

Without demonstrating expertise, experience, authority and show trust you will find it harder to rank online.

Not just for search engines but showing your readers the same will help you go further forward.

People want to be able to trust what the creator of that content is saying.

You need to show you are being helpful and not just selling to their faces.

They are not stupid and if you try to be sleazy and push them to buy and not be of any help to them they will leave you site quickly and find someone else they are comfortable with and later but from them.

With all these E.E.A.T Google is seeking if you are new or already building your site you will gain more of these needed aspects along the way.

Remember this.

Every successful person was once a beginner.

The only difference with the successful marketer is they kept moving forward along the way, did their research, made mistakes as well but instead learned from them and fixed what went wrong and moved forward.

You can do the same as you are building your business online.

Slowly but surely.

The more you do the more experience, expertise, authority, and trust you will build so give it time but never stop learning and growing and very importantly keep moving forward.

7: Disregarding Affiliate Disclosure:

Transparency is key, in affiliate marketing; failing to disclose partnerships erodes trust and credibility, potentially leading to legal ramifications.

There are rules to the game of affiliate marketing like anything else so adding disclosures is a must for any affiliate marketer.

The training here at Wealthy Affiliate covers this as well.

Also I mentioned Amazon they have their own specific wording you must use compared to standard affiliate disclosures.

Yes I know they are fussy and at times a paid in the butt but it is their rules so if you want to be an Amazon associate you need to abide by their rules.

8: Promoting Irrelevant Products:

Choosing affiliate products solely for their commission rates, and ones not relevant to your niche is a sure-fire way to lose trust with your readers.

Like I said before you are looking for skin care products but instead talk about hiking shoes and equipment. How is that revelent to your skin-care site?

It isn’t so visitors that come to your site will see this and then leave quickly plus search engines will also noticed this and either de-index your post or lower it’s ranking into the graveyard on page onwards.

Always write content based on your chosen niche. The old rule of one niche per website is the one to take.

9: Over-Reliance on Paid Advertising:

Placing all marketing eggs in the paid advertising basket can drain resources quickly, with no guarantee of sustainable returns or audience engagement.

Although paid advertising can do well for you but as I said there are no guarantees of success. Plus you need to create a budget on a monthly basis regardless if you just started or one that is experienced.

For those starting best to first focus on organic traffic, write consistent content and one that is helpful for your readers.

Paid advertising is also a trial and error as well. You will need to see what works and want doesn’t even when using social media.

If you are a plus member there is plenty of training on PPC that can help you with some great advice from Kyle and the super affiliates here who know best.

So be wary of spending more money that what you have and use common sense as well.

10: Neglecting Audience Engagement:

Failing to engage with the audience through interactive channels denies the opportunity to foster meaningful connections and gather valuable feedback.

If someone connects with you regardless if it your website or on other social media sites always connect with your readers. Thank them for their response and answer any further question they may have.

You are also building trust when engaging with your readers, not just on the content you create.

Look after them and they will most likely come back as a returned visitor and look after you.

11: Ignoring Analytics and Data:

If you have Google search console and also Bing Webmaster tools install then use it to look at what is working or not.

Neglecting to analyze website metrics and user data means missing out on insights crucial for optimizing content and marketing strategies.

Just don’t look at it everyday once a month is fine doing too much and expecting instant results will not help your mindset either which can easily negatively impact anything you do.

12: Neglecting Mobile Optimization:

Your website needs to be optimized with various forms on usage. It is not just for the desktop as many use their mobile which is on the rise to connect with your site.

As for themes make sure it is lightweight and already has the optimization for all sorts of units like desktop. IPads and mobile most themes should already have this if not time to change your theme.

That is why Wealthy affiliate starts you off with Generate Press as a theme which is lightweight, fast and covers all forms of optimization including mobiles. Even the free version is all you need.

Failing or neglecting to optimize mobile devices alienates a significant portion of potential visitors, leading to missed opportunities for engagement.

13: Neglect Continuous Learning

Failing to stay informed and adapting to changes in affiliate marketing risks you from falling behind your competitors.

The internet can change in an instant especially for affiliate marketing just look at the impact AI has had over the last few years.

Along with Google’s March 2024 update has affected many both in a positive and negagive way.

Alway stay on top of latest trends, changes made even Wealthy Affiliate is constantly evolving with new updates making changes along the way and they have been here for over 18 years.

There will always be a need to keep on top of things, yes it may at times need additional work like making some changes to old posts but that is for your benefit.

The more updated and relevant you are the better the opportunities you will have moving forward.

Isn’t that the aim to move forward and continue to improve and become the success you are always seeking online?

15: Giving Up Too Soon:

Never stop at the first sign of challenges you face. This is one of the biggest causes of failure, giving up too early.

If you are serious in wanting to be successful online know there will be many challenges along the way and then some just to test you out.

This is where learning from any mistakes made intentionally or not and improving them will help you go forward once more.

Prematurely abandoning affiliate marketing efforts robs oneself of the chance for growth and success that often comes with perseverance and resilience.

You have a worldwide community of fellow members to help you out here in Wealthy Affiliate so use it to your advantage and learn more where you can improve.

Final thoughts:

Wow never thought I would end up writing a Partha style post. And in his words Hahahahahahahaha

Though not as expertise as Partha, it is still there and important to note for you.

There are many other areas but by going through the hubs and other areas plus the added traning you have as a paid member will certainly give you added advantages over others who are not members here.

You have much to learn at WA but also much to gain.

So that is the15 steps on how to fail Affiliate Marketing with a reverse steps to take properly.

The only real choice you need to ask yourself is “Do I want to learn more on how to be successful online and be prepared to put in the work and effort or do I want to give up quickly and forget about it and whinge about life is tough.

You have that choice to make as The Journey Will Always Begin with YOU.

I hope you made that extra cuppa or hopefully not had too many beers along the way.

But I feel it is important for you to understand affiliate marketing is not a get rich way to make money as you are building a long-term investment into your business.

If you follow the training given to you and apply what you are taught.

The world can be your oyster as to how much you can earn the sky is the limit.

It all depends on you

Finally as always