Snakes and Ladders Anyone?

How understanding Snakes and Ladders can save your affiliate business!

I'm not sure how internationally well known this classic children's game is, but for those who maybe aren't familiar with it, I'll just give a brief outline of the basic rules and how it is played.

Please note: these rules may vary from country to country and are often agreed by the players involved BEFORE the game starts - rather than by a rigid adherence to a 'correct' way to play the game. :-)

Designed for two (or more) players, the main idea is to be the first to go from the start at box number 1 to the finish at box 100.

Basically, its a race - but with positive and negative outcomes governed by the luck of a dice throw and by helpful or hindering outcomes dependant upon whether a player's counter lands on a ladder or a snake. If a player's counter lands on a square devoid of either a ladder or a snake, then their counter remains where it has finished with no bonus or penalty being incurred.

Should a player's counter land on the bottom rung of a 'ladder', then they advance their counter to the square at the top of the ladder. If it lands on the head of a snake, then they slide down the snake's body to the square on which its tail resides!

One dice (Die to all you English scholars out there! LOL) may be thrown (2 dice may speed the game along!) and the ability to start making moves MAY be governed by a player throwing a '6' - or 'double' if 2 dice are used.

Players take it in turns to roll the dice and move their counter the specified number of squares as dictated by the number of dots on the dice.

In order to make the game more interesting, sometimes the ability to 'finish' may be governed by needing to 'throw' an exact number. For instance, you may be on square number 96 (as in the above image). In order to 'finish' you would HAVE to 'throw' a '4'. Obviously, a '3' would be too short - but a '5' would be too 'long'. Such rule stipulations can make this basically simple game SO frustrating!

All of the above is a bit like life really, isn't it...

But what has the above to do with Affiliate Marketing?

Having outlined the game of snakes and ladders, its basic method of play and its basic rules, I'd now like to clarify the reason for this post.

At present, I feel that, on Wealthy Affiliate, I'm playing some kind of a real-life game of Snakes and Ladders! And I'd place a hefty wager on the fact that I'm not playing alone!

Since finally taking this platform seriously (my fault and definitely NOT that of this site's creators) I have experienced several 'highs and lows' with regard to my progress.

Initially, I was filled with a desire to learn all I could and to put that learning into practice as quickly as possible. I wrote thousands of words - 'content' if you will - in order to build my own successful online business as soon as I could. Initially, I was 100% driven by my desire to succeed.

But then 'life' kicked in - along with my basic negative attitude and lack of belief in myself - and things started to go pear shaped!

Why must everything be so complex?

So why am I struggling with getting my website 'out-there' on the Internet? The answer is simple - I'm getting bogged down with technology!

Many years ago (around 1996 to be exact) the Internet was in its infancy and pretty well anything 'new' that was put 'out there' stood a chance of being a success. You could virtually sell fridges to the Eskimos or sand to the Arabs in the beginning!

I can still remember putting search queries into Yahoo, Lycos or Alta-Vista (what IS a Google anyway? - LOL) and getting pronouncable return figures. These days, the number of searchable pages on the Internet - and the number of possible options returned - is mind boggling - and equally hard to pronounce!

Back 'in the day' web designers had it easy and many made a killing!

There were no easy ways to create websites. Either you could code - or you paid someone else to do it. Early website creation software was basic, 'clunky' and lacking in sophistication. WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) software was okay - but somewhat lacking...

But time changes everything - and time certainly changed the Internet! Enter stage left - CMS software!

Suddenly (though its actually taken a few years) everyone has it within their grasp to design and build their own website(s) without the need for a 'real' web designer. Suddenly, everyone can become a design expert. A few well placed key-strokes and 'voila!' a superb website is yours! But in reality, it isn't actually like that...

Although I'm not a genius, neither am I a fool. I can hold a conversation with people on many levels and have done on many, many occassions - and I pride myself as being both fair-minded and reasonable regarding interaction with my fellow man.

But I struggle with technology - and design!

But it Isn't Rocket Science - is it?...

When we strip down to basics the process of affiliate marketing, we are presented with 4 pretty simple actions that we need to take in order to ensure success:

1. We need to build a website that gets our message out onto the Internet via Google and similar search platforms. The higher up the rankings we can get (preferably position 1, page 1!) the better.
2. We need to provide a worthwhile 'service' in the form of quality content, which will attract a large number of interested potential cusotmers, answer any questions they may have and keep them coming back time after time - as they may well not purchase anything through our site for the first few visits.
3. We need to align ourselves with a quality, reliable product/service provider; a provider whose product(s) give great value for money and who makes it as easy as possible for us to promotoe their products.
4. We need to be able to 'rinse and repeat' aspects from within the above as needed, in order to enable us to retain our current customer base, whilst continuing to search out and obtain new cusotmers going forward.

There is, of course, a lot more to the whole affiliate marketing 'game' than that which I have listed above. But for my purpose here, I have listed what I see as the four main requirements.

So don't be afraid to ask - or pay!

Wealthy Affiliate is a brilliant concept - I wish I'd thought of it! But in my humble opinion - and it IS my PERSONAL opinion, I feel that sometimes its teachings miss an important point.

I feel that sometimes it is worthwhile paying a few Dollars/Pounds - whatever - in order to employ the services of a professional. Be it a web designer, web marketing expert, SEO specialist or whatever; sometimes, a little paid professional help can make all the difference - and can help you to overcome hurdles and maintain your confidence and focus!

If you don't wish to pay for assistance (or perhaps are unable to) remember that there are many, many people on this platform who are more than willing to help you succeed. They offer their help freely and can be a mine of useful information. I speak from personal experience here...

The Tortoise and the Hare...

So then, apart from wasting valuable minutes of your life (and mine!) - minutes which we will never get back - what is all the foregoing preamble about? Well basically its quite simple...

...I just wish to reassure affiliate novices like myself, that no matter what the Internet marketing 'world' throws at you, if you do things properly, and in an orderly fashion, then you will, one day, succeed.

But it isn't easy! Heck, if it were, EVERYONE would be doing it!

In closing then, may I say to my fellow novice affiliate marketers out there, that the you should forget trying to perform like the Hare in Aesop's famous fable and instead, be more like the Tortoise. I know I fully intend to follow the Tortoises example from today on!

Moving too rapidly, without fully understanding what you're doing can so often prove fatal to any kind of business. It is far better to progress slowly - at your own pace, than to try to emulate the Hare and, by being too 'cocky' see success pass you by!

So for me, its time to eat humble pie, admit that I was trying too hard and trying to take too many short-cuts and to go back to square one in the training and start over. Maybe I'll see you there? :-)

Remember: Not ALL of your 'brilliant ideas' will actually be brilliant. And try to use the time spent sliding down the snake's body to analyse where you went wrong and to try to ensure that you don't repeat your mistake(s).

Best wishes and kindest regards
George.