Results Are Not Typical

byIthamar

552 followers

Updated 10 years ago

Remember when you would see an ad for some diet pill or diet plan and they would make all these claims about how fast you could lose weight with it and also have dozens of "testiphonyals" from people who used the product before they went to bed and when they woke up, lost half their body weight? You would be bombarded with all these claims and at the bottom of screen, in itty-bitty letters you would find these words:

Results Not Typical

Those three words used to protect companies from getting sued by angry customers who found out their products were crap. As long as those three words were displayed somewhere, they were safe.

Thankfully, the FTC (The Federal Trade Commission here in the US, that ensures businesses follow the law) heard our cries and in 2009 they changed their guidelines in this regard. Under the new guidelines, companies and ADVERTISERS (that's you, fellow affiliates, but another topic for another time) cannot publish an ad that makes you THINK results are typical, then claim they are not. So if users of a diet pill are averaging 3 lbs in 90 days and one person loses 80 lbs in 90 days, 1) Companies and advertisers cannot imply, suggest, or insinuate that 80 lbs in 90 days is typical. They must state that this result is extraordinary or not typical and 2) Companies and advertisers must disclose what IS typical i.e., the 3 lbs in 90 days.

Because I want to be in full compliance with FTC guidelines, I am going to explain to you why your results as an affiliate marketer will not be typical and why you should celebrate that.

The 80-20 Rule

Business consultant Joseph Juran developed a mathematical formula he named the Praeto Principle, named after Italian economist Vilfredo Praedo. Commonly called the 80-20 rule, the principle basically states that 80% of the world's income is controlled by 20% of the world's population. What's fascinating about this principle is that is can be applied to anything in business with a fair amount of accuracy. A few examples:

• 80% of a company's profits come from 20% of its customers.

• 80% of a company's complaints come from 20% of its customers.

• Microsoft claims that 80% of system crashes and failures were stopped by fixing the top 20% of known bugs.
• 80% of a company's sales are made by 20% of its sales staff.

The same holds true for affiliate marketing. 80% of all the money being made online is being made by only 20% of people trying to make money online.

So what is typical in Affiliate Marketing?

Glad you asked. What's typical is that the overwhelming majority (yes 80%) of people who start an online business fail. To help understand why this result is typical, we need to look at the characteristics of the typical people who start typical businesses.

1. Typical people have a typical mentality - They have a head filled fear, doubt, and worry. While they will readily admit there is money to be made online, they don't think they can make money online. They believe affiliate marketing is a scam, or that they don't have what it takes to make it online. They believe they can't learn how to write, or they need to be a programming expert. They typically believe they can't do this, so they typically don't do it.

2. Typical people are typically selfish - Typical people only want one thing in this business, and that is make as much money as they can right here, right now. They are willing to go to any length and do whatever it takes to get people to buy. They are more concerned with tips, tricks, methods, and shortcuts than quality content and user experience. They don't realize that people are on the internet looking for answers, for help with their problems and our job as marketers is to provide that solution for them in whatever niche we choose. It's about them not us. Google's recent Panda and Penguin updates and the CAN-SPAM Act were made for typical people, to keep them from manipulating the internet and email accounts for the sole purpose of gaining leads and customers.

3. Typical people are typically not committed - Typical people can't commit to the process of building a business online. They aren't patient and are unwilling to commit the time it takes to build it. They don't understand that the process can be slow, largely due to their particular learning curve. The less you know, the more you have to know, especially if you don't have the funds to pay someone to do it for you. They don't want to commit to following system or blueprint that's been proven to work, they would rather re-invent the wheel. They don't realize that they will fail, then fail again, only to get up a fail again. They just refuse to believe that successful businesses are sitting on a mountain of failures. Typical people give up after one or two failed attempts, then, in typical fashion, spend the rest of their lives bitterly complaining that all internet marketing is a scam.

4. Typical people love the Shiny Ball - If you've ever been to New York, you can understand why so many people love living or visiting there. It truly is the city that never sleeps. There is so much to do and see, and one of the biggest attractions is the New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square, where the big shiny ball drops down as they countdown to the New Year. To see it on TV is one thing, to see it in person is an experience in itself, particularly when you see all the people going "ooo" and "aaah." The internet is like New York for typical people and unless they are focused on their business, they will spend hours chasing the big shiny ball. " Look at this product!" 'Look at that site" "Check out this video!" They typically buy a product, commit for a week or two, then its off to the next new product! Typical people don't realize that they need laser-sharp focus and every activity on the Internet should be an Income Producing Activity. Watching 100 videos on SEO on Youtube is not an IPA, however getting your website up and putting in and putting together an email campaign is. Typical people don't know the difference.

However, you my friends are not typical.

Those who have become successful have realized that true success in internet marketing starts within. They have allowed their not typical business to change the core of who they are as a person:

• People that are not typical have become more focused
• People that are not typical have become less selfish
• People that are not typical give way more than they receive
• People that are not typical have a message and their only concern is to get that message to as many people as possible.
• People that are not typical are more committed

You are not typical. You have made the decision to build your business from the ground up. You may sell products, but more importantly, you realize that you are providing a service. You are in the business of changing lives and spreading positive energy to the masses. You are committed to building a blog that will not only make people feel good about who they are but they are going to share it with the rest of the world. You are willing to make videos, participate in forums, blogs, and communities to get your message out there because it is such an awesome message. You have dedicated the rest of your life to learning and investing back into your education to increase the value of your message.

Seeing this through to the end is not what typical people do. Typical people fail. You will Believe. You will Achieve. You will Succeed because you are not typical.

That's why your results will not be typical.