Affiliate links too early
I haven't been too into doing blog posts here yet but I just finished publishing one to my website and promoting it on social media so I have a little time on my hands.
I was hanging out in live chat trying to be helpful :-) and was chatting with someone who is just starting out with their website. Super anxious and excited to get started with their blog posts and super interested in affiliate links.
I remember that feeling and I still have it every day! Remember back to when you first started your website? You have visions of creating this awesome looking helpful and profitable website. I mean we all got attracted to WA because of the possibility of developing a successful website to earn money, right?
We go through the training; learn how to build the website; learn how to insert affiliate links and ads and wait for the money to start flowing in! Unfortunately, myself included, I think we expect that money to start flowing in way earlier than it actually does.
Perhaps it depends on your niche and I'm certain it depends on how often you post and the quality of your content, but some of us don't start seeing money flow for quite a while. I'm about 4 1/2 months in and still do not have money coming in. : (
When we learn how to add those affiliate links we want to start applying to affiliate programs and putting links in our posts right away! But the truth is, until we start getting a good amount of traffic to our website having affiliate links is useless. If there's little to no traffic coming to your site then there's little to no people to click on your links!
So something I've learned through my short time here at WA is not to apply to those affiliate programs to early because it's just not necessary right away in the beginning. Focus on creating great content and getting traffic to your website then start adding those affiliate links and ads in there.
I applied to Amazon much too early and I think I only have a couple more months to make some sales or I will get the boot. Totally bums me out because I had hoped to be bringing in at least a little bit of money by now and I definitely don't want to get kicked out of Amazon!
It's hard not to get discouraged and ever so often I think about dropping it, but I will NEVER succeed if I quit. I will keep plugging away at it and hopefully within the next 6-7 weeks get that traffic and hopefully a few affiliate link clicks.
I've learned that this is definitely a process and patience is absolutely necessary.
Recent Comments
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Actually I've seen lots of folks who add affiliate links right from the start without issue. While Amazon requires sales or be booted, most other networks do not. Other networks also have longer cookies and higher commission rates. I've found that the key is actually not the volume of traffic but the targeting of traffic. Some niches won't ever have a huge volume, but if you get the majority of what volume there is, you'll be quite successful. It's not so much about volume as it is about engagement.