The BIG LIE Of Affiliate Marketing
Today, a good friend of mine threw in the towel on affiliate marketing.
Because I totally respect his decision, and because I value his opinion on so many topics, and because he’s a smart guy, this came as a surprise to me.
Does just another one bite the dust?
No, not this time.
Not for me at least...
I need to address this issue.
I can vividly remember by doubts and struggles when starting out with my online business, and even today I have to be very conscious of toxic doubts and fears regularly trying to get into my mind...
Dear WA family, I would like to directly address my friend because his words from our phone call earlier today keep me thinking...
But at the same time, this might be helpful to a few more people, so I decided to publish it here.
Dear Mike, What Exactly Is "The BIG LIE"?
Earlier, you mentioned you are disappointed by the lies of a certain, well-known affiliate marketer.
And although this “guru” teaches a slightly different method for traffic generation compared to what is taught here at Wealthy Affiliate, I know that his method of “making money online” generally works.
So what exactly are the lies, what exactly shook your world-view and beliefs?
Let Me Ask You A Few Questions...
To determine what exactly the issue is, let me ask you a few questions:
- What exactly isn’t working?
- Is the “concept” of sending highly targeted traffic to highly converting offers not working?
- If so, “sales” in general wouldn’t be working, right? But it’s clearly working for some…
- Are the “funnels” and “offers” not working?
- You’ve seen the contests, leaderboards, etc. - Do you really think, it’s all fake?
- Is the shown method of generating traffic not working?
- If so, YouTube and/or the creation of review-type videos wouldn’t be working. But with millions of views on so many videos and so many interested and “searching” people within your chosen niche, we both know it better, right? YouTube as an organic source of traffic is clearly working for some…
- Is email marketing not working?
- Have you tried collecting emails and sending valuable emails without spamming the recipients?
- Is “making money online” a big myth? Nobody’s earning any money and it’s all fake?
- Well, we both know that it’s possible, right?
- Is “affiliate marketing” not working? Instead, “creating your own products” might be where the big money is?!
- If that was true, that would mean that the concept of generating traffic (attention) for very cheap or even free (organic) wouldn’t work at all, right? But I’ve shown you numerous examples of me ranking for specific keywords on page one, and you’ve seen the traffic figures…
So, please tell me: What Exactly Is The BIG LIE?
If you blame "that guy" and his video training for making it all sound a bit easier than it really is, I totally agree with you.
FREE, FAST and EASY - Yes, It's Bullsh*t!
Free, Fast and Easy simply sell (better).
And while the shown method is almost free, it’s clearly not fast.
And - especially in the beginning - not very easy, right?
But:
Let Me Ask You A Few More, Rather Personal, Very Important Questions…
But before you go over them, let me clarify something:
I’m NOT asking these questions from a pedestal but instead, I’m asking these questions myself on a regular basis, to reflect on my (recent) work, to better understand myself, and to be sure that I’m still on track and heading in the right direction with my life…
- What Do I REALLY Want?
- Is this, what I’m doing here, right now, really what I want for myself?
- Do I enjoy most parts of this work?
- Can I make XYZ work?
- IF XYZ method of making money online…
- … takes longer than I expected, is it still worth it?
- … is harder than I expected, is it still worth it?
- … is not working straight away but takes a few weeks, months or maybe even 1 or 2 years longer than I thought, IS IT STILL WORTH IT?
- Do I REALLY want to create an independent, online business for myself? Or am I chasing "quick and easy money"?
- Do I REALLY understand the work involved?
- Do I have realistic expectations?
- Do I REALLY prioritize this work over most things in my life, to finally make it work?
- Can I solve unexpected, small issues in an effective and efficient way without freaking out over them?
- Is all this “worth it” for me?
- Do I REALLY want this?
If doubts arise like “it can’t be done”...
- Are diets working (for some)?
- Is exercising working for some?
- Is “learning to play the guitar” working - for some?
All Tough But Doable Disciplines Are Working - For Some
Online business is clearly working for some. And so is affiliate marketing.
In my opinion, (affiliate) marketing and selling digital products and/or services online is still the best thing since the invention of the printing press and sliced bread.
But I also understand this is not for everyone.
I was very much hoping (and excited about my assumption) that we both would enjoy building online empires for ourselves for the years to come...
But I can also understand your disappointment.
Maybe we both expected too much, too early.
In the end, the biggest challenge with “making money online” might be keeping our expectations in check...
... Doing the hard work, expecting zero results for months...
And then continuing the work, until...
... Results Come, Later
That’s why we need to be passionate about our online businesses, otherwise, we can’t stick to the process.
Like losing weight. Like dieting. Like exercising.
The outcomes need to be extremely compelling, otherwise, we can't stick to the process.
The goal needs to be extremely motivating, to pull us when the times get tougher, and we need to be very consistent with what we do.
Delayed Gratification - The Final Frontier?
Self-Mastery And Looking Into The Mirror Are Fuckin’ Hard. It Has Everything To Do With Me Facing Reality And Nothing To Do With Guru XYZ Or Method ZYX
Making money online is possible.
Affiliate/online marketing is working.
Google and YouTube are working. (millions of people are online, every day, every hour - think about your own online behavior)
SEO/ranking strategies are working.
(Consistently producing helpful content over long periods of time - being in the trenches every day, optimizing your content and offers every day - probably is the most important factor.)
And that’s the path I’m on because this way leads me to the results I’m working for.
A working, highly profitable online business is EXACTLY what I want, so I’m willing to do (almost) anything for it!
But that’s just me.
I can understand your disappointments and I totally respect your decision to move onto something else.
Let me close with something that’s really important to me:
No matter how both of us choose to make our living...
I really hope our friendship continues and just gets stronger, even long after your current disappointments and frustrations are gone.
Stay awesome, my friend!
Tim
PS: In case you change your mind, I would like to invite you to Wealthy Affiliate. With WA, you have everything you need to succeed online at your disposal:
- the necessary training/knowledge
- the necessary tools (excellent hosting, a powerful keyword research tool)
- an excellent support team and a very helpful, caring community of awesome people
PPS: I can't believe I ended this post with a pitch... *lol*
Cheers! ;-)
Recent Comments
11
Great post! All who are new to affiliate marketing should read this.
The key takeaway is “delayed gratification.”
A lot of what I hear is “ I want it and I want it now.” I believe unrealistic expectations are what cause most people to give up.
I personally severely underestimated the time and effort involved. Did I quit? NO!
I expanded my timeline to be more in line with my efforts.
Thanks for sharing your insight.
KyleAnn
It will fail for any who first don't have the proper mindset for what lies ahead. It isn't a get rich quick scheme--it is a business that can make you wealth as long as you have patience, perseverance and intestinal fortitude! Thanks for the post, Tim!
Jeff
Thanks a lot for your insights, Jeff!
- patience
- perseverance
- intestinal fortitude
I couldn't agree more...
See more comments
I think everything you wrote is clear and logical.
I don't fault anyone for wanting to build some kind of meaningful income within a few months or even several weeks time. IF they are truly investing effort, money and time into it.
Definitely I tell people it takes time and can't expect to be making a lot of money within weeks but again. . I think what causes people to feel like your friend is working for weeks or months and not making any money at all. Not saying not yet at a profit I mean literally not making any money period.
For me... I know these things. I get it. It takes time. Build a niche website relying on free search engine traffic takes a lot of effort and time to see income. But still I don't accept it. I see it like this half of my online income model is this way. Build niche sites that will pay off down the road.
One way or the other they will pay off. Whether it is because each site is profitable (easy when expense is so low) or because I sell them... both outcomes will make them pay off in the end.
For the niche websites I have a longer term view... I expect it to be 6 months. I haven't added anything to my sites to generate income. Because I know it is not time to even be thinking about that. Later on at the 4 or 6 month mark I will work on that part.
BUT... I don't want or see the need in waiting 6 months to earn something. And that is why I have another half of my income model which focuses on active marketing. Paid ad campaigns, etc to build an income faster.
Building an online business doesn't need to take 6 months to see some income. Think of like this... the reason people are told to expect to work for 6 months to 1 year to start making money is because it will likely take 6 months to 1 year to get rankings which will bring people to our niche websites for "free".
If a person is willing to spend money and effort on driving targeted traffic to their niche site and testing to maximize conversions and testing different offers, etc to maximize value per visitor... then of course making money can happen much faster.
So... I just mean a person wanting to make *some* money within 6 to 8 weeks is not unreasonable at all for online business in general.
For this particular model if relying 100% on "free" search engine traffic then yes it isn't reasonable to expect money to come in 60 days or less. It can happen but is a fluke thing not the norm.
And of course anyone expecting to build a net income of $1,500 per month in less than 60 days I think is not realistic in general. Again sometimes yes it can happen but is not the norm.
Ultimately it comes down what is a person willing to do. If they are unable or stubbornly unwilling to spend any money then it will take much longer to make money.
People come online for some reason expecting to build income while not spending anything or only the bare minimum. They wouldn't do that in an offline business. But online for some reason they do.
The model WA uses shows how to build an online income with the minimal amount of out of pocket investment. The trade-off for doing that is it takes TIME. Many months.
I guess what I am saying is I can understand people wanting to see some income results sooner and becoming frustrated about it. Work work work work work. No income results. But they could see results sooner if they are able and willing to invest in their business. The desire to have income sooner is not unreasonable or unrealistic in itself.
Well said, Gar.
Cheers,
Tim