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! ;-)