Affiliate Marketing is a Scam Rant
I read a thread on the official Warrior Plus Facebook Group this morning that annoyed me. I am going to remove the girl's name, but you can see it if you want in the Facebook group
It was started by Sh........., she has repeatedly posted that the products she has bought from multiple vendors within warrior plus our not fit for purpose! She is bemoaning the fact that she never gets any support from Warrior Plus.
To try and make some money from affiliate marketing she has applied for lots of affiliate links within warrior plus. Despite applying for affiliate links she has absolutely no idea how to promote anything to make money. She asks
"Are there any products or services that are actual 1,2,3 steps and actually produce money within 24 hrs or sooner?"
I don't have time to waste on setting up emails, websites, searching online for videos to watch, etc... "
These are her words I have made them up. Interestingly enough this forum has a lot of the vendors as members. They are all experienced marketers some have been doing online marketing for over 20 years. Quite a few of them jumped in with practical and sensible advice. All of the strategies they suggested would work to build a long-term sustainable business. Unfortunately, they all required that she actually stepped up to the plate and did some work.
She was quite rude in her replies to these very generous offers of help. What was really interesting was a lot of people totally agreed with her. They all wanted a magic press one button solution. Because they couldn't make half a million bucks in a morning they all declared unanimously the Internet marketing was a scam.
You only have to read the success stories within this platform to know that it's not a scam. You also know because you have been there done it and got the T-shirt, that it's not a scam. Every member of this platform knows to build a sustainable long-term business you have to get off your backside and actually put in the hours.
People who chase the dream of being Internet marketers but don't want to put in any work I definitely wannabes! They are not serious about making a business. They are not serious about bringing sustainable change in their life. They can't blame Internet marketing and they can't blame the systems that they have bought. Chances are if they had persevered with them they would have worked, at least in the short term.
Now I know before you will jump on me that there are a lot of crappy products in the warrior forum. However I personally know at least half a dozen people who sell them really cracking products on the platform.
This is what my friend, Martin Avis wrote to Sha......... Martin has been doing Internet marketing for over 20 years and before that he worked in marketing. He knows his stuff he has made a full-time living from writing a few emails a week for at least the past 15 years and I suspect longer
"You all seem to think that Warrior Plus is a scam because you have bought products that didn't perform as expected. That's an extraordinary response - think about it, if you buy a TV at Walmart but find you don't enjoy one of the shows you watch on it, would you blame Walmart? Of course not! Warrior Plus is just like Walmart - a place where you can buy other people's products.
The fact that Warrior Plus has created this Facebook group so customers can get limited help and suggestions is a credit to them, but they owe you nothing beyond facilitating a smooth and honest transaction between you and the vendor of the product.
Having said that, there are two things you must understand:
1. There ARE people selling products that will teach you how to make money.
2. Virtually NONE of them offer instant, push-button solutions, despite what their sales pages might suggest. What most of them DO offer is the start of a strategy. The beginning of a plan that you will have to adapt to your own way of thinking to make work.
Yes, I agree that many of those vendors make promises they can't deliver, and I abhor that they are allowed to continue to lie to potential customers. That's another question though, because policing it is a problem for better brains than mine.
Shannon asked for a simple step-by-step plan. Here is mine to help you become an affiliate marketer (that's how I make my full-time income, so I'm not blowing smoke here)...
1. You can't do anything without someone to sell to. Yes, I said that dirty word, 'sell'. Affiliate marketing is about recommending a product to other people hoping that they buy it and you make a commission. Call it urging, suggesting, promoting or whatever, but in reality, you are selling. If you are selling online products, you have to have an online audience: a YouTube channel. This website has regular visitors, an email list you can send messages to, or, less effective in my experience, some source of traffic you can buy. Of course, there are other traffic sources, but hopefully, you get the idea.
Traffic - people to sell to - isn't optional. You can apply to be an affiliate for hundreds of products without it, but you won't have anyone to sell them to.
2. An understanding of what the people in your chosen traffic source want to buy. If, for example, you've built an email list of people who are interested in dog training, there would be no point in sending them recommendations for cat products. One or two might buy, but the rest would be turned off and less likely to trust you when you do find an excellent doggy product.
Warrior Plus (and JVZoo and Clickbank) are primarily about Internet marketing products, so if you want to sell the products you find there, you will need a list or traffic source that is Internet marketing aware.
It is a numbers game. If you are really good and have a very targeted traffic source, you MIGHT sell one product to every ten people you send to the affiliate link (i.e., the product's sales page). But even though that may sound like a lot, the reality is that even if you are very good, only one in 20 of your traffic (if you are lucky) will even click the link. Do the math. Your email list of 1000 people MIGHT result in 50 people clicking your link, and of those 50, only 5 might buy.
I used an email list as an example because a well-targeted, well warmed up, highly responsive list is one of the best traffic sources for an affiliate.
3. A good relationship with your traffic. Whether that is the people on your list, the people who read your blog, the subscribers to your YouTube channel or anything else. People buy from people they like and trust. And that trust and likeability has to be built up over time. That's why affiliate marketing is not generally a quick, make money by tomorrow, business.
4. Only recommend products you know are good. Anyone can apply to be an affiliate for products sold on Warrior Plus (and other platforms). And quite often you'll get approved. But why would you want to be approved? If you think that most of the products on sale are scammy and deceptive, surely you wouldn't want to associate your name and reputation with them? I know a lot do, but personally, I wouldn't trust most of them and certainly wouldn't buy anything they recommend. So what YOU must do is buy products, test them out and write about your experiences with the few you find that are good.
I know that involves spending money, but the alternative is making recommendations for products that you have no idea if they are good or not. If you buy a really crappy product on my recommendation, would you trust the next thing I recommend? I thought not.
5. Learn all you can from people who are in this business successfully. What works today might not work tomorrow. What works for me might not suit your style. What is legal today might be legislated against tomorrow. The business is constantly changing, and the successful affiliate marketers are those who are forever looking for new ideas, refining old ones, and working out new ways to do things on their own.
Continual education is key. Now, I know you think that this all seems like a lot of effort. You are right. Affiliate marketing - at least affiliate marketing for people who want to make more than chump change - IS hard work. And don't let products that want to paint you a push-button, instant riches, 'look at my new Porsche' lie deceive you.
And you might also think that my 5 steps aren't really steps at all. You are right again. There is no such thing as a do, this, do that and do the other, and money will pour into your account, plan. This business is a process, not a staircase.
Finally, if you have hated all that I've said, good. Find a different way to make money - online or off - because affiliate marketing is probably not something that you would be suited to".
I don't know about you but I love the bit about it being a process not a staircase that cracked me up. Do you agree with Martin do you agree with Sha.............
Recent Comments
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Hmmm.... She sounds like a lazy little madam who wants something for nothing Catherine.
A person like that will never get anywhere as they have the wrong mindset. If you want a business you put in the effort, the time and a lot of hard work.
Sounds as though she has plenty of time if she is on the FB page a lot, she just doesn't want to actually do any work.
Quite funny really, if you think about it. All the time wasted complaining and being rude to people could have been spent building her future.
There are too many entitled people who think life/business should be handed to them on a platter with no effort on their part.
Life is not like that in any area. You get out of it what you put in.
Sometimes I think that in live chat Linda. Not often, but someone gets a bee in their bonnet, and they go on and on about what a shit program Wealthy Affiliate is! I often think if you spent half the time you spend complaining actually doing the work it have a decent website.
You get out of life what you put in and also what you think about comes about. So if you're always telling yourself something isn't going to work Guess what will happen?
That's why I don't take part in live chat, not sure I could be polite.
Agree. What you think about, you bring about.
Think success along with the hard work and eventually that is where you will be.
I think they might take umbrage. My daughters are always saying 'Mum you can't say that'.
I point out it is just what everyone else is thinking but doesn't have the guts to say. Lol.
Great post Catherine, It takes all sorts of people with all sorts of ideas. When it comes to making money online, it is obvious it won't be for everyone (today we want things instantly).
The kind of negativity you mention from this girl, is unfortunate and bad publicity, but on the other hand this is a natural process of sifting what does not belong here.
I do understand your feelings.
A great post. In some ways it heartens me when I see people want to make money in 1 or 2 days. I am being selfish of course, but it means they will be out of business quickly and that is better for the industry in general.
Like anything, it takes time to build a business. Trust does not happen overnight.
Thanks for a great read.
Catherine, I totally agree with you. Unfortunately, this girl is the daughter of ignorance that generates a false myth of easy money. Anyone who thinks of making money online without effort would define him as ignorant. There is no magic wand. No button solves all our financial problems. But what can we do to make them understand that the truth is different? We must continue to educate them with our articles, providing advice and solutions but on the condition that everyone puts their own work into it. Ever since man set foot on earth, he has had to struggle to grow and evolve ... this girl will have to do it too if she wants to do something in life, not just online.
There is one point to make about any digital products. Creators who create their own digital products are the ones who are "getting rich," by promoting their products starting with low prices at first then OTO1, OTO2, OTO3, and on and on it goes up to a high ticket level above 1K USD or more.
It is the constant upsells. Nothing wrong with that. But it would be a waste of money to buy into a product that really doesn't work and continues to upsell and deliver promises that are just going to break your pocketbook. Like Darlene stated, its best to review the products first to make sure its worth selling. Even people wrote WA is a crappy product, they wrote others are a crappy product. One thing that irks and bugs me to the bone is the constant upsells, always having to chunk out a lot of money to gain more advanced product when all it is nothing more than what you bought originally. That is what happened to me.
My late husband chewed me out on that and said I am buying into nothing at all. In other words, you get what you pay for. Waste money go ahead and do all that, you find out that in the long run you spend so much money and still having nothing to show for it. That was his key point.
People need to buy in a digital product that does work and worth buying into and have something to show for it. Obviously it is this platform. It works if they work it, that's all there is to it, that's the bottom line. We use digital products everyday. Its this platform, autoresponders, many different digital tools available for us to use daily, that is worth a bang for your buck! Then sell it, and earn money, that is something we have to show for it.
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Oooh Catherine,
Can I have a rant too?
Firstly, Awesome read as always.
I'm going to play devil's advocate for a moment.
Regardless, of the reputation that certain products have gained on Warrior Plus (and other merchant sites), I would go as far to say that there isn't actually such a thing as a "scam".
There is simply a product that has been put together and the vendor has attached a price to their work.
Realistically, I could probably take 4 or 5 of my WA blogs, rehash them slightly, turn them into a PDF, add a a few images, and a video or two, and then sell the product for $50.
If someone were to read, understand, and actually TAKE ACTION they would probably do quite well for themselves.
Even, a 5-page PDF that sells for $5 and gives a basic outline of traffic generation, nothing more than you would find in any bog-standard article on the net, it's still NOT a scam.
It tells you what you need to do.
So, in effect, it's down to the reader's percerption and understanding of what they read.
And most importantly, if they TAKE ACTION.
Unfortunately, the attitude of the girl you describe above is rampant online.
In fact, I'm sorry to say that we have an influx of this mindset among new members to WA on a daily basis.
My intiial introduction to affiliate marketing was via "The Rich Jerk" (I'm not sure if you remember him).
He remained anonymous for many years, but was eventually revealed to be Kelly Felix, who frequented the WarriorForum at the time.
Many people labelled the Rich Jerk a scam, simply due to his persona - Women, Alcohol, Cars, Yachts, Private Jets, Bling, and Loadsa Money!!
But, I followed through on the original $27 ebook, and the rest as they say is history.
I think most people are "in love" with the "concept" of making money online.
However, few are willing to give it what it takes.
I don't know the stats behind it, but I'm willing to guess that an extremely high percentage of people "never make it" (I'm guessing well over 90%).
It also astounds me that many people believe that building a business online somehow requires less work than an offline business.
Okay, yes you have a wider audience to market to, which increases the earning potential.
But going back to the restaurant analogy of the other day.
You wouldn't expect to cook one meal a day for 3 months and then suddenly retire to your own private beach.
I hinestly think some people need a healthy dose of reality.
Stop Whining, Start Working
Rant Over... Hahaha
Partha.
Thanks Partha, blimey that rant was nearly as long as my post at least when you take out Martin's bit which was copied. Actually I do remember the rich jerk and although the marketing was as you say horrendously over the top the actual content was reasonably good. I agree with you they love the concept and also as you say we see them in chat every day. We can't help that they will always fall for the shiny object syndrome. We have to remember those that have still got the shiny object syndrome need a mindset reset. They are still looking at Internet marketing as a purchaser not as a seller