Ask any affiliate what the #1 thing you have to do to succeed is and the answer you will usually get is ‘work hard'. That is true in a sense; you do have to work pretty hard as an affiliate to achieve a high level of success, but it's really only part of the equation.
Most of the time when someone says to me ‘I'm not as successful as I should be' or ‘I'm trying really hard but I'm not making any money' it's pretty easy to spot the problem. Often, those affiliates aren't really trying as hard as they think they are or doing a ton of little $5/day budget campaigns without enough traffic to make any decisions on. Another big problem is jumping around too much. Affiliates jump from one traffic source and niche to another without ever really learning how to be successful in one area before moving on.
This blog post is about something a little different though. This is about the affiliates who appear to be doing everything ‘right' yet are still failing. I've seen people who really are putting a lot of effort in and are intelligent, yet can't quite seem to make it work.
When you talk to these affiliates, it's not always easy to tell why they are failing. On the surface, it seems like they are doing everything right. However, when you start looking at their campaigns and talking to them, some things become apparent.
When an affiliate looks like they are doing everything right but still failing, it's usually because they are doing one or all of the following:
1. Out smarting themselves. Affiliates can be really smart, but that doesn't always translate into how they run their campaigns. Sometimes people really over think campaigns. They come up with some really clever ‘angle' or basically try to reinvent the wheel, thinking this stroke of brilliance will shoot them into success.
The issue here is that you really don't need to reinvent the wheel. Innovate yes, but most of your successful campaigns will be fairly simple. Take a case study, idea, or tip and put a spin on it to make it your own.
2. Not listening to advice. Affiliates often ask for, and get good advice but don't do anything with it. This ties into the first point a little bit; some have the mindset that they know best and don't want to admit their ideas aren't working. Some people really struggle with this without even realizing it.
To combat this, you need to listen to successful affiliates and try to take their advice. Part of this is admitting that you don't always have the best ideas or could be doing something ‘wrong' and some people unconsciously don't want to accept this.
3. Not really trying as hard at they think they are. Sometimes it appears that affiliates are doing a lot of work and putting a lot of effort it, but then you take a look at what they are doing and they actually aren't accomplishing much. Working 15 hours a day sounds cool, but few people can actually be productive for that many hours.
Making a schedule and to do list can go a long way to getting more actual work done. Schedule blocks of time to accomplish certain tasks, and try to stick to it.
4. Taking on too many projects. Really successful affiliates usually stick to one niche and one traffic source. I often see affiliates who try to keep a ton of different projects running at once. This can work when you are more experienced and can outsource more, but in the beginning it's best to focus.
Focusing on one traffic source and niche will actually help you in all your marketing efforts and future projects. You learn a lot by really studying a niche in and out.
5. Not analyzing past efforts enough. Affiliates don't always keep a record of what they've done. When they start doing this and look back at what they did over the month, they are often surprised by what they see. It's really easy to get into habits and do the same things over and over again. Running campaigns is no different.
Affiliates really need to analyze whats working and whats not. Not only from a stats standpoint, but from from an overall business strategy standpoint. Are they doing the same things over and over again? Are they building all their landing pages the same way? Picking offers the same way? Collecting targets to bid on the same way?
If something isn't working, really step back and analyze what you have been doing. See if you can find anything you have been doing over and over, where you could try something new. Sometimes that's all it takes to turn things around.
If you feel like you are ‘doing everything right' and yet not making any progress, see if one of these scenarios might apply to your situation.
I don’t always read blog posts but when I do it has to be David’s…
Great post couldn’t agree with you more.
Interesting post. Thanks for sharing this.
Awesome post as always David.
come on..you’re gonna make me blush.
Thanks Phong!
Thanks for reading!
I am guilty of point 4…until recently I have simply been throwing up campaigns left, right, top, bottom without really understanding any one in particular. My problem was that I took the advice “test everything” and “put up as many campaigns as possible” too literally and started testing offers across too many verticals. Zip submits were where I lost most of my money.
Yeah, it’s important to test…but a lot of people take ‘test’ to mean jump all over the place. Sounds like you learned something though, so you’re on the right track now!
This is a really great article, something I will take from it is picking one niche and sticking with it. I’m usually all over the place trying to find one main niche to put 80% of my time into and have another niche that I put 20% of my time into. Then go from there.
Yeah, at some point you just have to pick a niche and decide to stick with it until you know it inside and out.
I’m mailing this post out to all of my consulting clients now. I know atleast half of them are guilty of all the pointers here.
I’m definitely guilty of hopping from niche to niche and the same with traffic sources.
We all are at some point..the first step is admitting you have a problem 😉
I’ve had a similar issue at different points in my self employment – ignoring widely known (and effective) advice, just because I didn’t want to do what everyone else was doing.
And related to this, instead of sticking with something straightforward that works, trying to be over-clever with offers/concepts that just end up confusing the visitors. Sometimes taking a step back and getting someone else’s advice can make a world of difference.
Simple, to the point and great article. Thanks for this.
I’m also guilty of #4, trying to do too many projects at once.
Now I need to put a few on hold and just focus on one (just one) but really dedicate the time, focus and energy to get it off the ground.
Thanks again!
I also do a lot of projects at once. If I don’t pay attention to a project I get the feeling the project will do bad. I know when i skip a project for a week I have nothing to worry about but still.
Also I try to ad a lot of different ways of SEO for my websites. That way I know there’s always something that does the job. On don’t the other had I don’t really know what effect my actions have on the rankings.
Yep, you nailed it! I have been in this exact position where I feel like I am doing everything right, but am getting very poor results. I think I am the “overthinker” for sure. When I “dumb-down” my landers and try to simply think like the demographic I am targeting, that’s when things start to improve. I have to constantly remind myself of this 🙂