I was recently tagged by Jeremy Palmer! 
. Jeremy has an awesome ebook about affiliate marketing, check it out (NOT an affiliate link) if you’ve never read it. Now I’m usually not into tagging, but I’m doing this one since :
- it’s an easy one (that’s the biggest reason), what can I say, I’m a lazy affiliate!
- I have a tremendous amount of respect for Jeremy
- I have some important stuff to share that will benefits affiliates and internet marketers in general
So what’s one thing did I learn at the affiliate summit?
I learned that there’s as many ways to do affiliate marketing as there are to painting a picture. I’ll be the first to tell you that some ways of doing this business are much more effective, stable, and long term than others, but I’m not getting into that debate again.
Whether you’re doing seasonal ppc promotions, build custom affiliate sites around long term affiliate promotions (like I do), blogging, build viral sites that get high traffic like Zac Johnson, do email marketing, or even submit articles with your affiliate link embedded in them, the key is to get REALLY good at that method of affiliate marketing before you do ANYTHING ELSE.
There are lots of affiliates out there-and you know who you are-that leapfrog from ppc affiliate marketing one day, pre-fab adsense sites the next day, and email marketing the day after.
It’s NUTS!
These leapfrogger are scratching their heads after 3 years of busting their butts, wondering why they’re barely making any money online.
Focus on one method of affiliate marketing and become an expert at it. What do I mean by ‘expert’? Well you should be making, at the very least, enough money to do affiliate marketing full time.
I don’t know how to make viral sites, do SEO, build a list, or any of that. But I do know how to do ppc affiliate marketing, and I know how to do it really well. Not only that, I’m constantly working on improving my skills so I can become even better at ppc affiliate marketing.
Develop a competitive advantage for your business, in internet marketing that usually means becoming an expert at something. When you’re starting out it may take you 6 months to find something that really drives you (it took me 6 months).
Once you find the way of making money that really clicks with you, stick with it until you’re so good at it that you’re qualified to give a talk about it at a conference.
Hi Amit,
I think that is excellent advice. In the beginning, I was one of those people that bounced around from ppc marketing to made for adsense sites, etc. When I finally stuck to one thing that I actually enjoyed (blogging) the money started to trickle in. Like you, I am always trying to improve. It’s a never ending learning process but it’s very fun!
Hi!
I just wanted to thank you for all the great posts! I’m only a beginner to affiliate marketing, but I’ve learned a lot, especially thanks to your blog. But another important thing I get from your blog, except for the great information, is that it seems that every single post gets me very motivated again!
Thanks!
Specialists will beat out generalists any day of the week and focus is going to be key to be successful not just at Internet Marketing, but in life in general.
If nothing else, go ask a surgeon why he charges 10 times more than a regular doctor.
If it already works in the brick and mortar context, just bring it online and shoot it into overdrive!
Very good advice. I’m at the point where it’s all sort of coming together now – a big action plan.
I can’t believe I used to have a “to do list” about a mile long that looked like:
1. do 5 adsense sites
2. write ebook on shampoo secrets
3. build affiliate site around dog training packages
4. Blah…
I’m now focusing solely on PPC affiliate marketing too, but I’ve been mixed up on what strategy to use, and I nknow it shouldn’t, but it has been holding me back.
Do I
a)make a big content site with newsletter and in depth program reviews based on my interest
or
b) go for growth and multiple streams and build a handful of mini sites around offers
Best thing to do is try and see what suits me I spose. MAybe you can talk about that on your next post. You’ve always said you like to build content sites, and spin only a handful of plates -
But do you build super sites around your passions and interests or
Do you build content based mini sites?
Cheers,
Joe
Amit, very good advice and I can certainly relate personally. In fact, it wasn’t until I picked one avenue of online marketing (PPC affiliate marketing) and stuck to it that I saw any success. Before that I was all over the place and not doing anything well.
Hi Amit,
Sound advice as usual. I think the main reason why people leapfrog is that it does not work within two or three days and they think lets move on without testing it.
I have to say I am in that boat, at the moment ppc is ok, but I really want to go the way of having traffic from search engines so I don’t have to pay google.
Sometimes my affiliate checks turn up 1 to 2 months after I paid google its all about cashflow.
I am slowly chnaging affiliate sites to try bring cashflow to me quicker so I can pay google.
Thnaks
keep smiling,
Kevin
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UK