Lies My Affiliate Programs Told Me

Affiliate programs are liars! At least a lot of them. And here's why: they want me to promote their offerings, damn the cost and heartache to me; how many visitors can I send them, not to mention the links to their sites. And then there's the issues of link protection, commission stealing and expiring cookies. Is it any wonder I feel abused? Lied to, run through the ringer, deceived! Should I really feel this way? Only if I'm not aware of how affiliate programs work and how I can best make use of them. Let's look at this.

You've seen the come-ons: "Make $3750 a Day", "Converts 1 in 10!", "Highest Payouts in Industry!", endless screenshots of their "earnings", and on, and on...not mentioning the "conditions" attached. Those conditions are things you need to be aware of if you're going to promote any affiliate programs. And unfortunately for us, it's all on us to learn this. The affiliate programs aren't going to take you by the hand and show you how to do this. If they wanted to do this, they'd just hire an employee, (which most do anyway!) No, they expect that for these kind of rewards, you need to bring something to the table as well. Like just how to do this. Don't expect to sign up for the latest and greatest product, slap together an Adwords campaign with 3753 keywords in one ad group and expect to do anything other than have to spend many dollars on a fruitless search for sales. Yes, these "promises" aren't quite truthful: maybe someone promoting their product did make that much one time, but I bet they were a fully-armed affiliate marketer not taking any prisoners! Here's some things you can do to give yourself at least a shot at success.

Affiliate programs usually do offer many things you can use to your advantage: links, creative, sometimes the ability to deep link a particular product. Here's a tip, though: be wary of any keywords they offer. Not only does every other affiliate use these, they are probably not very targeted. There are many sources for great keyword research out there these days, such as NicheBot, Keyword Elite and others, and you would do well to avail yourself of something to help you work smarter. Also, find yourself someplace to light and get some ongoing instruction. There are many great affiliate programs forums out there; find one and start learning. Many have gone before you...

Pick yourself a "market" you'd like to promote, such as health, fitness, travel, golf, etc. This will make it much easier when you go about researching your product offerings and creating landing pages, and also give you the ability to have some sort of relevancy in your web sites. Not to say you can't promote the odd stray, but having a plan to attack a particular market is always a good idea.

Choose how you want to market and stick with it awhile. If you choose to market with pay-per-click, take it slow until you learn how to do this. If you choose to article market, realize that it's a lot of writing that you need to keep at for awhile to see results. If using email marketing, JV's, your own lists, whatever the method, give it a chance. Some people give up just before it bears fruit.

Affiliate programs do lie, but the fault really lies with us. Take 100% responsibility for your own life and your successes and failures. (Remember, there is really no failure; only feedback!) You'll be much happier and richer in the long run!

For a safe, informative way to learn affiliate marketing go to Wealthy Affiliate and learn all about affiliate marketing and pay- per-click advertising

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