I get this question like every other day or something and you really can’t blame any newbie to the online world for asking.
I mean, who would want to put their time into something that doesn’t even work these days?
To make a long story short, affiliate marketing is not dead and yes, it is still possible to not just make money but a lot of it at that.
Now do allow me to explain why I don’t think affiliate marketing will ever be a watered down business even if almost everyone that gets involved thinks it will.
I have been doing this amazing business for about 3 years now and if you really think about it, that isn’t so long ago.
So if you think you can’t make a lot of money just a few years after I started then you are wrong.
Let me show you why and how you can make a lot of money in affiliate marketing today and even ten years from now.
Well, What in the World is Affiliate Marketing Anyways?
I like to look at it as nothing more than taking other people’s products and selling them to make a commission.
Not by doing any actual traditional selling but in a way where your website/blog does all the work.
By simply giving out information and making suggestions in a “crafty” way, you can make thousands of dollars by putting up simple content that people are looking for on the world wide web.
Not your typical, buy something at wholesale price and sell it to make a profit type of business but it is definitely a unique and very much profitable venture.
With a simple website and affiliate marketing I was able to not only quit my day job but also spend the time with my kids that I never thought possible.
Now let me show you how you can take advantage of something so simple as affiliate marketing.
It All Starts With Your Niche
Most people (myself included) come into this whole business with not a niche but rather a topic which a seasoned affiliate marketer will know is too broad and is a big no no.
I love to exercise and live a healthy lifestyle so I’m going to pick that and narrow it down to just dads.
Do a search on any demographic on those topics and you will see that your competition is going to be the big names in the business which is quite a depressing sight.
cnet.com will still beat you in the fitness niche and they aren’t even a fitness blog!
Think about things before getting involved in these so called niches as this is very critical to your start with affiliate marketing.
My advice, stay away from the obvious competitive niches and try to think outside the box, which I will be covering a little later in this blog post.
Are You Going With Your Passion?
This is a huge part in why most people fail online and I think if you can make a minor adjustment in this department you can separate yourself from the failures.
I used to think that you should always follow your passion and I even did a post on that but I must retract a lot of what I said.
Maybe in 2010 could you make a killing going with something you are passionately interested in but I have evolved with the internet and I would like to give you some advice on what I’ve learned.
These days, I wouldn’t say so much that you should go with your passion but rather something you are really interested in.
Something that interests you that also has a good market that isn’t watered down.
Think about it.
If you were to get into your typical stay in shape types of niches, the chances of you making thousands of dollars is still going to be very slim even if you narrowed your niche down to something very specific.
Google seems to favor authority sites covering several topics in a given niche so jumping into the obvious niches with everyone in them is not going to be your best bet.
Let Your Niche Fuel Your Passion
I learned this lesson in my 2nd year of doing affiliate marketing when I decided to venture off into another niche.
Almost everything I was passionate about was beyond competitive as I’m sure everyone wants to make money and travel, which have more than enough blogs that hog up all the traffic.
So what I did was find a market that had almost no competition and then I made the money to pay for those things I was really passionate about.
Not the easiest thing to think of as all we hear is “go with your passion” but if you can think for yourself, you will see that the most profitable niches are the ones no one wants to talk about.
That’s when you come in.
Understanding a niche was still not that easy for me as I was too busy throwing out new and engaging content, that I quit training on affiliate marketing and just focused on blogging my behind off.
Thinking about things for a bit, I realized that I needed to get involved in a niche that would fulfill someone’s problem that not everyone was already doing.
Just like having a broad topic to start with, you also don’t want to try and dive in a niche with millions of people providing solid information.
Take another direction and go with something you are interested in rather than dreamy about as most passions are usually involved with a flooded niche.
Now if your passion is unique and has less competition like skiing, you my friend are headed into the same direction success is.
Lucky you.
Affiliate Marketing Usually Requires Help & Support
Too many people come into this business thinking that they can do it all by themselves to find out that it can be a bit overwhelming.
I’m not saying that it’s impossible to succeed with affiliate marketing on your own, but the chances of you quitting are a lot higher when you don’t have a solid support system.
This is the same reason why I always recommend a program called the Wealthy Affiliate for all your affiliate marketing needs.
So if you want the best training on the web along with some solid help, that’s where you need to be.
And if you are skeptical about this whole making money online thing, you might want to check that out too.
There’s nothing better than having a live chat with successful affiliate marketers ready to answer those questions that require a simple yes or no answer.
A little help can go a long way and is usually the deciding factor on whether or not you will fail or succeed.
You NEED the Right Training
There are tons of free material on the net on how to make money with affiliate marketing but that’s just as good as reading a book on how to become a doctor.
Sure you can find anything online but there’s always more to it than what is offered and in most cases will leave you confused.
By telling you what affiliate marketing is, one would think they got it when they really don’t.
On top of the right training you will also need tools and some good lessons on how to use those tools, so a solid training platform usually comes with those tools.
Forget second guessing yourself if something works or not, just know that solid training on affiliate marketing does not cost thousands of dollars and you will not make money overnight no matter what any of the gurus try to tell you.
Affiliate Marketing Takes Time
For some reason I have been coming across a lot of new people and they almost always have the same get rich quick mentality.
“John, I did 10 posts and I’m not making any money”
“I’ve been doing this for 6 months and I still don’t have any traffic”
I think I’ve heard every story out there and it always comes down to them having the wrong mentality along with the lack of work needed to make it online.
Put that together and you have the recipe for disaster.
The right training program will tell you that you aren’t going to make money right away and they will also tell you that you need to work at it.
They will also tell you that doing 10 blog posts in 6 months is not going to cut it either.
If you’re not working on your site daily, you’re most likely not going to make it.
Work your butt off for 6 months straight and I guaranteed you’ll start making money.
Do the opposite and I’ll also guarantee you won’t make a penny.
More People Quit Than You Think and This is Great News For You
Being successful online is really dependent on you and no one else.
So when you come across someone who tries to tell you that affiliate marketing doesn’t work, turn the other cheek and talk to someone who has actually made money.
In any business there is always going to be competition but with the online world you are only going to be competing with winners.
Every single day there are more people quitting rather than succeeding, so as long as you stick with it and put in the work, you can very much join the small percentage of people actually making their living from the internet.
There are so many that give affiliate marketing a try and fail to understand that there is work behind the money and end up looking for an easier route.
They look for that route, realizing it doesn’t exist, and of course they will eventually quit.
A very common road failures take so don’t make those same mistakes, as you will only fail with affiliate marketing if you quit.
If you have already quit, now is a great time for you to come back, especially after reading this post.
Affiliate Marketing Works
Trust me, I thought I was too late in the world of affiliate marketing but I can’t even tell you how far I was from the truth.
The thing I’ve learned is that making money with affiliate marketing starts with the right mentality and that is also what you need to keep going.
Know that this is one of the few legitimate ways to make money online and if you can understand everything I’ve mentioned in this post, you will not just make money but a lot of it.
Expect to see results without applying what I covered and you will become another statistic.
So can you still make a lot of money with affiliate marketing?
The answer is a definite yes.
Cash By Job is Nothing But A Scam and You Will Not Get Paid