Giving Thanks for Affiliate Marketing
Posted by Helen Montgomery, AC Magazine in Affiliate Marketing, Best Business Practices Wednesday, 22 November 2006 15:46 9 Comments
A little longer blog post than usual today…
We’re in a funny sort of business. From the inside, affiliate marketing is in its boom phase. Our industry is growing tall and wide and strong. An estimated 30% of shoppers will buy holiday gifts online, and some percentage will click through affiliate links. We’re not just flexing our muscles in the retail sector. We’re power-lifting.
Yet from the outside, affiliate marketing is a misunderstood child still. Amidst our cherished holiday memories are images of distant relatives casting us a suspicious glance and asking “What exactly is it you do for a living?” It’s as vivid as a YouTube vid. You: Keen, animated, sparkling with enthusiasm. Aunt Jane: Polite, wary, skeptical, bored. (Final cut: Auntie’s desperate dive into the punch bowl.)
The disconnect between the way insiders and outsiders perceive affiliate marketing won’t destroy your self worth or your bank account. But funny, it’s hard not to feel rattled when your nearest and dearest assume that you’re in a “fringe” business because they can’t grasp the concept of “cookies.”
So at this most wonderful time of the year, when I become aggressively grumpy at relatives, acquaintances, and all those outsiders who just don’t get it, I reach for the antidote: gratitude.
Instead of trying to explain to the uncomprehending what I do for a living, I tell them why I thank my lucky stars, every single day, for affiliate marketing.
1. I’m thankful that affiliate marketing allows me to work not only from home, but from the road, a bed, or a hospital. People like me, who battle chronic disease, know how painful (literally) it is to hold down a conventional job. So every morning I bless the affiliate marketing industry – it has transformed my life. I earn more, with less physical stress, than I could in a “non-fringe” job.
2. I’m grateful for the freedom to market what I want, to whom I want. You get to choose your industry, your niche, your market. You get to choose which products you want to sell, and which merchants to promote. You even get to change your mind without the threat of getting fired.
3. I’m thankful for the online world, where affiliate marketing was born and lives and thrives. The Internet is still the freest marketplace in the world. The little guy can build an empire without having to beg – and pay off – a dozen different bureaucrats to obtain permission to change the color of the sign above his store.
4. I’m grateful for the people who make me proud to be in the affiliate industry. People like my publisher, Anik Singal, who has devoted most of his career to professionalizing affiliate marketing. Through Affiliate Classroom, Anik is making our industry accessible to ordinary web-loving people like me. I’m also grateful for people like Shawn Collins, Linda Buquet, Jim Kukral, Rosalind Gardner… too many to list, but you all know them. In a world plagued with corrupt CEOs and corporate thieves, these people should be held up as business heroes and role models.
5. I’m thankful that I get to work with so many successful people who are so young. For a mid-lifer like me, these kids are a joy. They’re smart. They’re fast. They don’t care about corporate politics (what’s that?). They don’t need 13 meetings to make decisions. They believe in action. Thank you, thank you.
6. I’m grateful that affiliate marketing is gender, age, color, and limitation-blind. My 73-year-old mother, who retired from retail management a few years ago, is now an affiliate marketer. Sure it’s competitive, and for someone her age, it takes a lot of time and effort to get started. But you can do this if you really want to.
7. I’m thankful for the forward-thinking affiliate networks and management firms. Companies like PepperJam, PartnerCentric, ShareASale, and many others… again, you all know who they are. The people who run these companies believe affiliates should be managed with tact, intelligence, care, and humanity. May their influence increase.
8. I’m grateful for people like Ben Edelman, who works so hard to keep our industry clean of badware. Honest affiliates and networks owe you a debt. Dishonest affiliates and networks should fear you.
9. I’m thankful for the growth in the affiliate industry – and the growing pains. When your rankings tank or your keyword costs bloat, yes, it’s a bad day. But most of us would rather be Seabiscuit’s beat up jockey than a passenger in a small, slow, safe little donkey cart.
Since nine is a nice lucky number, I’ll stop. But I could go on with nine – or nine times nine – more reasons to be thankful for affiliate marketing. Gratitude reminds me that even when those loveable outsiders don’t get it, the people who read this blog understand. You know that affiliate marketing is not just a living. It’s a blessing.
So if you’re the sort who says grace before your Thanksgiving feast, don’t forget to thank your God for affiliate marketing and the people who make it work. And even if you’re not the praying type, take a moment to look inside – deep inside – our industry, and be grateful for how it enriches your life and our online economy.
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I enjoyed reading this post because it made me realize how much I like affiliate marketing and where I would be without. Thanks again anik.
9 Reasons to be Thankful for Affiliate Marketing…
Can you think of 9 reasons or more to be thankful for Affiliate Marketing? Helen Montgomery of AffiliateClassroom can. She wrote about being thankful in a way that touched my heart and reminded me of everything I have to be grateful for in this busin…
I enjoyed reading this article as it is great to see how affiliate marketing is changing lives everywhere. Specifically in this case, we see how even though Helen is battling a chronic disease, she is able to do well. Especially as she notes #6, that affiliate marketing is “gender, age, color, and limitation-blind”. 60% of what I do is based on affiliate marketing…
Anyways, thanks Helen for writing this, and Anik for publishing it….Take care…
Thanks to Brad Callen we are here, finally! We have been looking for you for three months Anik!
Hi Anik,
Sorry for putting this question in this forum like this, but when I tried to submit my question in the ask Anik area it kept popping back URL NOT FOUND?
I just wanted to say something since I just joined up, but the only thing that I can really say is, I really hope the Affiliate Classroom is all that it sounds like it is! It sure sounds great, but so did so many others that I’ve been spending so much money on already, that it makes me so skeptical and leary about everything and everyone involved.
I’ve got more ebooks, software, programs and I also am a member of many, many affiliate sites, yet I can’t seem to get going. I bought into the “Daves Cool Little Website” affiliate program as well as Dropship Wholesale and the PlatinumPowerSeller, just to name a few, but in order to get anything (other than more information than I know what to do with) more out of these places (that have literally taken hundreds of my hard earned money) they want a lot more money! I just don’t have a “Lot more money” to give them. It’s time for me to see a return on my investments and that’s why I joined the Affiliate Classroom.
I’ve been out of work now for 14 months due to having gone thru Chemo and being downsized as a Thank you from my Boss for all my hard work over the past 15 years! I have gone thru my 401-K and am very low on my savings, but I am still in so much pain and discomfort that I can’t go back to work yet.
I lost my low 6-figure income and was given a lousey 8 week severence check to live on.
Where do I start in this program? What does anyone here suggest I start out with? I really need to do something before I loose my house and car. I’m only 48 and I feel like 84 with no where to turn. Please help me someone, anyone? Sorry I got so wordy here, but I am lost and don’t know where to go with Affiliate marketing. I have a couple sites up, but I had to cancel some of them due to not being able to afford all these monthly fees coming out of my account anymore. My wife is as fed up as she could possibly be, as you can imagine and I am starting to feel like a failure because I can’t support my family and I’ve wasted a few thousand dollars on Dreams that just haven’t panned out…
I’ll stop now, sorry…
Take care everyone
Hi Keith,
#1, if you’re about to lose your house and car, relying on affiliate marketing is not a good idea. There is lag time between the day you make your first sale and when merchants or networks cut checks. (Clickbank is an exception, they pay very frequently.)
So what’s needed is a reality check: When you’re too sick to work and have your back against the wall, an online business is just not going to bail you out in a couple of months.
Building up to a six figure income as an affiliate takes time. All the super affiliates start small and build up gradually. Plus it takes ENERGY.
If I were in your position the first thing I would do is look at my finances and get the whole family involved. I would get ruthless about priorities. In my case I would probably downsize a lot – minimize expenses, get help from family, do EVERYTHING I could to get finances under control.
Only you and your family can make those decisions.
Point is, you have to be realistic. Online is just like a brick and mortar business – you have to be able to FOCUS to get success. Hard to do if you’re suffering and stressed out about how to make your car payment.
#2, take care of your peace of mind. Your confusion is only partly from trying too many things. Most of it is desperation.
That’s why you and your family must make some decisions: to get the stress under control.
If you don’t, your health will go down the tubes and you won’t be able to finish anything you start.
#3, stop spending money on “how to make money” stuff. For $1 you can join Affiliate Classroom for two weeks and read everything in there, download everything, and IF you have the energy, you can work through the Step-by-Step system.
The Step-by-Step combines list building, content, PPC, viral marketing, even developing a product and an upsell – EVERYTHING that a lot of people have been claiming they’ve recently “discovered.” It works absolutely great.
Or you can learn just about everything you need to know about affiliate marketing – and online business in general – by downloading every back issue of AC Magazine. They’re all free, you can get them by clicking the magazine link at the right and gong to the back issues page.
BUT thing is, you must be able to WORK on your business and FOCUS on it… which gets us back to your health and your finances.
Now for #4 – I know what it’s like to have a major illness.
An online business is perfect if you can’t do 9 to 5 because of health. But you must have the energy.
If you don’t or have days where you are too sick, then you absolutely need help.
If you can get your wife involved, that’s perfect. But if there’s friction or if she is doing 9 to 5, then go make a list of everybody you know who might be willing to share on online business with you.
Maybe you have a friend or relative who can put in the energy and split the take with you. Maybe that person can absorb half the expenses. Or maybe they will take on ALL the expenses.
Find a way to share the work so you can get more accomplished. Look to people who are close enough to you that they can actually work WITH you – like at your house. Share the responsibility, the work, and the profits.
#5 – then I’ll shut up – KEEP IT SIMPLE for now.
Sounds like you’ve tried drop shipping and ebay and some turnkey stuff. But if I were you I would try to simplify and boil things down to the essentials.
To make money online you need:
* A market that is willing to spend money
* A product – your own or an affiliate product
* A way to reach those people and make them an offer
* A way to capture their contact info so you can sell them again!
The Affiliate Classroom system combines all of those. So do other systems – heck, eBay is full of eager buyers, that’s a perfect place if you need a shortcut!
You can’t sell affiliate products on ebay, but you can sell your OWN product. That’s a quick way to make cash.
I’d forget about being a Power Seller – just find something SIMPLE to sell. Maybe even a digital product if you can find one that’s acceptable on ebay.
I see a LOT of repetition of the same old digital stuff on ebay. So maybe think of something different and APPEALING you can create yourself.
If it was me, instead of trying to make a killing with it, or putting out a hundred products, just SELL something. ONE thing.
Get some satisfied customers and positive feedback – that’s important on ebay. Make sure that your customers have to give you their EMAIL ADDRESS to get the download link for the product. Ah hah – now you’re building a mailing list of BUYERS.
Even if you make $50 selling a 10 page report on some HOT topic for $5 – YOU DID IT! You’ve got what some people call “Proof Of Concept.” You know it works, now go bigger. Make another report or resale product and sell it. Then repeat.
Okay, so let’s review:
1 – Get realistic about your situation and finances.
2 – Reduce stress.
3 – Don’t buy more stuff – use what you have.
4 – Enlist help so you don’t have to do it all alone.
5 – KEEP IT SIMPLE.
Most important, don’t skip #1. You can’t fulfill your dreams if you can’t look reality in the face.
Good luck, Keith, hope this helps ya.
-Anik
Hi Anrik
Where have you been over the last three months?!
Jenny
http://www.internet-cashpoint.com