by Laura Wolf

Created on: January 09, 2011   Last Updated: January 10, 2011

A great percentage of people who start affiliate marketing give up. The reason is that many of the new marketers are told from the beginning that making money on-line is as easy as a push of a button. They expect to make money overnight and if it doesn't happen they give up. The truth is: affiliate marketing is a game, and like every game,: can be mastered with practice and time.

The first most common affiliate marketing mistake:

Be realistic. Although there are many people in the world who are making outrageous money from affiliate commissions, you have to realize that they did not become successful overnight. They had to overcome difficulties, obstacles, and they are successful because they are ready for changing old methods and testing new things. You are definitely not equal to them yet as a newbie affiliate marketer, so don't try to compare yourself to them.

The second most common affiliate marketing mistake:

It all comes down to a business plan. As with every business, also with affiliate marketing: planning has a huge impact on success or failure. You have to plan everything carefully, from budgeting to the most important aspect: promotional channels. If you are setting up a website, you have to decide on which niche you are targeting and choose your keywords carefully before even buying the domain.

The third most common affiliate marketing mistake:

Avoid broad targeting of niches, especially in niches that are highly competitive. You have to do your research beforehand and find a question you can provide answers or solutions for, to target a specific segment of the niche. For example if you wanted to enter the weight loss niche you would face a huge competition, so the only way to succeed is to find a specialty product that will solve a common problem of people within the niche. For example you can go for products like: “hypnotherapy for weight loss” or “yoga weight loss exercises” targeting specific keywords. (I haven't checked these keywords so this is not a recommendation).

The fourth most common affiliate marketing mistake:

Choose your products carefully. You can check for products before you set up your affiliate promotions, make sure that there is a competitive product available. If you are selling information products, it is almost evident that there is an ebook for everything, so your job is easy. Next you have to view the landing page, with the eyes of your customer. Is it appealing enough to make people buy? Is any information left out? Does it comply with the FTC regulations? Does it closely relate to your content? There is nothing more annoying than a website stuffed with irrelevant ads and banners.

The fifth most common affiliate marketing mistake:

Always track your results. You must know where your sales or sign-ups are coming from. You must track your conversions as well as your traffic sources. Google will give you a good idea of the high impact keywords, and the searches related to your site or promotion. Affiliate marketing is all about testing different offers, traffic sources and methods. Without this information you will be unable to tweak your promotions in order to optimize your affiliate marketing performance.

Affiliate marketing can be mastered but you have to continuously improve your promotion methods and knowledge in order to be able to compete with the huge number of other affiliates. Not giving up at the first sign of failure is the most important thing you can bear in mind when embarking on an affiliate marketing journey.

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