Affiliate Marketing Strategy: 5 Tips for Long Term Success

Seems like everyone these days is talking about affiliate marketing. There are some marketers out there making big promises of nearly instant wealth while working twenty minutes a day from your beach house, and while that’s what we all want to believe, the truth is somewhat different.

1. Be prepared to work. Thomas Jefferson said “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” This is as true in modern affiliate marketing as it was of politics in the 18^th century. Affiliate marketers who today spend a few hours on their business each week and earn money while on vacation are the same marketers who put in many long hours for months or years before achieving the successes they enjoy today.

2. Don’t expect instant riches. Along with needing to actually work at your business, you need to be realistic in your goals as well. Affiliate marketing is not a get rich quick scheme. Building a sustainable affiliate income takes time. Among other things, you need to publish content on your affiliate sites, grow your mailing lists, and build a network of links to and from your site to increase traffic. None of these things can be done overnight, but once you start the process you’ll begin to see it snowball.

3. Treat it like a business. A lot of people play at affiliate marketing. They dabble. They flit from one shiny object to the next, never really devoting the time and energy required to make their business work. Affiliate marketing is a business. Just because you do it from your laptop while you watch the Biggest Loser doesn’t mean you should treat it as a hobby. Consider writing a business plan, setting goals, and developing a step by step plan to help you achieve your goals.

4. Don’t be afraid to invest in your business. One of the biggest mistakes new affiliate marketers make is in wanting to do everything for free. While Internet marketing does indeed have one of the lowest start up costs of any business model, you will need to make some small investments. Don’t try to get by with free web hosting, for example, thinking you’ll move your site when it’s making some money. Set your business up with a solid foundation and you’ll have far fewer headaches in the future.

5. Learn from people you trust. There are thousands of products out there that proclaim to teach affiliate marketing, so how do you choose the one to follow? Simple. Find someone you trust, and follow them. Find someone who is demonstrably successful, is approachable, and who is not surrounded by hype, and listen to what they say.

Affiliate marketing can be a lucrative career. If you take the time to learn the strategies that work, put in the effort to build your business, and have the right attitude, you might just find yourself with the title of “super affiliate” one day.