10 Affiliate Marketing Errors to Avoid

Hey there sea changers and welcome back. Recently I wrote about some tips for success in the world of affiliate marketing. Today I am going to cover the other side of the fence and outline 10 affiliate marketing errors to avoid. This may sound negative, but as I keep banging on about, affiliate marketing success is definitely a long game and I would hate for you to waste time and lose momentum.

Added to that, the mistakes I have listed here are ones that many affiliate marketers (yours truly included) tend to make without really realising that they have done so.

Some of these are made with new sites, others tend to drift in once it has matured a little however regardless, they are all something to keep an eye on at all times. So as usual, grab a notebook, a nice drink and let's have a look…

Affiliate Marketing Errors to Avoid

Ok. so let's check out some of the common affiliate marketing mistakes to avoid as we start our affiliate marketing journey.

1. Impatience

In all honesty, I should have named this one ‘Falling for all of the – “I made $1000 in my first 2 days” ‘ – ads and scams that litter the online world. I have said it before and I will say it again, affiliate marketing takes time and patience. You need to consistently be adding quality, helpful and useful information in order to improve search engine rankings and drive traffic to your website.

The trouble is, many an affiliate marketer will do this for a few months and then get disheartened when their site doesn't rank and/or they don't make any sales. This is a natural reaction but one that must be overcome if you are to be successful. At the end of the day, patience is key!

2. Starting with more than one website

This one sort of runs on from error number 1 above in that many of us get disheartened with our first site and start a second one that we think might work better. Or, our first site finally starts to take off so we create a second one to continue the momentum. The problem here is that if your first site is not completely mature, then a second just means that you are splitting your time between the two which in the end slows them both down.

This is certainly not to say that in time you cannot or should not start another site – many successful affiliate marketers do. But before you do, just make ask yourself if you have steps in place to allow your first sites to tick along whilst you work on your second. This usually means outsourcing the critical functions of your initial site such as:

• A freelance writer to write posts.
• Someone to maintain and manage SEO.
• A social medial manager.

Oh, and just keep in mind that these things cost money so if your first site is not generating revenue, then I would take that as a sign to maintain the rage so to speak before spending money to outsource and start a second site.

Note: This is not to say that you can't start a website and then realise that it really is not as viable as you thought. If this is the case, you absolutely can consider whether starting a new site is a better option. In this case, you would ‘drop' the first site and channel all of your energies at the second.

3. Joining too nany affiliate programs

As you start your site, you will obviously be looking for affiliate programs that can give you access to product links to refer your readers to. A common error here is that in our haste to make sales, we can fall into the trap of accepting and loading links to every program we can get our hands on. This causes us problems in a number of ways including:

• We don't spend enough time vetting the programs or products meaning we risk our reputation on poor quality, inferior products.
• We don't discount programs that pay low commissions meaning we spend a lot of time promoting a product for little return.
• The products we are promoting don't exactly match our niche making our site jumpy and hard to follow.
• Too many products make it hard to monitor which are selling well and which are not.

To avoid this issue, be choosy with the programs you choose and look for ones that:

• Fit your brand.
• Fit your niche.
• Have decent payment conditions and commissions?
• Have Cross and Upsell opportunities.
• Have access to high ticket items.
• You have a good knowledge about.

4. Selling not solving

I have said it before and I will say it again, if you are not solving a problem for your readers then you are not going to succeed as an affiliate marketer. It is all too easy to get sucked into the sale side of things instead of helping your visitors solve problems – which is why they have undertaken their search in the first place.

My rule of thumb is that a reader should be able to find a solution to a problem within each post even of they don't purchase anything.

I know this sounds like it goes against what we are trying to achieve as an affiliate marketer but think about how you purchase in a traditional bricks and mortar shoe store. Would you be more inclined to buy off of a salesperson who explained all the things to look for in a running shoe or one that just tried to give you a pair or shoes and heard you towards the cash register?

Readers want to know the benefits they are going to get from the product you are discussing, not how much it is and where to buy it – well they probably want to know that, but not straight away…

5. Not enough checking

Spelling mistakes, broken links and poor grammar etc. are unfortunately all too common mistakes made by affiliate marketers old and new. Check your website and posts constantly to make sure that you have them under control. These things will happen of course, especially if you are working hard to continuously release new posts and information in order to assist your readers and increase rankings.

One error on a page, whilst not ideal, is usually overlooked, but if your site is full of them then you will lose readers by the truckload. Check your posts, spell check, spell check again and then spell check some more. Run a broken link checker to make sure that all of your links are active and working – I mean if your affiliate links are broken then you are just leaving money on the table.

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6. Drifting from your niche

This is another error that you can make without really even realising that you have done it. In some cases, if you have not clearly identified your niche from the very beginning you can drift from it quite easily. In other cases, it can happen for the following reasons:

• Choosing inappropriate products/affiliate programs.
• Going for products that have extra high commissions.
• Getting distracted by shiny objects that you think are cool – even if they are not in your niche.
• Getting caught up in cross selling opportunities.

Another common cause of this problem is getting caught up in ‘shoulder niches'. For example, you might have a site that deals with weight loss. You write a post on Keto diets as a means of losing weight (which is a shoulder niche) which you then compare to Paleo (comparisons are great tools for affiliate marketing). The problem arises here however if you end up going down the diet path then and not stay within weight loss. In the end, all that happens is that visitors to your site may have trouble distinguishing whether you are a weight loss site or a diet/recipe site.

7. Not writing naturally

The trouble with affiliate marketing, or any online business for that matter, is that newbies are bombarded with SEO requirements such as keywords, tags and meta descriptions and told that they must include them within their posts. This can at times however lead to unnatural writing as we try and make the search engines happy and forget about our readers.

The best advice I can give you here is along the same lines as writing to solve the problem and not the sale. You must write in a natural and conversational tone that resonates with your readers. And funnily enough, search engines will be much kinder on you if you write in a manner that keeps readers on your page rather than a page that appears false due to it being packed with keywords. By all means incorporate your keywords into your title and within the first paragraph, but for the rest, keep it real baby!!

8. Ignoring SEO

Now that I have told you to write naturally, I am going to muddy the waters (just a little) and highlight another common affiliate marketing mistake which is neglecting SEO. Now I accept that this can be a tricky one as there is so much to learn and consider when it comes to SEO however in this instance, I am talking about the basic processes that can be undertaken for each post in order to give yourself the best possible chance of ranking on search engine results pages.

These things include (and some we have covered already):

• Write at least 1000 words.
• Write naturally and SPELL CHECK.
• Use good keywords (included naturally in the title and within first paragraph).
• Include a Meta Title and Meta Description.
• Use your keywords in the title and alt text of all images.
• Include a video with relevant keywords in title and description.
• Request indexing via Google Search Console and Bing webmaster tools.

9. Too much social media

Social media plays a critical part in any affiliate marketing campaign in that it is perfect for promoting your posts and driving traffic to your website. The use of social media for this purpose is not the error that is commonly made, rather trying to utilise every social media platform that exists out there to promote your material. Using too many platforms can cause the same issues as we discussed above in regards to trying to run more than one website at once. You simply do not have the time to manage all of them effectively.

The other concern here also is that if you are trying to use too many platforms, then you could be wasting time on areas where your target audience doesn't venture. So, in order to avoid this error, try and answer the following:

• Who are your audience and what are you trying to do with them (your objectives)?
• What social media platforms do your audience use?
• Which of these platforms do you know how to use?
• Which of these platforms are best for what you are trying to achieve?
• How much time do you have to commit to your campaign?
• Can these platforms be adapted to match your brand?

10. Not getting help

One of the great things about starting an online business is that you are not the first to try it. In fact there are thousands of people who have succeeded and continue to make great money doing it. On the flip side however is for every person that has been successful, there are probably at least 5 more that have not. Most are for the reasons outlined in error number 1 above – i.e. impatience – for many others, it is simply because they didn't try and get any help. At the end of the day, why reinvent the wheel when you can mirror and copy the strategies and processes of others.

Never be afraid to seek out help and assistance and trust me when I say that one simple question in the right forum can save you weeks of effort and wasted time. Here are some ways that you can get assistance in an online world:

Free

• Website posts – post (such as this one) which (hopefully) give good solid information in regards to building your business.
• Online webinars/videos – watch people explain and do the steps that you are unsure about.
• Social media forums – speak to like-minded people and pick the brains of experts.
• Free membership platforms – platforms where you get training and access to ask questions – FIMP is a good one. I built my websites with the assistance of Wealthy Affiliate.
• Podcasts – there are thousands of podcasts out there covering the online business industry – most are free.

Check out these: Best Podcast Hosting Sites

Paid

• Online coaching – this is a burgeoning industry with plenty of good options to choose from – Just be careful that you are picking the right people – look for testimonials.
• Mentoring – If you can find the right person, and can afford it, a personal mentor can move you forward in leaps and bounds.

Regardless of the option you choose, always be open to learning more, listening to tips, shortcuts and recommendations. Again, you will be pleasantly surprised how fast you can gain momentum with the right advice.

Note: When I say to copy the work of others, I mean their strategies, ideas and tool selections only. DO NOT copy or simply plagiarize their content. This is unethical and trust me, the search engines will find out and punish your site rankings accordingly – not to mention the damage to the reputation of your site.

Conclusion

So there you have it, 10 mistakes to avoid in affiliate marketing. As I have said, these are the common ones that are made by those newer to the affiliate marketing world however ones that need to be monitored so that they don't sneak into your processes unnoticed. Are there any others you have made? How did you identify them and what did you do to alleviate them? Comment below and I will add them to the list.

Do you want further assistance with your online business or need help to build your own website?

Are you looking for a comprehensive training platform that can give you step by step training, 24/7 support, tools to develop and host your very own website, ongoing assistance with SEO and social media and access to some of the best affiliate marketing minds on the planet? If so click on the following link to read more about Wealthy Affiliate.

Until next time

Have fun

Paul

Note: If you make a purchase from this page, there is a very good chance that I make a commission from it – these commissions do not increase your sale price. This may include sales made via Wealthy Affiliate.

Introducing Wealthy Affiliate, My #1 Recommendation for Setting Up Your Own Online Business

When I started, I knew I wanted to work online, but had absolutely no idea where to begin! You see I had watched friends of mine run a sales party to sell essential oils and someone asked if they could just sell them online?

Then, as I sat on the bus heading into my office job, I started to wonder if I could do just that, sell essential oils online.

Anything to stop having to catch this bus to and from work every day right!

The trouble was, as I mentioned above, I had no idea how to even start.

So of course I started to look around online and found all these courses! They all promised me riches then took my money but left me with no riches!

Then I stumbled across the program that didn’t promise me riches, but told me it could help me get started even with no experience!

So I did that, joined Wealthy Affiliate that was it, and the rest as they say, is history!

But it doesn’t come without work!

That is the key here! I began on their starter membership and did the training! I then joined as a member and did some more training!

Each night after work, I would do a little more, then a little more.

And to cut a long story short, after 10 months I realized I didn’t really like writing about essential oils, so I sold the site for about $2000. But I had learned so much that I started another – about fishing and camping!

Then, after 18 months (by which time it had earned me close to $10k), I was offered $17k for the site, so I sold it too.

Now, through my travel blog, I’ve been able to fund my passion for travel and explore different places around the world.

In the past few months, I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to some amazing destinations, including Bali, Los Angeles, Dallas, Vancouver and Las Vegas.

The success of my travel blog has allowed me to fully fund my travels and explore new destinations with my family.

Try the Wealthy Affiliate as a Starter Member and Build your First Hub!

As you start your journey, Wealthy Affiliate is there for you with the most comprehensive training package I have ever seen – And as I have mentioned, I have used a few in my professional career trust me.

To get you started, Wealthy Affiliate has recently introduced the Hub.

The Hub

The hub is an AI based niche and website creation tool that will get you up and running with the foundation of your OWN business in just a few minutes. This includes:

• Your website – hosted and inclusive of a WordPress editor
• Your brand
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All you need to do is choose your subject – which is known as your ‘niche’ – and follow the steps on the screen.

Oh, and as you run through the training below you may realize that what you created above is not exactly what you want. That’s ok, you can just create a new hub!

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Wealthy Affiliate Training

Then as you continue your journey, the Wealthy Affiliate Hub is there for you with the most comprehensive training package I have ever seen – And I have used a few in my professional career trust me.

Above we discussed the use of the Hub to set up a website. Once you have done this, you will be able to access the “Step-by-Step Core Training”.

This is available to all members including starter members and will give you everything you need to know to continue to create your online business.

Member Training

There are also Live weekly classes taught by REAL industry experts on a range of topics like artificial intelligence (AI), SEO, YouTube, WordPress, PPC marketing and more.

Great, What Else Does Wealthy Affiliate Have To Help You?

So, let’s keep this short, Wealthy Affiliate is a one-stop-shop platform that provides:

• The Hub – this is the starting point and uses AI processes to assist you in determining your niche and creating your brand.
• Complete training programs to assist with the development of your own affiliate marketing website in your own niche.
• Website creation and publishing tools including access to WordPress editors and themes.
• AI Content article design and content creation
• Domain name purchasing (you get a free domain when you upgrade to the Premium membership).
• Website hosting, security and backup.
• Online help and chat forums.
• Weekly live training events.
• 24/7 support.
• Keyword access tools.
• SEO assistance.

The platform has been active for over 15 years with the original developers and owners, Kyle and Carson, still extremely active in its day to day operations – especially as they rollout their AI capabilities.

You Can Try it Yourself For Free

Now of course I can tell you all about how Wealthy Affiliate works (because it does) until I am blue in the face. But every other program out there – including the shams and scams – will tell you the same thing!

So how about you just try it for free yourself. The Wealthy Affiliate Starter membership is free to join and gives you access to everything you need to get started – all without the need to spend a cent!

With the starter membership, you get:

• 1 Limited Business Hub
• 1,500 AI Word Credits
• Try the AI Author Platform (BETA)
• 1 Practice Website
• Jaaxy Starter
• Limited Help & Support
• Core Niche Training (8 Classes)

And of course I will be there to help you every step of the way as well!

Look, in the interest of transparency, whilst Wealthy Affiliate does offer a free starter membership, this is designed to give you a look around, have a practice and see if it is worthwhile for you – which is a really great option.

However, as with all new businesses, you will need to make some investment so if you are serious about making money online , you will need to upgrade to a premium membership as this will give you access to all the tools you need in the one spot to succeed!

Afterall, every business needs tools to grow!

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So How Much Does This Really Cost?

Wealthy Affiliate does not use upsells once you join – but as I mentioned in the video, to succeed here you will need to invest in a membership. There are a couple of options that provide access to all the tools, training and assistance that you could need – and a free domain as well.

Wealthy Affiliate offers a trio of membership tiers, as detailed on their pricing page.

You can opt for the Starter membership at no cost, the Premium membership for $49 per month or the Premium Plus+ membership for $99 per month. That’s the full extent of it – and you can absolutely build your website without having to spend another cent.

You won’t encounter any unexpected additional charges or covert fees and as a Premium member, you’re equipped with all the essentials to initiate, develop and expand a thriving online enterprise.

Those who opt for the Premium membership are provided with

• Hosting for their websites
• A complimentary domain name
• Access to hundreds of hours of current expert tutorials
• Various marketing and research tools
• Personal guidance from seasoned professionals in the field
• And much much more

And for those of you who want to make a serious investment into your future, there are some yearly options as well below to give you peace of mind that you have a whole year ahead of you to get stuff done!

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And Don’t Forget the Personal Coaching

Once you join, not only do you get plenty of assistance from me, but you also have access to expert coaching, support and mentorship from real industry experts.

I mean, you can have access to all of the top-tier affiliate marketing training in the world, but inevitably, questions arise, particularly during the initial stages.

With an exceptionally dynamic and engaged community that boasts over 2.7 million members, Wealthy Affiliate offers an environment where you, as a member, can fully immerse and leverage this network.

You’re never alone; you have the collective wisdom of an entire community at your fingertips, ready to assist at any moment.

Plus, there’s always-on, rapid-response website support to handle any technical queries you may encounter.

Wealthy Affiliate Works: Real Results From Real People

As I have mentioned a number of times, Wealthy Affiliate has helped me make real money online though its training and tools.

I have made money each month as well as a sale for $17,000.

But again, those promoting other programs will tell you the same thing!

So let’s get away from me and see what others are saying:

To start with, Wealthy Affiliate has a 4.9 out of 5 Star TrustPilot rating, which is a remarkable accomplishment in any industry, let alone the online business industry.

And here are some of those reviews:

And this is what people are saying within Wealthy Affiliate as well:

So, Let’s Make a Decision!

Let’s be frank, you have read this far so why not go all in, click on the button below to get started on the way to your very online business.

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And once you are in and have had a play around with the hub, look for the little envelope on the top right and there will be a message from me. It is of course automated so respond to let me know you are there and we can start this journey together.

(oh, and the profile is mine so you can find me that way as well)

See you there

Paul