Affiliate Marketing - What Makes It So Complex?

14 replies
Affiliate Marketing is such a simple idea,
it's take all of 60 seconds to understand
what it is, and the process.

Making money with affiliate marketing
is different, making money with affiliate
marketing is such a complex process, that
can take months or even years to perfect.

So, what makes it such a complex method of making money online,
is it the competition, or the buyers? :confused:
#affiliate #complex #makes #marketing
  • Profile picture of the author Michael D Forbes
    What makes it more or less complex than CPA, Direct Sales, running a Grocery Store, or anything else.

    Connecting qualified purchasers with a product they have interest in is the basis of every type of sales/marketing. It's all the same, isn't it?
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    • Profile picture of the author VinnyBock
      Originally Posted by Micheal D Forbes View Post

      What makes it more or less complex than CPA, Direct Sales, running a Grocery Store, or anything else.

      Connecting qualified purchasers with a product they have interest in is the basis of every type of sales/marketing. It's all the same, isn't it?
      I never said those methods weren't complex...

      I said, "what makes Affiliate Marketing so complex", the comp or the buyers?
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  • Profile picture of the author anthony2
    the biggest problem i see for newbies is getting enough traffic.
    traffic seems like the biggest problem for most marketers.
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  • Profile picture of the author Psst
    Banned
    Originally Posted by VinnyBock View Post

    Affiliate Marketing is such a simple idea,
    it's take all of 60 seconds to understand
    what it is, and the process.

    Making money with affiliate marketing
    is different, making money with affiliate
    marketing is such a complex process, that
    can take months or even years to perfect.

    So, what makes it such a complex method of making money online,
    is it the competition, or the buyers? :confused:
    Going to college as an idea is such a simple idea, it takes less than 30 seconds to understand what it is. But really going to college, paying tuition, working on term papers, exams and finally making it to graduation is another thing -- it takes years and a great deal of work.

    The same is true for affiliate marketing or any business. It takes action and the right education to succeed.

    Most affiliate marketers pass through many stages of development as tried to
    illustrate below. They;

    1) get some education for start ==> like how affiliate marketing works and what methods are used to promote products.

    2) take some action (do many things wrongly) + fail + discover ==> try what they learned; from facebook marketing to traffic exchange and publishing hubapge hubs and squidoo lenses then fail to make any money. But discover blogging and article marketing.

    3) learn from failure + get more education + discover more ==> find out that most of the things they did were done wrong, and get some education about blogging and article marketing. And then discover email marketing.

    4) take some more action + succeed to a point ==> write articles, set up blogs, build list and see their first sell when they are about to lose hope. (this is where success begins)

    I could go on but the keys here are education and action.
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  • Profile picture of the author BloggingPro
    Originally Posted by VinnyBock View Post

    So, what makes it such a complex method of making money online,
    is it the competition, or the buyers? :confused:
    It's neither. I would say it is only a "complex" concept if you don't already understand the fundamentals behind marketing.

    Affiliate marketing is actually quite an easy way to make money if you understand that you can't just sling mud up on the wall and see what sticks. You can become successful only once you understand how to target a market, promote a product to that market, and build a relationship with that market.

    If someone really, truly wants to make money online they should really understand how marketing works before attempting to replicate it in an online world.

    That is what I call juicing yourself in (stolen Vegas union term).
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    You're going to fail. If you're afraid of failure then you do not belong in the Internet Marketing Business. Period.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jermaine Tabor
    Originally Posted by VinnyBock View Post


    So, what makes it such a complex method of making money online,
    is it the competition, or the buyers? :confused:
    Probably the seller just want the buyers money and dont pre-sell correctly, research correct buyer keywords etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by VinnyBock View Post

    So, what makes it such a complex method of making money online
    I think it's two main things ...

    (i) You have to do a lot of different things and get all of them "right"/"working" and when something doesn't work and you don't make any money, it's often by no means clear "where the wheel came off". Difficulty in identifying mistakes makes them hard to correct!

    (ii) However simple it is in concept, the execution isn't easy. Nobody's born knowing "how to do affiliate marketing" and you need guidance. And when you're just starting off (and needing the most guidance) you're least able to tell "information" from "misinformation", myth from reality, and good advice from bad advice, because you lack the judgement to distinguish, which comes mostly with experience. So that makes the learning-curve tricky to negotiate.
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  • Profile picture of the author wallytr1
    I'm with you, Vinny. I just submitted my first product to clickbank, got it approved, submitted images, submitted ads and am still uncertain as to how to drive enough targeted traffic to my pages. I need to be my own super affiliate, as well as a vendor. And I am still fumbling around in the dark when it comes to not wasting money or time. There are so many choices and so many different approaches when it comes to traffic generation. But I need targeted traffic, both for my offer and to get affiliate signups. And very few people have the answers or seem willing to share what they know without a price. And after you pay the price whether it's for an eBook, Video Tutorials or online traffic generation system, it all involves an incredible amount of time, effort and is lacking...in the end...there's always something missing. I only know one thing for sure... Keep taking baby steps...one at a time...keep trying different strategies to see what works and what doesn't...along with a lot of patience, determination and perseverance...
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    • Profile picture of the author Chase Shelby
      Originally Posted by BloggingPro View Post


      Affiliate marketing is actually quite an easy way to make money if you understand that you can't just sling mud up on the wall and see what sticks. You can become successful only once you understand how to target a market, promote a product to that market, and build a relationship with that market.
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      I think it's two main things ...

      (i) You have to do a lot of different things and get all of them "right"/"working" and when something doesn't work and you don't make any money, it's often by no means clear "where the wheel came off". Difficulty in identifying mistakes makes them hard to correct!

      (ii) However simple it is in concept, the execution isn't easy. Nobody's born knowing "how to do affiliate marketing" and you need guidance. And when you're just starting off (and needing the most guidance) you're least able to tell "information" from "misinformation", myth from reality, and good advice from bad advice, because you lack the judgement to distinguish, which comes mostly with experience. So that makes the learning-curve tricky to negotiate.

      I think it's a combo of these two. I remember when I first started, I thought if I put up an article on a site that I would start making money. And it was poorly written and overly hyped material. Although it did make me one sale about 8 months later

      The way I describe it to family and friends is the general "I promote products and get commission when someone buys it" and that's all some of them understand and/or want to know. I don't bother going into backlinks, SEO, split testing, CPA, PPC... Without all of that, it makes it sound very simple.

      It's the intricates and small details that are left out that really take it from easy money to hard earned cash.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sandra Martinez
    Originally Posted by VinnyBock View Post


    So, what makes it such a complex method of making money online,
    is it the competition, or the buyers? :confused:
    In my opinion, what makes it complex is the fact that we have only access to partial information, and we need to overcome that lack of information with "marketing wisdom"... that wisdom is what takes years to perfect.

    that is: affiliate marketing is the art of connecting the right person with the right product via the right method that will take the person in the right mindset and guide him/her to open the wallet.

    it takes time to learn about a niche enough to tell a good product from a bad product, and in the process we might lose the "fresh eye" and cut ourselves from the customers

    it takes even more time to learn how to access the right customer in the right mindset and guide him/her wisely through the presell process

    Sandra
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  • Profile picture of the author David Keith
    i think it is made to be complex because people focus on the opportunity affiliate programs bring them without thinking about who is on the other end of those 10 sales a month they need to make.
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    • Profile picture of the author marcuslim
      Affiliate marketing is attractive for so many reasons and its appeal lies in not having to create your own product and support it, meaning that on the surface, it 'seems' much easier to get into. And I think this perception can be deceptive because the truth is that everyone starts jumping on board and puts up review sites and affiliate links hoping it will work. Then nothing happens, and the illusion is shattered.

      So this is what makes it hard I guess. Not understanding that to succeed, because the barrier to entry is low, you need to do more, as John Reese says, 'always do more than what is expected of you.' Deliver great value, from your initial giveaway, to your communication with your list. Grasp this, focus on the long-term, and affiliate marketing won't be as hard as it seems to be.
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    • Profile picture of the author Stephen Lessey
      From my experience what makes it complex is the mindset of people first getting started with IM

      As you said earlier, the idea is simple, which makes it very attractive for newbies, but then you realize the sheer amount of competition and being profitable from the start is hard without the right tools (which many of them are paid). Then we try to learn a method that will make us better than our competition, then we're overloaded with so many options for traffic

      As for the buyers, thier mindset is to find a quick solution for a problem, they are not in buying mode until they do research on the product, this is why affiliate review websites are the best to use..the only problem is that traffic is hard to get unless you stick and master one source

      Hope this helps
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  • Profile picture of the author johnapo
    One of the problems with affiliate marketing is that the sales page is much much better than the actual product. Now multiply it by 5 or 10 similar products that a normal buyer may get and try to sell him yours after that.
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