Many people want to learn affiliate marketing because it is undoubtedly one of the most amazing business models in the existence of mankind. That might sound a little dramatic, but it’s how I make my living and I couldn’t come up with a better way to earn a 6-figure income. With affiliate marketing, you get to sell other peoples products or services, meaning you don’t deal with any customer service, storage, shipping, order processing, or any of the other pesky aspects of most businesses. With almost no overhead and almost no start-up costs required, it’s a feasible business for any entrepreneur-minded individual who is willing to put in a little bit of work to earn residual income later. All you need is a laptop or computer and an internet connection.
Below, you’ll find what I believe are the most important beginning steps to learn affiliate marketing. This business is a real possibility as long as you’re willing to learn the ropes. Once you do and once you see that first affiliate commission check roll in, you will know how to repeat the process over and over again. That is the true way to grow your wealth and build a stable financial future.
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Step One: Realizing That “Get Rich Quick” Is A Scam
Unfortunately, many people give up on affiliate marketing after they sign up for their first affiliate marketing course and try to implement the strategies they learned. This industry is filled with scammers, spammers, and people who really don’t know what they are talking about. They know how to sell a great sounding $10 e-book or maybe even a more expensive course showing you the latest and greatest way to make tons of money while you do virtually nothing, but that doesn’t mean they practice what I preach.
I’ve been a successful affiliate marketer for many years and I can tell you that I practice what I preach. Do I find my work enjoyable? Absolutely! As I mentioned earlier, I wouldn’t want to make a living any other way. Did I make my money through little to no effort? Nope! Did it happen overnight? Unfortunately not.
It isn’t that I didn’t try. I learned the hard way that get rich quick is nothing but a scam. If you want to grow a legitimate business, be prepared to start a business, not just a website.
Step Two: Find Out What Current & Successful Affiliate Marketers Are Doing
This one can be tough, because the internet allows for quite a bit of anonymity. Anyone can say they are making a ton of money online, but are they really? Even screen shots of income reports can be doctored.
That’s why you need to find people who are genuine and reputable. For example, one of my favorite successful affiliate marketers is Pat Flynn from SmartPassiveIncome.com. If you search around on his site, you can tell he’s passionate. Especially because he shares all of his monthly income reports (both the good and bad income reports). You’ll also notice that he doesn’t preach get rich quick. He teaches business, just like I do here on this site.
When you find a genuinely successful affiliate marketer, find out how they grew their business. You don’t have to copy every single aspect of what they’ve done. For example, you might start a website on a completely different topic, but if you implement the same planning and marketing strategies, your chances of success are much higher than if you didn’t research other successful affiliate marketers.
By the way, this is the same exact course I used to find success online. If you haven’t signed up yet, I highly recommend you do so. It is designed for the total affiliate newbie and will get you off to a better start than 99% of other new affiliate marketers out there.
Step Three: Develop A Business Plan
I know, developing a business plan sounds boring. But here’s the thing. Most new affiliate marketers go out there and develop a great looking website, start writing content, and then wonder why they don’t receive any visitors to their site or aren’t making any money. It’s usually because they didn’t plan everything out.
Where will you get those visitors from? How will you attract the visitors? How long will it take to attract those visitors? How much will it cost you? Why would they buy from you over Amazon or some other website? Why should they trust you? How will you develop your site? What will the domain name be and where will you host your website? How will your website be structured? What topics will you cover?
…It just keeps going. And I know – it’s a bit overwhelming. But without a plan, you’ll never make it. You’ll be like a ship out at sea with no direction. You might get lucky and find prosperous land, but in all likelihood, you’ll just end up drifting around until you crash on a deserted island somewhere.
Of course, as a part of this training course, you will learn step-by-step with video instructions how to develop a plan that is highly likely to succeed as long as you implement it.
Step Four: Learn About The CTPM Process
Most new affiliate marketers try to make their first but before they deserve a single cent. Sure, they might have put in some work, but they must truly provide VALUE to someone in order to expect them to open their wallet and pay you their hard earned cash. Not only do you need to provide value, but you need to develop trust. The best way to do this is through the CTPM process.
What is the CTPM process? You can learn more about it here. However, it stands for:
- Content
- Traffic
- Pre-Sell
- MONETIZE!
By developing great content, you will attract highly targeted visitors from search engines. Once they are on your site, you can build trust with them (pre-selling) and finally, you monetize. It’s how I grow my business and how you should grow yours, because it works… AND you can truly provide value to others in exchange for receiving residual income. A perfect win-win business model.
Check out this awesome free video tutorial to learn about affiliate marketing the right way.
Step Five: Redefine “Mistakes” And Learn Affiliate Marketing Through Experience
The learning curve to learn affiliate marketing isn’t as bad as many other industries, but there is still much to know. Along the way, you WILL make mistakes. I guarantee it. However, mistakes are an inevitable aspect of any business. Find out how to redefine mistakes as lessons learned. Each mistake is actually a move in the right direction, because you’ve ruled out something that doesn’t work. Too many affiliate marketers throw up their hands after 3 months and say “I’m not making any money! This doesn’t work!” Unfortunately, many of them are on the cuff of making it big. If they only stuck with it a little while longer.
If you can put in at least 10 hours per week into your affiliate business, it is realistic to assume you will begin earning some commission checks within’ about 6 to 12 months. From there, it snowballs and becomes residual. Just make it through the initial push and you’ll have it made.
