Working from home is the dream right? You get to wake up when you want to, work for as long as you want to and even make as much money as you want to.
If you’ve been online for a while now, then you’ve probably heard of the many “get rich ideas” that are promoted everywhere online.
With good reason.. who wouldn’t like a piece of such an amazing cash cow?
But is all of this legit?
Can you really start working from home and make as much (or even more if you’re smart) than you’d ever do working at a regular job?
Me personally, I have been making money online for 5 years or so. I have the experience and I can tell you that yes, it is possible to work from home and make money.
Through my experiences though, I have tried many ways to do so and a lot of them failed me, that is until I found a method which does get some critique for being scammy (but as you will see below; it is isn’t), and that is affiliate marketing.
How Does Affiliate Marketing work?
There are many derivatives of how affiliate marketing can be done, and you can see the many ways of how it works here but the main idea behind it is that you get paid on a commission basis for the goods you sell.
What products can be sold with affiliate marketing?
Basically, any product under the sun either already has an affiliate program or it will have soon.
Also, something a few people know is that if the product (or products) you want to promote is available on Amazon, then it can be promoted and you can make money off it.
Yes, Amazon has its own affiliate network and anything that can be found on their site can be sold for a commission.
There are more types of affiliate marketing networks but Amazon comes to mind as one of the most popular, most widely used and most easy to join.
I suggest you check out the whole detail of how the Amazon Associates program works if you’re interested in working from home as an affiliate marketer.
So what do you need to get started with affiliate marketing and what are some mistakes beginners do when starting out?
Following is a list of the mistakes me and many other of my affiliate marketing friends have done.
Please note that if you’ve been doing any of these mistakes yourself, don’t be discouraged as they are just a part of the learning process, but now would be a good time to fix them.
If you’re new to all of this, then it’s a good thing you ended up on this page as this article should help you save a lot of money, time and energy.
Here we go:
Going Too Broad With Your Niche
This is the perfect example of a newbie mistake and I will be the first to tell you that I’ve done this many, many times (I’m cursed when it comes to making mistakes; I repeat them many times till I figure out I did it wrong).
When some readers email me telling me that they would like to learn how to do affiliate marketing, one of the first things I ask them is what niche (blog topic) do they want to get started in.
The most common answer is “anything that makes money” and that is just a horrible way to go about things.
The second most common ‘answer” is something that is very broad. For example; “health“!
While having a topic in mind that you would like to write about is better than saying “anything that makes money”, picking a niche that is too broad is a deadly way to get started.
The reason being is that by being too broad, you are going to be in competition with a lot of established sites and other affiliate marketers with big budgets, and chances are that you do not currently have this luxury.
That is why it is important for you to pick a topic (let’s say it’s health) and then break it down level after level.
For example:
- Health (this is too broad and it’s technically a topic not a niche).
- How to lose weight (good but it still is a bit too broad).
- How to lose belly fat (getting there).
- How to lose belly fat for men (perfect).
The last 2 of these examples are a perfect niche to get started in. You can then promote products (as an affiliate marketer) in this category.
Do not worry, you won’t be tied down either. Once you have established some authority and credibility online (and hopefully you’ve started earning $ as an affiliate marketer), then feel free to expand to different areas of the “health niche”.
First get your authority in a sub-niche that doesn’t have much competition, then expand from there.
Trust me on this, I can’t stress this enough; do your research and go as deep as you can within a niche to get the best results.
Not Giving It It’s Due Time
One other common mistake new affiliate marketers make is thinking that they are going to start a blog, find some good products to promote and then just wait for the money to come in so they can tell their boss to stuff it.
Bad, bad, bad and in case you are wondering.. yes I did that too and it backfired badly!
Building a real, long lasting online business as an affiliate marketer takes time.
By experience and by hearing the experiences of others in this business, I’d say that it usually takes around 6 months to start seeing some income and 12 months to be making consistent income that can allow you to quit your job.
See how this blogger started making over $10,000 per month after just 12 months in business!
Yes, there is time involved here and it just can’t happen overnight. It’s impossible. Sure you might take less (or more) time but one thing that I can guarantee is that it will eventually happen for you too, you just need to give it time.
Not Knowing What You’re Doing
With so much information freely available online, you kinda feel that after watching a few YouTube videos and read a couple of blog posts, you’re suddenly an expert.
I have been doing this for 5 years now and I am in no way an expert. It’s quite impossible to be an expert in this business since the online space changes so much in so little time.
The Google algorithm alone changes around 200 times a year, that alone should disqualify anybody who thinks they are an “SEO expert” and claim “they can bring you results instantly“.
What I suggest you do if you’re a newbie reading this and want to start working from home as an affiliate marketer is to just take your time and learn how it is done; the right way!
Do not rush it, this is not a race. Find some great blogs to follow that will show you the real way to make money with affiliate marketing and get yourself some online courses with a long-lasting, positive reputation.
Again; take your time and give it time. You are learning how to run a business here not get rich quick.
In Closing
I really hope this post has brought you some clear insights about affiliate marketing and also opened your eyes to a few “beginner mistakes” that you’re bound to make sooner or later.
Again; don’t stress the mistakes too much. We’ve all done them and we’ll continue to do them for as long as we stay in this business.
I assure you though; it’s fun to be your own boss and run your own online businesses. You just have to make it happen with hard work and patience.
