3 Biggest Mistakes New Affiliates Make in Affiliate Industry
Biggest Mistakes New Affiliates Make - Affiliate marketing is a relatively new industry. The concept has been around for many years now. Paid reviews in newspapers, endorsements on radio and commercials on television have been different forms of advertising. Although not advertising in the strictest sense of the term, affiliate marketing does have its roots in the prevailing practices.
Social networks, social media and the ease of content publishing in the virtual world have ushered in a new era for affiliate marketing and innumerable professionals have embarked on an independent journey to financial freedom.
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While affiliate marketing is highly promising as a profession, there are more failures than successes. This is primarily owing to the misconceptions that have been propagated by many commentators who don’t know the reality or mask it for vested reasons.
Here are the three biggest mistakes new affiliates make.
Many people try affiliate marketing because they want to make a fortune.
The internet is flooded with contents promoting the idea that one can become rich almost overnight with affiliate marketing. These high hopes are dashed almost immediately after one publishes one review or a few articles. No affiliate marketing will make a million in a week or even in a month.
It takes a long time to mint that first million in any business or profession. The biggest mistake people make is getting into affiliate marketing with the hope of making big bucks rather easily without knowing what it takes to succeed.
The second biggest mistake is choosing the wrong niche or trying to be a master of all trades.
No single human on the planet is or ever will be an expert in every type of product or service. Also, one must stay confined to a product or service category that one is familiar with or can learn about. Juvenile affiliate marketers often try to write about anything and everything or they choose products and services that apparently pay a lot in commissions. If an affiliate marketer doesn’t have any authority in the niche, then the entire effort will be futile.
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Biggest Mistakes New Affiliates Make - Readers are well informed these days and they can see through a failed attempt to sound authoritative when there is no substance.
Finally, affiliate marketing is not solely about reviews or promotional articles, social media engagement or email marketing.
Affiliate marketing includes every such medium and form of content. From info-graphics to reviews, social media influence to video streaming channels and more, all forms of engagement must be employed to create an impact.
What is a Niche? How do I pick one?
The word ‘niche’ has more than one meaning. It can be used as a noun, adjective or verb. In business jargon or in a profession, niche means specialization. A doctor can specialize in ailments of the heart, kidneys, eyes, brain or liver. There are surgeons, dentists and orthodontists, oncologists and ophthalmologists among others. All these are specializations and hence each is a niche.
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What is a Niche? (In Business)
In business, a niche is usually a subset or specialization within a larger industry. Consumer electronics is an industry. It is not a niche. A specific type of consumer electronics will be a niche. Likewise, a company that deals with any one particular aspect of the entire industry will also have a niche. Let us compare a company that makes half a dozen types of consumer electronics with one that only makes a particular component.
Samsung and LG are the former while Intel is the latter as it focuses on chips and processors. Intel serves a niche. Samsung and LG serve larger portfolios of consumer electronics and not necessarily a niche.
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Biggest Mistakes New Affiliates Make - It is true that niche is usually much smaller than the larger mass scale products or services. However, a niche can cater to a massive audience. Imagine the first days of Apple computers. They were treated as a niche. Today, millions of units of Apple computers, Macs, iPhones and iPads are sold every year. Luxury brands were deemed niche not too long ago. Today, they are not meant for the elite alone.
How to Choose a Niche?
Nothing but authority would be in consideration while choosing a niche. You cannot choose any specialization unless you have immense knowledge, experience and significant authority. For instance, you can only start a cookery or food blog if you are a veteran cook, chef or someone who is trained as a chef. You cannot be a novice in cooking and expect to run a successful food blog.
Biggest Mistakes New Affiliates Make - Sourcing contents will only help you launch a blog and sustain it for a while. It would be hard to run such a niche for years unless you develop an expertise.
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Once you decide which of your specializations would be put to use to decide the niche, you must study the prevailing competition. Do not venture into any niche that is already overpopulated. You can opt for subsets of such a niche or pick another niche you specialize in.