I twittered a few weeks back that affiliate marketing (or any Internet marketing for that matter) is a lot like weight loss.
Tons of people has it as a goal, the majority won’t do the work it takes to achieve it and those who are in shape often have their figure chalked up to “good genes”.
Many people looking to lose weight are looking for the magic pill or the latest fad diet or five minute workout that will help them achieve their goal of looking good in a bathing suit this summer.
The obvious and definite path to weight loss – eating a bit smarter and being more active over a long period of time – is often overlooked in favor of the constant search for the quick and easy fix.
Many would be affiliate marketers looking to make a lot of money are searching for that awesome algorithmic loophole, latest fad social media site or e-book promising to show them how to make 20,000 dollars per month in five minutes per day.
The obvious and definite path to affiliate marketing success – reading quality information that one should then test for effectiveness along with working diligently to develop links, branding and presence to a quality site – is often overlooked in favor of the constant search for the quick and easy fix.
Listen up folks – there is no quick and easy fix to long term success in either weight loss or affiliate marketing. There are no silver bullets in affiliate marketing. Looking for them wastes time, wastes money and potentially wastes opportunities which you might never be faced with again.
Additionally, while running an Internet business certainly has less overhead than a brick and mortar shop, it isn’t free if you want to truly be professional. You are going to have to spend some money to make some.
The only way to achieve financial success with affiliate marketing is to stay focused and work hard and spend your time working on the things that matter.
Tomorrow will be the fourth post in the Reasons you fail at affiliate marketing series which focuses on what I heard referred to once as “Analysis Paralysis”.
About the Author
Rae Hoffman-Dolan aka "Sugarrae" is an affiliate marketing veteran and an (extremely) occasional Houston SEO consultant specializing in SEO audits and link building strategies. She is also the author of the often controversial Sugarrae blog and the SVP of Marketing for Speedy Incorporation Services. You can connect with Rae via Twitter and Facebook.
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Sugarrae runs on the Thesis WordPress Theme
If you’re an affiliate who doesn’t understand a lot of PHP, Thesis will give a ton of functionality without having to alter any code. For the advanced, Thesis has incredible customization possibilities via Thesis hooks. And with so many design options, you can use the template over and over and never have it look like the same site.
For those "in between", like myself, I’ve created "dummy" guides for Thesis hooks that allow us to make more professional customizations than we ever deemed possible. The theme is not only highly customizable, but it has allowed me to have sites with a much more targeted focus on monetization than it ever has been able to achieve before. You can find out more about Thesis below:
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