Affiliate Marketing Mistakes 101

Affiliate marketing is a great way for bloggers and other content creators to earn income; however, there are many mistakes that can be made when first entering this business.

Fortunately, most of them are easy to fix. The list below illustrates many common mishaps that can be avoided as long as one knows about them beforehand.

Join too many networks

As the affiliate space continually expands, the number of available networks has grown exponentially. Newbies may have the bright idea to join as many as possible to keep their options open. Instead, an experienced publisher will know to select a few reputable networks and start small, paying close attention to each campaign until it starts to convert (or cancel it and replace it with a higher quality offer). Whether affiliates join a public or private network, the success of a campaign depends more on the affiliate’s implementation strategies than the source.

Not investing in the right resources

One of the telltale signs of a newbie affiliate is their enthusiasm to earn millions of dollars through their free email and hosting accounts. As with many things in life, affiliates must spend money to make money. Investing in servers, IP addresses, data, and a complex tracking interface allows serious publishers to capitalize on the potential ROI of the campaigns they run. Many profitable affiliate businesses consist of small teams that have a solid understanding of manipulating backend systems for massive exposure. Skimping on the necessary tools will not make a sender rich.

no tracking

An affiliate who doesn’t follow up can also throw his money into a pot and wait to see how much it comes back up. It doesn’t make sense to spend considerable effort to optimize and implement a campaign just to rely on the advertiser or network to report earnings. Tracking platforms top the list of necessary resources affiliates need to get started. Often times, technical issues (and sometimes fraud!) significantly distort earnings reporting. Without a tracking mechanism, affiliates cannot prove their case for the leads they legitimately obtained.

No A/B testing

Part of the optimization includes a/b testing. The merchant and/or network are responsible for providing quality assets that appeal to their target consumer; affiliates, however, are responsible for implementing these assets in a way that maximizes conversions. Whether they’re tweaking subject lines, testing two different email creatives on the same dataset, or running banners on sites in different verticals, publishers have a lot of power when it comes to proper ad delivery and placement. A/B testing also benefits the advertiser, strengthening the working partnership with your affiliate and making them more likely to award you higher payouts.

Competitor exploration

One of the best ways to understand consumer behavior is to understand what already exists. If an affiliate considers what people have already seen or experienced versus what they are offering, they can assess which approaches are most effective for certain demographics, as well as which brands they are promoting as selling points. While affiliates don’t want to copy their competitors, they still need to know what they’re up against and follow some tips from reputable companies within an industry. The key to a successful campaign is a unique value proposition without sacrificing what everyone else is already offering.

Running too many campaigns

Another mistake new affiliates often make is running too many campaigns hoping one will work. When you’re just starting out, it’s important to focus more on strategy and develop a broad understanding of effective tactics before taking a shot in the dark with multiple campaigns. If an affiliate focuses on just a few proven offers and spends their time dissecting what worked and what didn’t, they are more likely to be successful in the future. Affiliate marketing is a constantly growing and changing industry because it is largely driven by consumer trends and evolving technology, both of which can transform overnight. What’s more, the time it takes them to figure out which campaign is working well in a given vertical and which payout is competitive enough to be worthwhile will save them time and resources to run other offers that aren’t likely to convert. Good publishers will seek a solid working knowledge of industry tools before launching each campaign that is offered to them.

Don’t use SEO

SEO is not dead despite its archaic reputation. In fact, many of the technological advances made online in recent years are based primarily on the use of SEO but in a non-traditional way. While SEO is too complex to be summed up in a few sentences, new affiliates should take the time to learn about its versatility and the different ways it can be incorporated into affiliate marketing. One surefire way a beginner publisher can make some money is by placing their links on a page that already has a lot of keywords for optimal traffic. SEO works because it simply connects consumers to the information they are looking for through the words or terms they use to find it. Why not place ads and links exactly where a customer would go to find them?

Not diversifying your affiliate products/verticals

Another common faux pas affiliates make is limiting themselves to posting offers within one category. There are plenty of verticals to choose from, whether it’s automotive, education, dating, or finance. All industries have peaks and lulls in sales and growth, which means that a campaign will work well during some seasons and simply not others. While it is still important to refrain from running too many deals at once, there is a need for diversification, regardless of the number. If anything, it will help keep traffic flowing and conversion rates going when one campaign isn’t performing as well as others in a different industry.

Direct sale to the customer

Affiliates must remember that while they are selling for a brand or advertiser, they are not sales men/women. Instead, they are a gateway between the product or service and its ideal consumer. New publishers should let the marketer dictate the sales strategy and value proposition, and then decide the best methods to drive ads. If you spend too much time building an online store for potential customers, you waste energy that could be spent on the best ways to reach users. Instead, affiliates should see themselves as traffic drivers who bring all the consumers they reach back to the advertiser, who then becomes responsible for the actual sales transaction. Affiliates do not sell products or services; link consumers to it.

With the right balance of time, resources, and tenacity, many new affiliates grow their startup entities into highly lucrative affiliate marketing channels. Diversification, moderation, and experimentation will turn a novice into a pro over time.