Several times per day now, people ask "how can I get started with affiliate marketing?" Of course, I reply with a link to one of my handy-dandy posts that already covers the topic and answers straight away, but still-- there are those who are so impatient with this answer or any answer that entails some kind of up front work that they demand to know which campaigns I run and how I run them profitably.

While I don't blame them for wanting to take the shortcut to riches, it doesn't make much sense. You've got to learn something along the way to keep it going. It's got to be a business for you, not a get-rich-quick scheme. If you're serious about it, affiliate marketing shouldn't be approached as another "make money online" crap shoot. When you do it right, there's little gambling involved.

I remember one of my favorite parts from the Rich Dad, Poor Dad book by Robert Kiyosaki. Essentially, he was released into the city without any money and was able to rack up a substantial investment in just one day. Granted, he probably used his connections and his name as leverage, but the point is that even without all his money, he knew exactly what to do to make it all back.

That's what this business is all about. If I had to start from zero again, it would take me about a week to get back to where I am now. And it's not necessarily because of who I know but what I've learned in the year I've been in the business. But don't discount the effect of networking either.

Tons of opportunity arises out of just knowing some people. I have the best discussions with random people I talk to on a daily basis because I'm able to learn something new from each person I have a conversation with. That's the attitude you should have when approaching anyone, be it online or in the streets -- "what can I learn from this person?" Ever since I've adopted this motto, I see people in a different light and it makes relating to them much easier because if there's one thing people love to do it's talk about themselves. Use that to your advantage.

Returning to my point on running it like a business, it's easy to get caught up in the term 'affiliate marketer.'  It seems like most people wear it as just one more notch on their "make money online" belt, like an Adsense or a Text-Link-Ads type thing. Really, if you are marketing products for other companies, you are in the business of sales and you should treat it as such. That includes filing taxes and picking up the phone when you have a question or something goes wrong.

I've been reading lately that one of affiliate managers' biggest peeves is that those affiliates without managers who want managers don't bother to pick up the phone and talk to someone. Your affiliate managers want to help you, not just because it gives them a cut of your sales but also because they can push you to do better. If you're going to be worth anything, you should take it seriously and use every tool you can to push yourself to be, for lack of a better term, all that you can be.

So people, and you know who you are, stop treating it like a side project and go mainstream. If you put your heart into it, you'll start seeing rewards like I do and like the cats I know who are rolling in it on a daily basis.

Make it happen, cap'n.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 at 6:04 pm and is filed under Affiliate Marketing, Affiliate Strategy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.