5 Things Successful Affiliates Will Never Tell You!

What is it about affiliate marketing that intrigues you? 

Is it the dream of making money whilst you sleep? 

Or being your own boss? 

Perhaps it is the idea of choosing your own working hours and working from any location… 

in the world.

Whatever your reasoning, it’s perfectly understandable because affiliate marketing does have some amaaaazing perk. What’s more, these are only a few of them.

But, all too often, we at Traffic Mansion notice newbies enter the affiliate marketing world with unrealistic notions. 

Whether unintentionally misled or sold on the lifestyle of successful affiliate marketers.  

Some seem unaware or fail to understand affiliate marketing is a business and must be treated as such. 

Considering  affiliate marketing has huuuuuge potential to earn you a six figure income… it’s understandable. 

That said, if you’re viewing it as a quick-rich scheme… chances are you won’t. 

Whilst successful affiliates may share some elements of how they got to where they are now. Some secrets are held closely to their chest or…

available to you at a cost.

If you’re considering a career in affiliate marketing or frustrated by the lack of money coming in as you sleep. Today’s article is for you.

 Read on to discover 5 useful things, successful affiliates will never tell you. 

#1 Success Requires Hard Work

As we said in the introduction, affiliate marketing is a business. We agree,  it is a beautiful thought to imagine yourself sailing around the world on a superyacht, but you will have to stick a pin in those dreams.  (At least for the time being).

They are achievable but, you will have to roll up your sleeves and set to work. 

When you hear phrases such as:

“make money in your sleep,” or “passive income” 

or promises from successful affiliates offering to share their secrets on how they made a $X000,000 income.  

What they probably won’t tell you is the blood sweat (and bucketloads of tears) it took to get from where you are now, to where they are.  

Isn’t it funny, how good old fashioned hard work isn’t as appealing? 

Unfortunately  you can’t avoid the work.  

But…

you can join our affiliate program and get industry tips and tricks (and that’s kind of the same thing). 

Disclaimer: a concerted effort is still required from you.  

#2 Commitment to Learning

So you heard you can make a ton of money in your sleep and now you’ve started affiliate marketing? 

If this is you, that claim is true, however what successful affiliates won’t tell you is, that you will need to commit to learning – always!

Change is constant and the same applies to affiliate marketing – irrespective of the niche.

Even if one element of your marketing strategy works, there is no guarantee it will last.

Besides…without learning, testing and optimising how will you know what actually works? 

Or worse…. doesn’t? 

The #1 myth in affiliate marketing  is that as an affiliate marketer, your business will run itself. (haha). Even once you make it, to maintain your level of success you will still need to know the following: 

• Keep abreast of industry news
• Stay on top of current and emerging trends
• What’s Google up to? (Google Updates)
• Conversion Tools
• Traffic sources
• Products/ offers.  
• Your analytics
• Split Testing

#3 Building Relationships

Another myth you must quell in order to succeed as an affiliate marketer is the belief your sole purpose is to sell. 

What successful affiliates will never tell you is that your primary goal isn’t to sell. 

Instead your focus should be centered around building relationships.  

Why? Because people tend to buy from those they trust to solve their problems. 

If you are wondering why you have low conversions then it could be because the 1970 hard sell approach is lazy,  doesn’t work and comes across as just plain desperate. 

If you are serious about making this affiliate marketing thing work, you need to build and showcase your authority within your niche.

Shift your mindset from  selling to building meaningful relationships and watch your conversions skyrocket! 

Make sure any content or interaction you have with your audience serves to educate or entertain. 

Before you hit publish think: “how does this provide value to my audience?”  

P.s. building relationships also extends to affiliate managers too. 

#4 Don’t Be Afraid To Fail 

No matter how much swotting up on “lessons learned by successful affiliates what they never tell you is in spite of reading their “tell alls” is:  you will still make mistakes. 

It is inevitable, and we don’t say this to defeat you,  On the contrary, affiliate marketing is a hands on skill. 

Once you’ve read all the theories, tips and tricks… you will need to try it for yourself. 

It requires experience to learn what works. 

For instance, experiencing what creatives leads to more conversions or what content connects better with your readers. Making mistakes is all part of the learning process and you will need to view it as such in order to recover from losses. 

Reframing Success

We touched upon “losses” and before going any further you will also need to reframe the way you view success.  What successful affiliates will never tell you is, that a loss one week can actually become a win the next. 

Wondering what we mean by this?

Here’s an example: 

Say on week 1 of your campaign the results show a loss of -$1500.  After speaking to your AM and gaining insights, you optimize your campaign.

By week 3 the results of your campaign equates to a loss of -$100. 

So, although you are down $100, by following the advice of your AM and working your butt off you managed to gain a profit of $1400.  (figuratively speaking). 

Some affiliates struggle with this and quit the moment they make a mistake or suffer a loss. But, those able to see this as an investment of their success are the ones that will go on to earn $XXXX  by week. 4 of their campaign. 

#5 Patience (& tons of it) 

Finally, affiliates will never tell you that to become a successful affiliate marketer, you need patience and plenty of it. 

You want to know the #1 reason why affiliates that have come before you (and will come after you) fail? 

It’s because they lack patience or…

are expecting results immediately. 

Whether it’s building relationships or putting in the work, patience is at the helm of all these tips. 

Think of affiliate marketing as mastering a new skill and to become a success you cannot miss out any steps. (Failures and all).

Yes, there are stories out there of (lucky) people, who have struck gold almost from the get go. But these stories are the exception to the rule. To become successful in affiliate marketing you will need to show up every day, willing to learn something. 

Over To You 

Although the 5 strategies and tips outlined in our post are not touted or banded around by more successful affiliates….

Do you see by using them,  success in affiliate marketing can be achieved by you too? 

By committing to learning, building relationships and applying yourself, there is nothing stopping you from earning a six figure sum (whilst you sleep).