When something's easy to take on, it's easy to quit. Jobs, relationships, hobbies… This applies to many things in life. When it’s easy to start, it’s also easy to walk away from. This isn't necessarily a bad thing - sometimes people need a change or a break - but it's worth considering before taking on anything new.
Affiliate marketing. Without a doubt, there are things to consider before you get started. Is this something you really want to do? Are you committed to seeing it through? What are the potential consequences of quitting? It's not always easy to stay the course, so you’d better think about what you’re getting into. Otherwise, you might find yourself quitting something that was actually worth sticking with.
Why Are So Many Affiliate Marketers Quit Easily?
Affiliate marketing is easy to start, which means it’s not designed to help beginners build what’s necessary - tools, methods, and perhaps most importantly, the proper mindset. Here are the reasons many beginner affiliate marketers quit, and the solution to avoid each cause for you.
1. Because There’s Nothing To Lose
I can only repeat what I said at the beginning of this post. Affiliate marketing is quite ridiculously easy to start because it doesn’t require a lot of investment. In fact, you can start for free. You sign up with an affiliate program for free, get your affiliate link for free, and share the link across social networks.
The chances are that no one will react to simple “buy now” posts that beginner affiliates repeatedly post, so they never make a single dime. They soon get bored and quit.
[Solution] Make It Difficult To Start
Affiliate marketing beginners quit easily because it’s easy to start in the first place. They quit before they realze there’s more to learn and the business takes a serious input.
Then make it difficult to start - plan your goals well, find your own way to keep motivating yourself, and be willing to learn all the way.
2. Because They’re Not Willing To Invest Money
Just because you can start for free, if you could make profits so easily without investing any money, everyone in the world would have done it by now and all the poverty would have been solved. It’s not that easy. You do have to spend money on;
- The website.
- Training program.
- The affiliate products (to buy and try them yourself so that you can recommend it to others.)
- Traffic.
Spending money on traffic is a tricky one, and that’s the next reason.
[Solution] Invest Some Money
Accept the fact that any business requires money to invest. You could start selling lemonade on the street without spending money, but who would buy it when you don’t have a well-designed lemonade stand or food hygiene lisense to prove?
Affiliate marketing is the same. You pay to earn credibility, so you’ll make a return on your investment.
3. Because They’re Not Understanding Web Traffic
There are only two ways to drive traffic.
- Keep blogging and drive organic traffic - it’s free but it could take months before your affiliate campaign is recognized via search engines and you start making money.
- If you want quick results, you’ll have to pay to advertise. But to pay to advertise, you’ll have to pay for a training program and learn the particular advertising traffic.
In other words, you’ll have to spend either a lot of money or a lot of time. (Or both.) Many newbie marketers underestimate the fact and give up.
[Solution] Understand There’s No Free and Easy Way
A lot of affiliate marketing products sell “secret free traffic methods” which aren’t really secrets. The methods have been around for years and if it’s free, everyone else’s already doing it. So don’t get carried away when someone talks about free traffic unless it’s SEO.
4. Because They Jump On a Low-Cost Training Program
They may know they have to learn something, so they pay for the cheapest training guide for a one-time fee of as low as $50 or less. What they don’t realize is that affiliate marketing is a real business model. Just like $50 training program cannot get you to become a restaurant owner or an app developer, you see?
Ok, affiliate marketing may not be as difficult as learning to run a restaurant or gaining programming skills. But you’re not gaining much from any of those low-cost training programs out there. You get what you pay for - they only teach you the very basic knowledge and often one side of it. For example, they may teach you how to build an affiliate website, but they never teach you how to drive traffic (which is essential). Often, beginner affiliates feel that the training they received “didn’t work” and easily give it all up.
[Solution] Don’t Waste on Low-Cost Affiliate Marketing Guides
There are some training programs that are inexpensive or free to join. But there’ll be more to pay to receive in-depth training. So make sure what’s included in the whole program with full access.
Otherwise, you get what you pay for. Low-cost training programs usually teach you one or two parts of it. You’d have to seek out other programs after that, which would be a waste of money.
5. Because They Are Overwhelmed By Their Training Program
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On the other hand, those who pay for a decent training program (spend $1,000+ or monthly fee of $50+) are often overwhelmed by the volume of it. There is a lot to learn such as;
- Building your own platform (website)
- Content creation
- Ways to drive traffic
- Establishing an affiliate business brand and gaining trust
- Lead generation and email marketing
Beginner marketers often quit before they can manage to go through them all.
[Solution] Don’t Rush, Don’t Neglect
When there are lot of training modules ahead of you, you can easily get agitated because you want to apply what you’ve learned so far quickly and start your affiliate campaigns. But good training programs charge monthly fees for a reason - so that you can keep learning without slipping away.
Make sure to complete every lesson. Go through one by one without skipping if you can. If you skip, make sure to come back as soon as you can. You’ve paid for all this, so make the most of it. If you don’t understand any part of it, ask questions.
6. Because They Don’t Build a Business Mindset
This is also because affiliate marketing is easy to start and does not require a high initial investment. Beginners casually try it out without planning or evaluating the competition.
If you choose to go for a free option - drive organic traffic - then you’ll have to spend a lot of your spare time writing blog posts every single day, as well as learning SEO skills. But it’s hard to learn something new when you are out for work 10+ hours each day. When you come home and are too tired to even cook yourself a meal, the last thing you want to do is use your brain.
Although the experience can be immensely enjoyable, it is a business. It does take a lot of hard work and dedication in order to be successful. If you take it as an extension of a hobby or rely on someone to do a job for you, then it never works.
New affiliates quit easily simply because they can’t find enough time to update their website, promote their products enough, and learn enough.
[Solution] Take Failures Well
Every successful business owner experience failures and use every failures as a fuel. How do you use them? Work that out yourself. You can ask experts for advice, but it’s your business. You must accept the fact that there’s no one else to rely on.
7. Because They’re Not Understanding Support Communities
No matter how successful you become, you’re advised to have a mentor, or advisor, or belong to a community where you can get support. A lot of beginner affiliate marketers join a community because it’s generally free or at least cheaper than joining a mentorship program.
The stupid mistake they often make is that they try to take advantage of the community the wrong way. Instead of listening to the experts’ advice, they try to promote some random affiliate products to the expert members. They get banned by the community for spamming.
If they learn from the mistake and find another support group, they’re in the right direction. But chances are that they either keep spamming elsewhere or get deflated by the experience and quit.
[Solution] Don’t Underestimate Support
A community - any community - is made up of people, means there may be differences of opinion, gossiping and things that could waste your time. Stay away from any of it. Don’t forget that your only purpose is to become a successful affiliate marketer, so just focus on learning.
8. Because They Are Fooled By “Done For You Systems”
“All the hard work is already done for you. All you have to do is click here and…”
From a (scam) seller’s point of view, this is a classic sales copy that convinces buyers. But of course, if anyone could make money so easy using an “all-done-for-you system”, then there’d be no child poverty in this world!
Most of the DFYs are just ready-made landing pages full of disadvantages, such as;
- You’ll have to spend a lot of money on traffic to make it work.
- Everyone else who’s bought it is already using it.
- They’re all the same - the same layout with the same headline, no uniqueness. People have seen it already.
- You’ll never learn the mechanics behind it. It may work for a short-term if you spend money on traffic, but it won't take you anywhere.
[Solution] Don’t Use “DFYs”
Don’t trust any product that tells you everything’s already done for you. Plenty of website builders are available out there. You’ll have to create your own site, place your affiliate link by yourself, and learn the skills to drive traffic. Hard work should be done by you, not done for you by someone else.
9. Because They’re Solely Focusing On “Money”
This is a difficult one because what makes top entrepreneurs different is that they provide amazing value to the public (customers, audience, users, or whatever you call it.) They have an outward focus. They’re giving. They’re appreciated by people. And the money will come to them as a result of it.
Whereas affiliate marketing is about promoting other brands, therefore there are very few opportunities to create and share their own innovations. Inevitably, we often recommend others to become affiliate marketers because it will allow you to;
- “Make money.”
- “Work from anywhere you want, any time you want”, etc.
Those who are persuaded to become affiliate marketers often solely focus on making money for themselves, and the idea of giving value to others is secondary. They don’t try to consider their audience’s point of view. They often quit because their only object is to simply “make money” and they can’t seem to achieve it.
[Solution] Focus On Helping People
Always keep in mind that this is not a gamble or lottery, so making money should never be your immediate goal. You’re running a business and you’ll only be generating money by creating value that people appreciate. Think about what you can do to make the world a better place, and the money will come to you!
(Real Time) Affiliate Income Report Last Month
October 2024: $8,550.00
Hi Ray, Thank you so much for your useful post. I used to think that all DFY websites were great because I didn’t have to learn. I was desperate to save time. But now I know it’s a huge disadvantage. Thank you for the business mindset also. It’s eye opening for me.
I really appreciate you taking the time to write this post and share your insights with us.
It’s definitely made me rethink my position on DFY websites. I’m now more aware of the importance of learning and developing a business mindset. This is invaluable advice that will help me in my online journey. Thank you again, Ray!
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