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Affiliate Mistakes that can lead the business to bankruptcy

December 22, 2020
Heiko Hildebrandt

Heiko Hildebrandt

My name is Heiko Hildebrandt. I'm located at the Target Holding headquarters in Lillestrøm, Norway. Since 2014 I have been CEO at Target Circle.

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Read our tips to prevent problems with affiliate marketing

Some simple affiliate errors can bankrupt a business that could have been extremely profitable when touched professionally. A lot of times the digital entrepreneur doesn’t even realize he’s making these mistakes. The result is that the business simply does not take off. I’m tired of seeing people complaining that they can’t make money with affiliate programs, no matter how much they’re working on their blog or website. In my experience working with affiliate programs, I have noticed that the main affiliate mistakes are even simple to solve, but the problem is that many affiliates simply cannot see these mistakes. If you want to make real money with this online business model, check out the list below, and then, if applicable, correct your procedures.

The main mistakes of beginner affiliates

Below I will show you the biggest mistakes of affiliates who are starting or those who have been at it for a long time and can’t make money with this kind of online business.

Not knowing how to choose a profitable niche for affiliates

One of the main mistakes of affiliates is in the very root of the business; not knowing how to choose a good niche to work with this business model. It’s amazing how time and money is wasted on such a primary error. Do you know that saying that not all that glitters is gold? It’s right there. Not every niche is interesting to work with affiliate programs and this is a mistake that ends up making your business impossible.

Not creating an Authority in your area

When you work with affiliate programs, you’re actually “lending” your authority to a brand, and based on your credibility with the public, referencing the usefulness and quality of the products and services you indicate. Among the types of affiliates, this is one of the most interesting.

That’s why it’s so important that you create an Authority for yourself or your site so that people feel comfortable to acquire the products you indicate, and this happens through the generation of relevant content in your area.

Not developing relevant content

One of the secrets to making money with affiliate programs is in generating traffic to your website, blog, or even online store, and the best source of qualified traffic is Google.

To achieve this, you need to create relevant content for your website or blog, to support your sales. People are looking for information, it’s after that, that they decide to buy. It’s what we call a consumer buying journey.

Focusing the content on sales only

As said before, in affiliate marketing it is necessary to generate relevant content and often the affiliates end up being blinded by money and end up producing only sales content, forgetting the stage of relationship with the public.

This is undoubtedly one of the biggest mistakes of affiliates because acting this way you skip the consumer purchase journey, offering your product at a time when the customer is not prepared to buy.

Not applying SEO techniques to its contents

One of the main traffic sources of a blog or website is Google. One of the mistakes of affiliates who are starting is to produce good content, but not apply the techniques of Search Engine Optimization – SEO, in their content and even site structure. It doesn’t matter if the content is good, if it isn’t optimized for search engines, you just can’t stand out. Without this exposure, you can’t attract the traffic needed to sell your affiliate products.

Not having a digital marketing strategy

To conclude, the champion of all the affiliate mistakes, which are still made by a lot of affiliate marketers; not having a marketing strategy. Many people believe that they are doing digital marketing, but they are only wasting time. Filling your blog with affiliate links, or posting your affiliate links on other websites is not marketing. Neither is using robots for that. Filling other people’s mailboxes with miraculous proposals is not marketing either. Digital marketing for affiliates is something else. Be sure to invest your time doing a proper digital marketing strategy.

It makes no sense to start a business with affiliate programs, work hard at every step of it and then make these mistakes we list here, throwing it all down the drain. Nowadays, working with affiliate programs requires professionalism. If you already have your business online and make any of these affiliate mistakes, be sure to make the adjustments and earn more money.

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