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- May 9, 2018
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Ever felt like you're failing and failing again in the affiliate life? Do you feel like everything you test flops, and you're the only one not making any progress?
Well, trust me. We all felt like that at some point in our affiliate careers. Think about pretty much any problem outside of the affiliate life. It was a problem that made you suffocate, and you thought life was unfair because it was only happening to you, but later, you dealt with it and moved on.
For every problem you live in your life, there are probably thousands, if not millions, of persons out there going through the same. Just think about that 10-year-old forum post you found while Googling on page 3 from a person online who was having the same problem you're living right now.
Well, in terms of the affiliate world and lifestyle, you don't have to use Google to search for it because afflift is here for you. But honestly, no matter what we say, you will likely encounter some ups and downs during your affiliate journey, even if you read about them.
Experience comes with testing, and sometimes the things you read only make sense once you experience them.
So, before becoming such a spiritual guru in this post, let's go over a few mistakes affiliates make in the 1st year of their journey, so you can avoid them, or at least you won't feel alone once they happen.
1. You will confuse or mistake half of the acronyms in the industry
It's fine. It takes a while to speak our language. Here's a guide to help you.
2. You won't understand tracking
And it will look as if you were reading a foreign, super tech-savvy language.
Tracking takes time. For some people, it takes a few weeks. For others, it takes a couple of months. Once you learn to track, you will understand most of it, no matter which tracker you use. Meanwhile, please copy and paste what we explain in the guides and courses, or use the preset templates.
3. You will confuse affiliate networks with traffic networks
Sometimes you will sign up (incorrectly) as an advertiser in an affiliate network or as a publisher in a traffic network and get rejected, especially because some companies do both sides of the game under the same dashboard and homepage.
4. You will get rejected on some affiliate networks
Some networks want people with some experience to reduce the risks of fraud conversions or to minimize overhead. Don't worry. Some networks are more newbie-friendly. Start there and work your way to the top.
6. You will launch a campaign that doesn't track
The click ID or the postback are set up wrong, or the dynamic tokens are incorrect. Don't worry. Create a thread in the correct forum category, add some screenshots of your current setup, and we will help you solve it.
7. You will launch a campaign to a broken link
It happens to the best of us. Don't launch campaigns at 2 am or while being drunk.
8. You will be scared of landing pages
Landing pages can be scary to non-tech-savvy. Basic HTML/CSS knowledge goes a long way, but initially, you need to know you don't need to be a great coder or a web designer to get started. Direct linking will be your best friend while you learn the ropes for the first months. You can also use a tool like PureLander or learn how to spy.
9. You will launch a campaign with a bid 10-1000x higher than average.
And your budget will disappear in a flash. You either confused CPM for CPV or added a 0 to the right. Take the loss and re-launch.
10. You will launch a campaign with an unlimited budget
And your whole funds will disappear in the next few hours. Make sure you set up daily budgets and check your campaigns once they're sent for approval. If it already happened, take the loss and move on.
11. Your landing pages will be flagged by Google or other antivirus systems
Congratulations, you got your first flag. Check this guide to see how to proceed. No, the universe isn't against you.
12. You will have cashflow issues
Unless you come from a different industry with a decent cushion of savings, you're trying to make affiliate marketing a full-time online job for the first time. And you will eventually have a campaign that makes money so fast that you will need to empty your funds in the traffic source while you wait for your first payment. Try working with networks that have lower payment thresholds.
13. You will hit your first green day only to discover the next day is red again or the volume dropped
Create a follow-along, and we will help you with this. Campaigns aren't 100% stable. There are ups and downs, and learning the algorithm is part of the game.
Just because you have a $50/day campaign today, it doesn't mean you will earn $50/day for the rest of the year.
14. You will come thinking you can profit from your first $500 and turn them into $1,000
Only to discover you probably need a few thousand to learn the ropes, a lot of patience, dedication, and taking action.
15. You might think affiliate marketing is for introverts because it kind of is
However, you're dealing with persons (managers) on both sides, along with affiliate friends and more. It pays to be friendly, respectful, and understand that we are all in for the money.
16. You will pay for courses
And many of them won't work for you. Sometimes a course is terrible, but many times it's also our fault for not following through and giving it time. If courses were affiliate campaigns, I'd say 1 out of 3 works for me, and I know it's probably my fault in most cases. It doesn't mean they don't work for other people. Also, the Pareto principle applies very well here. 80% of the affiliates that try probably won't make it past the first two months.
17. You will get kicked off an offer
Or your manager will reduce your payout due to quality issues. It happens to all of us at some point. The type of traffic and your angle matter in terms of quality, and pre-selling your audience on your landing pages is critical to get pay bumps. But sometimes, it's just the type of traffic that doesn't back up, and you don't have much control due to targeting restrictions.
18. You will pause campaigns with potential
Because you don't like "losing" money or because you don't know how to optimize them correctly. If you have a conversion in your first campaign, consider yourself lucky. Don't let your campaign die so quickly if you have an ROI of over -50%!
19. You will fall in love with some campaigns
Just because it took you 3 hours to make that excellent landing page doesn't mean it's guaranteed to work. And just because the manager recommended the offer and the offer page "looks great, because, who wouldn't love a free iPhone," it doesn't mean it will work for you. DOn't fall in love with your tests. Trust the numbers and data.
20. You will test multiple traffic sources and ad formats
Only to realize you should focus on 1-2 traffic sources and double down until you learn the ropes.
21. You will struggle with hosting and landing pages
Don't worry, it's easier than learning tracking, and it's also cheap. You will understand it eventually. Create a thread if you have questions.
22. You will suffer the shiny object syndrome
One week you want to test pops. Next week you want to do Push on Propeller. Next month you learn an affiliate is killing it on FB. Then you read about SEO and how it's kind of "passive income."
Don't.
You learn by staying in your lane and focusing on one thing. You might regret jumping ship a few months later.
Select a traffic source. Select a vertical. Select an ad format you want to learn, and finally, commit and take action.
You are not alone. We all made one or many of these mistakes. Keep fighting.
Well, trust me. We all felt like that at some point in our affiliate careers. Think about pretty much any problem outside of the affiliate life. It was a problem that made you suffocate, and you thought life was unfair because it was only happening to you, but later, you dealt with it and moved on.
For every problem you live in your life, there are probably thousands, if not millions, of persons out there going through the same. Just think about that 10-year-old forum post you found while Googling on page 3 from a person online who was having the same problem you're living right now.
Well, in terms of the affiliate world and lifestyle, you don't have to use Google to search for it because afflift is here for you. But honestly, no matter what we say, you will likely encounter some ups and downs during your affiliate journey, even if you read about them.
Experience comes with testing, and sometimes the things you read only make sense once you experience them.
So, before becoming such a spiritual guru in this post, let's go over a few mistakes affiliates make in the 1st year of their journey, so you can avoid them, or at least you won't feel alone once they happen.
1. You will confuse or mistake half of the acronyms in the industry
It's fine. It takes a while to speak our language. Here's a guide to help you.
2. You won't understand tracking
And it will look as if you were reading a foreign, super tech-savvy language.
Tracking takes time. For some people, it takes a few weeks. For others, it takes a couple of months. Once you learn to track, you will understand most of it, no matter which tracker you use. Meanwhile, please copy and paste what we explain in the guides and courses, or use the preset templates.
3. You will confuse affiliate networks with traffic networks
Sometimes you will sign up (incorrectly) as an advertiser in an affiliate network or as a publisher in a traffic network and get rejected, especially because some companies do both sides of the game under the same dashboard and homepage.
4. You will get rejected on some affiliate networks
Some networks want people with some experience to reduce the risks of fraud conversions or to minimize overhead. Don't worry. Some networks are more newbie-friendly. Start there and work your way to the top.
6. You will launch a campaign that doesn't track
The click ID or the postback are set up wrong, or the dynamic tokens are incorrect. Don't worry. Create a thread in the correct forum category, add some screenshots of your current setup, and we will help you solve it.
7. You will launch a campaign to a broken link
It happens to the best of us. Don't launch campaigns at 2 am or while being drunk.
8. You will be scared of landing pages
Landing pages can be scary to non-tech-savvy. Basic HTML/CSS knowledge goes a long way, but initially, you need to know you don't need to be a great coder or a web designer to get started. Direct linking will be your best friend while you learn the ropes for the first months. You can also use a tool like PureLander or learn how to spy.
9. You will launch a campaign with a bid 10-1000x higher than average.
And your budget will disappear in a flash. You either confused CPM for CPV or added a 0 to the right. Take the loss and re-launch.
10. You will launch a campaign with an unlimited budget
And your whole funds will disappear in the next few hours. Make sure you set up daily budgets and check your campaigns once they're sent for approval. If it already happened, take the loss and move on.
11. Your landing pages will be flagged by Google or other antivirus systems
Congratulations, you got your first flag. Check this guide to see how to proceed. No, the universe isn't against you.
12. You will have cashflow issues
Unless you come from a different industry with a decent cushion of savings, you're trying to make affiliate marketing a full-time online job for the first time. And you will eventually have a campaign that makes money so fast that you will need to empty your funds in the traffic source while you wait for your first payment. Try working with networks that have lower payment thresholds.
13. You will hit your first green day only to discover the next day is red again or the volume dropped
Create a follow-along, and we will help you with this. Campaigns aren't 100% stable. There are ups and downs, and learning the algorithm is part of the game.
Just because you have a $50/day campaign today, it doesn't mean you will earn $50/day for the rest of the year.
14. You will come thinking you can profit from your first $500 and turn them into $1,000
Only to discover you probably need a few thousand to learn the ropes, a lot of patience, dedication, and taking action.
15. You might think affiliate marketing is for introverts because it kind of is
However, you're dealing with persons (managers) on both sides, along with affiliate friends and more. It pays to be friendly, respectful, and understand that we are all in for the money.
16. You will pay for courses
And many of them won't work for you. Sometimes a course is terrible, but many times it's also our fault for not following through and giving it time. If courses were affiliate campaigns, I'd say 1 out of 3 works for me, and I know it's probably my fault in most cases. It doesn't mean they don't work for other people. Also, the Pareto principle applies very well here. 80% of the affiliates that try probably won't make it past the first two months.
17. You will get kicked off an offer
Or your manager will reduce your payout due to quality issues. It happens to all of us at some point. The type of traffic and your angle matter in terms of quality, and pre-selling your audience on your landing pages is critical to get pay bumps. But sometimes, it's just the type of traffic that doesn't back up, and you don't have much control due to targeting restrictions.
18. You will pause campaigns with potential
Because you don't like "losing" money or because you don't know how to optimize them correctly. If you have a conversion in your first campaign, consider yourself lucky. Don't let your campaign die so quickly if you have an ROI of over -50%!
19. You will fall in love with some campaigns
Just because it took you 3 hours to make that excellent landing page doesn't mean it's guaranteed to work. And just because the manager recommended the offer and the offer page "looks great, because, who wouldn't love a free iPhone," it doesn't mean it will work for you. DOn't fall in love with your tests. Trust the numbers and data.
20. You will test multiple traffic sources and ad formats
Only to realize you should focus on 1-2 traffic sources and double down until you learn the ropes.
21. You will struggle with hosting and landing pages
Don't worry, it's easier than learning tracking, and it's also cheap. You will understand it eventually. Create a thread if you have questions.
22. You will suffer the shiny object syndrome
One week you want to test pops. Next week you want to do Push on Propeller. Next month you learn an affiliate is killing it on FB. Then you read about SEO and how it's kind of "passive income."
Don't.
You learn by staying in your lane and focusing on one thing. You might regret jumping ship a few months later.
Select a traffic source. Select a vertical. Select an ad format you want to learn, and finally, commit and take action.
You are not alone. We all made one or many of these mistakes. Keep fighting.
