3 Affiliate Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

Just about everybody who’s ever made fifty cents with a affiliate marketing–and a whole lot of people who haven’t–is trying to sell some kind of “how to make money online” course these days.

What separates those of us who know what we’re talking about form those who just slap something together so they can take your money? Affiliate marketing mistakes. And it might surprise you that the genuine marketers are the ones who have made the mistakes!

It’s been said that wisdom comes from good judgment, and that good judgment comes from having made bad judgment. Anyone who is top-notch in their field has made plenty of mistakes on the way up–and you shouldn’t trust anyone who tells you otherwise.

One of the best skills that any of us can have is the ability to learn from other people’s mistakes. Here is some hard-won wisdom form the trenches of affiliate marketing–some I learned the hard way, and some I learned by watching others–that should trim down your learning curve.

1. Don’t stuff cookies. If you’re new to affiliate marketing and not getting the kind of traffic (or conversions) that you’d like, it can be tempting to use this grey-area tactic that most of us learn about sooner or later.

My advice? Don’t.

Forget, for just a minute that any affiliate program with any sense at all will kick you out if they catch you doing this. Your fellow marketers are going to have your hide when you’re found out–as you eventually will be.

Some of the biggest money you can make with affiliate marketing will come from partnerships, joint ventures, and even just tips from your fellow marketers. I wouldn’t have gotten where I am today if I’d screwed people over–and neither will you. Just don’t do it!

2. Don’t dive right in to PPC marketing. Usually the best way to learn in affiliate marketing is to just dive right in. Yes you should read up on what experienced affiliate marketers such as myself and others have to say.

But you’ll ultimately learn at least as much from doing it on your own as well. This is the only way to really learn your practical skills: ready, fire, aim!

This holds true with every kind of online marketing except for pay per click (PPC).

You can really lose your shirt (and your backside; and your house) if you jump straight into PPC traffic techniques.

With every other kind of marketing, it really is a mistake to not dive straight in. With pay per click, you’ll be a fool if you don’t test the waters with you big toe–after you’ve read extensively on the subject!

3. Don’t hop from one niche to the next. Sure, you may want to eventually diversify your income and branch out into different markets. But you should do this only after you have had some success in your first niche–or else have spent enough time and effort to know for sure that it isn’t profitable.

You see, lack of focus is the second-biggest reason that people fail to make money online (the number one reason is failure to take action!). My blog is one of many free resources on the web that will help you make money online. Don’t throw all these free resources away by jumping around, never using them to their fullest extent!