Six Myths About Affiliate Marketing
Aug 15, 2013
by Amanda DiSilvestro
In Marketing Tips
30
Affiliate marketing exists because it can be very successful.
However, there are quite a few affiliate marketing myths that revolve
around this topic.
For those who are unfamiliar, affiliate marketing is a way of
rewarding other companies and/or business partners who bring you
customers because of their marketing efforts. You can also think of
affiliate marketing from the flip-side: If you wanted to be an affiliate
company, your job is to bring online traffic and/or customers to
businesses and then you get paid for it.
It seems like a win-win situation, right?
While affiliate marketing is great, it’s a little bit more
complicated than meets the eye. For this reason, there are tons of
different affiliate marketing myths out there surrounding all it
entails. Whether you’re a company needing help or someone looking to
start a business, it’s important to understand these affiliate marketing
myths before diving into this marketing method.
Top 6 Affiliate Marketing Myths
Below are six of the most common affiliate marketing myths as well as
reasons why these myths might exist. As a side note, most come from the
point of view of someone trying to get involved in affiliate marketing
as a business (as opposed to for their already existing business).
1. It’s Difficult to Get Involved with Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is something that virtually anyone can do if they
put their mind to learning how things work (even learning as they go).
It doesn’t take a ton of money or a ton of experience, just a desire to get involved and the ability to really learn.
2. Affiliate Websites Don’t Require Much Management
This myth actually goes against the last myth (it seems that no one
knows what kind of work it takes to be an affiliate marketer). Although
it’s possible for anyone, it isn’t as easy as setting up a website,
putting some affiliate links and banners on that website, and then
letting it sit. Google bots don’t like to see this, which means they
could very well penalize your site and essentially bring your business
to a halt.
You need to have quality content and make changes to your website to
improve it in order to be successful, and this takes lots of management.
3. You Should Always Choose the Niche that is the Most Profitable
Many people believe this because they believe that’s how you will
make the most money. Of course certain niches that sell products people
buy most often have a good chance of being successful, but that doesn’t
mean it’s automatic. Although certain niches might be successful for
some, they won’t necessarily be successful for you.
You have to really understand that niche. If you don’t, you’re going
to have more success picking something you’re comfortable with.
4. You Only Need One Good Affiliate Program to be Successful
This is an affiliate marketing myth that companies looking to get
involved in affiliate marketing seem to find quite often. Joining just
one affiliate program could work, but you have to remember that your
customers are going to compare as they shop. You want to work with a few
different programs that compliment each other.
For example, if you’re a dentist you may want to market toothpaste as well as dental services.
5. Consumers Don’t Like Affiliate Marketing
Sometimes it can seem like affiliate marketing is an extra step and
will therefore annoy consumers because they can just go to eBay or
Amazon instead. However, it is important to realize that customers want
information about certain products and they want to shop around the Web.
In other words, they don’t want to go straight to Amazon or EBay, they actually want to visit your website.
6. Affiliate Marketing Won’t Last Much Longer
Last but not least, this is probably the most popular affiliate
marketing myth and it goes right along with the last myth. Because
Google algorithms are changing and putting less value on sites that
offer more links than quality content, it’s safe to say that affiliate
marketing has had better days. Still, it has not lost life and surely
won’t for a long time to come.
It’s still successful and still makes sense – and Google sees that as well as consumers.
Do you have any additional affiliate marketing myths to add to the list?
Genie Lamp Photo via Shutterstock
