Golden Goose Marketing

To the average affiliate, online marketing is not necessarily a long-term endeavor.  For those who haven’t yet found success, the focus is entirely on getting something – anything – to make a little money.  The problem with that approach is that it’s desperate.  Desperation, while useful as a motivator, can be a terrible thing when it comes to your business decisions.  When you’re desperate, you tend to focus on the short-term, and on getting immediate results.  That’s no way to build a long-term business.

If you turn your focus to a steady, logical plan for affiliate marketing, you’ll not only increase your chances of success, you’ll be building a real business.  Far too many affiliates (even many of the “successful” affiliate bloggers that you see all the time) have built their businesses on one short-lived method.  They quit their jobs, only to find out 6 months later that their method no longer works and they now have no income.

So how do you build a real, lasting affiliate business?

• Stay on the up-and-up – If something feels shady, it probably is.  Don’t let yourself get sucked into things that could be considered illegal or unethical, as they’re not likely to last.  That’s especially true now, as the FTC is getting more and more involved in the affiliate marketing industry.
• Diversify – Although you need focus when you’re first getting started, you should make efforts to diversify quickly after you start making money.  That way, even if one source of income dries up, you’re still making money.
• Save and re-invest - Don’t make the mistake of spending all your profits or expecting to maintain a steady  ROI.  Things can change quickly, and you need to have a cushion.