Check out what one of the MOST SUCCESSFUL affiliate marketers in the world just said a couple of days ago:
“Affiliate marketing is NOT a business.
As an Affiliate you:
- Spend all your time in hopes of making money for other companies.
- Spend your money testing various items in hopes of getting a positive return.
- Do all the dirty work for them.
The companies who have the offers you are promoting sit back and love it because YOU are taking all of the risk to build their businesses!”
That sounds a lot like the stuff I’ve been saying for the last 3 years right? I’ve been called “crazy”, “out of touch”, and even “irresponsible” for saying it in past posts right on this blog! After all, some of the biggest celebrity names in Internet marketing have fan bases of tens of thousands…all learning “affiliate marketing”.
To be clear, the above quote validates some things I’ve been saying steadily for two YEARS:
- Newbies should avoid affiliate marketing like the plague
- Affiliate marketing STARTS with genuine relationships or it fails miserably EVERY TIME
- Too many gurus are getting rich selling “affiliate marketing training” to SUCKERS that aren’t making a dime!
This is quite a contradiction though isn’t it? Let’s clear this up…
So, who is the “big dog” in the above box quote?
Meet Jeremy (aka ShoeMoney). Jeremey is the guy that I’m quoting above from just a few days ago. He has been the “main attraction” at nearly all major affiliate marketing conventions of the past two years! He has been the #1 affiliate marketer for eBay (millions monthly), he was brought in to help build Facebook’s affiliate marketing program, and he’s been on the cover of “Fast Company” magazine as the most influential guy on the Internet.
And he’s just said (and I quote), “Affiliate marketing IS NOT A BUSINESS“.
Good for you SHOEMONEY! I agree with you 100% and I thank you for making me feel VERY validated! I want MORE of the online “gurus” to follow suit with some honesty!
ShoeMoney is now telling us all that a good use of any “traffic generation” skills you acquire is to grow YOUR OWN business – not someone elses! Capture the leads for YOURSELF, and THEN, ONCE YOU’VE EARNED TRUST and ENGAGED your audience, and ONLY then…sell something! (check out this blog post from a few months ago to get the full scoop on how I feel about affiliate marketing)
Two simple conclusions for newbies and veterans alike:
1. Are you a “newbie” or feel burned by how you’ve spent your time and money learning online business?
Learn what actually works before spinning your wheels any more!
Stop building websites NOW and go read this simple book (or just grab the two free chapters here).
Not convinced yet? It’s probably because you are too vested and have been drinking the “affiliate income” kool-aid for too long. I STRONGLY urge you to take a time out and jump over to SilentSalesMachine.com and grab my $5 book about what works and what doesn’t – because my instincts just got MAJOR validation from one of the biggest dogs in the game and I’ve been teaching this for YEARS. Don’t ignore BOTH of us!
If you don’t want to spend $5 on my book, then just grab the the two free chapters <-click here. One of the free chapters (chapter five) will wake you up to the truth of affiliate marketing! This blog you are now reading has plenty of good content as well on the topic in the “affiliate marketing” category. I’ve taught thousands how to build legitimate online businesses, and YES, there is a right way to do affiliate marketing, but you haven’t learned it yet (that’s why you aren’t making any money at it!)
2. Been around awhile?
If you’ve got some basic knowledge of affiliate marketing, but your average check is somewhere between $0.00 – $1.78 per month (like 99% of all other affiliate marketers), then you NEED OfflineBiz.com! We’ve got over 10,000 happy members and numerous success stories of people ACTUALLY MAKING MONEY. To be blunt, unlike your current affiliate marketing “guru”, I’ve got a stack of success stories on my desk as opposed to the “pseudo-testimonials” that celebrity-gurus get from followers that think they are “cool”, “funny”, kind or even educational. There’s nothing wrong with those things of course, but the point is, I don’t have any edu-tainment for you – just results.
The fact is “Local Traffic Generation” is FAR easier to conquer than what you’ve been trying to do. You could be using your online “traffic” skills to help some of the millions of online and offline “clueless” businesses capture new business WITHOUT you needing any new “techie” skills! This includes “Real World” businesses like restaurants, tattoo parlors, real estate agents etc. You’ve got the knowledge already to hit a quick home run using simple strategies we’ll show you on OfflineBiz.com in just a few hours from right now! ANYONE can do this – I truly believe that!
SIDE NOTE: The huge trend involving working with “real world” businesses is why I launched OfflineBiz.com THREE YEARS ago with a bunch of MEGA SMART online rock stars. At OfflineBiz we are now turning even “newbie” online marketers (like you and me) into HIGHLY PAID, in demand “offline experts”. Members of OfflineBiz.com can help ANY traditional “offline” business with their online marketing needs and they get paid VERY WELL to do it. The fact is, there is no course, training, approach, expert or coaching that is cranking out ANYWHERE NEAR as many success stories as we already have at OfflineBiz.com! I’ll repeat – NOTHING COMES CLOSE! Our forums are STUFFED with insanely successful people just like you that openly share their success every day with other members.
And remember…
“Affiliate marketing (the way you’ve been taught it) IS NOT A BUSINESS!!”
Leave me any comments or questions – I’m here for you!
I agree and disagree. I think breaking into affiliate marketing as a newbie and getting past the time and lessons learned to make a decent income is extremely tough. On the other hand, I make a pretty darn good passive income on some affiliate sites.
You are right. It’s is tough, and it rarely works out. I’m glad to hear you are one of the few exceptions, but do you ever feel like it’s all at risk? (because it is). Passive income that can literally vanish overnight on a whim from Google, or an affiliate manager’s flip of a swicth IS NOT stable passive income in my opinion. Do you ever feel like you are building someone elses business? (because you are)
Without constant updates, tweaks, LUCK and monitoring your income will eventually fade right? I’d love to hear your thoughts…and I’m 100% genuine in my congrats on your achievement.
I’ll tell you what – I have learned more real genuine information about affiliate marketing reading this blog post and the comments than just about any crappy course out there..
This is what I have been looking for – real, true information – no b.s…. Give it to me straight!
All straight shooters welcome. Leave the fancy talk for the fancy folk. 🙂
To be honest, one of the better things I did was build a list from those affiliate sites. I have had about 5 of these passive sites, all with good content, that I really haven’t done much to and they continue to be good earners. I utilize my lists for relevant affiliate and CPA offers. I’ve found as long as you give valuable information, usually in the form of short PDF’s, your readers will reward you.
So I guess what I’m saying…I’m doing both traditional affiliate marketing (which does make some good money) with the combination of list-building to make some decent passive income.
Did that post make any sense?
One last tidbit – all of my “affiliate” sites sell physical products/goods…also, I am a heavy amazon associate and CJ user.
Sorry Jim, but I have to partially and respectfully disagree. No less than the brilliant Jim Straw, who has been a successful marketer for over 50 years, has this to say on his website:
“If I didn’t already have the line of information products I’ve developed over the past 30 years … if I had to do it all over again … I would never create my own products. — I would simply sell other people’s products and eliminate the hassles of production, fulfillment, inventory control, and other costs that eat away at profits.”
Now I know that he has a great relationship with his list, perhaps this is where and why you added “the way you’ve been taught it” to your statement. I don’t remember you saying that before but I of course could be (and likely am) wrong.
The point is, it can be done, if you do it right.
We are more in agreement than you realize. Past articles on my blog regarding affiliate marketing “done right” will confirm that for you. The ONLY way to do affiliate marketing “the right way” is by building a genuine relationship with your ever growing fan base and audience! That’s “doing it the right way”. All other strategies are a waste of time, and ARE NOT a real business.
Jim. I appreciate your “no holds barred” style.
I see why you are THE #1 most trusted I.M. authority online by IM Reportcard.
As I read your blog post, I thought about something my mom used to
tell me. “There’s nothing like having your own!”
As an affiliate, you don’t really “own” your business. You are basically
“working” for someone else.
I am striving for “ownership”
I believe that building a list of loyal subscribers is THE first and
most important thing to do online right now.
Jim,
I do offline marketing and direct sales. I have been interested in Affiliate Marketing for over a year and recently gotten underway. Do you feel it is reasonable to explore affiliate marketing while continuing my other sales & marketing activities?
Joe
You will only be as good at affiliate marketing as you are good at building genuine relationships with your target audience.
If you are good at building genuine relationships online, you will make a KILLING with affiliate marketing. If you try to be a “traffic driving”, constant website building, “I’ll sell anything” type of affiliate, then you will face a HUGE uphill battle and will likely be part of the 98% who never go far, or who only see a tiny, temporary reward for their efforts.
I have fought your opinions on Affiliate Marketing for years but I see the light now! I actually make money selling real physical products online but am always chasing the Affiliate Marketing dream. In fact, just about the only 2 items I have sold as an affiliate is for MST and PAC (I will keep trying to promote these 2 sites a bit).
Building a bazillion web sites and trying to promote them in the engines and on social networks, building a list and treating it right and hoping to convert sales is an exercise in frustration. The conversion rates of most IM products are abysmal. Hop over to the Warrior Forum and all you see are gurus selling to midbys and midbys selling to newbies. It reminds of an elephant walk in a circus with each “marketer” holding the tail of the ones ahead of them.
The tool set and skill set you need is enormous and changes almost daily with changes on the net. The competition is fierce, the products are often garbage or over priced hype. Much of the info is just plain wrong. Even worse you are often selling training to the people who will become your competition.
I have trained my share of IMers, I have worked with online and offline clients, and I have run a successful Amazon and eBay business. The only IMers I have seen succeed over time are those who develop their own products and get others to sell those for them.On the other hand the clients who sell hard goods on Amazon and eBay are holding their own and prospering.The people I have turned on to The Silent Sales Machine over the years are doing well. They aren’t millionaires but they are no longer working other jobs and they are able to live a life style that is better than their former jobs provided.
The people trying offline marketing who don’t have the skill set to turn client promises into reality are out of business because they bought into the courses that only teach fluff and nonsense. Landing the client is only a small part of the battle because after that you have to actually be able to do the work in a way that gets results.
If you are new to the net or struggling with the same old stuff, do yourself a favor and pick up the Silent Sales Machine or the Amazon course and go out and make some real money.
Jim did not pay me to say that, I a not his affiliate, and I seriously doubt he even recognizes my name. But the best advice I can give anyone online is stop dreaming and start doing and you won’t achieve that by buying over hyped, over priced Info Marketing products or by trying to sell those to other starrry eyed would be entrepreneurs.
Silent Sales Machine , I have read and enjoy it. I too have been trying affiliate marketing. No not making much. I will take your advice, Find products to sell on e-bay. Thanks Eric
Selling on eBay is just ONE of MANY legit business opportunities online – any of which can grown into a real business with real long term stable HANDS FREE income.
I’m glad you woke up to the reality of affiliate marketing though – it’s not the low hanging fruit that many well intentioned people would have you believe.
We aren’t as far apart in our message as you might suspect, but I have a responsibility with a large audience that I take quite seriously. You are making my point for me that it takes work, time, energy and AUTHORITY to produce affiliate income of any significance. This IS NOT a game for newbies, and the reliance on “SEO” to get results puts you on the shakiest of foundations (I’ll be blogging about the “SEO myth” soon as well). Since the vast majority of “how to make money online” audience falls clearly in the “newbie” or “barely experienced” category I stand by my assertion that “Affiliate marketing (the way it’s being taught) is NOT a business” & your odds of success are 1-2%. Earning affiliate income is a very nice reward for gaining authority and credibility online, but pursuing the perks of being an ‘authority’ are not a business model.
SEO to me is the science of getting content ranked higher than it ought to be, and undeniable factors are making it increasingly irrelevant (SEO that is) and an unreliable ‘art’ that is lacking much science.
The facts I see:
1. It’s getting easier than ever before to vote on the content you like by linking to it (everyone has facebook for example) or by giving +1’s etc. 2. As the “voice of the people” becomes easier to hear in regards to where the “good content” is, the search engines (mainly google for now) will have an increasingly easier job of rewarding the great sites (even the simple sites that do nothing with SEO) while the task of punishing (lowering the pagerank) of sites that contain useless content (even those with robust SEO efforts) will also get easier.
My theory is that the term “SEO” will fade away within a decade. Content will rule.
It’s just a theory of course, but as evidence I have several Google ranked sites that are PR4 and PR5 with absolutely NO SEO efforts whatsoever. The only reason they rank well is that over time, several other credible sites link to them. Example: SilentSalesMachine.com
I thought this was a discussion about affiliate marketing? 🙂
I’ll repeat – we are not as far off as you might think.
Over time SEO efforts are WASTED on bad content, and GOOD CONTENT need not make any special effort to rank well. You can shave some time off the process by doing some “white hat” stuff like building in a link directory etc., but if I want an “authority” to find and like my content I’m not going to wait for Google to decide what they think of me. I’m contacting the authority directly.
Again, I’ve done absolutely NO SEO of ANY KIND on any of my sites EVER and have achieved a following of hundreds of thousands on my email lists and membership sites etc. Arguably I could have achieved more with SEO, but the SEO “game” as I call it only delays or speeds up the inevitable…which is “content rules”.
When I contact a radio host to gain exposure for my website I’ve never referred to it as “off page SEO”, but I have no problem with you doing so!
Also – I could care less where Google ranks my sites on any given whim, day, algorithm tweak etc. because I have no reliance on them. If they like me, Great! If they don’t, I’m fine.
My most profitable and frequently visited websites don’t show up on google for any significant keywords, and I refuse to try spin the wheel of fortune trying to achieve higher ranking on google. I don’t hold it against you that you would do so, or try to teach others to do so, and I wish you great luck in doing so, but it’s never worked for me. What HAS worked very consistently is 1)Finding “big hitter” partners and making them look like a champ while endorsing my stuff 2) creating great content and letting the message spread vially, and 3) email marketing so I can send eager prospects to relevant online offers in large numbers at any point
It’s been a great debate! You’ve certainly earned a prize for making brilliant points and remaining very engaged and on target with your responses. If you want a free copy of my book drop me a line with you mailing address and it’s on the way!
Doing The Amazon Affiliate/Associate Program is the only
Affiliate marketing I recommend to our coaching clients (After They have
established themselves on eBay and Amazon). And my recommendation is to use it
as a monetization tool to generate additional revenue and add value and
relevant content to an existing offer or a blog.
I agree with you Jim 1000% that affiliate marketing is the hardest way to make
income online when you are starting out and I steer lots of people away from
doing affiliate marketing all the time because as a newbie you will spin your
wheels getting nowhere fast.
I don’t see how getting into Affiliate Marketing
without an established list or database of customers that you have built
influence and trust with as well as the thousands of dollars you are going to
have to spend to get traffic to your affiliate offers without a list is going to work or generate any real income. I have never seen it happen. If anyone can show me an example to teach me differently I am all ears.
Not to say that people can’t make money with Affiliate
Marketing. I’m just saying a newbie with no experience has a .03% chance of seeing a
dime.
I also have seen a lot of affiliate fraud in the last 15 years I
have been building websites and marketing online which is a total turnoff for
me in regards to doing affiliate marketing. I suppose the best way to go about using affiliate marketing is to create your own product and use sites like Clickbank and CJ.com to attract affiliates promote the offer.
Nathan Bailey
JimCockrumCoaching.com
OnlineSellingCoach.com
Hi Jim
As a complete beginner, I have repeatedly said that affiliate marketing is not for newbies. Newbies are unknown, have no brand and are competing against the big boys. You need to get yourself established first, but then why build someone else’s business or them instead of your own?
Dee
Newbies can try creating micro niche sites, which work well for affiliate marketing. But…it takes time. It’s not a get rich quick business.
Great to hear about your success! Drop me a personal email if you don’t mind letting me know more details of your success if you don’t mind. We can keep the specifics a secret, but I love to share success stories with others to inspire them!
The “IDEA” of affiliate marketing is VERY appealing. That’s why thousands of people weekly dive into it…while only a handful ever wind up building something substantial. If you’ve built up a $1400 income stream I’d urge you to find a way to expand on that success in similar ways, and if (and only IF) you can start to grow an audience of eager readers/followers around that niche, THEN start playing with affiliate marketing.
Of all the affiliate programs out there that you could join Amazon.com is one of the strongest for sure, and Skip ONLY puts out quality content, but all that being said, I’m sure Skip would agree that for “newbies” it’s not the place to start. He’s also not going to tell you to start building a bunch of websites hoping for affiliate income. Skip and I might have slightly different takes on some issues as well and that’s ok too. We’ve both helped a lot of people make a lot of money online. It’s up to you to do your homework and pursue what works best for you.
SO TRUE. I recommend checking out the Oct. 27 post on the blog at seobook. The title is “Google Hates Affiliates”. Even with great content, these days Big G will look at a site with a gimlet eye, if it has affiliate links! They consider them as “sneaky” and “deceptive”. Unless of course, you’re a huge advertiser with Google. Then you’re considered a “brand”, and above reproach. Any small business foundation built on Google’s good graces will be a foundation built on sand.
I tried selling on e-bay, Find it hard to find products to sell. When I do , They are selling for lower than I can get them for. So back to affiliate maketing…everyday cash
I’m happy to hear you are finding success with affiliate marketing, but I would venture to guess that you would not say it’s been “easy” to get there, and you’ve not seen a “steady” and sustained rise in your income month to month UNLESS you are pouring massive amounts of time, money, and science (tracking stats) into your efforts. Even then, it’s a business built on sand that must be constantly re-inforced, updated, and could vanish overnight for any given income stream. For the vast majority of those seeking affiliate income the first check bigger than $10 still alludes them. Also don’t make the mistake of thinking that I teach “ebay” as an alternative to “affiliate marketing”. The message I have is far more complex and varied. I teach my readers to go after the opportunities that predictably work, and eBay, when done right, works 100% of the time in generating profits and is just ONE of the multiple proven strategies I prefer over affiliate marketing done the way the “gurus” teach it.
I have an affiliate question. I am preparing to begin offering auto responder and email management to local businesses. Thinking about doing an email letter and some you tube videos for promotion. I was thinking about becoming silentjim and offline-biz affiliates and put links to them in the material.( Hey, I’ve learned from one of the best and most admired Internet Marketers who just happens to be a an author with at least two best selling books,) Not sure if busy small businesses want to learn the ropes but the sites would give credibility. Any thoughts about affiliate marking in this way?
Thanks for the kuddos and support. Affiliate marketing to an audience that you’ve grown yourself (and who loves you and depends on your info) is a FANTASTIC business model. Affiliate marketing to “strangers” that you are “driving” to your various websites hoping they’ll click a banner, or buy a book is NOT a business model that works. The other articles in the “affiliate marketing” section of my blog will help clarity the difference for you.
Congrats on taking action – you’ve got a great biz plan (helping businesses with online marketing and email marketing is one of the best businesses you can possibly be in right now). I suggest you not try to sell them my stuff though…sell them YOU and leverage the fact that you are studying my stuff as you get to know them. OfflineBiz.com has resources that will really help you out.
Thanks for the note!
Thanks for the reply. With it in mind….what link would you suggest that would give them the best Jim Cockrum BIO or background info?
The bio on my blog is pretty decent and up to date. The “About Jim Cockrum” link.
I agree with you but Create a website as a directory in a large retail market space – for instance ,radio-controlled toys
SEO and Affiliate marketing are WAAAAYYY harder to accomplish now than they were three years ago…and the trend is that they will get WAAAAYYYY harder to achieve over the next three years. I’m out of the game entirely.
Lol, you know I have been looking into all sorts of so-called plans. Everyone seems to feel they have a bigger & better mouse trap to offer.
I have been trying Click Bank, and they have some awesome products/vendors there. Yet, I haven’t made a dime. Its not for lack of effort either, I eat, sleep and worry marketing. Constantly trying to promote and generate traffic to equal sales. Still nothing, yet I get these dumb assed offers all the time and of course they want money too and money I just can’t afford to be throwing away. Let alone more wasted time. All to just find out they are full of crap like the last 100 or so plans I bought into or checked out. There is always hidden fees, something else you got to buy, and I am sick of the saying , ‘you got to spend money to make money’! The jerks who quote this are the same exact ones that want you to keep buying their worthless plans and systems that get and go no wheres.
Hello Jim,
I am compelled to comment on this post even though I hardly do so. I also noticed that it is an old post, however, I think affiliate marketing is a business. You also mentioned affiliate marketers doing the dirty work and taking all the risks for the product owner(s), while they relax and reap the profit. I also disagree with that assertion, because, if you as an affiliate marketer does not appreciate what you are getting as your commission, you are free to create your own product and put it on the market for affiliate marketers to promote while you make all juicy profit, right?
And one common thing that is also contributory to affiliate marketers failing is due to the fact that there are too many conflicting opinions and products as to how to excel in affiliate marketing by so called gurus on the internet, there by confusing a newbie and struggling affiliate marketers.
One thing I would say to anyone that cares to listen is that affiliate marketing is a very good online business if done well by its rudiments, you will succeed and live a very decent and comfortable life. All it takes is hard work, patience and commitment and of course a blue print on how to make it happen.
I welcome all opinions here – even those I disagree with! For the record, I’m not the only one who says, “Affiliate marketing is not a business model” – that’s a quote from one of the all time top affiliate earners online! I strong prefer biz models that add value to the customer experience through other far easier and far more rewarding models – but that’s just my opinion (after seeing thousands fail at affiliate marketing over the past 10+ years).