Affiliate marketing can be a very unstable business depending on how you’ve set it up and it in fact is unstable for most affiliates that are focused on arbitrage and paid traffic instead of building a list or property. I’ve been in those positions where I just had to make money now and couldn’t be bothered with a long term strategy at that moment. When the numbers don’t look that good sometimes the best thing to do is to step back for a moment and decide what exact strategy you are going to focus on. Some of my least productive times have come in moments of desperation and that leads to unfocused execution. When in a drought, you absolutely have to stick to one method of promotion and one offer that you know has promise. Otherwise, you will continue to do more harm than good.
Income diversification is an important part of any sustainable business as well as personal finance. I haven’t invested in a lot of projects outside of the Internet because that’s where I like to focus my energy, but I am sure that I will down the line. Strategies I would consider outside of the Internet include real estate and day trading, but I just like the huge opportunities to scale online much better. I have recently begun focusing on building out my own product and offer, while at the same time generating income as an affiliate. I think that’s the general progression of an affiliate anyway, but I think it’s necessary to learn how to market and offer value through first becoming successful as an affiliate before launching your own product or offer going in blind.
It depends. There are affiliates that have been doing what they do successfully for years ever since the first affiliate program came into play. The difference between them and other affiliates is that they’ve been able to build a list and dominate a certain area of the market. They’ve been able to create an asset out of the millions of clicks they generate and that’s why the business for them is long-term, whereas a lot of affiliates (myself included at times) are focused on generally just making the quick buck and then having offers die on them. I would encourage affiliates not to make that mistake and focus on creating assets online. It is designed to be short-term if you’re thinking is short sighted when it comes to affiliate marketing.
With mobile, a lot of guys are complaining about not having the same ROI as they’re used to on other traditional traffic sources. The one tip I would give is that it’s not really about ROI with mobile as much as it is about volume. I mean sure you can get 300% ROIs on mobile but then you are limiting yourself in terms of volume. I would rather have a lower ROI and a ton more volume. And with that, regarding the micromanagement, there is that aspect if you’re obsessing over every tiny detail to get your ROI as high as possible, but if you’re focused on volume like me then it isn’t that much of a concern.
I put out The Rogue Affiliate System because I felt like there is too much noise in the industry these days and that’s what keeps newer affiliates struggling. Even though there are so many more forums and resources out today than there were when I first started, it seems a lot of the new affiliates I talk to struggle to reach those big earnings milestones because they lack a path to success. There’s a new strategy or method out everyday and a hundred offers being pushed on affiliates at one time. This all makes it very hard to focus and find success. That’s why I created The Rogue Affiliate System in which I provide a road map to conquering affiliate marketing. In addition, I provide the same tactics and strategies that I’ve used on Facebook ads and mobile, my two main traffic sources. I feel like new affiliates will have a lot to gain from The Rogue Affiliate System and even advanced affiliates might pick up a golden tip or two. I really made it for those guys that are new and struggling though, because I was there at one point too and I know how it feels and what it takes to get out of that rut.
No problem Kang! Thanks for having me on the blog. Just want to say keep it up on the great work with it and I hope to catch you at the next Affiliate Summit!
