If you are reading this then you are probably dreaming of finally giving up the 9 to 5 and sitting at home in your pajamas whilst money is constantly being earned and deposited into your account, whether you are working or not. You are dreaming that you have finally learned how to succeed at affiliate marketing and are earning a passive income.

Affiliate Marketing is the pure beauty of not having to create or purchase a product. Handling and shipping, customer support and everything else is someone else’s job, but you are still earning a fabulous commission for each sale.

Such bliss….but are these merely dreams built without foundation? Is it actually possible to make a 5 or even a 6 figure salary as an affiliate marketer? Or is this dream only reserved for a lucky few?

Here’s the truth.

If you’re reading this, you can achieve success in affiliate marketing. The only things that separate you from those who succeed are just a few simple practices and a successful mindset.

Here I will give you 5 tips that you should follow like clockwork. As sure as eggs, the top affiliates whose blogs or websites you may have seen will be using all the tips below. Neglecting any of these tips will mean you are risking your affiliate marketing dream.

1. Build A Website/Blog

Even seasoned marketers who use paid advertising, usually have websites with simple squeeze pages and funnels. You should start a blog or website so that you can attract visitors who will want to read your content. Your content will help them solve a problem they have or inform them of a service they may need. Clearly this content will include your affiliate links.

You may already have one but is it search engine ready? Does it attract 1000s of Visitors ?

If not then you will need to learn how to build a website or a blog properly and how to create content that converts. I know most people will bumble along picking up ideas from all over the internet but if you are serious you should consider the Wealthy Affiliate University. This is a learning platform that will give you a Step By Step Guide to take you from an Affiliate Marketer who’s trying to an Affiliate Marketer who is earning.

Yes… of course there is work involved. There is no such thing as a free lunch. One word of advice if you are serious. Always purchase your own domain name. Do not use free domains or blogging sites. I repeat do not use free domains or blogging sites, most of them do not allow affiliate marketing and if you put one foot wrong, they will shut down your site and all your hard work will be lost.

If you are currently using a free domain, consider at the very least swapping it to your own domain and getting hosting elsewhere. My recommendation is to host it at Wealthy Affiliate. It’s free to join and you get 20 Affiliate Marketing lessons for free.

If this isn’t for you, though there is no reason not to, you can read my post on the best hosting sites by clicking here (I still recommend Wealthy Affiliate in that post too) but it will show you other options.

2. Planning Is Key

You must have a plan and work that plan. Do not be the affiliate marketer who jumps from one shiny object to another. You are not a Magpie. Create a detailed plan of action and follow through with it. Choose what you will promote and plan how you will do it. Only by doing this can you hope to achieve any success.

Of course you can promote more than one product or service but they need to be complimentary. You need to decide on your niche subject and audience. You can read about deciding on a niche by reading my post here. Alternatively you can learn more within Wealthy Affiliate. It is one of the modules you get for free before deciding if it’s for you.

The eagle that chases 2 rabbits catches neither….. However, eagles have the good sense to only target one prey. It’s Affiliate Marketers who have problems staying focused.

3. Never Stop Learning

Nothing is constant but change. What does that mean for you and your affiliate marketing dream. It means you will constantly need to keep learning and adapting. You need to be aware that the online landscape is one that is always in a state of flux.

For example, old static sites are dropping off the face of the planet in the SERP rankings ( Google’s algorithm ) for not being mobile responsive. So, Affiliate Marketers have had to hurry and make their sites mobile responsive because more people are surfing the net with their smart phones and Google doesn’t serve us it’s serves its customers. They will rank a mobile responsive site above a static site.

You need to be wise and stay updated and also enjoy the learning process. And guess where I get all my information from? Wealthy Affiliate, it also has a huge community that shares knowledge and supports everyone. I also subscribe to Google Alerts which also keeps me in touch with my niche.

Change is tough for all of us but that’s the way it is.

4. Diversify When You Are Ready

Never put all your eggs in one basket. You should have different income streams as you never can tell when that horrible thing called change will happen. Totally respectable companies can just disappear when the finances stop adding up. If that company or its products are all you promote then that’s all your income and your work gone.

When you become a successful affiliate marketer, you may want to look towards creating your own products. For example, if you’re making money promoting a digital book about puppy training, how about getting your own puppy training eBook created?

You could then make sales yourself, and or recruit other affiliates to promote your product. The possibilities are endless and often interesting. Your niche will determine the products but “if you can think it then you can achieve it” I stole that from somewhere but don’t ask me where !

I will be honest and tell you that is where I am at right now in my business. An e book will be appearing in an email to you sometime soon.

What you will also want to do and is in my plan is to outsource the less important stuff. You and I need to focus on working on the business and not in the business. Of course, it takes time to reach this level where you can leverage your time and buy services. You will be surprised how many people don’t write their own blog posts or emails. Many have virtual assistants for all of their social media posts.

Maybe you and I are not quite there yet but once you are ready, go for it and your earnings will skyrocket. When this happens, you will become a part of the elite Affiliate Marketers that you once looked up to.

5. Giving Up Is NOT An Option.

The road to becoming a good affiliate or even a great affiliate is a hard one. Sorry but that’s a truth. There will be a learning curve that you’ll need to go through. You will encounter failure often and will face self-doubts repeatedly. It is in those times that you need support. This can come from a great partner or family that believe in you. Lucky you if you have this. Not everyone does and this is where the Wealthy Affiliate community has and does come through for me.

If you throw in the towel and quit during the hard times, you will never see success. Success usually comes to the Affiliate Marketers who keep trying and keep pushing forward, They keep learning from their mistakes and making the right corrections.

As my son who is 21 said to me when we were discussing his new business “ I can’t lose, I will either win or learn” I taught the boy well!

You need the strength to persevere till you attain success. Failure may be a setback but It is not the end. Keep on keeping on. There is no time limit on success, some of us learn quicker than others but as long as you do not quit then you cannot fail.

Final Words

I wish for everyone of you the success you deserve. If you want to join me at Wealthy Affiliate I will be there to lead you through the process of becoming a successful Affiliate Marketer, as will the founders of the company, Kyle and Carson and the million other people who decided they needed to have the right training from the right platform.

For me the strength of Wealthy Affiliate lies in the fact that some people have been there for 10 years or more. They know their sites are secure when hosted there and know that no matter how much they are earning there is always more to learn. The amounts they earn are often staggering but still they are there helping people like you and me who have not yet hit the high figure earnings.

Some people come and go but that’s okay. The ones who mean business are with us for the long haul. So ask yourself this question “ Am I ready to learn how to become a high earning Affiliate Marketer? or am I just playing with it and hope I somehow get lucky?”

Joining me at Wealthy Affiliate or not, I hope you have gained some insight into how to succeed at Affiliate Marketing. If you have any questions or just want to comment please feel free to do so below and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

With Grace and Gratitude

Karen