5 Myths about Affiliate Marketing that need to die

As a Blog Monetization Strategist, affiliate marketing is at the top of my list of favorite (and totally best) ways to earn money from my blogs. That’s why it’s super weird for me that there are so many people who are against the idea of using this money-making method on their website – and it’s for crazy reasons. I’m going to put these myths about affiliate marketing to bed.

 

What is affiliate marketing?

So let’s start off with a quick explanation about what affiliate marketing even is – because I think that’s important to this topic so you can get a better sense of the misconceptions surrounding it.

Affiliate Marketing is the act of selling products (digital or tangible) that you didn’t create, nor host inventory for… in exchange for a commission. Typically, you would earn a percentage of the sale you made, and the company who makes the product (often referred to as the merchant) is responsible for everything related to that purchase otherwise – packaging, distribution, refunds, customer service, etc.

So basically… hey, you like that new vacuum you got? You could recommend it to others in a blog post and earn money from it.

 

Myths about Affiliate Marketing

There’s plenty of misinformation out there about affiliate marketing. It’s a popular way of making money online, and I think some of it is purposefully misleading in hopes of making other bloggers feel like they can’t snag their piece of the multi-billion dollar revenue pie.

But fact is… it’s a multi-billion dollar pie and there’s absolutely no reason why you can’t grab yourself a delicious slice (mine’s totally blueberry flavored).

Truth is, affiliate marketing accounts for a massive portion of my monthly income (legit, I make over $3,000/mo just from affiliate marketing). And guess what? I’m not the only one! So I want to take this opportunity to debunk some myths about affiliate marketing that you might have heard. Because trust me girl… you can do this!

 

#1: You’re trading integrity for cash

While there are certainly bloggers out there who engage in some icky practices, that doesn’t mean that you have to in order to see success! In fact, you’re going to find that if you only promote the products you use, know, and love – you’ll see much better results.

For example…
I’ve used HostGator in the past and I am signed up for their affiliate program. But they are no longer a company I support nor recommend. Just because I could, doesn’t mean that I will. So you’ll never see me linking to HostGator as an option for website hosting. Instead, I focus on telling you about website hosting companies that I do support, like Lyrical Host.

You don’t have to promote something that you don’t even know the first thing about, or don’t seriously stand behind. Just focus on your favorites and you’re gonna do just fine. There’s zero need to trade your integrity for cash. In fact, it’s that trust factor with your audience that’s going to make it easier for you to market to them.

 

#2: There’s too much competition

Frankly, a little competition never hurt anyone anyways – and competition is a sign that there is in fact a market and money to be made from it. That said, I can understand why it can seem like there’s too many people to compete with for clicks and sales.

For example, if you’re hoping to make a ton of money from Amazon’s affiliate program… you might get discouraged. There is a lot of competition there. But it doesn’t have to be this way. There’s no rule saying that you can monetize utilizing huge brand names like Amazon (even if everyone and their Grandma shops there).

Instead, focus on establishing trust with your audience and working intimately with the companies you support and products that you believe in. Look around for affiliate programs for everything you regularly use that pertains to your blog’s niche. You might be surprised just by how little competition there may be for them!

You’ll earn money faster this way. And once you get really good at affiliate marketing, you’ll find that that selling through bigger networks becomes more easy.

Besides… there’s no competition for being uniquely you!

 

#3: You need a heck of a lot of traffic

Jear Desus… nothing could be further from the truth. You’ll see me say this so many times: Traffic is a vanity metric.

It doesn’t matter if your website gets one hundred, a thousand, ten thousand visitors a month… if only 10 people are clicking on a link and buying anything – who cares how many people showed up!? I mean, logically you’ll have a greater chance of making money if you have more traffic, but it’s not the end of the world if you don’t.

Your efforts should be focused on converting the traffic you do get – however little that may be. One of my blogs makes money regularly that’s less than a year old and gets next to no traffic.

 

#4: You need a lot of marketing skills

Truth is, you really don’t. You need an understanding of what entices people to click on links to make purchases. You need to learn what types of blog posts to write that sell products for you. These things are easy enough to learn.

Beyond that? You honestly don’t need much in the way of marketing skills. Your unique perspective, voice, and a little pinch of trust from your audience is going to work just fine.

 

#5: It’s too late to get started

It’s not too late. Blogging is not dying no matter what someone tells you. Any simple Google search is likely to land you on an article on a website – which, guess what? It’s all blogs! And they are probably laced with affiliate links.

Affiliate marketing is form of blog monetization that’s been around a long, long time. It still works every day and it’s not going anywhere. You can totally get started with affiliate marketing today and turn it into your money maker.

There’s no time like the present, right?

 

What myths about affiliate marketing have you heard?

I’d love to know what crazy things you’ve heard about affiliate marketing in the comment section below.