I am going to talk about a mistake that every affiliate marketer makes. I have done it too.
Here is the situation. You probably are 5 to 6 months into affiliate marketing, you have hosting accounts, domains, a good grasp of setting up websites, your sites a ranking a bit and every month you make 10$ from Adultfriendfinder, 15$ from Adsense, and 5$ from an eBay store you made on “used celebrity underwear”.
Actually, now that I think of it, the above situation shows an affiliate on the right track, and most aren’t, so lets just assume that the description above pretty much fits you.
Most people get excited when they see the first results, the first numbers showing up on their stats. And a few months later, they get disappointed, because the untold riches they dreamt of are nowhere to be seen (this is probably due to the get-rich-quick ebooks). So they go to the fora and blogs, and try to find THE TIP that will make them earn millions.
What they don’t get, is that they are on the right track. The exact path they need to follow. This realization came to me, when I was talking to a friend of mine, and he asked me how “my internet stuff goes”. I answered that I had paused all ppc campaigns (I had made a complete pause that period), but I get 100 euro passive income per month, saying it like it was an utter failure (it is a failure for an affiliate). The fact that I got a small but not insignificant amount of money, totally passively, without me lifting a finger was very surprising to him. He told me “Well, I don’t own anything that gives me passive income, and I sure could use an extra 100 euro every month”.
Then it hit me. Yap, I can see it now. It’s the casino chips effect. Casinos use chips, because money is a symbol, it carries psychological weight. You will easily throw on the pot a shiny plastic disk with a “100” written on it, but you would not throw a 100 dollar bill without hesitating.
It’s the same thing on the internet, didn’t it occur to you how easily you spend money on the internet? Especially that leftover balance on your paypal. You consider it easy money, and that is why it diminishes in value in your mind. Still, 500 euro is 5/6 of the minimum wage where I live, but I easily spend that amount on domains alone!
The casino chips effect, also works in the opposite direction. It diminishes the perceived value of the money earned as well.
What I am trying to say, is that if you have found something, anything that gives even 1$ periodically, then you are spot on. Just multiply it. What do you need to make more? Another ad? More traffic? Better payouts? More pages? A complete new site on a parallel niche? Well, that is what you need to do.
Think of it like when you are trying to light a campfire. If you get a tiny flame, do you abandon it and try to light the fire with a different way? No, you put your hands to protect the tiny flame, blow air to it gently, throw small pieces of wood until it grows and gets big enough to sustain itself.
Pretty simple right? Well, most people do in their businesses what seems irrational, abandon the tiny flame, say “Oh, what a crap flame. I need a bigger one to cook my food”, and try using another tool, another technique, on another campfire. Or, even worse, leave the tiny flame to die and ask other people tips on how to light a campfire.
If reading the above paragraph didn’t give a smile on your face, you need to think on it harder.
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written by Glowleaf
