Affiliate marketing is not something that you can just jump into and expect to be generating thousands of dollars in profits every month. Affiliate marketing is a business, and like any business, there is a learning curve associated with it. The cost of admission may not be expensive, but it’s a fair bit of time learning how the industry works and how you can make your mark in it.

One thing that many new affiliate marketers forget to do is set a business plan in place. Despite the fact that you are now working from home, and despite the fact that you can control every aspect of that business, operating without a business plan is akin to running a marathon without shoes- how long will be able to run before you get blisters?

The Business Plan

This article isn’t about writing a business plan, though if there’s enough demand I’ll probably write something like that in the future. This article is about setting your monthly goals, so let’s focus on that.

Firstly, it’s impossible to set accurate goals without having a business plan in place. Your best efforts will always fall short of what could have transpired so long as you operate with one, so take the time to outline a few things for yourself:

• Objective – What you plan to accomplish.
• Method – How you plan to generate an income.
• Expenditures – Your overhead. Website, marketing, design, etc.
• Short term goals – 1 month, 3 month, and 6 month goals. These don’t have to be income related.

For example:
My 1 month goal was to generate $1,000 in profit, put 4 websites online, and make 3 affiliate marketing contacts. My 3 month goal was to generate $6,000 in profit (in total), put 16 websites online (in total), make 8 affiliate marketing contacts, and learn the mechanics of SEO. My 6 month goal was to generate $24,000 in profit (in total), put 48 websites online, and quit my day job.

• Long term goals – Lay out your goals for 1 year, 1.5 years, 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, etc. As your business grows, constantly be reevaluating whether or not you’ve met them and adjusting your business so that you do.

Once you’ve got a basic business plan down, it’s time to work on your goal setting.

Setting Realistic and Achievable Goals

First and foremost, your goals need to be realistic and achievable, but they also need to be ambitious. If you think you can make $500 in the next week, make it your goal to do so. No one is going to be encouraging you to do so but yourself, and no one will have a bearing on whether or not it happens besides yourself.

And, and this is important, never underestimate the scalability of the affiliate marketing industry. Affiliate marketing websites have become worth over a billion dollars, and if that’s not big business than I don’t know what is. It all starts with the first website, and until you get it up and running, you’ll never truly be in the game.

So, perhaps your first series of goals should be related to getting started.

For example:
1 month goal list: set up 2 websites, SEO them, and generate $500 in profit.

Those goals are ambitious for someone who has never affiliate marketed before, realistic enough that they can actually be accomplished, and easy enough to achieve. Once you’ve managed to achieve them (and with a bit of dedication you certainly will achieve them), move on to more ambitious goals, such as setting up 6 websites in the next month and generating $2,400 in profit.

The type of goals that you set are going to be important to the longevity and success of your affiliate marketing endeavors. Failing to set reasonable goals, or setting goals that are way beyond your abilities, are only going to discourage you, cause you to quit, and never realize the profit potential that is inherent within this extremely lucrative business.

Before I conclude this article, I want to remind you that you need to work to achieve your goals, and the fact that you’ve set them isn’t enough. Set them, and then strive toward achieving them. There is nothing more personally (or financially) satisfying than achieving your business goals.