Chances are that you aren’t realizing the success that you dream about. You may be making money, but you know that there are thousands of other affiliates out there making tens of thousands of dollars more than you are. It sucks, but that’s just how it is, right?

Wrong. Those other affiliates aren’t geniuses, and they sure aren’t anything that you’re not. If they can do it, so can you.

It probably has nothing to do with the the offers that you’re promoting or the design of your website. Chances are good that you aren’t getting the kind of success that you want because of the things that you aren’t doing.

1. You don’t innovate, create, or even submit. If you spend the majority of your time thinking about new business ideas or marketing methods, yet you never seem to get any of them going, you’re wasting your time. Yes, you need good ideas to become successful, but you also need to focus on these ideas and get them going. If you have more ideas than you no what to do with, do what I do: register a domain related to the idea, write a quick blurb about the idea, and put in a folder where you can get back to it later when you have time. Focus on your current projects, finish them, and then expand.
2. You don’t have a plan. Making money on the internet quickly transforms from a personal hobby to a full fledged business. How do you plan to succeed? If you don’t have a business plan written down and memorized, don’t bother wasting your time until you do. If you don’t have a plan, someone else will, and they’re likely to become more successful than you simply because they’re going to follow it.
3. You don’t “just do”. All of the successful affiliates will tell you that they’re successful simply because they “just do”, as opposed to sitting around and dreaming about doing it. If you have an idea, pursue it. Buy a domain, make a site, and get the wheels in motion.
4. You don’t allow success. What I mean by this is that you don’t allow yourself the possibility to fully realize your successes. If you jump when you get a conversion, or spend every cent that you earn, you’re limiting yourself.Expand your business, and live off of the run-off. Don’t spend every cent that you earn- reinvest, grow, expand.

The online economy is hot, and many people are making millions of dollars every year on the internet. These people are relatively new entrepreneurs, and they probably aren’t that much smarter than you. So, how come they’re making the big bucks and you aren’t?

There are a lot of reasons for this. A lot of reasons, and it’s hard to pinpoint exactly why one business will fail while another (seemingly identical) business succeeds. There are so many variables to a business (even online ones) that it’s impossible to say without analyzing every aspect of it. However, I did come to realize that one of the main reasons that online businesses fail to take off is because the owners of those businesses fail to accept and abide by a few simple truths:

1. Making money online is not easy. In fact, many people describe it as one of the hardest things that they have ever done. That is a bit of an exaggeration, but it also holds some truth.Anyone who expects to open an online business (be it affiliate, eCommerce, or otherwise) without a solid business plan and a method of attack will probably fail. It has nothing to do with luck or chance, but rather competition from other marketers who do have a plan and a method. Do your homework, make a plan, and work it.
2. People don’t mind shopping online. The myth that the majority of people don’t like shopping online is paramount, and it’s not even true. The internet is a multi-billion dollar per year economy, and you are losing money if you think that you can’t tap into some of that.
3. Advertising is big business €“ You may not even need to sell an actual product. Providing contextual or relevant ad space on your website can be quite profitable in its own right. However, in order to become valuable, you will need to have a website that logs frequent visits from unique users. Once you have that, you have an instant income stream.
   
4. A person is still a person. Regardless of who that person is, they are still just a person. Many affiliates forget this when they make their sites and frustrate themselves when their conversions are low. Do yourself a favor and remind yourself of this fact every single day.Ask yourself questions about the product you are promoting as you create your advertisement, landing site, or ad creative. Would I buy from an ad/site like this? What does this offer me as a user? The more intuitive you make your marketing, the higher your conversions will be.
5. Affiliate Marketing is need driven. By promoting a product, you are filling a need in the market. If the market is saturated before you enter it, your landing site and advertising will have to be exceptional; the market isn’t going to grow in size, but the number of people trying to serve it will.Get around this by finding markets that are in demand yer under served. It sounds daunting, but there are millions of markets like this.

If any of that made sense to you, congratulations! Understaning and accepting those truths is important in finding success. Looking at the affiliate industry with a myopic point of view will only hurt your success, not help it, so keep your mind open.

It’s January 4, 2008. How much money have you made online this year?

I know of one affiliate who’s already made $4,000. I know of another affiliate that’s made $9,000. I’ve made $1,300.

So how about you, how much have you made?

I’m not asking you this because I want to brag about how much money I make, or how much money people are making, but rather the new year is already in full force, and if you haven’t been trying to ramp up your marketing efforts you are doing yourself a rather large disservice. After all, what better an opportunity than one with a completely new year and a completely new shot to try and make things work.

For me, the important fact is that this time last year I had only made $700, meaning that I’ve nearly doubled what I was making on a daily basis in just one year. If I can continue this trend for a few years I’ll eventually achieve my goal of $5,000 a day. The other important thing here is that I’ve stuck to my guns and worked as hard as I had to work, every step of the way, to ensure some kind of success. Whether it was launching new ventures, optimizing established ones, or just trying my hardest to get things done, I did what I had to do and the results have clearly shown this.

But, if you still are reading this blog and haven’t actually taken the time to try and get things going on for yourself, it likely comes down to one word: laziness. You’re too darn lazy to make money, aren’t you?

If you haven’t thought of a plan, do it now.

If you haven’t decided where to focus your efforts, do it now.

If you haven’t actually done any work in 2008 yet, do it now.

If you aren’t making any money, make it work.

How do you respond to stress?

Do you freak out, or do you find ways to break it down into manageable chunks?

What does it mean to “live within your means”? Does that mean to spend what you can afford, or does that mean to leverage your income in such a way that it is supported by your financial endeavors? The definition, of course, is entirely subjective, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t “live within your means” and still achieve your financial goals.
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The last few days I’ve really been focusing on goal setting as a means to increase efficiency and improve your personal or professional success (see my posts on setting daily goals, setting weekly goals, and setting monthly goals). Personally, I set goals for myself every day and I truly believe that a large reason why I have become as successful as I have is because I am constantly striving to meet those goals. It’s important to me to meet these goals, as each time I do I am a little bit closer to achieving my overall goal (to strike it rich and retire young… seriously).
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This article is in addition to the other two that I’ve written about goal setting (’Setting Monthly Goals‘ and ‘Setting Daily Goals‘), so be sure to give those articles a read as well. I’ve already rambled on about the importance of goal setting, and now I’m going to conclude the trio of goal setting articles with the last important topic: setting weekly goals.
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I received a tremendous response from my monthly goal setting article (read it here), so I’m going to spend the next few days discussing goal setting and the power of self motivation. Every self-help and motivational book ever made gets into the power of focus and goal setting, and so the topic seems a little played out. Even so, it would be a massive mistake on your part to dispute the significance of goal setting.

The points made in this article can apply to anything, be it professional or personal, and not necessarily just affiliate marketing. Try to find ways that you can make your daily life goal-oriented.

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A viewer sent me an e-mail telling me a bit about themselves, and when they concluded they asked why I never posted more about myself. After a bit of thought I came to the conclusion that perhaps the reason why I am so dedicated to my business will be more apparent.
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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.
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