Affiliate Marketing to Make Money

Affiliate Marketing is promoting products from someone, like Amazon or if there is a specific niche you want like pc games. If you have an established brand, then you could promote your own products or services.

Is it me or did affiliate marketing become more popular during the pandemic? There are a ton of TikTok and YouTube videos explaining what affiliate marketing is and how people use it to make extra money or make ends meet. My Dad came to me and said he thought I should do affiliate marketing to make some money. So, I watched a ton of tutorials of people explaining how to do it and be successful. I was feeling confident and optimistic about it.

I signed up for Amazon affiliate because it is the most popular program, and they give you four months to get your first three sales to clinch your spot. I thought it was plenty of time and I would get it no problem. All those people were successful at it, and it seemed so easy. One person even said it can “run itself.” That was my first mistake looking in hindsight.

They do not tell you that you need a big following on your blog or social media to be in the ballpark of being successful. Again, I made a mistake that I did not see while I was in the trenches. My blog was not big so, I was making my posts for Amazon to do way more work than they can do. That is right! Another mistake! Life kept getting in the way and I could not write affiliate posts on a regular basis. I tried my hardest to write them but I did not realize I could schedule them so they would be working in the background while I did something else like make products for my small business. Last, someone on a Facebook group pointed out to me that my blog looked unprofessional and drab. I was insulted because I did not know it looked so bad. So, I immediately changed platforms and now it looks better. Unfortunately, I was kicked out of Amazon Affiliate program because I did not get the three sales.

This article is not supposed to steer you away from affiliate marketing. This post is to help you to not make the same mistakes I made. I have not decided if I will try to sign up again but I will build up my following so my posts do not have to work so hard.