Remember how it was like back when you thought that making $100 or $200 per day online was next to impossible? Remember that “wow, making that much or more would motivate me to work and work… and work!” way of thinking which seemed logical at that point?

Well, as most of you will probably confirm, things definitely DON’T stand that way. We humans are an interesting bunch: you’d think that a person who has managed to reach a certain financial goal (let’s say making $200 per day online) would be willing to work like a maniac in order to continue earning $100 per day, $200 per day or whatever but that’s not how things stand. In fact:

Things Will End Up Seeming Boring… FAST!

Ok, you’ll feel all motivated and everything. Great, you’ll continue working like a maniac and making $200 per day for a week. Two weeks, maybe three. But after a certain point, things will definitely start seeming boring and making those 200 bucks per day will end up seeming like a chore. Here’s why:

****you start taking things for granted

****that initial excitement is no longer there

****the financial “shock factor” is behind you, $200 per day doesn’t seem all that impressive anymore

Reaching one goal or another is NOT enough, thinking that you’ll feel happy and just as motivated after reaching a goal and without setting higher ones is just plain wrong. If you don’t see the big picture, it’s just a matter of time until you’ll end up feeling burned out and the most important question arises:

What to Do?

First of all, you need to understand that you have to keep things fun and exciting. Always set higher short-term goals and always be guided by your long-term ones. It’s really not rocket science.

Being an affiliate marketer is tricky because on the one hand, it’s great that you have all of the freedom in the world but on the other hand, things will quickly get out of hand if you don’t organize your time accordingly. If being an affiliate marketer starts seeming like a job, you’re doing something wrong. Not a lot of people have the opportunities we take for granted, most of the people who are trapped by a 9 to 5 lifestyle can’t even understand how someone can make a lot of money yet still have as much freedom as we do.

If you’re an experienced Internet marketer and someone tries to sell you a certain product through a newsletter, you will probably not take that person/product seriously. But the average Internet user is NOT a marketer and that’s definitely something worth keeping in mind.

Most of the people who are selling ebooks, for example, are huge fans of long sales copy. Are all of them idiots? Do they like losing money over and over again? Think about it: the fact that sales letters have been used for a very long time says a lot and it should be obvious that they at least represent:

An Alternative Worth Keeping in Mind

There are lots of examples of extremely successful products which have been promoted exclusively via long sales copy. The world’s most popular copywriters charge tens of thousands of dollars for a lander and yes, there are always people who are willing to pay that much.

As experienced marketers, we might think that those sales letters we come across a lot are pathetic (most of them are) but maybe others don’t consider them pathetic at all. Maybe a lot of people are not willing to buy a certain product unless the landing page contains lots of details about it (something along the lines of “What? You want to convince me to buy your product but are only willing to write a few paragraphs about it?”) and that brings us to the most important questions we, as marketers, need to ask ourselves:

Should I Promote My Product Through a Sales Letter?

It really depends on your niche, on what makes your potential customers tick and at the end of the day, split testing is the only way to know for sure. After you come up with a series of concepts for your landing pages, throw some traffic at them and see what sticks. A lot of times, the results are surprising to say the least.

Just remember to always focus on quality, not quantity. If you have 30 crappy landing pages, all of the split testing in the world won’t help. Always choose copywriters and designers who know what they’re doing (you can definitely tell based on their portfolio or “street cred”) because otherwise, you’ll end up wasting valuable time. After all, is trying to save a buck really worth it if you’d be wasting time which is worth tens or hundreds of times more than what you’d end up saving?

Affiliate marketing is just like every other industry: you’ll end up doing business with quite a few people, some will stab you in the back and others will prove to be important allies. But how do you treat allies? Let’s analyze two important relationships:

Your Relationship with Networks

You probably already have a network you enjoy doing business with. They always match the best payout a competitor can offer, your AM is extremely responsive and they even send a lot of gifts your way. Sounds like a great situation, right?

Well, here’s when things get complicated. What if another network has a long-standing offer with a certain advertiser and as a result, receives an incredibly high payout compared to everyone else. What if you want to run that offer and your network is unable to match the payout you’d be getting if you were to push the offer through a competitor?

Your Relationship with Business Partners?

Is there someone who has given you valid reason to trust him/her? Have you partnered up on more than one occasion? If so, both of you should definitely appreciate the business relationship but on the other hand, there will also be tricky situations.

What if both your friend and a deep pocketed investor are “competing” against each other in order to become partners and even more so, what if the deep pocketed investor is able to put considerably more money on the table? What then?

Where Do You Draw the Line?

Loyalty is loyalty, business decisions are business decisions and stabbing people in the back is stabbing people in the back. On the one hand, you should obviously not betray the trust of someone close to you or better yet, don’t betray the trust of others in general.

On the other hand, you need to understand that by making business decisions has nothing to do with not being loyal. If another network is capable of offering a significantly better payout, explain that business is business: that you do work with them whenever you can but in such situations, you just have to say no.

The same principle applies when it comes to business partners. If a certain investor (for example) makes an offer you can’t refuse, talk to your friend and politely explain that you’re doing exactly what you would want him/her to do if he/she was dealing with a similar situation: you’re not saying no to an amazing opportunity. Again, don’t make the confusion between loyalty and making bad business decisions because you think you have to. Don’t stab people in the back, treat others exactly the way you want to be treated or even better but don’t confuse loyalty with something it’s not.

A lot of people think that pushing your own product is the best way to make serious cash. In theory, it all sounds great: you won’t have to worry about networks running away with the cash or otherwise acting shady, you won’t have to worry about merchants pulling a fast one and the list could go on and on.

But there’s more to being the merchant than meets the eye and, while it’s true that you’re eliminating a lot of problems, it’s just as true that those will quickly be replaced by others. Don’t just think that pushing your own product is a piece of cake because it isn’t. In fact, get ready to work harder than you’ve ever worked before.

Work Harder? Seriously?

As an affiliate marketer, you’ve probably built an image of the “average” merchant in your head: those cheap bastards who always want to screw you over. In some cases it’s true but that doesn’t mean that you should forget about the fact that it’s not all fun and games for them either.

Think about it: all you have to do is push traffic to and offer and get paid. In their case, things are a bit more complicated. They have to deal with customers, they have to answer calls and reply to emails, they have to ship the product, they have to manage their relationship with the networks and so on. Again: there’s more to being the merchant than meets the eye.

Is It Worth It?

Only the merchant has enough data to tell for sure. It all depends on your way of doing business. In most cases, the margins merchants have to work with are not as great as you think. Oh and one more thing: sure, you have to deal with a lot of shady networks and merchants but the merchants themselves have a lot of “obstacles” to overcome: leads which aren’t backing out, fraudulent traffic, networks which have never heard about the term “win-win” and so on.

Is being a merchant worth it? For most people, probably not! There’s a lot of work involved and since most affiliate marketers enjoy their lifestyle and wouldn’t be willing to say no to some/most of the things they currently have time for, they’re better off sticking with what they do best. Lots and lots of freedom: doesn’t sound all that bad, does it? Didn’t think so!

It’s no secret that as an affiliate marketer, you need to risk money to make money. There’s just no other way. Test and see what sticks, that’s pretty much all there is to it concept-wise.

In theory, you could even sell used toothpicks if you spend lots of time and money in order to find people who would actually be willing to buy something like that. And since we’re looking at 10 figures when it comes to the number of Internet users, you’re bound to find at least one demographic that converts.

But Is Every Campaign Worth It?

Of course not! Yes, you could even sell used toothpicks if you were to test and test until you find people who are willing to buy them but we’re talking about so few potential customers and so much hassle that it just wouldn’t be worth it.

The time required to turn such a campaign into something profitable is always better spent working on campaigns with potential which can actually be scaled. But if you’re interested in becoming a professional time waster sure, go for it.

What If I’m Not Bill Gates?

Leaving campaigns which don’t have any potential whatsoever aside, there are lots which do have potential but are extremely “tricky”. In other words, campaigns which are definitely scalable but which practically devour a small budget just like that.

Just how much can you afford to pay for data? If you get carried away, there’s always the risk of being stuck with an “almost there” campaign and a depleted budget. You need to be realistic, painfully realistic. Your financial situation is what it is, end of story. Once you have more money to work with, you can afford to play the game on a different level but for now, focus on making the most out of your current situation.

Where Do You Draw the Line?

As an affiliate marketer, you need to know when to say no and move on. Analyze the data you have at your disposal and rationally determine if tweaking the campaign is worth it or not.

Let the numbers do all of the talking and based on your financial situation, decide what the best approach is. Don’t let your ego get the best of you and don’t take the “test, test and test some more ‘till something sticks” concept too far. Seriously, don’t!

A lot of people complain about the fact that the most popular networks out there are no longer offering the support that made them famous and, naturally, start shopping around for alternatives. Given the fact that you’ll be facing a lot of competition as an affiliate marketer, everything counts and your relationship with the network(s) you’re working with makes no exception.

Are new networks the best solution out there? Will they end up representing the breath of fresh air you so desperately need? Let’s find out.

The Good

Let’s start by analyzing the role networks have in the ecosystem. Here’s how things work: most affiliate marketers don’t have a huge budget at their disposal and most advertisers are not willing to do things like pay on a weekly basis. The need for a middle man arises. Networks are, in theory, here to help you keep your campaign active by paying you more often, even before they receive the money from an advertiser.

They receive a cut, you get to keep your campaign(s) active and the advertiser takes advantage of your traffic. Everyone’s happy, right? Not always. As with everything else in this world, there’s a certain degree of risk involved. Unfortunately, not all advertisers are reasonable and as a result, it’s not at all uncommon for networks not to be paid.

New networks have to offer weekly wires to stand out. Otherwise, people will simply look the other way. Let’s leave the fact that some owners start out with shady intentions aside and assume that most of them want to start a legitimate business. Let’s also assume that they have a 5 figure budget at their disposal, are really excited and offer weekly wires as well as outstanding support via phone, email and AIM. While everything may seem great on paper, problems are bound to occur at one point or another.

The Bad

Most people who start a network assume that advertisers will always pay them. Huge mistake! If that were the case then yes, everything would run extremely smoothly. But unfortunately for them and for the affiliate marketers they’re doing business with, that’s just not how things work.

All it takes is one shady advertiser and bam… it’s all downhill from there. That 5 figure budget of theirs starts seeming less and less impressive while the people who expected fast payments start becoming less and less thrilled about the business relationship!

The Ugly

So, what then? Well, they start becoming desperate. People are no longer willing to push volume through their network and they’ll probably be stuck with a handful of affiliate marketers who send shady traffic and are only willing to work with the network in question because everyone else already banned them.

Naturally, the traffic doesn’t convert and advertisers start reacting. Some will issue a first and final warning, others will cut them out and a few will even refuse to pay them. End of story.

Don’t risk it, just don’t. Wait until a network has a bit of history before jumping in because otherwise, you’re going to probably end up losing a lot of time and money. The only exceptions are represented by networks such as C2M and A4D, which are ran by people who had a lot of “street cred” before becoming network owners. As far as those two are concerned, trust was never an issue but those are just exceptions. In most cases, the pros just don’t outweigh the cons, so do the reasonable thing and stay away.