Is Affiliate Marketing Dead?
By Bryan at 20 October, 2011, 7:50 pm
Yes, it is one of those posts. One of these awesome posts about why affiliate marketing is down. Well, not really, but kinda, but mostly not. Follow me or did I lose you yet? Great, so let me go a little bit more in depth.
First off, of course affiliate marketing isn’t dead. It never will be dead, whether it is online or offline. Affiliate marketing lives in every industry offline too, from kickbacks from car salesmen for referring a friend to getting a prize for sending people to your local insurance agent. It happens every day all over the world. So no, it is not going anywhere.
However, more and more people are realizing that they need to really learn how to diversify and branch out into other sources of income besides just PPC income from affiliate marketing. Trust me, I love affiliate marketing. It is my life and my passion. But unfortunately, many different factors have caused me to stray from traditional affiliate marketing and start doing my own thing. And it is a good thing, as I am becoming even more independent then before. Here are some ways that I have personally changed my methods.
Get Out and Sell
Now I know the thought of selling to people outside of your home is enough to freeze up a ton of you online guys. But it isn’t that bad. In fact, if you know how to do it, you don’t have to ever meet with clients. Just outsource your selling to a friend or family member. Pay them commission only. Or, just pay someone to get you in the door and then you come in and take care of the rest. That way, the cold calling part is taken care of and they are now a warm lead for you to talk with.
Invest in Another Industry
Try your hand at developing another business offline, one that requires you to get out and network a bit and build connections. Worse case scenario is that you build a ton of business connections and get some business for your offline marketing/web design firm. That is what I have done and it is going quite well so far (Check out Energy Reconsidered). I got involved in a green energy company in Philadelphia and we are going strong. We recently were awarded a grant for a building in the Philly Naval Yard, which is one of the largest green energy testing grounds in the nation. So that is just another way that I am branching out and making my income strong.
Buy Established Sites
Flippa is good for this, and while many sites on there are overpriced, you can find a gem if you know what you are looking for and have a clear, solid plan in place in order to make that site work. Just buying something because it looks good is not a smart business decision, so do your fact finding first.
Build Your Own Offers
This isn’t as tough as many people like to think, and I have built my offers all around the local business model that I am creating. Create and generate leads for your local business and you have a foot in the door for not only sales leads, but marketing and web design services too. Sell your leads to your local businesses, sell your out-of-state leads to buyers and profit. Not that hard really in the grand scheme of things. You just need to have a strong sales force in place.
Get Out of Your Box
Look outside Facebook, Google, PlentyOfFish or any other PPC platform to make real money. Whether we like to admit it or not, running PPC campaigns is not a stable business model for the majority. Setting up a stable business based off of your marketing skills is. Building a local or even national brand that people will come to is stable. With the way that affiliate marketing works, specifically PPC, it is always changing. Sure, most businesses do that, but in the PPC, it does so like lightening. And with more and more networks either paying late or not at all (stick to EWA!), it is essential to diversify your income even more.
I am by no means saying to stop affiliate marketing or PPC. I am still running campaigns, just not as strong as I did before. I have found more stable, longer lasting income generators, and this is not #1 on my list. But it still is in my list, because it makes me money. I will do anything (to an extent) that makes me money and is worth my time, and you need to start doing the same as well.
So, get out of your comfort zone and expand that business. Instead of being comfortable, make yourself rich by diversifying. Most successful millionaires have taken more then their share of risks to get where they are, and if you want to get to that level, you need to do the same as well.
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