AFF - Affiliate Marketing 101 - Too Many Voices in Your Head to Succeed in Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing takes a clear mind, a clear agenda and a clear focus on the tasks at hand. So if you're not making it as an affiliate marketer, it may just be that you have too many voices in your head. This doesn't refer to schizophrenic tendencies, nor even to your conscience or 'that little voice' one often hears referred to.

For the most part, the voices in your head that lead to failure in affiliate marketing can be organized into three groups - the naysayers who don't believe anyone can make money online, concerned friends and family members who know nothing of affiliate marketing but must offer their advice anyway, and the other affiliates and marketing mentors you've chosen to follow. Let's take a look at all three groups with an eye to seeing how they're leading you away from affiliate marketing success.

The first group, the naysayers, know little or nothing about affiliate marketing, though they'll probably claim to be experts on the subject. They'll tell you how they, or someone they know, did everything right for the longest time and made nothing, thus leaving them knowing that online marketing is all a sham. Attend any live internet marketing event and that viewpoint will quickly be dashed for you - in fact you'll be amazed by how many successful affiliates there are online. What this group is really saying is that they, or their friends, weren't capable of succeeding online. Avoid these people like the plague - they're a drain on your energy and mindset.

The second group, your family and friends, probably DO have your best interests at heart. But unless they have a good understanding of online business, their decisions and advice will be based on their own experiences offline, which won't be relevant just as often as it will be. You can't avoid your loved ones - and shouldn't - but you need to either ask them not to advise you on affiliate marketing or learn to let in 'go in one ear and out the other' as the popular saying goes.

The toughest collection of voices to deal with are the other affiliates and affiliate marketing mentors you've chosen to follow. Assuming you've chosen well, each is living proof that you can succeed at affiliate marketing, but each will be giving you different advice, often advice that contradicts what others are saying. Is someone right and someone wrong? Not necessarily...

The problem is there are many roads to the top, paths that you can follow to become a successful affiliate marketer. But you have to choose one path and walk it til you succeed - you can't expect to take a bit of one system, a trifle of another and bits of a third and make it work for you. While you might get lucky that way, it's far more prudent to follow a proven path til you reach a certain level before trying to modify it extensively. Wait til your own expertise is up to the task or you could be sabotaging your affiliate efforts without knowing it.

The solution here is to follow the advice on ONE mentor or adviser, the one that seems to you to be the closest in style and training methods to your own style and learning methods. Some people learn best by being shown, others by doing it themselves. Some people are Type A personalities and tend to be gung-ho in business, others prefer a more laid back style. Look for an affiliate marketing mentor that matches your style and follow their advice til you reach success in affiliate marketing. Then and only then can you let the rest of the voices have their say - because by then you'll be an expert and in a position to judge for yourself who can and can't help you increase your success online!