Building momentum with your affiliate business is the best thing you can do in the beginning. Initially it is hard finding your feet. You’re high in motivation and ready to get started but lack direction. That motivation can quickly turn into procrastination when you don’t get stuck into some kind of action plan. See also how to overcome procrastination in affiliate marketing.
You need to build momentum to turn your motivation into habitual behaviour. Otherwise, it can quickly dissipate and you can find yourself stalling. Motivation isn’t consistent. One day you’re “up” and the next day you’re “down”. So even if you’re highly motivated at the start out of learning affiliate marketing, it often won’t last. How are you going to feel when you’re weeks/months in but still aren’t making any money? Will your motivation still be as high? The answer is likely to be a resounding “no”!
This might explain why so many affiliates quit (around 95%).
So how can you build momentum with affiliate marketing and stay the course?
Building Momentum With Affiliate Marketing – Motivation vs Habit
Motivation gets you started, habit keeps you going. As a beginner in affiliate marketing you’re likely to be highly motivated. Use this motivation to build good habits as quickly as possible. That way, you’ll last the course when other affiliates drop out, as they undoubtedly do. In the beginning these habits are likely to be absorbing information and setting up your tools – building a website or a sales funnel, and focusing on learning a marketing strategy. So the learning of information will take up nearly 90% of your time, with implementing your knowledge taking up around 10%.
Once you have figured some stuff out, and have decided on your marketing strategy and direction, this needs to shift. Don’t get stuck in learning mode because it doesn’t drive your business forwards. This is an easy trap to fall into because it’s fun and it feels like progress. But as soon as you are ready you should shift this focus relationships from 90/10 (learning to implementing) to one of 80% implementing your knowledge and 20% learning. That’s how to build momentum. Otherwise it’s easy to float about watching information videos forever, without actually building your affiliate business.
Building Momentum With Affiliate Marketing – Good vs. Bad Habits
It’s easy to create bad habits. Watching TV, eating junk food, drinking alcohol are examples of “bad” habits which are easy to create. It’s easy to create “bad” habits, but not so easy to create good habits. Good habits for your affiliate marketing business are like good habits for a fitness program. Going to the gym and working out is a good habit if you want to get fitter. With an online business you need to build habits out of the actions which move your affiliate business forward; money producing habits. Bad habits are browsing social media, getting stuck in learning/procrastination mode and dawdling online wasting time.
Since social media platforms are designed to literally addict you to them, it’s worth being very careful with your time online on these platforms. They will suck you in like a magnet! You can also fall into the trap of working on activities you like, but which don’t necessarily move your business forward. Making a website look beautiful, as opposed to driving traffic to it, is one example. So it’s worth taking the time to focus on the things you don’t necessarily want to do, but which move the needle on your bottom line. Once you have identified what those actions are, do them consistently and make a habit out of doing so on a daily basis.
Focus On Actions Not Outcomes
As a beginner, it’s more difficult to know just what these particular actions are. You’ll likely need to spend some time learning and implementing some tactics before you find something which actually works. Running advertising campaigns, creating content, building your sales funnel and so on are examples of actions you can do in an affiliate business. Initially there’s a lot to do and nothing much to show for your efforts. It’s at this point in time you’ll think of quitting. Take a look at the graph below from James Clear’s book Atomic Habits:
This is often what an affiliate business looks like in terms of your results. Not much for ages and then “boom” it suddenly takes off! So in the beginning it pays to focus on your actions not your results (since you won’t have any results yet)! I still find this useful advice even now, years into studying affiliate marketing.
When I look to my results, I wonder why I haven’t done better. It puts me into a negative frame of mind and I stall. Doubt creeps in and I do less, not more! When I focus on the actions I need to take, I get more done and results will naturally stem from this positive outlook and doing rather than speculating and/or procrastinating – which tends to lead to a negative state of mind. See also controlling your state of mind for affiliate marketing.
Summary
Building momentum with your affiliate business is vital if you want to succeed. But you also need to build momentum with productive habits which actually move the needle of your income too. It can be easy to fall into traps such as spending all your time in “learning mode” without ever taking productive action. Or, you can waste time on actions which you enjoy, but which don’t necessarily move your business forwards.
At first it’s likely that you’ll need to try some actions out without knowing exactly what the outcome will be. This is known as “failing forwards” a necessary part of learning affiliate marketing. Without any “failures” you’ll never find a strategy you can implement which will lead you to success. See also failing forwards in affiliate marketing.
Once you get some success, such as your first email subscriber, website “hit” or even sale, focus on the actions which brought about your success. Over time, your success will compound and your focus will get narrower. You’ll learn through experience which actions bring about the outcomes you want. But without building momentum in your affiliate business first, this simply won’t happen!
Keep an eye on the long term outcome you desire from affiliate marketing, but maintain your focus on the daily actions which take you there!
Learn more about building an affiliate business and get started here.