What are the affiliate marketing cons? While this might seem a little negative, there’s definitely a few cons when it comes to affiliate marketing. I’ll harp on about affiliate marketing being great all day long but the truth is many will fail with affiliate marketing. Around 95% of those who attempt it drop out and that’s a startling statistic. That means only a tiny proportion of affiliates actually stick at it and make it work.
There’s a lot you can’t control with affiliate marketing too. You can’t determine who will buy and who won’t. Many of your website visitors will simply browse and only a few will buy. That’s quite a risk when it takes a huge amount of effort just to build a website and get traffic to it.
There’s a huge amount of competition online too and thousands of other affiliates. Many of them will be promoting the same products as you, and in the same way. So whatever your marketing strategy is, you’re going to be competing for online space. If you’re building content it’s going to take a lot of work just to get a little traffic. If you’ve buying traffic, there’s still no guarantee of a profit. You might need to spend a fortune before you’re anywhere near a profit.
Affiliate Marketing Cons – The Next Shiny Object
Then there’s the next shiny object hitting your inbox, promising an “easier” ride of it. That’s hard to resist when you’re struggling with a particular method or product. Thousands of marketers are out there offering all kinds of programs and it’s easy to bail out with one course when another one comes along.
This adds to the confusion for new affiliates and it makes it much more difficult getting traction. How could you get traction when you keep jumping ship before you have put the work in!? But as a beginner you wouldn’t know this. You’ll underestimate how much actual work is required to make affiliate marketing work.
When it isn’t working and another marketer promises you the “easy” system, it’s very easy to believe them, only to be disappointed again, but after having bought another shiny object!
Affiliate Marketing Cons – Psychology Of Entrepreneurianism
As an entrepreneur there’s a lot to think about. You need to keep jumping from the bigger picture back to the nitty gritty. You need vision and purpose to drive your business and the ability to work on the ground level too. Most people don’t have these skills automatically and they need to work at them.
If you’ve come from an employee mindset, which most people have, you’ll be in the habit of doing work which is financially rewarded by your pay packet every month. But affiliate marketing is different and this can cause problems. Most aren’t prepared for this. Their psychology givens them problems and even after months of hard work you can still have very little to show in terms of income with affiliate marketing.
Unless you have a die-hard mentality (or no choice) and refuse to quit, you’re likely to start thinking that it’s not worth all the hassle!
Affiliate Marketing Cons – Time Management
In a job too, you’re managed by your boss. You get told what to do and when to do it! In an affiliate business the “freedom” which comes with it can be a bit of a double edged sword. You can end up browsing Facebook, and watching cat videos when given the freedom to control your daily schedule. Unless you’re super disciplined, you’ll likely fall into the trap of momentum – doing things which require the least amount of effort.
You need to build habits out of things you wouldn’t otherwise do, to make a success of affiliate marketing. Otherwise, you’ll fall into the groove of the path of least resistance. Likely this path won’t take you towards success with affiliate marketing.
Money – Spending Money Without Seeing Results
When you start spending money building an online business, it can become very uncomfortable watching your money roll out, when nothing is coming in! You need software, training, products and support when building an online business. At the very least you should get a website and an email autoresponder.
If you’re paying for training and support on a monthly basis, this can add up. Then there’s advertising costs to consider. How long will it be before you feel out of your depth spending money without seeing any return?
I was several months in when I started thinking about dropping out. It was the monthly outgoings which made me want to quit! Fear is a big motivator and another reason why so many quit with affiliate marketing. You have to have a strong enough reason to keep going past this point to start generating some traction!
Marketing Budget vs Content Marketing
Whether you use a marketing budget to drive traffic through paid advertising, or whether you choose to create content instead, it’s a huge commitment. You’re either spending your money on ads, or spending your time creating content. If you’re in a competitive niche, where you can earn a lot, you’ll need to spend a lot too since there’s going to be so many more marketers in that same niche.
Alternatively, if you’re a content marketer, it’s going to take some huge commitment to get traffic for free, especially if your niche is popular. Popular topics are over subscribed and that means you’ll have your work cut out, or you’ll need a large marketing budget to compete!
This website has over 700 articles on it and I’ve been blogging on it for a few years now. The time spent has been huge and compared to the traffic I get it’s a little disappointing to be honest! Still, that traffic is free, which is worth a lot!
It’s Not Your Business
While there’s benefits in not having to deal with customers or handle products, there’s definitely a down side to it too. For starters it’s not your business and if the company you have sided up to decides to throw in the towel there’s nothing you can do about it. If they decide to slash affiliate commissions there’s nothing you can do about it!
You can’t control pricing, product quality or delivery. So if you choose a bad product, it reflects badly on you when things don’t run smoothly. Remember also that you’re sending traffic to other businesses with affiliate marketing. If you’re not benefiting from lifetime purchases, you’re probably selling yourself short. Some affiliate programs do pay you recurring commissions for finding them customers, but many don’t! They take your customer and convert them into a lifetime customer for them, without rewarding you fairly for custom they will gain.
Summary
While there’s definitely some major benefits to affiliate marketing there’s certainly some drawbacks too, as you can see. So it’s wise to diversify your affiliate portfolio if a particular product owner which you promote decides to lower commissions, or close its doors completely.
You are never guaranteed an income from affiliate marketing and you’re completely on your own. Even with help and support, you only get paid a commission when you sell something. Maintaining a level of continual sales is difficult, especially when you’re a beginner and have no experience to draw from.
Once you make it past a few years as an affiliate you should have some data and feedback. You can then use this information to improve your daily rituals and focus on the tasks which bring in the most revenue for the least amount of work.
