Affiliate Marketing Pitfalls

Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money, but it is not as easy as what you may have heard or would like to think.

In order to earn a good stable income you will be required to do some hard work and be dedicated. Before you take the leap to join any affiliate program you need to be aware that there are affiliate marketing pitfalls just as there are with just about any business.

Affiliate Marketing Pitfall #1 - Myths About Easy Money
Do not allow yourself to be ignorant of the facts. Some people will let themselves truly believe that there is easy money to be made in affiliate marketing.

Sure it is easier than making your own product and having to deal with nasty customers and so on, but you still need to put in some hard work to promote your site or product.

The first thing you will want to do is to learn and understand how affiliate marketing REALLY works. Identify any factors that could potentially lead to either success or failure.

Make a well thought-out plan for each business move you make. You can accomplish all of this by doing some research online, asking questions from the experts on affiliate forums or reading affiliate blogs.

Affiliate Marketing Pitfall #2 - Avoid Scams
Once you locate a program that you would like to join, simply add the word scam to the end of it and see what pops up.

Join some work at home forums and ask if it has worked for anyone else, someone is sure to know something about the company you are interested in.

Another way to tell if the program is a scam is if it doesn't tell you anything about the compensation plan unless you sign up. Or if the program will not tell you anything about what you will be doing unless you buy their kit.

You want to be offered 100% free disclosure. After doing some research on the Internet, you should be able to contact someone at the company and ask them more detailed questions about what is involved.

Affiliate Marketing Pitfall #3 - Saggy Cookies
Most merchants use cookies to track your referrals. As the majority of your customers will not purchase on their first visit, cookies will allow your visitors to be tagged with your ID, so that if they do decide to buy later, you will get credit for the sale.

The duration of the cookies will be different from merchant to merchant. Some cookies may last for a single session, whereas others could last for months or even years.

If the visitor has cookie blocking software, disables their cookies on a regular basis or the merchants program isn't operating properly, there really isn't much you can do about it.

Monitoring Your Payment Arrangements:
Even the most honest merchants will encounter problems with their affiliate software at times. Therefore, it is wise to regularly check cookies and your merchants website for changes that could affect your pay.