All You Need to Do as an Affiliate Marketer

All anyone doing online marketing needs to do is these 4 things – that’s all, there’s really nothing else to it. 

Hold on, nothing else – what does that mean?

Let’s get into it

The 4 things all online marketers (including affiliate marketers) need to do are what Dean Holland calls the Four Core Areas of Focus.

Notice how content creation isn’t one of the Four Core?

Then why am I writing this blog? Content creation is a part of every one of the Four Core – mostly Traffic and Follow-up. But you’ll have to create or repurpose content – social media posts, blogs, videos, ads, bridge pages, landing pages, funnels, lead magnets, email sequences, products…for each of The Four Core Areas. 

There’s Two Reasons I’m Blogging About This

First – to remind myself of what I need to do 

BECAUSE I’ve been creating content for the last six months, but I haven’t really been doing any of the Four Core Areas of Focus.

Which means I can’t possibly succeed as an affiliate marketer until I do. 

It’s not that I haven’t done these things in the past, but it’s been a while. I started focusing on affiliate marketing again about six months ago. I’ve been consistent and focused, doing some work every week. But I still haven’t done anything to get any new traffic – which means I can’t capture any new leads – to follow up with – and make offers to.  

That means I can’t succeed until I do. 

Second – to inform my readers (when I get them through traffic) of what they need to do

It’s easy to get caught up with content creation, and forget that all that work is not the foundation of affiliate marketing.

We have to actually get people to see our content.

Well of course people need to see my content; that’s why I’ve paid for a bunch of courses and products that are supposed to teach me how to become an expert SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM content creator. 

But, online marketing is not just about getting people’s attention on social media. That’s just step one – Traffic. 

We have to learn how to do the other 3 Core Areas of Focus. If we don’t learn how to do those other things, or we neglect them, our chances of succeeding are, I’d say 1 out of a million. 

BONUS TIP

If someone is trying to sell you a product that is 100% built for you. I mean there’s nothing you need to build – they give you absolutely everything – all you need to do is run the ads – it’s probably not a good idea.

I’m not saying it could never be good. But 99.9% of the time this would mean they don’t have a product they can predictably spend their marketing dollars on and get a positive Return On Investment (ROI). 

If they knew their ads worked, and knew all they needed to do was direct traffic at the landing page and then watch the money rolled in, why would they share it? If they knew they could just spend $1 on an ad and consistently get even just $1.10 back – they’d just run their own ads because they would consistently make money. 

So, if they’re giving you everything and saying just run ads – they are experimenting with your money. They know they can’t count on a consistent ROI, so they want to spend your time and money, not theirs (and charge you an upfront cost for the privilege). 

Is there anyone I can trust? I’d choose a mentor, and I’d buy products from, a person who has proven they know what they are doing with a consistent track record of success. This means they know how to market and sell products online. Who then is offering to teach me how to market and sell products. They are going to teach me how to do what they do (not do it all for me), and that means they will acknowledge that they cannot guarantee my success – BECAUSE they can tell me what to do, but they can’t do it for me. 

This would mean I’m not just selling someone else’s product, I’m learning how to sell any product – maybe even my own product someday.

How to Succeed in Business – Trying

You have to apply yourself, you have to be consistent, stick to one thing, not get distracted, not give up when it’s difficult. And you have to ask questions when you have problems.

And when I say you, I mean me as well.

I hope this blog is helpful to other people, but I’m not in a place to be anyone’s mentor yet. I’m sharing my experience here, but I’m pointing to someone else as the mentor. 

That’s Dean Holland – he’s telling me I need to focus on the The Four Core Areas. I need to do it.

It’s time to start the Traffic.

I’m set up to capture the traffic, and follow up with an engaged audience. I’ve got offers to make. I need the traffic.

Dean’s told me I need to pick a Primary Traffic Source. I’ve decided that the primary content I’m going to create to get that traffic and build my audience is short-form videos. That means my primary traffic source will come from Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube. 

It’s time to pick one and get started. That’s my commitment for this coming week, and in my next blog post I’ll talk about if what I did to fulfill that commitment.