Hi, beginner affiliate! You’ve probably already watched a host of videos on campaign settings, read a tremendous number of cases with xxx% ROI and subscribed to various media resources, so now you think you are ready to conquer the affiliate marketing mountain on your own? Well, not so fast. Here are ten reasons why you should never start alone.
- Why spend your money on a test?
You can find lots of high-profitable cases on the Internet. Often such articles would look like this: “Well, I decided to target this geo with this offer from this network , then I was optimizing the campaign for two days, and after that, it was just generating profit for two months. If it were that simple, everybody would be working as an affiliate. Such cases are possible, but nobody is going to show you hundreds of unprofitable campaigns one ran before. Regardless of a marketer’s expertise, a large amount of money is always allocated for a test (thousands of dollars), so if you lack experience, spending your savings like this will guarantee you a disastrous campaign.
- Additional spendings
Have you accounted for all the costs? In affiliate marketing, alongside traffic expenses, there are also many additional spendings. Tracker, spy tools, accounts, domains – these are only the basics on which you can spend a large share of your monthly budget. In companies or teams, several people can use one account, which is much more cost-effective. That is why purchasing all these fundamental things on your own will lead you nowhere.
- The crucial skill
What do you think is the most important thing an affiliate should be able to do? Make the right decisions. Our job implies making hundreds of traffic optimization decisions on a daily basis. This is something you can’t read about or learn from a video since it comes with time and practice and requires a substantial budget that only a team or a company can provide. But even if you are a pro, the world of online marketing is changing so rapidly that you always have to learn something new. Each new traffic source, offer and advertising format makes you look for a new approach and quickly abandon old strategies. What worked yesterday will drive you into the red today. You have to be able to adapt quickly. This is what makes a good marketer.
- Extra knowledge
Are you sure you know enough to work successfully? Today’s online market is so diverse that if two sophisticated affiliates meet, they may not even understand each other. But why is it so? Some run Facebook traffic, or Adwords, or Instagram, others are involved in media buying, while someone is engaged in e-mail marketing and so on. In addition to making traffic optimization decisions, everybody should have lots of useful skills. For instance, coming up with creatives, which involves working in graphics editors. Or the ability to process huge data arrays quickly (in Excel, for example). Knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript can also come in handy. Besides, you need to possess good soft skills, namely the ability to communicate effectively. And sometimes you will have to communicate a lot, trust me. It is necessary to maintain working ties with all the managers who you are in contact with, as it can directly affect your profit. This also includes a good command of English.
This is just a small list of additional skills, and, as you can see, there are quite a few of them. When it comes to companies, these processes are usually separated. So you can do something you are actually good at, while simultaneously mastering new activities. Also, each company has its own know-hows that will enable you to broaden your knowledge and prove yourself in challenging tasks.
- Market globalization
As they say, the good times are gone. But this is not always the case. However, it really used to be easier to operate in online marketing. One could make money without trackers and complex traffic distribution systems and with just any creative. Now traffic is increasingly becoming more expensive, competition is growing, while Facebook and Google are cracking down with restrictions. If there are some of them left, solo affiliates are facing hard times. Online marketing entry threshold has become substantially higher in terms of both finance and technical savviness. Only major players make a lot of money, as it is easier for them to cooperate, for example, with a traffic source or a CPA network and get favorable conditions. Major companies possess a lot of know-how that are not available to smaller players. Therefore, at least at the beginning you definitely shouldn’t work solo.
- Perks and support from companies
Yes, you are probably making less money working with a company that you could, but you are also gaining lots of benefits. Various perks: tea, coffee, cookies, fruit (if you’re lucky), gifts for the holidays, various compensations, bonuses, insurance. You don’t have to worry about your workplace and work computer, as everything has been prepared beforehand. And what about taxes? This is a separate issue. Of course, you can avoid paying taxes if you work solo (but your karma level goes down, so you shouldn’t do it), but in a company, you can be confident about all your activities from a legal perspective and feel secure, which saves you a lot of time.
- Discipline
Are you sure that you can work solo or even remotely with a team as efficiently as in an office? Really? The thing is that affiliates have to deal with a lot of routine tasks: replacing creatives, adjusting bids, providing statistics, testing new campaigns. To keep everything up you should be able to manage your time effectively and prioritize. Sometimes the best way to develop these qualities is to have someone constantly standing over your head and controlling you. Some just can’t work any other way. But affiliate marketing doesn’t forgive this, and you will immediately start losing money. Take a look at the other areas of your life and the way you deal with things, as being an affiliate presupposes a certain lifestyle – you always need to be on guard.
- Corporate parties and friends
Being surrounded by the right people is a great thing. If marketing suits you best, then working with a company will introduce you to many interesting people who you share a mindset with. It is always more captivating to communicate with them because you are engaged in the joint activity, not to mention corporate parties and team building events, following which half of the employees are embarrassed to show up on Mondays. In general, working with a company is fun.
- Connections
Besides making new friends, a company will also enable you to establish useful contacts more quickly. While working you will deal with managers of different levels and from various companies, which can contribute to your future success in a most surprising way. And just think about all these jobs offers you can get if the name of some well-known company is mentioned on your LinkedIn profile. Sometimes you can actually earn more working for someone if you are a good specialist and got into the right team.
- Stress tolerance
Last but not least, stress tolerance. For an affiliate working solo basically means being a private entrepreneur, but the risks are higher than it is conventionally assumed. You can lose everything in one day. To some extent, it’s kind of a lottery. Would you have enough gut to plunge into the red for several days in a row? And what about several weeks? Or months? While I was working with a company I went through different periods. It used to be difficult to climb into the green for a couple of months, which was very discouraging. But it was the company’s money. I probably wouldn’t put my savings at such a risk, and neither should you.
That’s it for today, guys.
Green ROI to everyone!
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