Don’t Overdo the Hustle

Hamster on wheel

To be perfectly honest, i’m not crazy about the term “Side Hustle.” “Side business,” sure. But “Side hustle?” Not so much.

The problem is that the word ‘hustle’ is most often associated with “Hustle Culture,” and that’s not a good thing. Hustle culture can exist both in a one-person business and in a gigantic corporation, but whatever the size of the company, hustle culture is toxic. The reason for the toxicity is the overriding belief from hustle culture that the more hours you put into the business, the better your performance. Because of this philosophy, there are many other negatives that add to a business’ toxic character.

One of these results is that you become trapped in your hustle like a hamster on its wheel, expending plenty of energy but going nowhere.

The ‘Hamster Hustle’

Hamster on wheel

Don’t be ashamed if anything has caught you up in this “Hamster Hustle.” Almost everyone in business experiences it, at one time or another. One of the most important steps is learning how to break out of it.

By the way, this effect can even happen to professional athletes. A great example of what happens comes from a well-respected basketball coach, John Wooden. Here’s one of the things he said about spotting talent:

I’ve had some candidates over the years who were quick as could be – all over the court like water bugs. Seeing someone like that, you might think, “He’s the straw that stirs the drink.”

However, if you studied him, you’d see that nothing was being stirred; nothing was getting done. He would force things, overrun, shoot too quickly, back and forth, here and there. Busy, busy, busy. Lots of activity, but accomplishing nothing.

I value enthusiasm and prize initiative. Both, however, must be directed to a productive end: Accomplish something! DON’T MISTAKE ACTIVITY FOR ACHIEVEMENT. [ Emphasis mine]

So the next time you find yourself putting in 14 hour days and still unable to keep up, take a moment to look at one of your competitors who’s making more money than you. Do you really believe that his or her business is doing better because the employees are putting in more hours than you? I guarantee that’s not the reason. Time is not the problem. Time management is.

Are hard work and attitude important? Yes, extremely.

However, both are meaningless if you’re not delivering results that your business needs.

Remedy for the Hustle

So how do you get out of the hamster hustle, or avoid getting back into it? Every successful person has his or her own way, but this one’s my favorite, because it costs you nothing, and you can put it to use immediately :

  1. Make sure your business has a reasonable number of SMART goals.
    For those of you who are unfamiliar with the SMART criteria, the acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time bound.
    Your business should always have at least 2 smart goals in progress at any time, and probably no more than 5 goals per person.
    An example of a SMART goal might be;
    Acquire 45,000 new online customers this financial year at an average cost per acquisition (CPA) of $30 with an average profitability of $5.
    This particular goal may require more skill and resources than you have (making it unAchievable for you), but for someone who can achieve it, the goal meets all five criteria,
  2. Break each goal into a complete set of short-term tasks.
    If you think of your goal as a fancy main course, you can think of your tasks like steps in the recipe. You don’t want too many, and you don’t want to skip any step.
  3. Fill the next 2 weeks of your electronic calendar with at least five tasks total for your goals.
    You will need an electronic calendar that allows you to add free-form notes for the day, and the same type of note in various time blocks. Plenty of free calendars out there can do this.
    Also, keep in mind that not every task has to be started and finished within a single day: it’s fine to spread them out over multiple days, provided that they can all be finished by the goal’s deadline.
  4. Right before you begin work, look at the current date in your calendar so that you can plan the critical tasks for the day ahead.
    Using the example in step 3, one of the required tasks is likely to be: “Write a sales email to be used in the campaign launch.”
  5. Plan your breaks!
    Just because you’re passionate enough to work on something all day does not mean that you should. You’re still a human being, not a robot, and that means you need to take breaks during a long day. Schedule them and set your phone alarm if you have to!
    If you expect to put in an 8-hour day, two breaks besides lunch is a reasonable routine. Use these breaks to fully decompress from work: Go on social media, play games on your phone, read news alerts: anything you enjoy.
  6. Keep filling in your calendar in 2-week increments.
    You’ll hit your goals in no time!

Guest column: Your Small Business Guide to Impactful Video Marketing

by Alonso Whittaker

This guest column is full of useful information about how (and when, and why) to add videos to your affiliate marketing sites. I hope it inspires you to add some new videos, or work on improving your existing ones.
-Coach Dave

Video setup

In today’s fast-paced world where countless companies are competing for the dwindling attention of busy consumers, finding effective ways to connect with your target audience is essential. Video marketing remains largely overlooked among small business owners and affiliate marketers. Producing engaging and informative videos for your audience is a great way to influence your customers, expand your online business, and establish yourself as a trusted authority in your industry. Here are some tips from Affiliate Swim to help you embrace the benefits of small business video marketing!

Why Video Marketing?

While other forms of marketing are certainly effective at influencing consumer purchase decisions, videos have the power to leave a lasting impression on viewers. Video content helps convey your brand message, spark emotion, create memorable experiences, and drive a much higher level of audience engagement compared with other content types. According to The Media Lab, social videos are shared 1200% more often than text or picture content!

If you work as an affiliate marketer, producing video content is vital for driving traffic to your website and standing out among your fierce competition. By creating compelling marketing videos, you can capture the attention of your audience and encourage them to click through to your website to learn more about the products or services you promote. Plus, your audience will likely share the videos you post to social media, allowing you to reach a wider audience without spending additional money on marketing.

Plan Your Content

When creating videos for content marketing purposes, thoughtful planning is important. Consider your target audience and the specific goals you want to achieve with your video content. By understanding your audience’s demographics, interests, and preferences, you can tailor your videos to meet their needs. This is the foundation of content marketing. Whether you’re producing product demonstrations, tutorials, behind-the-scenes glimpses of your business, or customer testimonials, aligning your content with the needs of your audience will enhance its impact. To gain valuable insights into the world of content marketing, consult online resources such as Cornerstone Content.

Include 3D Product Visualizations

Including 3D product visualizations in your marketing videos can be a game-changer for your brand. Using 3D virtual staging software, you can create visually immersive and realistic representations of your products to provide viewers with an engaging experience. The benefits of staging software for video marketing include the ability to demonstrate a product from various angles, zoom in on specific parts, and otherwise highlight the unique features of your products in a way that traditional 2D visuals cannot. At the very least, leveraging 3D product modeling will add a touch of innovation and sophistication to your brand.

Where to Publish Your Videos

You have several options when it comes to publishing your marketing videos. YouTube is a solid choice, especially for longer videos such as informational resources and how-to guides. HubSpot explains that social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are better for super short-form content. TikTok is ideal if you’re targeting younger audiences, primarily Gen-Z and younger Millennials. And for B2B content or content targeting working professionals, don’t overlook LinkedIn!

Optimizing Your Videos for Search Engines

Optimizing your video content for search engines is crucial for ensuring maximum visibility and reach. There are a number of SEO strategies you can use to help your videos list higher up in search results. Start by researching popular keywords related to your video content and using these keywords strategically in your video titles, descriptions, and tags. Furthermore, transcribing your video and providing closed captions can enhance accessibility and improve SEO by enabling search engines to index your video’s content. These practices will drive more traffic to your video content and your business.

Video marketing is a powerful tool that small business owners and affiliate marketers should not overlook. By planning your content carefully, including 3D product visualization in your videos, and optimizing your videos for search engines, you can harness the full potential of video marketing to grow your business!

Are you ready to launch an affiliate marketing business? Join Affiliate Swim for free to access our beginner-friendly online training and coaching resources!

Guest column: 6 online side hustles

by Buddy Holland

Today we’re proud to introduce our first guest column, which is full of ideas for solo online businesses. Now, Affiliate swim still believes that affiliate marketing is one of the best of these. But in case you disagree, see what this column says about the most common alternatives.

Photo Credit: Vanessa Garcia via Pexels

The cost of living is on the rise. According to a recent study conducted by Move.org, it’s increased as much as 13% in some areas. Whether you’re single or supporting a family, it can be hard to make ends meet. Finding a side hustle can alleviate some of the stress, though — and the internet is the ultimate side hustle hub. If you’re unemployed or trying to boost your earnings, Affiliate Swim invites you to consider one of these online gigs.

1. Selling Your Handiwork

Many people possess unique creative skills. If you paint or crochet as a hobby, for example, you might find that your creations could be a source of income. You can market and sell your handiwork on an online platform. If you plan to do this, be sure to take high-quality photos of the products and write enticing descriptions, too.

As you look into ecommerce options, you’ll want something that allows you to customize your buyers’ experience to keep them coming back. Personalized shopping experiences often result in not only sales but brand loyalty. Look for a commerce solution that is scalable and allows you to manage product recommendations and shopper analysis.

2. Starting a Business

The web is also a great place to launch your next business endeavor. Not sure what you want to do? There are tons of great options out there! You can teach online classes in something you love doing, start a podcasting business, or become a freelance writer. You could even get started in real estate or the related field of title and settlement. If you’re interested in the housing market, you should consider these options.

If you want to enter the eCommerce market or build a business around your freelancing career, starting an LLC may be the best option. LLCs are designed to help minimize your tax liability and maximize your business’s flexibility. Before you start an LLC, though, you should ensure that you comply with any applicable business laws in your state. You can do-it-yourself by researching the process in your home state: simply go to the web portal for your Secretary of State. Otherwise, you can get in touch with a formation service for more help.

3. Tutoring Students

Online tutoring is another great side hustle that could be especially lucrative. If you’re knowledgeable in a subject like math or science, you can tutor students who need some extra help. You may also be able to make money tutoring simply by speaking English. International students often seek native English speakers to converse with in order to sharpen their skills. You can offer this service online and make money while doing so.

4. Completing Surveys

Some companies are willing to pay for consumers’ opinions. Indeed, online surveys may offer the opportunity to earn extra cash, but you have to be careful not to fall prey to scams. If you see a survey that offers a too-good-to-be-true payout, CIBC warns that it could be fraudulent — and this is true of all online work. Look for survey sites that are well-reviewed and reputable.

5. Posting on YouTube

Before you start your search for online work, you should assess your skills and identify any abilities that may be marketable. You might find that you’re skilled at sales or you have a knack for crafting engaging content. If the latter is true, starting a YouTube channel could be a potential source of income. Create useful content and generate income from sponsorships and advertisements.

6. Writing Content

The internet relies on content to keep going, and much of that content is in a written format. If you’re skilled at writing, you can look for online copywriting opportunities in order to make extra money. Look for these and other online jobs by using the keyword “remote” in your job searches. You should also know that if you work as a freelancer — including a freelance copywriter — you’ll likely have to set aside money for taxes.

While you are posting content online, consider getting into affiliate marketing. In other words, companies pay you a commission to pre-sell their goods or services on your site. If this option seems interesting, consider becoming a member of Affiliate Swim to learn how to take advantage of this lucrative market.

Earn Extra Money With Remote Work

Supplementing your income can minimize financial stress and offset the rising cost of living. With the wealth of opportunities that can be found online, there’s never been a better time to launch your side hustle from the web. But be careful about the legal aspect of freelancing – especially doing business with clients in other countries – and strongly consider using a commerce solution that allows you to grow. You want your side hustle to be fun and lucrative, so take the steps to make it official before diving in.

Affiliate Swim is a teaching site for online entrepreneurs who want to learn how to launch affiliate campaigns.

You can study our free affiliate marketing course in the Coaching section. For additional support, you can join our Facebook group for free coaching from experts and other students, as our time allows.

Once you launch your campaign, check out the store, which has many different nice-to-have items for most online entrepreneurs.

Always remember this for business success

trash-business

Back in the late 20th century, a motivational speaker named ‘Zig’ Ziglar made one of the best statements of all time about businesses:

“You can have everything you want, if you give other people what they want.”

This idea was originally meant as a life lesson, and it’s a good one, but it’s especially relevant for all businesses, regardless of their size or their products. In fact, no business in the history of the world has been successful without operating by this principle. There are no exceptions. Naturally, it also has a big impact on how to design a successful marketing campaign, which I will be discussing in some of my future blog posts.

There’s another important benefit from using this principle. You may have felt lost in the world of making money online, losing your own money on this person’s “secret method” or that person’s “passive income system.” You have had no way to identify the worthless offers before. But Mr. Ziglar’s principle gives you a great way to screen out most of the garbage. Simply read through the promotion materials and ask yourself, “If I use this opportunity, what will I be giving the people who are paying me all this money?” If you can’t find a clear answer, or if what your customers receive has little or no value compared to what they pay, then you know that the “opportunity” is doomed to fail. Because it has no value.

Keep this principle in mind throughout your career and you’ll do well anywhere.

Absolute Basic Starting Costs

As I’ve said earlier in this blog, an affiliate marketing business is one of the least expensive to launch, but a few small starting costs still exist. In this piece, I’m going to break down all of the items that are absolutely essential to buy, along with their costs. Of course, lots of other things are very useful for helping your business grow, but I won’t cover them here.

One Laptop with Wi-Fi capability

Most of you who are reading this already have the use of a laptop, and yes, it’s important. Doing business on a mobile phone is not a realistic option.

This is probably your single biggest expense, but if you don’t have access to a laptop, don’t despair. First, you don’t need to purchase one that’s state of the art. Nearly anything with Wi-Fi is fine for doing business on. For an older laptop, consider an online marketplace, or look on Google for dealers that sell ‘refurbished’ laptops.

If money is still an obstacle, think about selling some of your things, either on eBay or an online marketplace. Alternatively, if you like to craft things, consider selling them on sites like Etsy. As long as you have things that others can buy – and skills that you can trade for money – you don’t have to worry about making what you need for covering your starting costs.

Safe, reliable Internet service

In most parts of the world, the regular use of a quality Internet connection will be one of your starting costs. However, if you can get free access where you are, consider yourself lucky.

For most businesses, the ideal solution – and probably the least expensive, in the long run – is to have your local telecommunications provider install an Internet connection in your home, for which you’ll usually pay a monthly fee once it’s active.

If a home connection is impossible for some reason, there are several other ways to get connected to wi-fi during the times that you actively work. Nowadays, many businesses rent temporary workspace by the hour, day, or month – and wi-fi is included in the price. There are also the well-known standbys of hotel business centers, coffee shops, and Internet cafes. Even in small communities, you are likely to have a few options.

Email marketing: automated and broadcast service

If you’ve seen affiliateswim.com’s Coaching section, you already know that you can’t have a successful business without building a quality email list. For that, you need to subscribe to an emailing service that allows you to set up both sequences of messages to new list members, along with one-time broadcast emails to your entire list.

Although there are several options to choose from, it’s my opinion that GetResponse is the service that offers the best value and performance for the lowest price.

Funnel builder or other web page tool/host

If you’re not comfortable with HTML, subscribing to a funnel builder is usually the least expensive option. If you DO want to code your own pages, you can simply subscribe to a web hosting company instead, but the price is not likely to be much different from an inexpensive funnel builder.

For my beginning students, I recommend the Home Business Academy’s HBA Funnel builder for much the same reasons that I recommend GetResponse for emails. Both are powerful, both are flexible, and they offer very good value for just about the lowest price available.

Final words

Taking action is the key, my friends. And now you have the plan. You can’t succeed until you start.

Coach’s answers, session 1

writing

Here’s at least some of the questions that came in this time.

Magige David wrote:

“Hello how to improve business”

I don’t know what products Magige is trying to market, so I can’t give any specific advice, but I CAN offer some broad advice about improving marketing campaigns that, in my opinion, everyone should know.

Every successful marketing campaign, whether it’s from a solo affiliate business or the marketing executive at a giant company like Microsoft or Sony, requires two steps that the marketers have to perform. There are no exceptions to this rule.
First step: Build an audience of people who all have the same type of problem.
Second step: Create and send marketing messages to your audiences that will show them (not just tell them) how your product(s) can help them solve the problems you identified earlier.

Don’t worry, I’m going to talk about these steps in much more detail in a future blog post. For now, just understand that if you follow both of these steps correctly, your marketing absolutely will succeed. If you don’t, it won’t.


Don’t forget to prepare more questions to ask in the next session.

Ask the coach, session 1

your-coach

To help my students succeed, I’ve decided to hold Q&A sessions in this blog from time to time, and here’s the first one. All you have to do is email one question to me by a particular deadline (which I will announce at each new session), and I will publish the questions and my answers in a blog post to be written after the deadline. Simple as that. However, you might want to look at the details below before you actually send something off.

More information

In each session, I will answer questions about any of the following topics:

  1. The Affiliate Swim business
  2. Affiliate marketing generally
  3. Other online marketing
  4. Other types of marketing

Include information in the email about how you want me to identify you when I publish your question in a blog. I can use your real name, or an alias, or keep the question anonymous. Whatever you want.

If you want to include your city/state-province/country in your identification, let me know that information, too. However, it isn’t required.

Please note that I might not use your question if it’s a duplicate of someone else’s, or if it’s not appropriate to publish in the blog. Don’t take it personally.

The deadline for this session is 12:00 AM, November 4, 2021 UTC. Here’s a link to a UTC clock

Can’t wait to hear from you all!

Coach Dave


Answers for this session are in this post.

Same product, different marketing

subway violinist

You might have heard of the “violin experiment,” some of which is shown in the video clip above. This event teaches us a lot about human nature, more than a simple marketing experiment, but the marketing lessons are valuable to all of use. So here’s the full story.

The experiment

On January 12, 2007, a man standing in the arcade just outside a subway station in Washington, D.C. started to play the violin.

He wore a T-shirt, jeans, and a baseball cap.  Over the course of 45 minutes, he played six pieces, including two by Bach and one by Schubert.

Because it was rush hour, it was crowded.  During his performance, cameras showed exactly 1,097 people pouring through the station, most of them on their way to work during the morning rush.

According to video footage, three minutes went by before anyone noticed at all. 

A middle aged man turned to notice the musician. He barely altered his gait, and then hurried to catch the next train. 

Thirty seconds later, the violinist received his first tip: A woman threw a dollar bill into his open violin case.  She did it hurriedly, like someone flicking a cigarette butt to the curb.

A few minutes later, another man leaned against the wall to listen to the violinist.  Three minutes later, the man looked at his watch and started to walk again.  He, too, had a train to catch.

The one who seemed to pay the most attention was a three-year-old boy.  He was in tow at the hem of his mother’s skirt, hurriedly being dragged along, the kid’s head following the violinist even as he was being pulled away.

Several other children had the same reaction. All their parents, without exception, kept the children in tow as they moved on.

Final results

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only seven people stopped and stayed for any length of time.

About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. 

He collected $32.17.  No one applauded.

Only one person out of the 1,097 who passed through the arcade recognized the violinist, a concert performer named Joshua Bell.

She patiently waited for him to finish, then went up to say hello to Bell, one of the most celebrated musicians in the entire world, who had agreed to take part in this unusual social experiment. 

He had just played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.

Three days earlier, Bell had sold out a theater in Boston playing the same repertoire.  The average ticket price for that performance was $112.

What to take away

People have drawn quite a few conclusions from this experiment, including how our appreciation of beauty is affected by context, perception, and priorities. More on some of these later.

For someone familiar with the three pillars of marketing, the main lesson is obvious: Your audience can make or break exactly the same product. That’s what makes the concept of an audience important enough to be a pillar in the first place.

You can look at the classical concert fans as the “right” audience and the subway riders as the “wrong” audience, but that’s a bit of an oversimplification. Let’s face it, many of those subway riders must have enjoyed going to classical music performances once in a while. And many of the concertgoers at Bell’s show must have commuted to their jobs on public transit. In marketing terms, you can’t make a comparison just by the demographics of each group.

So what else is going on?

Timing, that’s what. You’ve probably seen advertising in the media change its whole “vibe” before holidays, big sporting events, festivals and other events that most people get caught up in. That’s because businesses have learned which events impact them and how people’s buying habits change relative to the timing of the event.

Something similar is going on with the violin performance. The theatergoers have set aside both money and time to enjoy a nice evening of music. For the commuters, however, their driving interest is to get to work on time, so very few of them will be likely to stop and listen, even if they love classical violin.

The bottom line: timing is also part of your audience analysis. Your audience is likely to have different challenges and pain points at different times. It’s a good idea not to overlook that.

The other factor

Although audience is the most important pillar in this marketing experiment, our old friend trust plays a part here as well. Probably a number of people in that Boston theater had never heard of Joshua Bell until that night. Of course, some of the audience, must have, but otherwise, where would the trust have come from? The answer is that people actually trusted the theater, and the performer based on his association with the theater. After all, theaters are designed to create an emotional bond between performers and audiences. Subway stations are definitely not designed for this purpose.

The result was that commuters didn’t trust that there could ever be a good musical performance in the station arcade. So they assumed that the violinist could not be any good.

Conclusion

Making your affiliate marketing sound like concert-grade music requires a great deal of thought and planning. But if you take the steps – and time it right – the difference to your bottom line can be huge.

Affiliate Swim is a teaching site for online entrepreneurs who want to learn how to launch affiliate campaigns.

You can study our free affiliate marketing course in the Coaching section. For additional support, you can join our Facebook group for free coaching from experts and other students, as our time allows.

Once you launch your campaign, check out the store, which has many different nice-to-have items for most online entrepreneurs.

The downside to advertising

megaphone guy

I believe very much in the power of online advertising, but in reality, the downside to advertising is significant.

I’ve often heard new marketers say things like, “If only I had a multimillion-dollar ad budget, I could be as successful as Amazon.” Maybe some of you have been thinking this. If so, stop it. You can’t expect miracles from any advertising service.

In the online world, the downside of advertising of any kind consists of three disadvantages:

  1. Ads do nothing to increase the trust that your audience may have. (Remember how trust is one of the three pillars of marketing?)
  2. Everyone seeing your ad knows that they are going to be pitched. Although it’s still possible to build trust from this mindset, it’s harder than building trust from simple curiosity.
  3. As soon as you stop paying for the ad, it stops giving you traffic.

If you want to overcome these problems, you need to do two things:

  1. Optimize all your ads for profit metrics, and
  2. Develop as much of a base of free traffic as you can

Optimizing for profit

To generate a profit from your advertising, you as an affiliate need to be offering upsells that you know to be profitable. The other things you need are the major metrics from the advertising service, which are:

  • Your Click Through Ratio (CTR)
  • Your Cost Per Click (CPC)
  • Average value of a sale (probably from your vendor’s affiliate tracking software).

All this information is required when you want to calculate the ROI (Return on Investment) for your advertising spend, but it does not reveal the entire picture.

For example, you would expect a strong ROI to generate large volumes of traffic, have a high CTR, and a low CPC. That’s generally true, BUT many successful ad campaigns for high-ticket items end up having a smaller volume of transactions, a slightly lower CTR, and a slightly higher CPC.

The two most important things you can do after calculating profitability are to make sure that your user experience is clear, smooth, and engaging; and to make good use of your analytics software to track user behavior accurately.

Too much downside of advertising? Grow your free traffic!

The second part of overcoming advertising problems is not as difficult as it sounds, even if you are renting traffic to a sales funnel for your first offer, but free traffic demands free content, and that can be very time consuming.

The most widespread free content that small businesses use today is blogging, and that’s for a couple of reasons. First, an experienced writer can bang out a decent blog post fairly quickly, and second, blog posts are about the easiest thing to optimize for search engine keywords.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with YouTube videos or podcasts for delivering free content, although they tend to take longer to create. They do support keywords for SEO, of course, but a text-based blog is able to take better advantage of these.

Another way to generate organic traffic, although it’s likely to be in small amounts at first, is through social media. Many people like to follow businesses on Facebook or Instagram, so it pays to make your presence known.

Affiliate Swim is a teaching site for online entrepreneurs who want to learn how to launch affiliate campaigns.

You can study our free affiliate marketing course in the Coaching section. For additional support, you can join our Facebook group for free coaching from experts and other students, as our time allows.

Once you launch your campaign, check out the store, which has many different nice-to-have items for most online entrepreneurs.

Competition in affiliate marketing

business-competition

Some would-be entrepreneurs are frightened off from affiliate campaigns because they believe there’s ‘too much’ competition in affiliate marketing. It would be easy to come to this conclusion once you figure out that (A) there is an extremely large number of affiliates practicing at any given time, and (B) nearly all of them fail. Both of these things are true, but they don’t paint an accurate picture of the level of competition in this type of marketing.

The first mistake that many people make is to compare affiliate marketing with other types of commission-only sales. We affiliates can promote as many products as we want across nearly every company and market space in all of e-commerce. Other commission-based work is almost always confined to just one company. This makes a huge difference.

Consider a car dealership, for example. There is a fairly fixed number of potential customers in the region, and a fixed capacity for the inventory that the dealership can have. With these limitations, only a small number of salespeople can be employed by the dealer and still make a good living. If the owner decides to hire every salesperson who wants to work there, then the pie of total sales has to be divided into even smaller pieces. Ultimately there’s no longer any point to working there.

That’s exactly what DOES happen with MLM companies and pyramid schemes, by the way. Because they serve only one market, that market becomes saturated while the company keeps bringing in new salespeople or recruits. The company’s revenue stops growing.

The competition in affiliate marketing does not have this type of constraint. There are tens of thousands of companies that support affiliate programs, either directly or through an affiliate network. These companies offer hundreds of thousands of products that can be marketed individually. There is no way the revenue pie could remain static for long.

stand out competition

Not surprisingly, the huge territory in e-commerce doesn’t have the same level of competition everywhere. Many market spaces are, in fact, full of competition, where others have almost no affiliate activity at all. Some people refer to these market spaces as “red ocean” or “blue ocean.” However, don’t make the mistake of choosing a market space only because it has very little competition. Remember that entrepreneurs succeed in hugely competitive markets all the time. All that’s required is a change of strategy. In a competitive market space, you have to differentiate yourself from other affiliates.

In the last analysis, you will be much more successful with a market space when you choose one based on how it interests you, not on how competitive it seems to be. For more information, refer to our course module on selecting a market space for your campaign.

Affiliate Swim is a teaching site for online entrepreneurs who want to learn how to launch affiliate campaigns.

You can study our free affiliate marketing course in the Coaching section. For additional support, you can join our Facebook group for free coaching from experts and other students, as our time allows.

Once you launch your campaign, check out the store, which has many different nice-to-have items for most online entrepreneurs.