Are you trying to be a selfish bastard affiliate? That’s a sure way to go broke in the affiliate marketing world.

What do I mean by this? Well, first let me share my point of view on what affiliate marketing really is. My view is that an affiliate marketer’s job is to connect consumers looking for a solution to their problems with products and services that will solve those problems. That to me is affiliate marketing.

So to be an effective affiliate marketer you have to find people with problems and connect them to a possible solution.  Luckily for us, there are a lot of people out there with “problems”.

Where I think a lot of new affiliates go wrong is being stuck in their own minds and not being able to see through the eyes of anyone else. They look at an offer for “payday loans” for example and selfishly proclaim "I wouldn’t get a payday loan, those things are a scam" or they see an offer for roofing services and think "I don’t need a roof."

Affiliate marketing is not about you and your problems you selfish bastard so get over yourself if you ever want to succeed as an affiliate. It’s about other people, their problems and connecting them to possible solutions.

My Battle As A Selfish Bastard Affiliate

I used to have a big problem with this when I first started as an affiliate.  I was looking at things from a very selfish bastard point of view.  I went looking for offers that I would personally buy myself and got really frustrated because a lot of the affiliate networks didn’t carry much of anything I would buy myself. The reality of it is that networks carry offers that a lot of “average” people are buying. If millions of people are looking for payday loans, then they will carry offers for payday loans, regardless if you need one or not.

If for some reason there is a big demand for roofing contractors, or underwater basket weaving lessons then that is what they will carry as well.  The bottom line is that you and I are probably not the “average” person, so regardless what you decide to promote as an affiliate you’re going to have to start looking through the eyes of your consumer, not through your own.

For example, my personal point of view on payday loans is that they are an expensive way to borrow money.  I have never personally used a payday loan service as to me, paying $15 or $20 to borrow a couple of hundred bucks is way too high of a price.  However, there are millions of people out there using payday loan services, so if I wanted to promote these products as an affiliate I would have to get myself into the minds of the people who use these services.

To do that I may ask myself a question like “In what situation would I use a payday loan?”  Well, if I was an employee and I lost my job, and then I found a new job but my first paycheck was not for another three weeks and I needed to pay my electrical bill because they were about shut off my electricity and I had nobody else I could borrow the money from and the payday loan cost me $20, but the reconnection charge on my electrical bill was going to cost me $55, then I would probably get a payday loan.

I could think of hundreds of situations where a payday loan may be a smart, logical choice given the other alternatives to my situation.  Now, I may not be in that kind of situation myself but can I put myself in the shoes of someone who is?  Well, that’s the question you really need to ask as an affiliate.

Can you see the world through the eyes of someone else besides yourself?  If you did need a new roof for your house, wouldn’t it be cool to be able to find a website that arms you with roofing contractor information in your local area? 

I know this is not an easy thing for some people to get past mentally, because they’ve never “promoted” anything they haven’t owned themselves.  The only “sales” most people have ever done is talking to their friends about something they bought themselves. 

I look at this like being the owner of The “Only Stuff I Buy” Store, where the only inventory that the store carries is stuff you own yourself.

If you walk into this store looking for a toaster, the store only carries one brand and model of toaster – the same one that the owner owns.  The store only carries one brand and model of a TV – yup, you guessed it, the same brand and model that the owner owns.  You ask if the store carries an electric kettle, and the owner says “No way, I would never use one of those!”

How long do you think a store like that would last?  I mean, maybe if you were a celebrity and people went in to purchase the same goods as you as a novelty, but outside of that you’re much better off stocking your shelves with things that people are looking for, not stuff that you would buy yourself.

What About Scams?

Some people look at some of the affiliate offers that you can find on the networks and see them as being “scams”, such as the reverse billing weight-loss offers that offer a “free” trial and then bill your credit card if you don’t cancel within the first 14 days.  If you don’t feel comfortable promoting things like that, that’s completely your choice, but realize that the reason those offers are successful is because people buy them.

I remember when cellular phones first came out and people were complaining how they were “scams” because they went in, get a “free phone” and then found out they were stuck in a 3 year contract with the cell company. 

Listen, I’ve never seen a cell phone store put a gun to someone’s head and force them to sign a 3 year contract.  People walk in, want the shiny new phone, and they sign a 3 year contract to get it.  If they didn’t listen to the clerk telling them that they are signing a 3 year contract because they were too busy playing with their new toy, and they didn’t read what they were signing, that’s stupidity on their part.  I know it sounds harsh, but if you’re old enough to sign contracts then you should be smart enough to read what you’re signing.  If you’re not, then you pay “stupid tax”.  I’m sorry, but that’s just the way the world is.  I’ve paid my share of “stupid tax” in life and then I learned to take responsibility for myself.

Today, when it comes to cell phones, people hardly blink an eye at signing contracts.  It’s pretty much assumed that the networks are going to sign you into a contract in exchange for a cheaper price on the cell phone. 

Most people no longer complain about this, because for most people it’s a better idea to pay less for a cell phone up front and sign a contract since they will most likely have a cell phone for the next three years anyways, so why not?  I got my iPhone for free that way, instead of shelling out $600 when they first came out.

To me, a real “scam” is where an advertiser is doing something illegal or where an offer is being promoted in a deceitful way.  Most of the time, the line between “scam” and “clever marketing” is quite thin and ultimately you have to decide for yourself what you feel comfortable promoting and how.  If you step over the line and do something illegal or promote things in a deceitful way, you’re thinking short term and eventually you’ll get shut down.

The main thing, however is to realize that even if you don’t feel comfortable in promotin
g a product in a certain way, don’t give up on the industry or product all together.  If you know of a better way to promote weight-loss products, or cell phones, or roofing services or whatever else people out there are looking for, then get creative and find a way to connect people with these solutions they’re looking for instead of bitching about what’s currently working out there.

Becoming Unselfish

Here’s a cool little exercise you can use to help you out as a new affiliate if you’re struggling to promote products that you wouldn’t buy yourself.

1. Sign up with one of the affiliate networks out there, such as Amped Media or Market Leverage, for example.  Find an offer for a product that is totally for something that is the last thing you would buy yourself.  Find something that is totally not interesting to you.  Let’s use payday loans as an example.
2. Read the offer page and get familiar with exactly what the advertiser is promoting.  What kind of payday loan is it?  What are the benefits of this payday loan offer over others?  How is it different?
3. Now, remove yourself from within your mind.  Pretend your mind is floating out of your head, up into the sky and is now floating up in the sky overlooking your city or country.  Now ask yourself “What kind of person or situation would I have to be in, where a payday loan would be the perfect solution to my problem?”   Now imagine your mind floating into the head of a person who’s in that exact situation, looking for a payday loan.
4. See them sitting at their computer, looking through their eyes.  What do they look for on the Internet?  What keywords are they searching for?  How do they describe their problem?  What is their life situation?  Where do they live?  How do they buy things? etc.
5. Now go back to your own life, and picture yourself in a situation similar to theirs.  What circumstances would you have to be in, in order for a payday loan to be a good solution to your problem?  List 10-25 benefits of getting a payday loan in that situation.

Now, if you can successfully pick one of the least interesting offers to you and become interested in it, assuming you were in a certain situation in life, then you’ll be able to find a way to not only feel comfortable in promoting that offer, you’ll also be able to think of ways to communicate with people in that situation.

Being able to see problems and solutions like this from the point of view of other people will be extremely helpful to you in your affiliate marketing efforts.  Unless of course you still just want to run The “Only Stuff I Buy” Store.  If so, that’s cool too.  Less competition for my store.