Today, we are introducing a new feature on the affiliate.com blog called Advice from the Pros, where we will post a question with responses from a variety of well-known bloggers and industry pros.  If you would like to respond to the question yourself, submit a comment with your answer.   If you enjoy this kind of post and would like to see more “Advice from the Pros” and similar features in the future, just let me know.  Now, on to our first question.

What’s the best piece of advice you ever received during your career in affiliate marketing?

Jeremy Schoemaker
This will probably sound corny but the best piece of advice I ever got was in 2005 when an affiliate manager cold-called me and told me she thought my ringtone website would do well with their ringtone offers.  I put in a few links and bam – tripled that site’s revenue.

It sound simple but many people don’t just start putting affiliate links in their content when its relevant.

Jonathan Volk
Probably some of the best advice I got was, “If you’re not feeling uncomfortable, then you’re not pushing yourself enough.” This is something that Jeremy Schoemaker told me and it has constantly stuck with me. Sometimes it can be uncomfortable to grow and have to work harder, longer, and smarter. It’s in those times of discomfort that I remember I am in the right place and that those pains will eventually lead to more success, growth, and overall, put me where I want to be.

Logan Thompson
The best piece of advice I’ve received came from my good friend Eric Nagel (www.ericnagel.com), which was that you can’t afford not to go to industry conferences. It’s amazing how much I’ve increased my business by networking with people at affiliate conferences.  ”I can’t afford it” is not a good excuse to miss them.

Shawn Collins
Be patient. Sustained revenue streams take a while to build, so you’re looking at months, if not years, before you can support yourself with affiliate marketing. It can be tough to invest time and money when there is no profit in sight, but if you stick with it, you can be among the minority who succeed.

Danger Brown
The best advice I ever received. Hmmm….I’ll have to cheat and give two answers. “Duplicate/replicate your successes, and pay yourself a salary.”-multiple sources. Duplicating successes can mean a lot of things. For example it might mean repeating a strategy that worked, or copying successful campaigns to new traffic sources. That advice relates to earning money.

The second part relates to handling that money. This industry can provide a very unstable sort of income. One must be prepared to weather the bad times. I generally pay myself a modest salary of only $3000/month even if my business is earning much more than that. Once in a while we’ll cheat and splurge on something like a vacation, but even then, we never spend more than 50% of our income.

Filed under: Advertiser Tips, Affiliate Tips by Tom Wozniak
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