One of my personal trainers used to have a saying that “the last couple of reps of an exercise are the ones that make all the difference in your workout.”  His point was that pushing yourself through those last couple of reps, where you are struggling to keep your form and feel like you can’t do any more, is where you drive the greatest results.  This is where you are pushing your muscles beyond what is easy and comfortable and by doing so, build more muscle. 

I think this philosophy also makes a lot of sense for affiliate marketers.  I have written about pushing your boundaries before and this is a similar idea, but it relates more to getting the most out of every campaign you run. 

Think about one of your more successful campaigns.  (Hopefully, you have plenty to consider!)  There was probably a lot of hard work involved in getting the campaign up and running and optimizing it until it became profitable.  You tweaked your keyword list, revised your ad copy, or adjusted your media buys and the offer is now in the black.  This is definitely a great moment.  All that hard work has paid off and you are starting to make money.  But, truly successful affiliates know that this isn’t time relax. 

This moment is just like when you have completed your 12^th rep at the gym.  Your muscles are fatigued and you could easily stop right now and feel like you just completed a good set.  That is exactly what most people will do.  Stop, take a break, and then move on to the next set or exercise.  But, someone who is serious about getting the most out of their workout will push through the moment and do a few more reps before finally hitting their real limit.  Those extra reps will make all the difference in their results (more muscle, etc.).

For the successful affiliate, getting a campaign to start generating profit marks the time to really focus on that offer and see just how much profit they can generate from it.  They keep testing creatives, optimizing keyword lists, and looking for ways to improve performance until it is as profitable as possible.  They repeat this process on every campaign, never settling for ‘good’ results when ‘great’ results are possible.

It’s easy to settle for good enough.  You have a campaign that is profitable.  Plenty of affiliate marketers never get to this point on a campaign.  But, now is the time you decide what kind of affiliate you want to be.  Are you satisfied with making a little extra cash or do you want to build a business?  Is your goal to simply be profitable or do you hope to one day make affiliate marketing a full-time job? 

There isn’t really a right or wrong answer here.  Not everyone who gets into affiliate marketing really plans on turning it into a career (although a huge number do set this as a goal).  Each person needs to decide how much time and effort they are willing to put into it and what their eventual goals really are.  It is the same at the gym.  There are plenty of people who work out regularly, but don’t really push themselves through those last tough reps.  But, if they are happy with their progress, then they are reaching their goals. 

But, if you want to excel and stand out from the crowd (even the relatively successful crowd) then you have to put in that extra effort that takes you over the top.  Think about this the next time you feel happy with the performance of a campaign.

Filed under: Affiliate Tips by Tom Wozniak