Newbie "Failures Of the Galaxy" Summary (19)
A certain trend has been poppin up at the STM forum, which bothers me a bit for several reasons (no offense, take it as a tip). Maybe this helps out newbies to discourage them jumping into AM, or open their eyes so they see it's a real thing. Excuse me for being a douche or such, at the end I am here to save the world and bring worldpeace yarrr know!
Average newbie step-by-step road to failure;
1. Newbies signing up to STM to get to know affiliate marketing
2. Newbie reads one or two guides of caurmen/vortex/zeno/matuloo/mr green etc
3. Newbie rips landers of Adplexity (or other sneaky tool)
4. Newbie starts a Follow Along - going in hoping to hit the jackpot ofcourse - with some fancy/catchy title (mostly about getting rich fast)
5. Newbie asking all type of questions without really having a direction
6. Performance sucks, never measure what's really lacking during the campaign, newbie getting discouraged
7. Newbie Follow Along bleeding to dead
8. Newbie silent, but opening a new thread saying he/she jumped to a new vertical traffic source, cuz everybody saying this and that
9. Newbie gone, because again not having a clue what to do exactly
Most of time it lacks of;
1. passion
2. a solid plan/strategy
3. reading enough, one guide is not going to help you out in AM
4. a certain preference/focus on a vertical and/or traffic source
I know this forum is to help out newbies, but I see real experts taking time and effort to help people out on Follow Alongs which bleed to dead. Which is a shame, because all topics containing solid and golden feedback of several members, but will be forgotten totally at the end....
Affiliate marketing isn't something you can do without;
1. dedication, passion, enthousiasm, persistance, patience, staying calm and keep a clear view
2. knowledge of what you are doing exactly step by step
3. knowledge of what traffic sources you are using
4. knowledge of what type of campaign you are pushing
5. knowledge of your audience (at least a bit)
AFFILIATE MARKETING IS NOT AN EASY WAY TO GET RICH IN SHORT TIME IF YOU ARE NOT OPEN TO REALLY DEDICATE YOURSELVES TO THIS!
*don't hesitate to fill me in, spoil the party or comment on whatever you want ofcourse 
This has been happening ever since I joined STM ... I guess that's just the way it works.
Some people simply won't make it, and there is nothing wrong about it, that's how it works in EVERY business type out there. What I'm proud of, is that every newbie get's our help, nobody is denied. And it's not just the follow alongs, its a ton of PMs, replies in countless threads and other means of communication whether it's in real live or online. The STM community won't say NO to anyone.
Those that have what it takes (your points sum it up nicely) , will find their success faster with STM for sure.
The only thing I'm a bit SAD about, is that very small % of those that actually make it with our help, do post about it here on the forum. We, the mods, know it ... because we are getting those PMs and meet at conferences, but people simply love to keep this info private. This makes it look like not many actually find profits in AM, but it's very far from the truth 
pure gold, thanks for sharing
AM is not an easy game and it's not a get rich quick scheme at all.
But on the other side it can make you rich faster than any other way I've ever seen and experienced. (except maybe crypto)
And of course that you must have passion!
You have to work hard, getting through even when you see those red bleeding campaigns every time you hit that magic refresh button.
It's not easy, it hurts, it makes you going crazy.
But you have to work towards your goals, if others can make it you can make it for sure too!
...
And regarding newbies, I think it's normal.
Not everyone has what it needs to have for AM.
Some people heard something about AM, so they come to discover and after they realise maybe it's not something they've imagined at the first place, so they simply quit.
When I started and joined STM I also quit in the first time.
I was bleeding, didn't have those big budgets and balls at those times, so I simply quit.
It took me about up to 1 year to come back again with more power and money in my pocket, until I was able to "hit the jackpot".
...
And now as we may all know it's not the easiest time for AM at the moment, so I not wonder newbies quit faster, when I can see "experts" quitting around.
Just my 2 cents.
I love AM!
@matuloo; Ofcourse this must have been a thing from the start, but I am here around for 3 years now and I see more and more people opening Follow Alongs, but asking quite "general" questions upfront already. Straight sign they didn't read enough IMHO.
- it sucks indeed the mods and experts don't get the credits they deserve
- it looks like the most (more and more) of them don't make it, because it's somehow presented as an easy way to make money
@erik, I really wonder how many of them put effort in it like you and take out a year or such to become succesful.
In general I hope this trend won't grow bigger, people take it serious and mods/experts/members won't be sucked dry or get discouraged giving feedback after a while.
The thing with affiliate marketing is that it's really hard to get into at the moment.
There is a lot of knowledge that you need to grasp before you can start doing anything.
And let's not forget about budgets, you really need a solid budget especially if you are a newbie who never launched a campaign.
There's also the thing about blackhat and whitehat. To be honest to make it in the BH affiliate marketing world as a newbie it's gonna be a long and hard road. Nobody is gonna tell you anything and the only things you're gonna find out publicly is how to push traffic with pops and native. I know it's a start for some, but we all know that in order to make big money in AM, we have to do shady things. Things that you are able to find out only by testing a lot an churning through a lot of money, or by joining into some inside circles.
I'm not saying AM is all about doing shady things, there's of course e-commerce,dropshipping, offers that can be promoted more leniently, but who wants to do that? There are thousands of courses, guides, related to those fields, people joining STMforum want to know about those juicy offers and how to push them, and there isn't much public discussion about this recently.
Personally I see Affiliate Marketing as a rat race, where you constantly have to adapt and come up with new things, otherwise the competition is gonna get the best of you. Also you need to keep in touch and get in a circle with top affiliates to find out what works, and what doesn't, it will be much easier and time/money consuming that way, considering you can also contribute to the group.
Just my personal opinion on how to see affiliate marketing at the moment, take it with a grain of salt
Originally Posted by blackemil
WH are most of time campaigns which convert less, makes it harder for a newbie to get money in. This factor, convince people to convert is in my opinion way harder than "tricking" traffic sources to avoid they see you are doing BH (lots of tools are offered for that).
Would love to hear some more about this from others, since I am constantly getting questions if someone should start with BH or WH.
Solid points here Stickupkid!
Without any doubts the idea of "making money online" is attractive to almost anyone - If it was that easy, I would have involved my mother into this as well!
Jokes aside... If we take a look on social networks, blogs, and so on, we can quickly realize how much content is being promoted around this topic, making it look like one can easily wake up the next day being the next killer online marketer of the century. But unfortunately, it's just not like that. More than 90% of this content and guides is shit!
In my opinion, if one wants to make it in AM (especially in a one man show scenario) has to be a freaking multitasker, while at the same time have the right focus, be patient, systematic and most importantly take one step at a time. Unfortunately, many people fail on this last one.
When I first started I didn't have a clue about paid traffic, marketing terms, angles, coding (html, css, js), bidding, split-testing etc. To be honest, it wasn't easy at all. Despite the urge to start and generate money on campaigns, I realized that I needed to first learn the basics, then go over each step one by one, otherwise all my time and money was wasted - where by "wasted" I mean not learning a pretty damn thing.
One thing that somehow "bothers" me the most is that, many new comers fail to follow major part of those constructive tips and suggestions provided by moderators and other members. Instead they are just looking for a quick solution to their specific situation without trying to read and analyze their data.
10. newbie doesn't know the campaign DETAILS
You need to know the exact conversion point. Know where your pixel fires, thats where you make money!
Also know the whole funnel by heart.
If there's a phone number on there? BAD! this will decrease your CR!
If theres an "buy on amazon" button on the second page of the funnel? BAD! this will decrease your CR!
If the page loads too slow or gives an error message in some browser? BAD! this will decrease your CR!
How many fields does the user need to fill out?
How many pages is the funnel?
How long does it take you vs. your mom to go thru the conversion funnel?
When and how much are the rebills?
How much is the minimum vs maximum cost to the final user?
How long before I can get out and how much does that cost?
How long does shipping take on average?
What abour returns?
Know every tiny detail about the conversion funnel of your campaign and if you don't like the funnel - don't run the campaign!
So many newbies have no clue about the campaign details. They're constantly optimizing traffic and focusing on the traffic source, not knowing that a lot of improvements could be made in their prelanders by explaining the funnel better. If the user sees you understand and MASTER the product, funnel and all the details about the campaign, they'll convert way more easily.
Originally Posted by platinum
To me AM is a bit a like professional trading (e.g. "day trading") - it is REQUIRED to loose $20k before you start making money. It's your education budget. However, like AM, trading is perceived by general public as "make money fast" kinda industry, which is totally incorrect. It's a LOOSE money fast industry -- that entry $20k hopefully you learn from loosing.
Originally Posted by simputer
For some campaigns you will lose $20k+ but not for those that newbies get into.
The quickest way to lose $20k in AM as a newbie is probably buying bad "get rich quick" courses.
Originally Posted by manu_adefy
). But point is AM is not a "make money by only investing your time" industry, which is how it looks for most newbies. It requires investing real money, for most individuals what would be significant amounts, to get yourself educated. And by "educated" I obviously don't mean buying any online courses, I mean burning through budget while you learn how to run camps into green.
Yeah, true you pay for data and experience. Just that it should be way less than $20k.
Time also matters - up to a certain extent, the more time you put in, the less money you need to put it. I see what you mean comparing it to trading though. ��
I have tried trading and yes there is something that AM and trading have in common, also playing poker is similar. Can't really define what it is, but there are some similarities
It also pays to mention that AM isn't just about paid traffic, there is SEO, social marketing and other organic means of growing traffic, where time is pretty much the only investment needed.
I think it important to provide proper naive noob input, as everyone here is lvl 6 or above and well versed in the industry. @stickupkid budget is a big factor these days. Also, you need to master complex technologies that everyone (except you) is understandably vague AF about such as:
Account generation
- New software
- SIM
Payment
- VCC
- Amex
- Business LLC
Cloaking
Safe pages
Comment management
Landers
- PHP
- Java
- HTML
Photoshop
Spying
FB Pixel
Tracking
Offers
1. Newbies signing up to STM to get to know affiliate marketing
2. Newbie reads one or two guides of caurmen/vortex/zeno/matuloo/mr green etc
3. Newbie rips landers of Adplexity (or other sneaky tool)
4. Newbie starts a Follow Along - going in hoping to hit the jackpot ofcourse - with some fancy/catchy title (mostly about getting rich fast)
5. Newbie asking all type of questions without really having a direction
6. Performance sucks, never measure what's really lacking during the campaign, newbie getting discouraged
7. Newbie Follow Along bleeding to dead
8. Newbie silent, but opening a new thread saying he/she jumped to a new vertical traffic source, cuz everybody saying this and that
9. Newbie gone, because again not having a clue what to do exactly
now I will recharge my budget and invest the time during recharge I will read more and set the actual plan what I do for 1 month or over
thanks for Punch on the face to see facts
Originally Posted by iiabed8
now I will recharge my budget and invest the time during recharge I will read more and set the actual plan what I do for 1 month or over
thanks for Punch on the face to see facts
i hope to find the right path , thanks for information
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