8 Key Differences Between Super Affiliates and Struggling Affiliates
March 24th, 2010
Written by: Mark Ling, Guest Author
Since I’ve been a successful affiliate marketer for a long time and have coached many affiliates on how to be more successful, I thought it could be helpful write about the key differences that I see between the mindsets of super affiliates and struggling affiliates.
If you have dabbled in affiliate marketing but aren’t making a killing yet, then you might find that some of the differences I mention below are issues you need to resolve first.
1. Super affiliates take action towards their goals, while struggling affiliates often procrastinate, or spend too much time overeducating or preparing themselves and not enough time DOING. Super affiliates are usually prepared to fail fast and often, learning from their mistakes, rather than not making any progress at all.
2. Super affiliates invest their money in software, marketing, and outsourcing, and then spend what is left. Struggling affiliates spend the vast majority of their money on other parts of their lives, and then invest what is left in their online business.
3. Super affiliates invest their time in networking with and learning from other successful people, whereas struggling affiliates often try to work alone, or listen to people who have a negative influence on them. In addition, super affiliates try to learn as much as possible from other successful people through books, audio, or DVDs. This is especially important when you’re not in a position or location where you can network with other successful Internet marketers face to face.
4. On a similar note, super affiliates enjoy the process of learning, even when they’re learning from their failures. Struggling affiliates often don’t enjoy having to constantly learn new techniques and ideas, and don’t appreciate the experience of failing in order to learn and grow.
5. Most super affiliates understand the power of their mind and focus on developing strong self belief and an abundance mindset, whereas struggling affiliates can get derailed by negative self-talk, focusing on what is going wrong in their lives and in their affiliate marketing efforts.
6. Most super affiliate millionaires that I’ve met in person (and I’ve met dozens) only focus on one or two niches. It’s true that most have experimented in many other niches in order to find the ‘golden’ one or two that work for them. Struggling affiliates, though, are often scattered all over the place, and even when they find a niche that makes them money, they keep moving on to the next niche without fully maximizing their potential or getting to know a niche in extreme depth.
7. Most super affiliates build a strong mailing list through email capture and make regular repeat sales to the same people. Struggling affiliates often like to skip the process of building a website to gain leads and focus on direct traffic, missing out on the chance of repeat sales and having more marketing opportunities.
8. Most super affiliate millionaires I know, including myself, make the vast majority of their money from the big competitive niches, and not from the smaller, less competitive niches. Super affiliates are not afraid of competition, whereas many struggling affiliates are. Super affiliates realize that to make big money, you have to go where the big money is. I’ll clarify this by saying that small niches are good to sink your teeth into early on and to make some sales, but in the long run, to make 7 figures or more online, you need to get good at marketing in one of the major niches where billions of dollars are being spent (e.g., diet/fitness, make money online, dating/relationships niches, self-help, security software, etc.).
I hope the above differences between super affiliates and struggling affiliates inspire you to upgrade your mindset and start thinking and acting like a super affiliate! Above all, make sure you follow point #1: super affiliates take action towards their goals.
All the best to your success!
About the Author
Mark Ling is the Founder of Affilorama, an affiliate marketing training portal that offers cutting-edge free video training, education, and affiliate tools to both beginning and advanced affiliate marketers. You can follow Affilorama on Facebook or read Affilorama’s Affiliate Marketing Blog.
About Beau BlackwellBeau is the Client Knowledge Guru for ClickBank and covers the latest trends, tips and techniques for building profitable Internet marketing businesses.
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Posted in Affiliate Tips, Strategies for Success | 
Tags: affiliate marketing, affiliates, strategies, success, super affiliates
great article…
Many thanks for the informative and educative article.
Great article Mark! I am a struggling affiliate and have come to realise at least two of those points and am now actively moving into greener pastures. I wish i ahd read this 12 month’s ago
I will listen and lesson the advise given. At this moment I’m still in struggling affiliate category. Hopefully it will change later..
Thanks for the post there is good info one thing I am worried about is if I should move on or stay with the two niches where I have made a sale
thanks for the good info. Really appreciate it.
Hi Mark
The article just re-affirms why I am one of your premium members. The mistake many affiliates make, is that they believe the more niches they tackle, the more money they will make and that includes myself.
Problem is though, if you are running a one man operation and not in a position to outsource yet, you simply won’t have time to do things properly if you are working on many niches.
Your article has helped me again to focus and take action on one or maybe two niches instead of forever searching for the “golden nugget”.
I agree, too much reading or over education and doing absolutely nothing is the main cause of struggling affiliates. The bad news is this habit is not easily overcome.
In a way very basic points. I was expecting super-secret techniques or methods here, but despite being very general advice, I think it’s profound because it’s the foundation upon which everything else builds.
Thanks for this worthwhile reminder.
However, you have to strike the right balance between point 1. and point 3:
“1. [...] struggling affiliates often procrastinate, or spend too much time overeducating or preparing themselves”
“3. [...]super affiliates try to learn as much as possible from other successful people through books, audio, or DVDs[...]”
That’s almost contradictory, no?
Thank you for making this article succinct and straight to the point. You expertly described the differences of both mindsets. I’m going to print this out and hang it on my wall so I can keep in mind the habits of Super Affiliates. This info has really helped me see more clearly and I truly appreciate that you took time to help the rest of us!
Internet Marketing ABC,
Actually in my mind they’re not necessarily contradictory. You can’t make any progress without first putting some time into the learning aspect, but the key is that before you can actually start seeing results, you have to put down the books or turn off the training videos and ACT. There can certainly be too much prep, and it often leads people to try to get things perfect the first time, rather than just trying something, failing, and adjusting their techniques based on the real-world experience they got. Because no matter what program you try or who you listen to, you’re never going to know the best techniques for your situation, niche, and skill set until you actually try putting things into action.
The other key that I think Mark is getting at is that even though they’re already very successful, super affiliates see learning as an ongoing process. They don’t rest on their laurels if they want to stay successful- they recognize that they need to keep learning and master new skills if they want to stay on top of their game, even when they’re busy actually doing.
I found this article to be inspiring and think it will help me to stay on the ball.
Great article. It’s the detailed focus people who procrastinate and I am unfortunately one of those!
Great points to focus on if you want to succeed on line. Succinct and yet pithy. Many thanks.
Hi Mark,
Great article, especially for someone like me who has only started about 1 week now. I am so lost. I am actively working everyday on the affiliate promos etc, my problem is and I see no-one has mentioned this yet, everything you need to be successful costs money.The links take you to great and exciting pages that tell you how much money you can make without having to spend any money, and then….click here to find out more…..order now….this is when you need to have money. I looked at this because I have been unemployed for many months now, and at my wits end about trying to place food on the table for my kids, where do I get money to invest in a website (sometimes needed) Adwords, other ads? I am rearing to go, but money stops me. Some advice with regards to this will really help. Thanks J
Jay,
If you don’t have much (or any) money to spend to get started, you might want to check out this post we had a while back on 5 steps to making your first sale. The techniques listed in it take a bit longer than doing Adwords advertising, but are free and should continue bringing in sales:
http://www.clickbank.com/blog/2010/01/13/5-steps-to-making-your-first-sale-as-an-affiliate-marketer/
Hope that helps!
Nicely presented A perfect post for learning. I wish if I had finance, I could have joined your affiliate classes.
Well, quite interesting article. The main crux of the article is “Do It”,”Get Going”.
I think that is good advice! -Just start acting!Find something in demand and start marketing to it -NOW!
Having said that, it also is fact that a large percentage of super affiliates prey on the “unsuccessful” “just starting out” and “struggling” affiliates to make sales and money. The new affiliate/online marketer is bombarded by hype on what to do to be successful.
My advice, don’t waste your money. There is plenty of free information on the internet to get started “Doing”. Then, once making sales/profits, you can expand your learning curve by further coping what the “pros” are doing. Sign-up to competing websites to your niche to see what they are doing. Take the best ideas and “twist” them to your use.Do not plagiarize their material,but don’t re-invent the wheel either.
Now get busy!
A lot of great wisdom in this article. Both mindset and investments in personal education are essential to becoming a super affiliate.
Nice Article..,thanks much..
great information. Thnaks for sharing
hey guys i just started this lastnight and to be honest with you everything that he pointed out i did … so can anyone give me lamens terms so i can better understand what i need to do here ?
Thats my aha for today. Thanks a lot, Mark. This really helped!
This was the first blog post I read here and I never forget it. It has helped my efforts tremendously.
i read the article and it suggested that to become a super affiliate one has to be a doer than a thinker. i can be one because i am not afraid to fail,
This is one of the more important articles on Affiliate Marketing I’ve read in a long time.
You are correct in your recommendations. Many of the affiliates I work with spend too much time thinking before they act. In essence, you can always test and ad and if it doesn’t work, you simply take it down or redirect to another ad. That’s the beauty of the internet vs. traditional media buying. You don’t have to invest $13,000 for a full page newspaper ad to run on one day. You simply test and ad and talk to your affiliate manager if your results are less than ideal. That’s what we’re here for!
Ryan Jacobson
Wow I must say, you have created a ray of hope within me once again, well I am one of those struggling affiliates I was totally demotivated before but after reading this article I feel as if its my re birth, and very well phrased in your article that, “Super affiliates invest their time in networking with and learning from other successful people, whereas struggling affiliates often try to work alone, very well said I have now understod where I was going wrong, and infact when you are new you need to give full dedication of 8-10 hrs a day jus like your job to understand all the pros and cons of affiliate marketing.
Thank You Sir
Hello Mark, you enlightened me, let me see if I can successfully adopt at least 60% of the points listed by you. Regards, Madhan.
Great information. I heard someone say that it is important to “Fail Fast Forward.” I think that many folks get caught up in analysis paralysis and fail to actually take action. I have to fight this tendency myself. I need to be doing more!
Thanks!
Macky
great article, some interesting thoughts which I will dive into..thanks
Great article, great summary of super affiliate behavior. Great for push newbies over the edge and get them completely out or in!
Sometimes I just assume all of the cash after so long comes from referrals and advertising. I can’t imagine them spending tons of time A-B testing links or themes on anything else but their personal website.
Wow you guys are really the Gurus, Thank you very much, I have just started as an affiliate marker and am intent to put in absolutely maximum hard work and to make sure i get my desire result. Thank you
Excellent article Mark, thank you very much for sharing your observations with the rest of us.
I will continue to focus my efforts in the highly competitive affiliate market place. I know that time is on my side. I have plenty of time and each day my efforts get better. Thanks for the advice.
Very interactive information.. I like it
thank’s for sharing
I have a hard time doing the #1 in the article.
Mark Link is the real super affiliate, he can make thousand dollars sending a few emails. The tips are sound and solid advice. Thank you so much!
Great insights backed by real world experience. I like the approach of starting in several smaller niches until you find your groove. That’s the fast track to learning what works.
This advice is sound as Mark Ling is the real super affiliate. Thanks for your contribution to affiliate marketing community.
Pretty basic stuff that was covered in the article. Most of it is covered in Marketing 101.
Not to be insulting, but anyone who wants to succeed with anything needs to put a concerted effort in regardless of what people think of them personally. It is nice to see that the steps are laid out for anyone to follow.
Great Article. I read this when it was first put up and come across it again today.
Get those negative influences out of your life and out of your head.
Thanks Mark.
Nice article.
I am one of the affiliates (not super yet) who goes for it, takes risks and have beared losses at time. With every mistake and loss, i have learnt a lot and have grown.
Infact through mistakes, i have basically covered all the 8 points above.
Thanks
I like this article but don’t concur with all of your points. Can not dispute with the general tone though. Well crafted too!