These days, a lot of Affiliate Marketing newbies jump into the industry with both feet first before creating a business plan, and it quickly leads to failure.
If you want to be a successful affiliate marketer, it’s crucial that you have a plan in place because it’s gonna be your roadmap to earning an income on the internet.
So today, I’m sharing 5 steps that you can implement right now as a beginner for creating a plan and mapping out your long-term success…
Table of Contents
#1: Establish Some Goals (Find Your WHY)
Your journey must start off by setting some clear and concise short-range as well as long-range goals.
How much money would you like to be making online in 3, 6, 9, 12 months from now? How about 3, 5 or 10 years down the line?
Set big ambitious goals but always start small – goals that will be easy to accomplish when you’re just starting out online because as you achieve your income targets, it will motivate you and set you up for bigger goals.
However, setting income goals alone won’t be enough and should never be your primary reason for getting started with affiliate marketing, since you’ll just become a money-hungry monster who will never feel satisfied.
So your second task is to find your “WHY“.
Really dig down deep into your heart and soul to find out why you want to start an online biz in the first place and earn the amounts of money that you’ve recorded.
Trust me, when you have REAL reasons for building a web-based business, that’s when the game gets exciting because it gives you a purpose.
#2: Set a Budget to Keep Your Biz Ticking Along
With numerous internet marketing strategies and tools/services available for building a successful biz, you must have a budget in place – well, at least until you start making a profit because the income will help cover your expenses.
Your costs will depend on the direction you pick – whether it’s blogging and SEO or building sales funnels, email marketing and paid ads, to name a few examples.
Do your research online to get a rough idea of the costs for the resources you’ll need and then set your budget accordingly.
Also, ensure that your budget covers a good number of months because it will enable your business to run smoothly and give it enough time to grow.
In my experience, there’s nothing worse than your budget drying up and your biz coming to a complete standstill.
#3: Create a Schedule (Time = Money)
You have two choices… Either the day runs you or you run the day.
To be a successful affiliate, you must choose the latter and design a daily schedule – setting aside a few hours each day for focusing on your business.
Unfortunately, we all lead busy lives and only have 24 hours in the day to get stuff done. It’s just life, I’m afraid.
But you can “MAKE” time by getting up an hour or two earlier in the mornings and also cutting out the junk like TV, video gaming, and social media, etc.
Make sacrifices and you will free up more than enough time for becoming profitable on the net.
You simply need to choose how many hours you’re willing to invest and the daily time slots for building your biz, and then write it down.
I’ve found the best way to create a daily schedule is by planning a week in advance so you have a clear picture of the next 7 days.
It also enables you to easily plan other stuff and become a better organized person in life.
#4: Choose a Direction (Pick a Niche)
Many affiliate noobs fail to choose a niche (aka a group of people) and simply just roll with any product or service that turns a few bucks in commissions.
If you wanna make real money online, you must “know your audience”.
The only way to know your audience is to choose something you’re very passionate about or have an interest in and thoroughly research that topic.
Use Q&A sites like Quora to find the biggest questions asked by folks within your niche, and also browse marketplaces like Amazon for finding products to promote that inspire you.
Another great way to research topics/products is via my recommended keyword tool – it gives you 30 searches for free.
In my experience, dabbling in various niches that you have ZERO interest in (just for the sake of making money) is never gonna make you successful.
Choose a passion and roll with it.
Heck, you could even have multiple passions, but it’s best to become profitable with one first before moving on to the next.
#5: Find Awesome Training, Tools & Support
Once your business plan is in place, your final task is to go out there and find the right step-by-step training, tools, and support you need for creating a successful business from scratch.
Believe me, it’s not such an easy task because with TONS of scams, it’s very easy for newbies to get caught up and lose money.
I’ve been there many times and the experience is disheartening.
So do your due diligence and let Google be your friend by helping you to research various platforms.
Lookup reviews, forums, and also watchdog sites like Better Business Bureau (BBB) and Ripoff Report, to name some.
You’ll get some great insights into what’s legit and what will take you for a fool.
Write a list of the legit programs that provide you with the necessary training, resources, and support. And pick just one platform that suites your needs and budget.
In fact, I’ve already done the work for you! LOL…
==> See my #1 Pick For EVERYTHING You Need For A Profitable Affiliate Biz!
Wrapping it up…
Affiliate Marketing consists of many moving parts, so what I’ve discussed here is just the tip of the iceberg, in my opinion.
But apply the 5 steps outlined in this article and you will be on your way to building a very successful affiliate marketing biz. Obviously, “hard work” is also a key component, so it goes without saying.
However you design your biz plan is entirely up to you, but I highly recommend “goal setting” as your top priority because goals will lay the foundations of your business.
Your Friend, Neil 😀
If you have any questions or thoughts on creating an affiliate marketing biz plan, we’d love to hear your thoughts below…
