I am sure my stance on this Local Ad Link (LAL) “opportunity” is going to raise some havoc with some of my followers that might be true believers in this program. However, this is a subject I have been wanting to touch on for awhile. Bear with me, as I plan on going through each positive spin of Local Ad Link and completely debunking everything they have to offer. I have been approached, as well have a couple of my clients, on not only using Local Ad Link, but selling it. Being the skeptical, analytical person that I am, I decided to do some deep research on how this program works.

I will admit, I would love to build my referral program to be as big as the sales force team that has hit the streets for Local Ad Link. However, at the end of the day, I would rather have my integrity in tact. (Shameless plug: If you’re interested in selling something legitimate with long term commissions, contact me:) )

Right out of the gate here, let’s get some facts straight. The BBB has LocalAdLink with a “D” rating. Please visit the BBB for more information on why they have this rated where they do.
EDIT – THIS GRADE WILL OFTEN FLUCTUATE BETWEEN A “D” AND AN “F”.

Secondly, for all of you Bob McNulty (CEO of Local Ad Link) fans out there, lets look at his history: Read This Article

He’s an entrepreneur, who has been involved in some big things. People tend to stop there and listen to only what they want to hear. The facts are facts, and he isn’t as great as it may seem. Especially considering he was asked to resign his position, and worked an agreement to actually get more money as a contractor than what he was making as an employee. This should give you some insight into the “person”. If not, then continue on being a bad judge of character:) I have also heard that there are 15 brand builders that get in on special phone calls with the man himself. When that phone call is done, don’t think for a minute that there isn’t another round of special branders that get a phone call. He knows how to create buzz and build a fan base, I will give him that.

Okay, now that we’ve kind of gotten those overviews out of the way. I want to delve into their “robust” system and how the operation works.

Most LAL salespeople will discuss the geo-targeting system that truly targets a local area. They will also go on and on about the 2 million + websites that partner with Local Ad Link. For anyone that has any idea of how Google Adwords and Pay Per Click functions, you will see that this isn’t a Local Ad Link system at all. Instead, they just piggy back Google’s Adwords technology and claim it as their own. Adwords can be defined based on geo targeting. Also, the 2 million partners that Local Ad Link has, are not THEIR partners. They are Google’s partners and any website that displays Adsense. If I go and create a little sales page website, add some Adsense, I am now a partner of Local Ad Link! Mr. McNulty has claimed an agreement is in place with Google. Nowhere can any details of such an agreement be found. LAL is taking Google’s technology and practically branding it as their own. I certainly foresee a major issue from Google’s standpoint in the near future.

Another benefit that is often described is the ability to add your company to their directory. There are literally thousands of directories out there. You’ll actually gain more search engine ranking benefit from having a listing in DMOZ. It’s also been argued that you can get more favorable results in Yahoo’s search rankings with a listing in their directory ($250/year), though I am skeptical of that. That’s a story for another time. You can also add coupons to a listing on Google Maps. When it comes to adding videos and what not, that’s great…but why wouldn’t you put that video on your website, or even on YouTube? A video on youtube will be found much easier than if it’s in the LAL directory.

To me, the worst part about this system, is that the customers are paying for LAL’s traffic. Yes, when the pay per click campaign is set up, they are not linked to the customer website. Instead, they are linked to their directory listing on LAL. So now you require two clicks to get to your website. This leads to another problem; Google’s Quality Score (QS). This is assigned based on how well your PPC ad matches to the content of your website. Since the ad text is compared to the directory listing, this doesn’t leave much room for ad variance or optimization.

The technology behind LAL is simply an ad rotating mechanism. This rotates customer ads so they aren’t being displayed at the same time if there are competitors. This is why they won’t guarantee how often your ad is displayed. They’re system simply makes sure that two ads for the same keyword aren’t displayed at the same time. Hardly “robust”.

If LAL came out and said they were essentially a PPC management company, then I really would not have a problem with the way they do business. You can attribute the MLM commissions to a campaign management fee. The way it’s hidden, and the way that sales people are armed with all sorts of different information, is what bothers me. You can ask 5 different LAL sales people how the process works, and you’ll get 5 different answers. In the end, LAL just takes advantage of business owners that do not know PPC. Why should a business spend $200 towards LAL, and only receive approximately $50 worth of clicks (clicks to LAL’s directory no less) when they can pay $200 towards Google Adwords and get $200 worth to their own website? That’s really what it boils down to. In my opinion, those that support Local Ad Link simply just don’t understand how the process works.

There’s my rant, I’ll step off the soapbox now…:)

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I just finished compiling Affiliate Marketer’s Guide to Glory. This EBook is mainly geared towards newer affiliate marketers and has some helpful tips for those starting out in the industry. This is one of many upcoming EBooks, and they will be free. All you need to do is subscribe below or to the right!

In this EBook you will also learn more about my story and how I started. Future EBooks will cover the SEO topic in general, as well as blogging and how to earn profits from that. Stay tuned and subscribe, the information is FREE!

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This has been several months in the making, but my company Novel Concept Studio is finally launching it’s Affiliate Program today!

Recurring 15% payments, it doesn’t get better! This means you could be receiving up to $262.50 PER MONTH for every referral if they sign up for a full service package. 4 full service referrals and you’ll be pulling down a cool $1,050 per month without having to lift a finger.

We have already had a couple top affiliate marketers express interest in this. If you have a blog or website and feel that you’re visitors would be interested in an internet marketing service, then you need to sign up for the affiliate program! You have nothing to lose, and I can help you with any questions you may have. Please review my posts from the previous two weeks as well, if you are interested in beginning your affiliate marketing career.

I want to keep this fairly short, as I have several forums I need to visit to make the announcement. I also need to issue the press release. I wanted to make the announcement here on this blog first though.

Again, if you’re interested in signing up and receiving recurring commissions for your efforts, then visit the Affiliate Program sign up page and get started! Don’t hesitate to ask questions!

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The Novel Concept Studio Affiliate Program will officially be launched on Monday! I’m excited about the possibilities, as I really think fellow affiliate marketers will appreciate the residual income that can be generated from this, as marketers will be making 10% over the life of the agreement, usually 12 months. I’ll make an official post here on Monday when it launches, but if you are interested in joining this affiliate marketing opportunity, let me know and I will send you more information.

So far in this affiliate marketing series, I’ve discussed your basic affiliate marketing campaign. There are plenty more topics to discuss that go into more detail and various types of affiliate programs. I’m going to be saving this for the upcoming e-book, but I did want to close off this series of posts with some helpful affiliate marketing survival tips.

Choose a Niche Market You Enjoy
If you don’t enjoy your market, or have a passion for it, then you aren’t going to be as motivated to put the work into it. Stick with something you’ll enjoy.

Choose a Product or Service Your Trust
If you are sponsoring a product or company that you have not used, you may run into issues. If customers make purchases because of your recommendations, and they receive a faulty product, they will be coming to you with their issues. Promoting a product you are familiar with gives you the ability to be on a more personable level with your site’s visitors.

Examine the Affiliate Program Rules Closely
Before advertising any affiliate program, be sure you read the rules and fine print closely. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask the merchant. They want you selling their products, so you should get a quick response. Look for how long the program is running, payment methods, payment frequency, and how long they track cookies for. You’ll want to check back often, as often times merchant’s cancel their affiliate program and you’ll be advertising a product that you no longer receive commissions for. Cookie tracking is important. Customers won’t always make a purchase their first visit, but they may come back later and make a purchase. So if the affiliate program only covers a single visit, it may not be that profitable for you. Some merchants have tracking for years. If a customer clears their cookies, then there’s nothing you can do about that.

Don’t Choose Every Affiliate Program You Come Across
Having a website full of banners and advertisements can be a detriment to any website. You need to place your banners and ads carefully so that they are not intrusive.

Compile Your Own Email List
You may have heard that the power of marketing is in the list. Don’t be afraid to ask visitors to sign up for your newsletter. Maybe offer them additional articles or pieces of information that aren’t available anywhere else. An example of this is the Affiliate Marketing eBook I am compiling only for subscribers.

Closing Comments
Sticking with these 5 survival tips, you should find success with your affiliate marketing career. It’s important to remember that not every affiliate marketing venture is going to be a success. You’re not always going to get out of the program what you put in. You can’t get discouraged though. Instead, evaluate what you are doing versus other affiliate marketers. Examine the program closely and the products and services you are sponsoring. Are they not as good as you thought? Are you not making the right sales pitch? If you feel you’ve done all you can do, don’t be afraid to throw in the towel on that particular program and try another!

As I mentioned previously, I am going to be putting these posts together and then also adding several more guides and topics and compiling an Affiliate Marketing eBook. This eBook will be free of charge, you’ll just need to be a subscriber! The eBook will go into more detail (such as Google Adwords, two tier programs, etc), as well as ways in which to establish your own Affiliate Marketing program. So be sure and subscribe!

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I have discussed why having a website is beneficial for your affiliate marketing career. However, there is another way in which you can be successful without having a website. This is through Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising. One of the most popular forms of PPC is through Google Adwords or through Yahoo’s Search Marketing program.

PPC basically means you are paying for each individual that is referred to your website (or the merchant’s website in this case, via your link). This is a highly effective form of advertising, as you are receiving highly targeted traffic in this way. When creating your PPC ads, you’re asked to place a bid for specific keywords. This amount determines where you will be ranked on the side of search results. If you bid high enough, you’ll have the top position for your selected keywords. This can be costly though, if your ad is misleading or not written effectively.

Now PPC is more effective for affiliate programs that pay on a per click basis, also known as a clickthrough basis, than versus a per sale basis. Though, it can prove effective on a per sale basis as well since you are delivering highly targeted traffic to the merchant site and thus a greater probability of a purchase.

Now Pay Per Click is not only for those without websites. If You have a website, you can also benefit from PPC advertising, by placing ads on your site. Google Adsense allows you to place Advertisements on your page. Anytime an ad is clicked on your page, you can receive anywhere from 30% to 80% of the advertisers’ bid amount. The great thing about Google Adsense is it will automatically determine the overall theme of your site and then display ads based upon that theme. This obviously gives you a better chance of your visitor’s finding something they’re looking for.

Using Adsense can turn visitors who have no interest in purchasing anything from you, into a money making customer. The other benefit of this can be that your site is viewed as a resource, since they were able to find something useful. This can encourage repeat visits and eventually lead to future sales.

PPC will take some time to learn. In fact, there are entire books dedicated to the subject. However, for your first basic campaign it really will not take longer than 45 minutes to get used to. Then, no more than 30 or so minutes once you have the basic flow and understanding down. It can be a great tool if leveraged properly.

If you’d like more in depth training on the pay per click process, this is something I can walk you through as well. Just let me know that you need help, and I’d be glad to give you a hand.

Tomorrow’s post will be the last in the series of posts, as the Novel Concept Studio affiliate program will be launched on Monday of next week! I plan on releasing an ebook on Affiliate Marketing soon that will go into more details. I’ll discuss this a little more in tomorrow’s post.

Do you have other benefits of why PPC should be incorporated into your affiliate marketing campaigns? Feel free to comment about it!

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The idea of affiliate marketing has been around for several years. Since it’s proven that affiliate marketing can work, it’s an attractive option for those interested in making money online. It’s for this reason that competition is fierce. Not only will you be competing with affiliates who are promoting other products within your niche, but you’re also going to be competing with others who are also sponsoring the same affiliate program you are! Here are some tips on how you can stand out from other affiliate marketers.

Having a website will help to differentiate you from a small percentage of affiliate marketers who strictly use pay per click methods. Having a quality website will help to set yourself apart from the numerous run of the mill sites out there. It’s worth it to either hire someone to put together a quality website for you, or take the time and do it right yourself. Look at your competition and see what they are doing. Then do better! Easier said than done, but it can be done.

Another helpful tip is to create your own banner ad. Most often, affiliate programs come with a selection of their own banners. Most affiliate marketers will pick one, and place it on their website. However, if people continuously see the same ad, they may tune it out. If you have the graphic knowledge, or know someone who does, then it may be worthwhile to create your own ad. You’ll want to get the merchant’s permission first. They shouldn’t have a problem with this, as it only benefits them, but there are affiliate programs out there that do require permission to do these sorts of things.

Having your own products is another helpful tactic. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a physical product, but perhaps you could put together some of your quality content and expanded upon that in the form of an e-book. Having something unique like this, helps to differentiate yourself from other affiliate marketers who are sponsoring the same thing. Providing freebies also helps in keeping your customers coming back for more.

Building relationships with your customers is an often overlooked aspect of marketing. If you’re offering a sales pitch or product review, it’s helpful that you are able to answer questions regarding it’s use. Having this knowledge will go a long ways towards building customer loyalty and credibility. It shows that you’ve used the product yourself and feel confident that it’s a quality product. Likewise, if you find a product you were promoting to be a scam, then stop promoting it. Don’t just ignore it, but instead let your customers know. This is also going to help build credibility. Everyone makes mistakes, and admitting a mistake when it happens is going to boost your reader’s confidence in you.

Don’t try and market every product you see. With services like ClickBank and Commission Junction, it’s easy to sign up for everything. It takes literally seconds. It’s better to focus on particular product at a time. When you feel comfortable with that product, you can perhaps sponsor similar products. If you can find products with great customer reviews, those are the products you should target first. Customers like to read what other customers have to say, and so if they read nothing but great things, they’ll be more likely to buy that product.

Affiliate marketing isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. It can be a great way to make money online if leveraged properly. It’s not going to happen overnight, it’s going to take a committment, but in the end I think you’ll find it’s worth it. I hope these tips are helpful to you, and allow you to separate yourself from your competition.

Have other tips on how to set yourself apart from other affiliates? Then share them with your comments!

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This day and age, having a website just isn’t enough. You may have heard that all you need to do is fill in your meta descriptions and you’re good to go. Unfortunately for you, search engine optimization, or SEO, is not that simple anymore.

Google is the mother load of all search engines, commanding roughly 70% of the market share. Google tends to be a trend setter that other search engines follow. For the most part, your focus should be on improving your search engine ranking within Google. When that happens, you’ll also find that your sites begin ranking better in the other search engines as well.

There are tons, and I mean tons, of different ways for your site to move to the top. Believe it or not, sometimes you just need proper keyword density and a fairly low competitive search phrase, and you’ll be good to go. Most of the time though, you’re going to need to do more; much more.

I do SEO for a living, so I could literally go one for days regarding all of the things that can be done from. However, for now, I’m just going to stick with the basics. First off, we need to figure out which keywords are going to be best for your website. There are a couple of keyword research tools out there such as SEO Book and Wordtracker. I am actually in the process of developing a similar tool to Wordtracker, but that will be announced at a later time:) Once you find your ideal keyword phrases, we want to make sure this is placed throughout your website. Mainly, you want this placed in between your title tags. Ideally, you’d like to have the keyword phrase placed in header font. Each image on your website allows you to include “alt” tags. Place your search terms in those tags as well! This is your basic overview for your on page optimization. You want to ensure your keywords are weaved into your content as well, but it’s important to remember that you need to speak to your customers first and foremost, not to the search engines.

Lets remember that having relevant and quality content that matches your keywords should be a priority. If you’re able to churn out quality content every day, or at least on a regular basis, you’ll accomplish two things. One, search engines will take notice and your content will be indexed quicker. Secondly, your visitors will keep coming back to see what’s new.

One last thing I want to touch on, is your link building strategy. To begin, I suggest submitting your site to various directories. You want to avoid link farms, and free for all pages. You’ll also want to avoid reciprocal link exchanges at this time. Perhaps down the road, you’ll find link exchange partners where it will work out, but it’s not something I would necessarily do for an affiliate website.

When you begin making money, or if you’d like to cut out the time requirements of link building, you can look to outsource this responsibility. I would suggest you try yourself first though, just so you know what it entails and have a better grasp of the process. This is your basic link building strategy. However, your link building can expand into several other aspects as well. Such as: commenting on blogs, forums, social networks, groups, etc. For your first few affiliate programs though, I would suggest keeping things simple.

This is a basic SEO overview for beginning affiliate marketers. If you’d like assistance or more detail regarding any of these principles, feel free to ask!

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There are two myths floating around that attract newcomers to affiliate marketing. The first myth is that managing an online business is easy. The second myth is that people believe affiliate marketing can lead them to riches overnight. Less than a hundredth of a percent of affiliate marketers are able to have that success. Those that do launch new affiliate programs and get rich quickly, are those who have been in the affiliate game for awhile and have a substantial emailing list that they can sell to. Anyone successful affiliate marketer will say they worked hard to get where they are. If you can’t put in the hard work and time, then affiliate marketing may not be for you. Now, if you think you’re ready to jump into the affiliate marketing realm, then you’re going to need to need a website!

Having a website isn’t necessarily a requirement for affiliate marketing, as you can utilize things like AdWords and other Pay Per Click methods. However, in order to be truly successful, having a website and knowing how to make updates should be a priority. With all of the available software out there, this process isn’t as difficult and daunting as it sounds.

I am assuming you have your niche market identified and have already registered your domain name and hosting. If you have not done this yet, then this should be where you start. It would also be beneficial if you have determined which products or services you’re going to promote as well. Knowing this will help you in your layout and design of your web pages.

There are a number of website generating tools available. You can look into purchasing Adobe Dreamweaver, Microsoft’s Frontpage, or look for sources online that will help you built your affiliate site. Now, if you’ve been following along with my previous posts, you’ll know I always suggest that you promote products and services that you are interested in. This helps during the web page development stage, because you’ll have more fun with it when you enjoy the theme. If you don’t have time to commit to learning the tools and making the site yourself, you can utilize a free template or utilize a web designer to do this for you. Paying a web designer will be a more expensive option, and I always suggest learning how to do it yourself. Sure, it will take you longer, but if you are serious about being a successful affiliate marketer, you should know how to make basic websites.

Now, planning your launch and post launch marketing isn’t something a lot of affiliate marketers write down. However, with this being your first program and still learning, I always suggest that you write down your post launch plan in writing. This is something I always do, whether it’s for an affiliate program, my own side projects, or even for my clients. It’s not because I don’t know what I’m doing, but I always like to have a list that I can check off when I’m done. As a matter of fact, I have a daily schedule I put together from the previous day. A to do list for the next day, that allows me to stick to the plan. If you haven’t done this, you’ll be amazed at how well this method works.

Anyways, sorry to have gotten off topic a bit there, but it’s something I felt you’d benefit from. Once you have your web page laid out, you’re going to want to focus on providing quality, original content. This is what users will read, and why they are coming to your site in the first place. If they don’t find information they’re wanting, they’ll go somewhere else. Write interesting articles that relate to your market. If you have your affiliate links, you can link some of your content to those sites. Outgoing links are important for your search engine rankings, though not necessarily as your incoming links. Don’t just put together links to sites though, but instead also create articles based on those products. Keep your readers interested by incorporating facts and relevant information, not just over hyped ads. If you aren’t providing quality content, you won’t get visitors which means no sales.

Your website itself should be fairly simple, yet still a professional approach. You don’t need an e-commerce solution and heavily database driven pages. Afterall, your goal is to provide quality articles that help you sell products for other companies, not your products. If you are stuck on the design, I always suggest browsing other sites in your niche. Getting ideas never hurt anyone, and it also gives you an idea of what you’re up against. Once you have your website up, you’ll want to submit your URL to the major search engines.

As I mentioned before, don’t be afraid to learn. Utilizing keyword research tools and optimizing your pages will help your site get found in search engines. Continue to update your website and add new articles. Inform visitors of new updates. The internet is a huge pool of information, soak it up. Continue to educate yourself, and affiliate marketing success will be right around the corner.

Have your own thoughts? Share!

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The internet gives you an opportunity to gather an almost endless supply of information on virtually any possible interest. As time goes on, the internet continues to be engrained into our daily lives. It has been said that the internet is growing at more than 1 million pages everyday. That is an alarming rate of information. The popularity of the internet gives an opportunity for businesses and entrepreneur’s a chance at greater financial gains.

As I have mentioned before, affiliate marketing can be a great opportunity to make money online. Here are a few basic principles that will help you to get your affiliate marketing program started.

First, you want to identify a particular niche market that you are intersted in and building a website around it. Finding something you are passionate about is a key element for a number of reasons. For one, you won’t be bored with the subject matter. Another reason is because it will help bring out your best, without much effort. You’ll also leave an impression with potential customers that you are an expert. This helps to gain customer trust. Once you have established your niche market, you want to start searching for good paying merchants with products or services that relate. It helps to have knowledge of the product itself, so for your first attempt I suggest sponsoring something you have purchased yourself.

After you have established your market, built your website, and chosen your affiliate product, you’re ready to promote. Promotion of your affiliate program will be what you spend the most of your time with. This is the most important aspect of your affiliate marketing career, so it pays for you to take the time to understand this portion. This is something I’ll discuss in greater detail later on, but don’t be afraid to read books and articles about the best promotional techniques.

Affiliate marketing is not a get rich quick scheme. Sure, it’s possible to earn large sums of money by sponsoring high end and expensive products. However, these products are much harder to sell. Affiliate marketing requires persistence and hard work. As I mentioned before, you need to be willing to learn more every day. Through hard work and determination, you can build your affiliate marketing success and earn money even as you sleep.

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Affiliate marketing continues to gain in popularity. It has been proven that affiliate marketing can be an effective way to make money online. Some affiliate marketing gurus are able to generate a full-time income strictly on their affiliation programs. Affiliate programs are truly a win win for both the merchant and the affiliate. Both mutually benefit from the sale. The merchant didn’t have to do the selling, and the affiliate didn’t need to have a product of his own. Yet, both get paid. Affiliate marketing is growing on a daily basis, thus increasing the competition you’ll face. This putting a premium on creativity and utilizing effective methods in which to make your affiliate program succeed.

Affiliate programs are one of the most effective forms of advertising. It’s cost-effective and relatively risk-free. Yet, many people still fair at affiliate marketing. There are numerous reasons for this. Probably the most important aspect of an affiliate program is how it’s being advertised. Many affiliate marketers stumble across the industry when looking for easy ways to make money online. Therefore, they may not be the hardest working. Having a solid work ethic will go a long ways towards your affiliate marketing success. If you want to earn the big bucks, you need to put forth the time. Whenever you aren’t working on your affiliate program, someone out there is.

Not being prepared is another key reason for failure. By you reading this, it just shows that you are in the process of preparing yourself which is a step ahead of most. You need to make sure you’re researching any affiliate program you join. You need to become familiar with the merchant, and cannot just choose every affiliate opportunity you come across. Find closely related products to your website. If you’re website is built around weight loss, it probably doesn’t make sense to pitch your poker related affiliate product.

Your website will be your most important tool for your affiliate program. Proper research should go into your domain name, design, and the content you’re going to display. If you’re website is not up to par, you will surely lose potential customers. Your quality content is what will keep visitors coming back. Having overly hyped product pitches can be a deterent for your visitors. If you aren’t able to keep a visitor interested, you won’t be able to lead them to the merchant’s website. Not getting them to the merchant’s website means no sales.

I mentioned planning your domain name. This is also referred to as your top level domain name. Try and use your ideal search terms within your domain name. This helps visitors know your site is relavent to what they’re looking for. It also helps to gain better search engine ranking.

Affiliate marketing, like anything else, is a constantly changing environment. You must be willing to change and adapt, and be willing to continue to learn more. Many are focused on the end goal of making money quickly, and lose sight of the path to reach that goal. Continue to gain as much knowledge in these areas as possible: advertising, web design and development, search engine optimization, and of course affiliate marketing.

I mentioned in my previous post about persistence, and I’ll bring it up again. Don’t get disappointed if your first attempts don’t work. There’s a learning curve, and you must come to the realization that not everything you promote is going to make you money. Many affiliates quit if they don’t get immediate results and then signup for a new program. Instantly blaming the merchant’s product for their lack of sales.  Instead, try and learn why the program didn’t work. Is it because of the product you’re affiliate yourself with, or is it because you weren’t able to get traffic? You got traffic, but couldn’t convert them to sales? There are a number of reasons things may not work out, but you must try and learn from those things.

Think I left out any reasons why affiliate marketers fail? Feel free to share!

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