Preview
The ultimate objective in affiliate marketing is: ranking with authentic content. And, while this may seem straightforward initially, it can be a daunting process on closer examination. All sorts of hindrances can get into your way, not the least of which can be your own anxieties. Is it even a wise decision? — a tiny whisper in your ear intones. And, then others follow. Oh, come on, who can become an affiliate marketer? What do I do to find advice becoming successful?
That is why I have put together this post to move you away from this mindset to the mindset of successful affiliate marketing.
For starters . . .
Overcoming The Newcomer Challenge
Overcoming any challenge requires, first, understanding it. We have to work both on ourselves and the challenges themselves. Since we cannot always choose the problem (the problem chooses us mostly), the logical choice would be choose to work on ourselves. And, in that respect, let us consider perspective or envisioning.
Let us start by asking ourself . . .
Is the glass half empty or half full? How we answer the question determines whether we perceive this as a problem or an opportunity.
Half Empty — problem.
Half Full — opportunity.
Sometimes, a problem is also an upside-down solution offering itself standing on its head. But we may not be able to see it that way for all sorts of reason.
We are going to focus on the second possibility and redefine the problem further as another question —
How do we make lemonade with the lemons life throws at us?
Need I remind folks this is very much the mindset of affiliate marketing.
The best way to make lemonade from these lemons is: Research. That word evokes many kinds of feelings. What kind of research? What resources can I use? — you might be asking.
We actually carry out research everyday — for instance, when is the next train to the city? what’s today’s special at our favourite cafe? do they serve vegetarian meals? Whenever we are looking up information to make an informed decision, we are conducting research for which we resort to a variety of sources.
Here we are going to start by considering . . .
The Self As Resource
Take your own situation, for example. You are starting out and wondering how to get to your chosen destination: making money from a side hustle that may eventually become the main hustle, the only hustle you will need.
Now in that small act we have generated a topic: Newcomer Challenges In Affiliate Marketing. Refined further, this becomes: Five Newcomer Challenges In Affiliate Marketing.
Notice how easily we were able to move from one stage to another — from broad to narrow definition — simply by playing with the sentence structure — with
a small amount of editing, adding the word “five” at the beginning, we have changed the complexion of the topic. This is also called brainstorming — by harnessing the process of writing. And, as you may recall from the previous post, this action also amounts to leveraging the inherent heuristics of writing — using writing as a prompt to produce further writing: one small piece of writing becomes the seed for the next level of writing. This property of writing is also called its recursivity — its ability to generate itself. Another way of looking at it is to understand that every statement is directed at another which does not in itself appear on the page but is implied.
Now using this technique further, we could generate the next statement . . . Overcoming Five New Comer Challenges In Affiliate Marketing. This time we added “overcoming.” Notice how the “five” added previously makes the statement specific in the second iteration above. With “overcoming” it also provides a specific action with potential outcomes to it. We now have a specific no. and a relevant action, thus setting boundaries . . . it is five, not five hundred. It tells our audience what to expect. It also tell us as the researcher to choose five aspects, making the process economical or manageable. Two things achieved at once.
Be Accurate
In research, the first thing to know: what is the problem, broadly? Then using this initial articulation, we can refine it further to a point when we have found the specific or concrete expression for it. (Try this yourself as an exercise on paper or the computer). Research has a certain economy, a certain scope, the setting of boundaries, without which it cannot be meaningful. There is no such thing as boundless research.
This is what we call problem definition. As our knowledge about a subject increases, we may also need to adjust the boundaries further. This may result in expansion or contraction — it could go either way. Be prepared. Nothing can be known in advance — only after getting into an area of research can we fathom the depth — and the breadth — of the problem. As researchers, our job is to find out — and if anything can be found it will always be found afterwards, that is retrospectively. That is how research works.
Expanding further on this, let us look at . . .
Research As Concept
Another way of capturing this complexity in words would be:
Research (R) Implementation (I) Feedback (F) — RIF, in short.
This also called a schema — a model.
Mathematicians have developed all sorts of ingenious means for expressing complex ideas with utmost clarity using mathematical notations.
And so, if we allow ourselves the liberty of borrowing mathematical notations, we could express our problem thus . . .
RIF1; RIF2; RIF3; . . . RIFN
. . . where no.s 1-3 refer to the first, second, third iterations of the process. “N” is the infinity — conceivably, the process could be continued to infinity. We are not going there, definitely. May be only to RFI367. I am just kidding of course.
Notice also that the process is circular — it turns on itself — and it is in turning on itself, a phenomenon which now brings to . . .
Research As Process
Problem definition and research may be regarded as distinct components of the same process — a process which results from the two components feeding on each other.
Refer to the RFI schema above — and you will notice that as the initial research produces the first results, it instigates implementation, the next stage, which, in turn, provides feedback (what worked and what did not), the last component of the process. Now the stage is set for the next iteration in which the feedback becomes the input. The chain reopens itself, starting the process all over again. This is kind of self-propelling engine, data engine.
This motion is only possible because the components of the system — R, I, F — are not themselves static — they are constantly transforming into one another. To quote one of my professors, “All knowledge is provisional.”
We used mathematical notation above to try and capture this complexity, as only an illustration — no need to worry about enrolling in a course in advanced mathematics at MIT.
You may find that as you engage in the research process as described here, at some point you may find that you are finding it harder to move forward with the phase you are in. This might seem like a roadblock. Chances are, however, that you have exhausted one phase and another is begging to be initiated. No need to worry either. Move to the next phase.
One way of checking whether the process is effective is to be on the look out for the emergence of . . .
The Research Question
Q: What is ultimate objective of your research?
A: The ultimate objective of this research is . . .
When you have found a precise word/phrase to complete the statement above, you have reached it. The heading below provides an example of how A above can be completed. This is also a matter of achieving cognitive clarity by manipulating the structures of writing.
How To Rank High On Google?
In this business everyone is vying for Google’s page rank which is based on its now famous E-E-A-T Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness.
Let me explain E-E-A-T.
But before that, a remark on the double benefit of research, how it helps you to overcome two problems at once: lack of knowledge; and the ability to leverage the knowledge of the community, say, the affiliate community, legitimately. The emphasis is on the word “legitimately.”
The first problem lack of knowledge is solved through self-education that research always imposes on you. Sifting through material — comparable to sifting through dirt to find gold nuggets — is a prime example of self-teaching.
When it comes to learning in general, it is important to understand that knowledge is a community project, built collectively over time. We stand on the shoulder of giants when it comes to knowledge acquisition.
Which is also why I always advise acknowledging the debt of others. This does not diminish you but rather increases your trustworthiness — the last but not the least item in E-E-A-T. These principles, I might add, are also considered best practice in affiliate marketing.
“T” could also stand for transparency — if you make references to the work of others, you are being transparent. If you make a claim, please make sure to disclose where this is coming from. If it is your opinion — and not an established fact — then there is no harm in stating that . . . “In my opinion . . . “Of course, that’s a personal opinion only” . . . “This could be a matter of opinion not fact, it must be admitted” . . . and, so forth.
Experimenting this way with these structures could give you the best start in affiliate marketing. Find your own voice — and, if you ask me, this alone could be your best training in affiliate marketing.
This protocol of acknowledging the debt of others comes from academia and is one of the expectations of research writing — which I used to teach in my writing workshops.
What Can Academia Teach Affiliate Marketing?
My own expertise comes not only from publishing my own work in international refereed journals — what is called scholarly writing — but also from running workshops for both students (freshman-graduate) and early career academics entering the field.
This is one of the first things I used to teach in class: What do you do when you encounter knowledge created by others? How do you handle this problem?
The answer . . .
You acknowledge — not hide it — and, that actually enhances your position as a researcher in the eyes of your reader — I used to tell the class.
Transparency does not hurt. It enhances . . . the quality of the research. And, if there is anything I am trying to teach my audience here it is this principle. And, here for very practical reasons please bear in mind that . . .
Transparency enhances Google ranking.
This by far is one of the best Google ranking tips.
Get The Best Start In Affiliate Marketing
- Experiment with sentence structures to . .
- Define your research broadly and then refine and refine until you have a precise research question.
- Feel free to use the work of others to build authoritativeness, but make sure to . . .
- Acknowledge sources visibly.
Newbies can become successful affiliate marketer. Have faith in yourself.