Money utopia: affiliate marketing

I started this blog in July 2016, which was almost 5 years ago. Back then, all the big bloggers were talking about affiliate marketing. According to them, this was the easiest way to make a lot of money online. So, like many people who had a blog, I figured out the principle behind it and I started applying it. It made me some money but defiantly wasn’t the golden ticket like many claimed it to be back in the day. The fact that people lie online to make money wasn’t a big surprise to me.

But it wasn’t until recently that I realized how ridiculous this whole idea was after spending some time on Twitter (Where else?!). Suddenly, many people have caught up to the affiliate marketing hype, and all of them are flexing online right now. The “I made this much money online selling X’s courses” tweets are all over the place. The reality is that most of them don’t make that much money. For some, it‘s a temporary nice side hustle but that seems to be about it. But most of them don’t see the scam behind the idea.

So let’s dive into why affiliate marketing is just another scam.

Affiliate marketing: echo chambers.

Let me explain the principle just to be sure everyone is on the same track. AM is basically you promoting some else’s product(s). You get a percentage every time you sell one. The way they promote this makes it even more tempting. The “make money from your phone while doing nothing” promise attracts people rather fast. This obviously only attracts people that want to make money quickly without putting in the effort. So they sign up and become a rip-off from the original account.

They don’t put a lot of thought into their sales pitch. They just repeat what the original account claims. They might change it a bit, but the majority of people can see through the weak sales pitch rather quickly.

If they were honest, the message would be something like this: “look at how little money I made while promoting this product for hours in a row. I have to keep up the facade, though, because maybe this might actually make me rich. I just have to convince enough people.“

Let‘s be real. It’s a bad return on your time investment, and few are willing to admit this but the reality is that you’re basically working for free for another man.

Affiliate marketing and the get rich quick scheme.

Use your brain here for a second. Who is the real winner if you get 10% to 50% when someone buys through your link?

The creator of the product of course. They‘ll happily give you 10%-50% because, in the end, they get exposure and probably make more money down the line from this sale. It‘s like I said before, affiliate marketing attracts people that want to get rich doing nothing. It might make you some money, but the reality is that it won’t be life-changing (unless you sell very expensive courses or have a huge following). Yes, you’ve read it correctly. You won’t become a millionaire sipping pina Coladas on the beach straight from your phone.

The reason why is simple, your shtick will get boring and less convincing over time plus you have nothing to offer.

The reason why people buy products is simple. They see you as an authority and like the content that you’re giving away for free. They then buy courses because they want in-depth information about that topic.

Do you get where this is going?

The only thing you’re telling the world is that you fell for a rich man’s trick. You have no actual knowledge of how to make money nor of the information in products that you’re promoting. Because you would sell your own courses if you had the actual knowledge. So instead you just promote the hell out of this product or annoy people in their DM’s. You’re basically the modern-day version of someone who works at a call center but, you think you’re twice as cool because you deluded yourself with the idea that you will become a millionaire by using your smartphone.

So what is the alternative to affiliate marketing?

I’m not saying you shouldn’t sign up for an affiliate program. What I’m telling you is that it’ll never make you rich. You’re better of learning an actual skill that you can monetize.

Examples are the personal trainer that sells training routines. The guitarist teaching you how to play the guitar. The athlete giving you a look at the system he uses in competition etc.

The options are endless. There are so many options to make money these days.

Just don’t be one of those guys who lectures people about money while having little to no money.

It’s extremely pathetic.