Growth in the first months, and even the first year, is sporadic and irregular in the vast majority of sites. It won't be a surprise if it takes three to five years before you start making a profit. The last thing I would say to new affiliate marketers is that self-awareness is VERY important. It's easy to get caught up in the routine of doing what you think works, when it doesn't really work.
It's worth noting that affiliate marketing isn't dead at all. As long as there are sellers who can attract customers to merchants in exchange for a commission, there is affiliate marketing. Being a successful affiliate seller doesn't necessarily mean you need to be a customer of every product you promote. Most affiliate marketers get most of their traffic from SEO (or Pinterest, which I admit I don't know anything about).
The fact is that there is a lot of evidence around you to further convince you that affiliate marketing is still working, at the time you read this. Taking an affiliate marketing course was the best decision I ever made because I had no idea how much money I was leaving on the table. Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts, and good luck if you decide to jump into the waters of affiliate marketing. Be careful what links you use, as those with a bad reputation can ruin your own reputation as an affiliate seller.
There is a lot of uncertainty as to how long affiliate marketing will last in general, but overall I am optimistic. Two quick tips on Pinterest to drive traffic (it's awesome for that), and get the Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course if you can. However, it is a very competitive market for affiliates and is best suited to people with industry-relevant knowledge or experience. A lot of people say that affiliate marketing is too harsh and competitive, but, despite those ramblings, I did it anyway and I'm really glad I did it.
For someone specializing in paid social channels, posting on social media about an affiliate product that helps inform on those marketing channels doesn't seem like pure promotion. It's important to note that affiliate marketing has been around for a long time and isn't going away anytime soon. One of the first affiliate marketing programs I signed up for and saw immediate results was ShareASale. Continuing to answer the first question above, affiliate marketing has been around for a long time and I think the trend will continue.
So, let's go over the most important prerequisites for affiliate marketing to be worth your time and effort.
