Well, it's hardly a secret that you need to be more than proficient at dozens of different skills if you want to make a decent income online. If that wasn't the case affiliate marketing could be learned in a day. But if we restrict the discussion to mini review sites, then there are really just two aspects of marketing that stick out and seem to make the difference between success and failure - that is, between profit or loss - and they both relate to the selection of your niche.
Reason #1 - Lack of Niche Specificity
Too often when an affiliate marketer gets it into their head that they need to create a product review site to drive affiliate sales, the importance of niche selection escapes their careful consideration. Instead, they focus on product selection, and then ask: given that this product carries a high commission and seems to be a good one, what is the niche that it targets? Then they promote that product and find a couple of runner-up products with which it can be contrasted.
So why might this not work too well? It's because buyers aren't interested in products, per se, they are interested in solutions to their problems. If you want to sell them solutions, then you are going to need to be able to get inside their heads and figure out exactly which questions they need answered before they can take one of your recommendations (of a product) and run with it.
You need to understand the people behind the niche. When you are able to do that you can claim to understand the niche. At that point, assuming you understand what distinguishes the different products serving that niche, then you can recommend the RIGHT SOLUTION for their problem.
That's how you get good conversion rates. Maybe the right solution is the one with the highest commission. If so, great. But don't base your recommendations solely on the expected payoff. It's the slippery slope that inevitably leads to the kind of disengenuous recommendations that flow into your email box every day. I am sure you are familiar with them. If you become THAT person, is it any wonder that you cannot make sales?
Reason #2 - Selecting The Niche With Low Profit Potential
From the viewpoint of profit potential you absolutely need to appreciate that not all niches are created equal. Some niches have a population behind them that is constantly searching for solutions to perennial problems that really can't be solved but for which people seek solutions nonetheless.
Some examples: How do you convince your spouse to remain faithful without directly addressing the issue with them and causing them to start questioning the status quo? How do you run your car on water when any sensible person knows that it's a pure flight of fancy? How do you become more attractive to the opposite sex when there is really nothing you are willing to do to change who you are?
Tapping into, and perpetuating, people's fantasies actually turns out to be incredibly lucrative. But it requires you to be the kind of marketer who is comfortable parting people from their money without providing them with anything close to the value they think they are getting.
Fortunately you don't HAVE to be that kind of person to succeed as an online marketer. There are lots of niches that support products which offer real solutions to everyday problems, and which have a huge base of consumers behind them. You find those niches by doing keyword research and figuring out what people are looking for online. Generally it's not hard to distinguish the REAL solutions from those of the WISHFUL THINKING variety. What you decide to promote is up to you.
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Stephen Carter, author ofLaunch Your Own Affiliate Review Site Monopoly shows you what it takes to run successful affiliate review sites, and do it on a shoestring budget. He also throws in a free license for his mini review site software with every copy of the ebook.
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