7 Common Mistakes Any Affiliate Can Make

Now and then it happens that people launch their own affiliate websites and expect that the money will flow like a river. But it turned out not to flow – it doesn’t even drop! What could the problem be?

1. You Do Nothing

The most dangerous thing you can do is to be inactive. No song, no supper!

Let’s spare such amazing situations when some affiliate newcomers don’t even take care to add products to their stores. Things happen!

Remember that the key to success is indexable content. That’s why the number of items in your store is very important. We recommend having about 20K products, it is optimum quantity. The main thing you have to do is to edit products’ titles and descriptions – or at least titles as your content should be unique.

If you prefer not to order a custom store and do everything yourself, enable maintenance mode while building the site. After importing 5K items you can disable maintenance mode and become available for indexing.

Regular check of software updates is also significant. Don’t forget to update WordPress, the plugin and the themes to avoid incorrect site performance.

Hope we don’t need to remind you to take care of security. Nobody wants to be hacked and banned by hosting and search engines.

2. You Don’t Have Enough Products

The more stuff you add, the more indexed pages you get. If you have less than 5,000 goods, your store has no chances to be noticed by search engines.

But beware of another extreme: if you have 30K+ items, you and your potential customers can face problems with page speed. The slower your site downloads, the less organic traffic you have. So walk the line and limit yourself to 20 thousand positions.

3. You Don’t Have a Target Country/Region

It is highly important to identify your target region. Since June 2017 AliExpress affiliate commission structure depends on the country you sell to. For instance, France and Spain have the highest percentage for most categories.

The region determines the language of the site. You’d better choose the proper language beforehand. Otherwise you’ll have to translate 20K+ product cards.

Choose marketing strategy and promotion tactics according to the chosen niche. Finding a good niche for your affiliate store is quite easy. Visit AliExpress.com and check the list of categories at the left sidebar. Here you’ll see a list of niches that usually show best conversion rate. Choose something you like best. Choosing definite product niche and determining target audience – these steps are necessary for each affiliate marketer. Otherwise you risk being neither here nor there.

4. You Have Poor – If Any – Marketing

There can be two extremes. First, you can put marketing up to outsourcing. It is dangerous because third party usually has no time and interest to create something special for you. You waste your money and get only standard range of options with few resources.

Another possible variant is “in-house” promotion. The possible issue is a lack of specific knowledge. Try different methods, visit thematic forums, use SMM, video marketing, some other channels. Sooner or later something will work.

All sites provide an opportunity to add a subscribe form. You can collect subscribers' emails and send newsletters with some special offers to this list. Email marketing is proved to be one of the most effective ways for products promotion and gaining customers' engagement. Besides, it’s easy and cost-efficient.

And please, don’t lose your heart when you see no revenue during the first month! SEO shows its results not sooner than in 2-3 months. Any promotion campaign also benefits at the earliest in a month. So you shouldn’t give up!

5. You Have Wrong Priorities

Sometimes people reckon on attractive template only. They suppose that nothing matters but the pleasant layout. Of course, attractive design and usability are essential, but there is no such template that could do all work instead of you! It is just a canvas, and your task is to make it a masterpiece.

Another common mistake is absence of preliminary market analysis. Store owners may employ methods that don’t match their target audience. In this case the results will be poor. One man’s meat is another man’s poison – this rule works for webstores as well. Look for your own unique way in line with your specificity.

6. You Pay No Attention to SEO

Search engine optimization is critically important for indexing. Don’t ignore it.

AliPlugin allows you to work with SEO on Main Page and Product Page. There are also SEO fields for each particular product.

WordPress provides an opportunity to add SEO meta tags in the product categories. For example, if you have a clothing store, you can add a separate title and description for Dresses, Shirts, Jeans, etc.

7. You Forget About Your Website

Don’t forget to develop your site and maintain it in proper condition. You should update it at least once a week. In the Update Section you can choose among automatic update and manual update. Automatic update can be slower than manual one. All you need to do is to select a necessary option and ensure that the browser window stays open during this operation. Many affiliates prefer to run updating process before going to bed. Sweet dreams and successful update to everybody!

All affiliates should realize that even a perfect-looking webstore cannot guarantee great sales. You are the only person responsible for your own success. Don’t passively wait for customers to come and buy – be an engine for your business’ progress!