Do Not Put All Of Your Eggs In One Basket

Written by Kayecee on January 19, 2008 – 5:11 pm

Table of contents for Introduction To Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing 101
Plots, Plans, and Schemes
Content, Content, Content
Get Those Visitors!
Do Not Put All Of Your Eggs In One Basket

Don’t rely on one source of income! I can not stress this one enough! Sure…. right now, you might be lucky enough to cash $50 checks each month. If the one company you’re hawking closes its doors tomorrow…. meh…. 50 bucks….. so what? Maybe I have to eat at a restaurant one less time next month.

Think about the future…. what if you’re good at making money on the internet? What if you’re cashing $3,000 checks per month a few years from now? Now, what if that one company you’re hawking closes its doors?

OMG! THE MORTGAGE! THE CAR PAYMENT! MY TRIP TO THE BAHAMAS! HOW AM I GONNA BUY GROCERIES! I NEED GAS MONEY! I’M DOOMED! THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING!

Get the picture?

True story…. when Cafepress began its affiliate program, it was in-house. (That means the company managed its own affiliate program.) Many affiliate marketers relied on that one program. In the spring of 2007, Cafepress announced that it was outsourcing the program to Commission Junction AND the affiliate’s percentage was being lowered.

Result? Several people were sent into a state of panic. Will my old links work? How much is the decrease going to hurt my bottom line? And so on….

Those who had eggs in several baskets around the internet and promoted other companies weren’t as affected financially as those who ONLY promoted Cafepress.

Those who had made a good living promoting ONLY Cafepress faced a crisis. That 5% decrease had a more profound effect on their checks at the end of the month.

Lesson learned!

Affiliate programs are just one type of monetization for your website.

Take a good look at the page you’re on now. What catches your eye?

Maybe you’re building a website and need hosting. Wow! That ad in the sidebar says that Bluehost has a plan for $6.95 per month! Maybe you’re a link clicker? There are AdSense links at the top and bottom of this article that look interesting. Oooooo…. cool banners at the bottom of the website. See? I don’t just stick with one company or one method of advertising. That’s what I mean about diversification.