In almost everything you read about affiliate marketing, you hear about the power of networking. Meeting new contacts, possible business partners, and sharing new ideas is a very important aspect of any business. Of course it can also be a lot of fun. But don’t forget, networking alone will not make you any money. There’s a perception out there that showing up to the right conference or event and meeting that superstar affiliate will jumpstart your income. Unfortunately it won’t. Its what you do in your home or office, in the late hours of the night that are going to build your business.
Networking can also lead to distraction if you let it. Never lose sight that you are running a business. Its great to have 1,000 twitter followers and 500 people on your IM list, but at some point you have to turn off your IM, Twitter, and cell phone and just put your head down and get to work.
One of the unique and best things about affiliate marketing and making money online is that its not about who you know, its about how hard you work behind the scenes. Anyone can sign up for an affiliate network and PPC program and start making tons of money, without ever meeting anyone or being “connected”.
Can you make money online without networking – YES.
Can you make money online without hard work – NO.
I’m definitely a fan of networking – I just think its a bit over emphasized for our industry. Hard work is what really fills up the bank account, and there’s no getting around that.
What you think?
Good points. Having friends in high places can certainly help your business but what it really comes down to is taking action. I found that I get less done with all the social networking but I’ve also met some great future contacts. Networking is much more important if you are selling your own product or service such as an ebook or membership site.
Great point Tim. If you are trying to sell to other people in your industry, networking is much more important.
I have never been to an affiliate summit or any affiliate type function and I make about $50,000 in profit per month from affiliate marketing. You need to work to make it exactly. And yeah I recently shut off my MSN messenger and I get way more done now. No one has ever heard of me and that’s the way I like it. Not every super affiliate needs a blog to be making good money. I bet there are tons of super affiliates you have and never will hear of.
I find it strange that we have “superstars” in this business. I don’t understand sharing your scanned checks and monthly income reports with people you don’t even know, lol.
Anyways back to work for me.
Thanks for your blog Chad.
PS: Chad is 1 of the affiliates who doesn’t need to brag about how much he makes, unlike many others…….
CV, you are the example of exactly what I am talking about. Keep kicking ass and flying under the radar!
I also have never been to an affiliate summit or any affiliate type function and while I’m not at 50k a month profit yet, I do pretty well. I do plan on attending Affiliate Summit in Vegas next year and look forward to that.
CV, I think some of those people need to be heard and even less have something to say.
I find that a industry blog also opens up more oppertunities as well. Although most of my #1 ranking do the talking for me.
I love when I get an email that says, “I saw your ranked number 1 for _____. Can I buy a text link on your page?”
or even better…
“I see you rank high for ______. Would you be interested in selling our product or can we buy advertising on your page?”
I can’t agree more with this. It really comes down on focusing, creating useful websites to drive mass traffic. Networking really doesn’t have much with making money online, you don’t need relationships to create a million dollar business. My 2 cents.
Excellent, balanced perspective on networking.
Great post.
Tim
You’re right, it’s all about how much you work. The guy who was kind enough to answer some questions about affiliate marketing makes about $250k per month from affiliate marketing.
So would you say overall going to conferences are worth it?
Its hard to say. I guess it really depends on what you are trying to do with your online business. If your an affiliate it is less important than if you are trying to market products to others in the industry or trying to make a name for yourself as a blogger or speaker. I would probably recommend that everyone hits 1 conference a year, but going to 3-4 seems unecessary. Personally, the I think the only worthwhile conferences are Aff summit and Pubcon. I’ll be at both of those this year.
I tend to “schmooze” people during the day and chit chat but at night after the family goes to bed is when I step on the gas.
Plus I love the quiet time to concentrate too.
In defense of Networking, I was stuck at the $50,000 profit per month level for 4-5 months and couldn’t seem to increase much past that. Once my network manager at Azoogle lined me up with another successful affiliate in another country who was doing really well on several offers that I was currently running (he showed me his and I showed him mine) I hit $108,000 profit the next month!
This month I’m on course to beat that hopefully.
MaximusPPC
As a manager networking is all about finding the right affiliates to help grow my program and their monthly checks.
As an affiliate its all about meeting the networks and merchants and making those special deals where you earn more than any other affiliate.
You are certainly right that too much networking is simply a way to avoid the real work. You can join hundreds of programs and make quite a bit of money but you can make money faster when they know who you are. The top affiliates in each program get the perks and that’s where you want to be whatever it takes.
I’ve never networked in this industry or attended a conference. I killed my IM over five years ago when I realized what a huge productivity sink it was. IM is great when you work for an employer, but when you work for yourself… that’s another story. Not that I’m not social or wouldn’t mind hanging out at times, but I really don’t have a use for networking as far as earning me money. I freely admit that it’s possible to come across some good opportunities by networking, but I think it’s more of a time sink really. All the info I need in this biz is already online.
It’s all about balance… Networking is just one part of the BIG picture of being a successful marketer.
i love the world: there is no big money without hard work !!! that´s the true and all real money maker know that. nice post
Networking can be a big help when first starting out though. You don’t know much, so you aren’t much of a threat. While people won’t share their golden goose with you per se, you’d be shocked at how much someone will share with a newbie in comparison to someone who they suspect has half a clue.
Chad, I would hug you in a very manly, hetero kind of way if it weren’t for all the outdoorsy gear I’d have to fight through.
Networking is an obvious tool given that we are marketing company’s products for a piece of the action but your article frames it perfectly how the balance or focus gets a bit off-kilter.
lol!
Networking is also what you make out of it. I’ve met hundreds, if not thousands of people over the years from attending events and “networking”… but such a slim number of them actually turn into real contacts that you actually follow up with… and even a smaller fraction of that number turn into your lifetime contacts that make the big differences in your business.
While the majority of networking may fizzle out and become nothing more than another business card in the rolodex, we all network so we can hopefully find that next contact that will help us get to the next level!
Good good good, but absolutely, this whole month is just programming and ‘trying’ to do the best we can to just focus on that and nothing else.