It seems like every day more and more people are arriving into the online “biz”. They start off with “Paid To’s” but soon move on to something more profitable. This “something” is usually affiliate marketing. It’s not surprising too. It’s a fairly simple business, can involve almost no customer service, no product management and produces high returns. All the “big boys” do it, including myself and if you’re really interested in getting into online marketing and making some real cash online, I suggest you do some research on affiliate marketing. You will find a lot of good content throughout this blog.

In essence, affiliate marketing is based around recommending someone to a product or in some form or another, getting them to buy or sign up. You get paid for every person you who buys due to you promoting the product/service in question. That’s a very brief overview and possibly slightly confusing, but Google should have plenty more information. However, there is one golden rule which is broken over and over again by new marketers and I want to try to prevent you making the same mistake.

So, what’s this golden rule that thousands of affiliate marketers are currently breaking?

Drum roll please…

The Golden Rule: NEVER review/recommend a product, without giving it a go.

Sounds like common sense no? Well, you’d be surprised how many people are breaking it. When people first join the affiliate marketing community, they are willing to do anything to promote. They instantly see other review sites, recommendation sites and naturally, begin making copies. They just take the review, edit a bit and put it on their site. Even worse, they make their own up. These people never succeed. Affiliate marketing is based on building a relationship between you and the visitor and until trust has been built up, money will never leave that visitors’ wallet. It’s that simple.

So, my advice. If you do want to write a review or recommend a product, make sure you’ve brought it and actually have the product first.

“But What If I Want To “Pre-Promote” A Unreleased Product?”

Good question! All you need to do, is head over to the “affiliate area” for the product you are intending to review. 9 times out of 10, a review copy is available to download and if it isn’t, a simple email to the owner should be all you need to get yourself a review copy. So you don’t even need spend anything.

What aggravates me the most though, is that some product owners are beginning to sample or swipe landing page/review text in their members’ area. By all means take a look, but if you are going to review it, please buy it or at least get yourself a review copy. And whatever you do, write your own material. NEVER copy or use other people’s text. If they are wrong or are giving a false review/recommendation, this will only help to tarnish your name and prevent you from making much.

I’ll leave you with one thought. Would you buy something from someone who hasn’t even brought it himself/herself?

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