One of the biggest reasons some people succeed online and also one of the biggest reasons people fail online comes down to if they choose the right affiliate marketing merchant. It may sound like I’m exaggerating, but I assure you I’m not and I’m going to prove it to you.

You see, most people will pick a market to target based on their interests and passions first. And there’s nothing wrong with that per se. But it becomes a problem if your passion or interest happens to have no decent affiliate program for it.

For example, many of the big third party providers of affiliate merchants like CJ.com are loaded with garbage programs. To be fair, there are many good ones. But most of them are programs that pay anywhere from 8% to 15% of sales — and only one time. If you are actually spending money to drive traffic to make sales, like PPC, or building websites that take a lot of time and expense, it’s very difficult to turn a profit getting paid a one time sale.

Let’s do some quick math to illustrate why it’s so hard to make money with an average affiliate marketing merchant. Let’s say you’re getting paid 10% on a sale and the average sale is $50 dollars. That means you’re making $5 bucks a pop on a sale. Typical conversion rates in affiliate marketing are 1 to 2% if you know what you’re doing. Higher conversion rates are typically the domain of super affiliates with years of experience.

Now, you’d have to send over 100 targeted visitors a day just to make $5 to $10 dollars a day. Let’s say you made $10 dollars a day. Well, that’s $300 dollars a month. Not TOO shabby but nothing to write home about. But what if you had to pay for that traffic using PPC? Forget it. You’re sunk. Even if you were doing SEO and making those sales for free because you weren’t paying for the traffic, what happens when your rankings suffer as they invariably will and the traffic dries up? So does your income!

That’s why when it comes to choosing an affiliate marketing merchant I stick only with lifetime income programs. Because with these programs, the commissions can compound as the visitors come back time and again to buy more and more product. And also, if your traffic should fall, you’ll still have built a customer base that you’ll be making long term passive income from. . . so you’re much more hedged and your income tends to be a lot steadier.

And having a constant income coming in equals peace of mind for us affiliates.

You may disagree with me, but hear me out . . .I’ve identified why most people do not succeed in their online business endeavors and it’s pretty simple. And what I’m about to say is particularly relevant to an affiliate marketing business.

The harsh truth is the vast majority of people never make any sales, and, if they do, it’s erratic and their success, fleeting.  Most unsuccessful affiliate marketers are unsuccessful first and foremost because they treat their “business” like a hobby and not a real business.

Before you roll your eyes and say “I was looking for techniques and secrets to make money online” then this advice may be especially relevant to you. In my many years as a super affiliate, consultant, mentor, and coach, I’ve noticed the simple pattern that those who didn’t make it just never took it seriously.

You could hear it in their talk….let’s call it “hobby talk” for lack of a better phrase. To them, an affiliate marketing business was something they would squeeze in between episodes of their favorite sitcom.

Actually starting a business entity like an LLC or Inc. with their state and then opening a separate business checking account at their bank? Forget about it. They didn’t need that hassle or expense.

Look, I’m not saying that filing a business structure is going to guarantee success by any means, but it’s a mind-set. If you actually believe in your mind and heart that this is a real business, then it reflects in your actions…and real business people set up real business entities.

Now, when it comes to affiliate marketing itself, if you take it seriously, it can be the ultimate business model online. Because you are not producing, selling, or shipping your own products, there is nothing to stock. Additionally, you are not the one dealing with customer refunds and complaints.

You can do it from anywhere in the world. It has extremely low start up costs. And if you choose passive income programs, like I do, then you can potentially “work once, and get paid forever” on each sale.

It truly does afford the freedom that so many people say they crave. I know this from firsthand experience. I was able to take almost an entire year off to just watch my young kids grow up because of the very significant income being generated by my affiliate marketing business, hands off.

But just understand that before you get to that stage, there’s a lot of work involved. A lot of effort in learning. Buying some courses and educational material. A lot of late nights testing various strategies. And so forth.

In conclusion, if you are willing to adopt the mind-set that you’re building a real business, and commit yourself to picking and focusing on one strategy that works, an affiliate marketing business may be the ideal online revenue model for you, as it was for me.