Why is it that so many people want to get into affiliate marketing? Common reasons include the lure of a working week that may potentially require just a few hours input for a huge return; the chance to work from home, to make your own hours and to fashion an online empire whilst wearing your pants and eating toast.

The great part of this idealised vision is that for many people it can become a reality with determination, skill and a little luck. However, the deciding factor that makes most people give up the day job and stick with affiliate marketing is the day job itself. Relatively few people who work in an office all day enjoy their work and affiliate marketing provides for some the ultimate escape route to do what they love every day, to wake up to something that’s as stimulating and exciting as it is frightening and adventurous.

However, it’s just as easy to get rid of the day job and then start an affiliate marketing venture that ends up becoming just as much of a chore as your previous job — only now you’ve got to rely on yourself for your income. This will cause the sense of escape and self reliance that you began to feel to drift into the crushing apprehension of yet another tedious, unlovable routine. Must it be like this? No.

There are many reasons why people end up quitting affiliate marketing because they’ve become disinterested or disillusioned by it at an early stage. This is usually because they’ve attempted to do something that a) they don’t enjoy and b) has already been done a million times by countless other affiliates with varying levels of success. For this discussion let’s use the example of voucher code sites. They’re currently a popular focus with new and existing affiliates alike, in no small part due to the relatively simple set up process and because the web is swamped with ready made ways in which to build them.

However, is there anyone out there who can say that running a voucher code site would inspire passion and interest in them? Doubtless a tiny percentage of those running them. And is there anyone who genuinely thinks that they could start a site which would be able to fend off intense competition in battling its way to the top of the search engine rankings in an already saturated market? The answer is almost certainly no. This goes for other similarly popular affiliate ventures such as shopping directories and cashback sites. Unless you have some REAL competitive advantage coupled with an all-consuming passion for these areas, consider other options.

The main point here is that there are plenty of great affiliate ideas out there already, but to avoid simply jumping on the bandwagon only to fall off and be crushed beneath its wheels, you must realise that each and every one of us has the potential to think of some original, unique and above all profitable angles of our own. The best way in which to do this is to sit down with a pen and paper and write down your main interests/hobbies/distractions or indeed vices. From the list, look at each and try to think of one or two decent affiliate ideas, then see if anyone else has thought of them.

It’s all about finding a niche in the market and filling it before someone else does. Once you’ve hit upon an idea in this way the chances are that building a site, doing the necessary research and recruiting link partners and merchants to feature on it will not just be easier, but it will be enjoyable too. If you’re already passionate about a subject and you base an affiliate site around it then adding content which is interesting and unique won’t require much effort as you’ll already be brimming with ideas and information. The key to making an affiliate site that will perform is, after all, not just to have the idea in the first place but to follow through on it.

We are not for a moment suggesting that absolute uniqueness is the only route to success. Many a good affiliate has identified existing markets where the level of competition is manageable and has simply created a site or sites that improve on those of the competition by a margin, often relatively small. Clearly for an affiliate site to be viable, there must be consumers and merchants so the market place must already exist. In many cases it is therefore about a creative approach to an existing market. Your passion and commitment to the subject may, in many cases, be the factors that distinguish you from your rather more average competitors. Visitors will recognise this, as may well the search engines over time given the ever greater importance of time on site and click-through ratios.

For many, the real prize may be nothing more than being there at school home time or being the only working parent at your toddler’s first school play. The sleepless nights over finances, the regular questioning of your own abilities, the frustration of the many failures along the way: all of these count for nothing at these moments. At the end of the day affiliate marketing can be a viable alternative to the ‘real’ world of employment and should be as much about enjoying your work as it is about making money. Many of us frequently try and define ’success’ in an affiliate marketing context. The real answer can be found quite easily by looking in the mirror each morning.

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