affiliate marketing stereotypes that couldnt be more wrongThere are a lot of affiliate marketing stereotypes floating around out there.

Some of them, like the thought that it’s a solid way to earn passive income through internet marketing, are spot on, while others are completely off the wall.

In this post I’ll debunk some of the worst myths out there about affiliate marketing.

3 Affiliate Marketing Stereotypes: Debunked!

Affiliate Marketing Is A Get Rich Quick Scheme

Anyone who thinks that affiliate marketing is a get rich quick scheme clearly knows absolutely nothing about how internet marketing works.

Building an affiliate site is a process. I don’t know of anyone who’s had overnight success as an affiliate without using some sort of weird, black-hat marketing technique.

Long term businesses take time to build. New websites take time to get traffic. There are good reasons for that, and affiliate marketing isn’t some magical exception.

Affiliate Marketers Are Scam Artists

The second myth is that affiliate marketers are scam artists.

As I talk about in more depth here, not only is it extremely rare for an affiliate site to promote a scam, but scams are terrible for business.

Affiliate marketers are in the business of building trust with their readers, since they know that that’s the only way someone’s going to value your opinion enough to make a purchasing decision based on your recommendations.

Without trust affiliates don’t have a business. Scams are the last thing they want to promote.

Affiliate Websites Are Unnecessary Middle Men

Finally, there’s a common misconception that affiliate marketers are unnecessary middle men trying to “sneak in” a link to earn a commission before you buy a product.

While there are a small group of companies that do this, they’re mostly based on short term, black-hat techniques, not long term sustainable strategies.

The overwhelming majority of affiliates are interested in building high quality sites that help their users. This is where the real value is to brands, since there’s no way that any brand could target all of its possible users in their marketing campaigns.

The long tail is just too big. Brands need affiliates, which is why it’s such a huge industry.

I hope this post helps you see the flaws in some of the common affiliate marketing stereotypes.

For more information on how affiliate marketing works, click here. Otherwise, you should click here to read my Ultimate How To Guide.