I’ve been in affiliate marketing for a reasonable amount of time now, seven years to be precise.
I started a blog around internet software when I was in 11th standard. I had no clue that affiliate marketing or posting those reviews could make me money.
I started writing software reviews because I am a total nerd about using new software. While in school, I was really into windows seven themes, especially some software that could make Windows 7 look like Jarvis from Iron man.
Almost most of my time went into either playing grand theft auto or trying out these new skins.
Then I decided, while I am spending this much time on it, why not write about them on my blog.
Hence started my journey of writing software reviews.
I went from themes to window speed optimization software to VPNs to hosting providers over 1-to 2 years.
I had no clue I could have been making money from these reviews for a long time.
One day I posted a review without linking to the official website.
The company reached out to me and told me I should link to their download page, and as a way to make me do it fast, they mentioned their affiliate program.
This was my entry into affiliate marketing!
I immediately signed up and linked to their download page.
Over the following weeks, I was on a sort of high.
While this story sounds not so big, this took a good two years to happen.
The main reason?
I was doing everything on my own.
From coming up with a domain name to setting up WordPress to writing and posting blogs, I was doing everything on my own.
And it sucked!
I was working without any direction. Had there been a mentor, I might have made progress sooner.
When I open Twitter these days and see many affiliate marketing courses, I wonder what would have happened if I had done one of them.
Would I have learned the process faster?
Yes.
But, I often think it’s good I had no courses.
Because, in the absence of a course, I experimented & failed.
When I now work with fellow affiliate bloggers, there is a massive difference in our efficiency. While they know the correct way, I know all the ways things can go wrong and how to fix each of them.
I’ve seen it all, from a hacked WordPress blog to slow and lazy WordPress sites.
My personal opinion on Are Affiliate Marketing Courses Worth it?
Amm.. both yes and no.
While a course will help you get started and learn the path, it might not teach you a million things that can go wrong. That comes only from self-experimentation.
Not to mention that the majority number of courses on the internet are pure garbage. Another downside of learning from a course is that they often go outdated once there is a significant update from either search engines or other platforms involved in the whole journey.
I’d recommend a mixture of course & self-explorations.
Over time, I’ll update this blog with resources to learn affiliate marketing.
P.s : A smart way of learning affiliate marketing would be to buy a pre-built affiliate website from us, which comes with an extensive training on how to grow your affiliate blog.