There’s a lot of chatter about what affiliate marketing can or can’t do for someone looking for a moneymaking side hustle that may possibly turn into a full-time income. Whether you’re just starting out on your affiliate marketing journey, or you’ve already dipped your toes into the waters, and find that you’re not getting the results you expected, this information can help clarify what’s real and what’s pure myth.

Just so you know, I wish that I had this information when I first started getting into affiliate marketing. It would’ve prevented me from making common mistakes that kept me from earning a dime. Count yourself as being fortunate to have found this information now, so that you can better understand what it is you are striving to do with this business model.

Read about the top 9 affiliate marketing myths below.

Myth #1: It’s an easy way to make lots of money. Beginners often fall for this myth. I sure did. What usually happens is that you come across some free or paid information that shows you how simple and easy it is to earn money by posting affiliate links. The info might tell you that all you have to do is choose a pricey “get rich quick” program to sell (perhaps the one you just spent money on), and post links everywhere you have an online presence. Then, you can sit back and wait for the money to roll in.

Let me tell you that I did this exact thing, and it doesn’t work. And it won’t work for any affiliate product link. So, forget about the easy riches. Sure, you can try the spamming links on free social media accounts method, but that’s going to cost you time and effort, and the results are going to be disappointing. People who try this don’t understand one of the fundamental principles of online selling – people don’t like being treated like an ATM machine.

The people who see your links aren’t going to buy something just because you posted a link and think that they should buy something because you want to make a bunch of money. Affiliate marketing is definitely NOT a get rick quick moneymaking method. Don’t believe the hype.

Myth #2: You can get started for free. Many beginners want to know how to start affiliate marketing for free. If you are serious about creating a thriving affiliate marketing business, you’re going to have to spend some money to get started. This is especially true if you plan on following the affiliate blog method that I recommend for beginners. At the very least, you are going to need to purchase web hosting and a domain.

Myth #3: It doesn’t require any skills. In order to be successful at affiliate marketing, you are going to have to be open to learning some new skills. The core skills you need to learn are niche selection, search engine optimization (SEO), content creation, how to create a blog and how to use content creation tools.

Myth #4: It’s passive income. There are a lot of misconceptions about passive income. The idea of earning passive income is alluring, and it can eventually happen. However, you have to be prepared to put in a lot of time and effort (work) to get to where you are earning a steady stream of income. And even then, it’s not completely passive because you always have to stay on top of your marketing efforts and sites to ensure that they continue to perform well.

Myth #5: You can make money fast. Anyone telling you that affiliate marketing is a way to earn money fast is lying to you (or most likely trying to sell you a get-rich-quick with an affiliate marketing program). Don’t fall for it. And don’t quit your day job.

Affiliate marketing takes time and patience to get to a place where you are earning decent money. If you approach it like a business opportunity, you can learn and grow a lot quicker than those who treat it like a get-rich-quick scheme.

Myth #6: It’s too much work. Some people who think this are those who want to believe that you can earn big money with little to no effort. Remember, anything worthwhile requires putting in time, energy and effort to succeed.

Another reason that can cause someone to think that affiliate marketing is too hard is that it seems like it’s too much because the person isn’t enjoying it. It’s hard to succeed at something you don’t like doing. So, if you start affiliate marketing and find out that you really don’t care for this type of online work, don’t force yourself to continue. There are other creative ways to make money.

Myth #7: Affiliate marketing is a waste of time. This is the old affiliate marketing is dead trope that’s been around for umpteen years. If you believe this myth, you’re going to be missing out on a huge opportunity to create a lucrative side hustle or full-time online business income.

• According to Mediakix, 84% of businesses participate in affiliate marketing.

• According to World Wide Cyber Cash, 74% of US consumers visit numerous affiliate websites before making a purchase.

• According to Fetch Profits, 86% of affiliate publishers anticipate stable or rising earnings in the future.

• According to Authority Hacker, 65% of retailers reported that yearly revenue from affiliate marketing was up 20%.

Myth #8: You don’t need a blog. I’m not going to say that you can’t make affiliate income from social media accounts, because many people do. However, in my opinion, it’s worthwhile having an affiliate blog, even if you do promote affiliate products/services through social media. The reason is simple. With your own blog, you have more control over the kind of content you can post.

Consider this. When you create a social media account with a third party platform, you have to abide by their Terms and Conditions (TOC). If you post content that they don’t approve of, they can suspend your account, or worse, terminate your account, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Alternatively, when you have a blog, you can continue earning from those affiliate links. At best, social media should be used as an additional way to communicate with your target audience.

Also, blogs are powerhouses for attracting buyers. For example, Awin and BloggingX report that 65% of affiliate marketers use blogs as a means of driving traffic to various affiliate offers.

Myth #9: Social media popularity equals fast riches. You may have heard about some of the most popular social media influencers raking in money by promoting affiliate products. It may seem that all you have to do is set up a similar social media presence, get tons of likes for your content, find products to promote and you’re destined for a life of easy earnings.

If only it were that simple. The reason why so many people fail to duplicate the success of those wildly successful influencers is because they cannot become those influencers. The reason why those influencers are so influential at getting people to click their affiliate links and buy is because they’ve spent countless hours planning out their social media strategies, testing out what kind of content works best with their audience and doing what it takes to create engaging content that appeals to their audience.

This isn’t easy, and there are no guarantees that you can build a similar fan base that is eager to engage with you and who trusts you enough to try out the products you promote.

It’s easy to focus on the success of those influencers without giving much thought to how much work and money they put into what they do. In reality, it can take several months to several years to create even a small affiliate income using social media.

9 Affiliate Marketing Myths You Need to Know About

by Donna Gets Real, an affiliate marketer and experienced online content writer.