There are an amazing number of myths on the internet in regards to affiliate marketing. Many of these myths survive because they are far more appealing than the truth. Many people persist in believing that affiliate marketing can make you a millionaire overnight. Stories abound about the affiliates who are raking in huge sums of money. While in many cases these stories are true the people who believe that they will instantly do the same when they start affiliate marketing are sadly mistaken.

It is true that there is enormous profit potential in affiliate marketing, and there are many people who have worked hard to rise to the top rank of marketers that are now reaping the rewards of their effort. Many of these people now lead very prosperous lives that they probably could not have attained any other way. These are the people that have taken the time to learn all about internet marketing. If you talk to any of them they will tell you that there is a lot of money to be made but none of it is "easy" money.

Many people are ignorant of the knowledge and work needed to be successful affiliate marketers, which invariably leads them to failure. They enter the business with nothing more than myths and visions of great wealth for the taking. They don't realize that this lack of knowledge will lead them to make mistakes that will doom their business enterprise.

This lack of knowledge is why some affiliates make very large sums of money but most make little or none. They try to be successful at this business without ever really understanding exactly how it operates. Throwing a few links up on your website is not enough to make a fortune as an affiliate, you must learn the market and what your customers needs are to be successful.

Here are some of the most common mistakes made by novice affiliates. Hopefully by dispelling some of the myth and pointing out these common errors it will help people enter into affiliate marketing with a greater chance for success.

1.Failure to understand search engines: If you want to become a successful internet marketer without a large advertising budget you will need a way to get traffic to your site for free. Traffic from search engines is the best way to accomplish this. You will need to learn to work with the search engines and make them your best friends. You will need to learn how to optimize your sites to place high in the searches for relevant key words. Do not make the mistake of trying to "game" or trick the search engines. If you are good or lucky you might manage it for a little while but eventually the search engines will figure out your tricks and you will find your self with no traffic. The search engines become more intelligent every day learn to work with them and not against them.

2.Not providing good information: Many affiliates just throw some banners or text links on their site and wait for the money to roll in. You will find that this strategy will give you very low click through rates. You need to provide good useful content about the items you are trying to promote. Give your visitors good information and you will find that your click through rates and sales will increase dramatically.

3.Not diversifying: Many affiliates make the mistake of only promoting a single item or at best items from a single provider. If you give your customers more choices and options you will get more sales. The other problem with this strategy is that all of your eggs are in one basket. If the product you are selling goes out of production or the company you represent goes out of business you are suddenly left with no income.

4.Lack of Focus: The other end of the spectrum is the affiliate that tries to offer everything on one site. These sites lack focus making it harder to drive traffic to them. The lack of focus is also very distracting to the visitors you do manage to attract. Because of this very few will remain on the site very long and even fewer will purchase anything.

There is a lot of money to be made as an affiliate but the ones who are successful are the one that take the time to learn all about internet marketing. Then to take that knowledge and apply it on a regular basis to build a successful business. Be sure to look in the resource area to learn how you can get more information for free.