There are a lot of subjects in which using books can be the best way to learn. With programming for instance, it is generally better to learn from the textbooks than it is from the more popular YouTube videos. Knowing this, I sought out some affiliate marketing books. I looked for the top rated stuff on Amazon and even read a few books on the well respected BookBoon.com. The result? It’s all trash. I know that’s kind of harsh, and maybe you’ve had success with books, but the goal here is to show the folly of depending on them and to mention the better alternatives.
You may have spent good money on a few affiliate marketing books; I’ve done it myself. I’ve also spent good money on affiliate marketing programs. I even spent $1,000 on a single program at one point. This got me nowhere. I got a few sales here and there and saw a website hit #1 on Google for a couple of days before being blacklisted. This is not the idea of affiliate marketing. If you want to be legit in this business, you have to build a business. Something long term that commands the return of customers. Not something that is meant to scam Google AdWords or get a set amount of “clicks”. Take it from me, AdWords accounts can be permanently deleted if Google doesn’t think you’re being honest.
Now you still may be thinking, “So what? What does this have to do with affiliate marketing books?” The point is that once you realize that content is king and once you are shown some of the better tools for advertising, the story doesn’t end there. The affiliate marketing world is always changing and tactics have to constantly morph in order to stay with the times. Google has recently said that article directories are generally seen as spammy and won’t help your page rank. Did you know that? If so, excellent. If not, you need to keep up. These are the kinds of things books won’t tell you. In a constantly changing industry, books just aren’t good enough.
No worries though, staying up to date isn’t hard. It doesn’t cost a thing. By simply following respected affiliate blogs and paying attention to the affiliate marketing community, you can stay up to date with the latest changes in search engines and content posting. This can of course be a time consuming job. I use RSS feeds to save me a lot on time, but that still means filtering through quite a bit to get what I need. Which is also why I pay attention to the WA community discussions and blogs. There’s always plenty to go through, and I know the people posting there are actually doing the things they say they’re doing, testing new strategies out. There is no other community I trust to stay updated and trustworthy more than Wealthy Affiliate.
Sure, you may be able to continuously buy the latest and greatest affiliate marketing book. But I know for a fact that 99% of them have beginners in mind. Most of the information is redundant and unnecessary. A lot of them are written solely as a way to make money, not as a way to help others. When you pay attention to marketers that are out for mutual benefit and trading information in real time, you know you’re getting the best info. Not only that, but with places like WA it doesn’t cost a thing. Nobody is looking to advertise anything or sell you anything. I can’t count how many WA posts I’ve made just because I happened upon some new info. I post them to help others as a thank you for all the support they have offered me and all the info they continue to offer me.
This may not be the post you were expecting. Maybe you wanted a list of the best affiliate marketing books, and I apologize for that. But I think I’m doing you a service when I say that these kinds of books really aren’t worth seeking. You may find the occasional good one that was written by someone who actually cares about the market and isn’t out for a quick buck, but honestly, any information in such a book is already available online and continues to be edited and updated. Wealthy Affiliate is all I’ve ever needed in learning about affiliate marketing. The training always stays up to date, and there is always new blogs, discussions, live trainings and chats to take advantage of in this affiliate social network. Give the free trial a try and see if you agree with me. Remember, I’m always available at my profile to help or answer any questions you’ve got.
Other than that leave a comment below with any questions or concerns. I look forward to hearing from you.
