I recently published a quick post that I had purchased Bookmarking Demon and would be writing a review of it after I had a chance to test it out.

I really thought nothing more of it until I had the following pretty nasty comment show up in my inbox.

“You just got, don’t know anything about it, you’re going to write a review later and you won’t recommend it unless it passes your test. But you’ve got your affiliate link all over it and wouldn’t mind if people bought it from this post, but you’re not recommending it yet, but buy it here.

Why put up a post if you’re not reviewing it? Why put an affiliate link in it if you’re only going to recommend it if if passes your test? Why not wait till it passes your test, recommend it, then put your affiliate link in it?

Don’ bother replying, I won’t be back. Just another scammer.”

What the $#@

I posted an article about a product that I had bought and said I would be writing a full review of it in the future. I couldn’t have been anymore honest about it, yet I am still branded a “scammer.” Why? Apparently because I had the gall to put an affiliate link in the article?

Is that a crime? If someone finds that product and decides to buy it after being linked to it from my blog then shouldn’t that qualify for an affiliate commission? Is that really the bar for being labelled a scammer?

Sorry, but I have to say that’s funny and yet sad at the same time.

Whether my article had an affiliate link in it or not has NOTHING to do with whether you buy it or not. If you click on the product and it is something you’ve been looking for and buy it then where is the scam? Is a commercial on network TV a “scam?” How about an ad in the paper?

A real scammer, would have lied their butt off and told you how great the product was and how you can’t live without it. They would attempt to trick you into buying something by pretending they know about it. Guess what….it’s STILL YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to decide whether to buy or not.

YOU own your actions, not someone else.

Resentment

I like to try and look beyond incidents like this and find the motivation or the reason behind thought patterns like this. If you can figure out what makes people tick then you will be far more successful than most people on this earth.

I think this resentment towards affiliate links signifies something deeper than what may appear on the surface. People are always looking for the “answer,” always looking for the magic bullet to making money online and they often buy products on recommendations from people that appear to be making money.

Sometimes these products don’t provide the “instant millions” that they thought it would and therefore a certain amount of resentment builds. Repeat this process a few times and you have an angry commenter who thinks everyone is out to trick him out of his money.

Understandable? Maybe.

Did it still tick me off? Absolutely.

Dose of Reality

Here’s a little dose of reality for anyone who thinks that buying an affiliate product is the answer to their prayers.

  • Making Money Online is not easy.
  • Making Money Online is Hard.
  • Making Money Online takes work.
  • Affiliate products are tools…..NOT THE SOLUTION.

If your average Joe goes out and buys a really nice set of tools, will that make him a good mechanic? Of course not, yet so many people fall for the gimmicks of unscrupulous affiliate marketers. They think the tools are what will make them successful.

This is Insanity!

The tools only make the job easier, they don’t give you the skills you need to complete the job. The work still needs to be done. You don’t become a carpenter because you buy a really nice saw.

So the message I want anyone reading this to get is that Making Money Online is HARD! Affiliate tools are NOT the answer to your problems but they CAN greatly increase your efficiency and your ability to capitalize on the knowledge that you already have.

Affiliate marketers are NOT responsible for your success, you are responsible for that. Just because they link you to a product does NOT mean it will work for you, or that it will even work as they describe. You need to investigate any product you buy to see if it fits in your toolbox.

Conclusion

I am not going to bother trying to defend my integrity anymore on the subject, if someone thinks I am a scammer then so be it. I am going to continue to post affiliate links in my posts, you can buy or not buy, I will still be successful because unlike some….I am USING THOSE tools.

I am DONE with looking for the answer……I am CREATING the answer. I am building sites and blogs that will take me where I want to go, not looking for some $97 dollar product that is supposed to make me millions.

The difference between successful people and those who aren’t successful is that successful people do things that unsuccessful people aren’t willing to do. Unsuccessful people often don’t quite see it that way and seem to think it’s luck or some secret tool that they are using to get ahead.

It isn’t luck….it’s hard work. I work a 12-13 hour day at my day job and then come home and often work on my niche sites or this blog until 1:00 in the morning. It’s hard work but it’s paying off. I am working hard now so that I won’t have to work at all later.

Enough lecturing from me, I have work to do. Let me close with this….YOU are responsible for your own success, not some marketer and certainly not some affiliate product.

Affiliate Products are TOOLS…..NOT the solution.

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