A vast majority of successful online entrepreneurs are affiliates of successful websites on the net. This is what has continuously attracted many people into joining the ranks of affiliates.

Still most of the folks involved in affiliate programs are unsuccessful and hardly earning anything from it. Here are some common mistakes made by most people joining affiliate programs. Anybody who can try and avoid them will have a higher chance of being successful as an online affiliate.

a) Expecting to do no work and still make money

This has to be the number one reason for failure amongst new affiliates. And the blame for his has to be shared by hype peddlers on the net who make wild claims to attract interest. This seems to be rather infectious because even promoters of some respected affiliate programs end up giving this impression to folks in their promotion material. Matters are made worse by the fact that really successful affiliates seem like they hardly get any work done, which may be true to a certain extent.

Let's out the record straight. There is a lot of very hard work at the beginning if you want to be a successful affiliate. However, once you've gotten your business going, things become a lot easier and the amount of work you have to put in decreases dramatically.

It is like putting up a block of apartments. The initial work is killing but once the building is complete and you get tenants in, the work reduces substantially to just getting the rent collected.

b) Always looking for the better deal

Some affiliates spend most of their time looking for a better deal when it would be better spent promoting their current program. We all tend to procrastinate things as much as possible and there may be a tendency to do anything but not get on with the work. Resist it, stop looking for a better deal and get down to promoting you current program.

c) Joining a program where you do not earn money from affiliates you introduce

It is important that you ensure your program pays you for affiliates you introduce and not just for the business that you bring in yourself. This will impact on your future earnings and is a way of maximizing on all your efforts.

d) Joining programs where you do not have any interest or expertise.

It makes a lot of sense to start with what you know before you move to the unknown and unfamiliar territory. This is why the first affiliate programs that you join are very important, choose them carefully. Later when you start making something, you can get adventurous.

e) Not having your own independent website

Most good affiliate programs will provide you with your own site to help you promote the program. However successful affiliates usually have their own site which they use to promote their affiliate programs. There are several advantages of doing this. The most important is that you are able to build an opt-in email list from some of the visitors you will attract to your site. This list can be used again and again to promote your current affiliate program and others that you may join in the future.