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Written by Matej Cechvala, Chief Operating Officer, SiGMA
Rewind roughly 25, maybe 27 years. My twenty-something-year-old self is sitting in the basement of my parents’ house, glued to the bubble-like screen of my first computer, fascinated by the opportunities this new thing called the internet had opened up for me.
Among the immense amount of information, opportunities, IRC chatrooms, email and not-exactly-safe-for-work imagery, one thing stood out: a hyperlink with this exact wording:
“Webmasters click here to make money.”
Without having any idea what a webmaster was, I clicked. I wanted the money.
And that is how I discovered affiliate marketing, something that would shape much of my adult life and how I make a living to this day.
The path has been far from easy, full of obstacles and challenges. But it has also never been boring, stale or short of pleasant surprises.
Is it a path for everyone? Certainly not.
Is it for you? I hope so.
In this article, I’ll share a few of the key lessons that helped me survive a quarter century in affiliate marketing and that, hopefully, can help you on your journey as well.
The most important lesson straight away: everything is temporary. Campaigns die, offers die, traffic sources die…even niches or entire verticals die.
Whether it’s due to shifts in consumer preferences, algorithm updates, tightening regulations or whatever else, nothing lasts forever in affiliate marketing.
Print it, spray it on your wall or tattoo it on your arm if need be: campaigns are just campaigns. They are not your kids, nor your pets. If something stops working, you stop promoting it and move on to something else. Plain and simple.
If you become complacent, stop innovating, and exploring emerging trends because you think your current profitable campaign will last forever, you are in for an ugly surprise sooner or later.
Bonus tip: Affiliate marketing is a bit like fashion. Old trends can come back. Something that stopped working years ago might suddenly work again today, so don’t be afraid to occasionally retest old concepts.
When a campaign doesn’t work, you move on. That’s what I just said in the previous chapter, right? Well, there is more to it: you need to know when to move on.
Every vertical, niche, offer, or traffic source comes with a learning curve. A week of your time, a bunch of creatives and $100 worth of ad spend? That’s not gonna cut it, sorry.
Learn the logic of a vertical inside out, master a traffic source, test your creatives thoroughly. If it still doesn’t work the way you want it to, move on without hesitation. But constantly jumping from one shiny object to the next won’t get you anywhere either. It’s better to become an expert at something first.
The core principles are universal, no matter which vertical you start with. You need to understand funnels, learn tracking and optimise based on data, not feelings. Master these first, then start experimenting with different verticals and niches.
The good news? The more experience you gain, the faster you’ll be able to tell whether something stands a chance or not.
Campaigns, unlike diamonds, are not forever. The right relationships, paired with a solid reputation, can be.
Over the years, I’ve changed what I do many times. And still, a large part of my professional network consists of people I’ve known for a decade, if not two. Many of them I’ve met countless times over the years, some more frequently than my childhood friends back home.
My network helps me navigate tough times when a shift in focus is necessary, and I need to reinvent myself or my business once again. I rely on them, and they know they can rely on me because I’ve worked hard to keep my reputation intact.
Anyone in this business for the long run needs to work on this. You need your own circle of industry buddies.
Events are where this gets built. Talking online is nice, but real bonds are strengthened over an in-person chat, dinner or a pint of good beer.
Anyone can have a profitable run in affiliate marketing if they are in the right place at the right time. Repeating that success again and again is the tricky part.
Ask anyone who was in the business 20 years ago, and they’ll confirm how easy it was to make a decent amount of $$$ back then. The common joke was that “even a trained monkey could do it.”
Not many of them are still in the business, though some of us are. That’s because we developed the ability to repeatedly crack the code. I’ve said it already: the core principles stay the same. You need to adjust your approach to the realities of new verticals, niches, offers and traffic sources.
There is always something that works. Those who stay curious and are willing to keep looking will eventually find it… again and again and again.
Sometimes you’ll burn through resources along the way: time, money, creatives, maybe even a bit of sanity. But the rewards waiting on the other side are worth it.
Sometimes adapting your campaigns isn’t enough. You need to adapt yourself.
Over the years, I’ve moved from building websites to paid traffic, community management, and eventually running affiliate marketing events. Different roles, different skills, but still the same industry.
And that’s one of the beauties of affiliate marketing: it’s an incredibly diverse ecosystem. You can completely change what you do without actually leaving it.
Today, I’m doing something very different from what I did 20 years ago, but those years of experience are far from wasted. Quite the opposite. Knowing the industry inside out, understanding how affiliates think, what advertisers need, how traffic works and where the money is made helps me tremendously in what I do today.
Don’t be afraid to reinvent yourself when the opportunity comes. Your experience doesn’t disappear when you change direction. Sometimes surviving in an industry for the long run means finding a new way to use it.
25 years ago I had no idea where that simple click would take me. And today, I have no idea what the next 25 years will bring either.
AI is already changing the game; new traffic sources will come, new business models will appear, and many things that work today will eventually stop working. Just like they always have.
And that’s what makes it exciting!
If the past quarter century taught me anything, it’s that you don’t need to know what comes next. Stay curious, keep learning, build relationships, protect your reputation and be ready to adapt when things change.
Will I still be around for another quarter century? Ask me in 2051.
Until then, I’ll keep looking for the next “Webmasters click here to make money.”
This article was originally published in AGS Magazine. Explore the latest issue for more in-depth interviews, straightforward analysis and informed perspectives from across the affiliate and performance marketing industry.
