You've selected a product or service to promote. You've been promoting it for a month and still haven't made a sale. You start second guessing your product/service. Is it a scam or an opportunity? Before you can answer that question you have to ask yourself: Have I explicitly done everything the company has told me to do as an affiliate?

If you are making a gourmet stew developed by a famous chef, he will give you a specific recipe to follow. Unless you follow his instructions precisely, you will not know if you like his stew or not. If you follow his recipe precisely but you add paprika instead of garlic (because you don't like garlic), you will not have prepared his world-famous stew. If your stew turns out bad, you can't blame the famous chef because you didn't do what he told you to do.

In the same manner, firms that use affiliates have often taken extreme effort to develop a process (or recipe) they want their affiliates to follow. These firms have a lot more at stake in terms of investment and job security than the affiliates do. The firms believe they have a successful formula and risk their money and careers on it. The firm's success depends on how well the affiliates follow their instructions. The three major causes of failed affiliates are: (1) not following instructions explicitly; (2) not performing all of the required instructions; (3) not giving the process enough time to produce results (impatience).

If you have not followed instructions explicitly or completely nor given the process enough time to produce results, you can not properly evaluate the product or service you are promoting. The two major symptoms of being a failed affiliate in the making are: (1) not making sales; (2) looking for the “silver bullet” by continually changing products. If you have these symptoms, my recommendation is to select a firm that you strongly believe in and follow their instructions explicitly and with blind faith.

If after following all the instructions precisely and completely (as well as giving the process ample time to produce results) the process doesn't produce the results the firm says it would, you can confidently say you made the wrong decision in promoting that firm. Ironically, the chances of this happening are slim. Successful and reputable companies have a proven formula. Successful affiliates follow the formula. The two keys to success are: (1) select a successful and reputable company to promote; (2) follow all their instructions precisely and completely.