Most affiliate marketers unconsciously create an invisible “glass ceiling” that curtails the growth of their own affiliate business. They do this by failing to create a substantial, positive profile on the Internet.

Are you reluctant to “stand out from the crowd”? Do you feel more comfortable being invisible on the Internet?

Most people experience a natural reticence to be “out there”, to “stand up and be counted”. How often are the front rows of a course or meeting left vacant because most people would rather be invisible up the back!

The same is true on the Internet, particularly with affiliate marketers. The noun “affiliate” means “connected as a part or an associate of…”, and the verb “affiliate” means “to connect to” or “join oneself to”. It does not, however, mean “lose oneself in…”

When you join an affiliate program, there is a tendency to lose your own personality in the “personality” of the program and its owner. Yet the really successful affiliate marketers are those who are able to place their own unique identity on what they do. They stand out by being themselves, showing who they are and what they have to offer.

Think about your last visit to an affiliate program forum. The people who most likely left an impression on you were those who showed a strong sense of humour, an uncanny insight or a way of viewing the world positively and energetically. These people leave their mark and their impression. Their forum postings are like “footprints in the sand” – they are not afraid to be different, to let their personalities shine through.

If you are going to develop a distinctive profile, you need to understand your own strengths and capacities. Your distinctiveness as an affiliate marketer derives from your unique life history and skill set. You need to find an affiliate program that will build on these strengths and enable you to realize your potential.

The real challenge for you as an affiliate marketer is to find an affiliate offering that draws on your unique knowledge, skills and competencies. You need an affiliate program that enables YOU to “shine”!

What “image” or “Internet profile” are you trying to create? Are you able to be yourself through your affiliate program? Or are you being an extension of someone else?

You need to find an affiliate offering that aligns with your desired profile and your unique competencies. This is the way to create an affiliate business, not just affiliate cheques.

To achieve this, you have to develop yourself. You will need to progressively develop self-awareness, the capacity to overcome fear of visibility and a willingness to continuously review what you are doing. A real synergy will emerge as you learn to integrate your affiliate offering, your profile and your competencies.

You will find that you will break through the glass ceiling as you make a real statement about who you are, what you value and what you have to offer. You will make a real difference because you can “add value” to your affiliate offering in a unique way. This is the only sustainable source of competitive advantage in affiliate marketing.