I just finished watching the latest episode of Lost on TV and noticed it was a little different from most episodes. Instead of the usual mysterious, cliffhanger type show, this one was more of a character-driven background story. Then I visited a Lost fan forum and was surprised that many people were unhappy with the episode and thought it was too dull.

This got me thinking.

In the marketing world, were often told to sell the sizzle, not the steak, meaning to excite your prospects emotions. But if you focus on the sizzle in your affiliate marketing business, or any business, you will likely fail.

Why? Because, although its human nature to focus on the exciting aspects of your business, they may only play a small role in how much money you make. Focusing on your brand new website, ebook, or other big project, is satisfying, but its the dull aspects of a business that can determine how far you go.

Like in Lost, where the show creators use the slower episodes to tell you about the characters so you care when the exciting bits happen, your affiliate marketing business has more mundane functions that drive the story (your business) forward.

Things like keyword research, web page building, article writing and submission, and getting links to your site are all dull and repetitive, but are vital to your success.

Sure, software can automate many of these functions but not all of them, and if you dont have a lot of money to buy the software, you will have to do them manually.

So even though you may never completely enjoy these boring tasks, if you want your business to prosper, keep on doing them, at least until your business has grown to the point where you can afford to outsource them. If you concentrate on these less-exciting aspects on a regular basis, you will lay a solid foundation for your affiliate marketing business, and make the fun, exciting parts even more enjoyable and successful.