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Are you wondering how your business here in adult is going? Are you wondering if you can actually make the grade and succeed as an affiliate marketer? Are you wondering whether the new project that you're thinking about really has any chance of success?

Those are all questions every affiliate marketer here in adult should be asking themselves from time to time and it really doesn't matter if you've been around for years or are just starting out. Those are the questions that every one of us will contemplate from time to time but whether we find the right answers or not depends on how we go about obtaining those answers.

We can think about it and weigh up the possibilities. We can fantasize about it and come up with an answer that's hardly based on fact. We can dismiss the questions and go full-steam ahead ... and run the risk of failing miserably ... or we can use a little SWOT analysis to help us look objectively at the questions and perhaps come up with a realistic solution.

Traditional SWOT
SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats and it really is an ideal way of looking beyond your dreams to the sometimes harsh realities that we might face in this business or with our next project.

To start a SWOT analysis take a large sheet of paper and divide it into a basic table of two rows and two columns. Label the left-hand column 'Helpful' and label the right-hand column 'Harmful'.

In the top left hand cell list all your strengths ... or at least the ones that apply to your business. Pulling all the hot chicks might be something you consider to be a strength but it's basically of little use when it comes to selling an adult product on the Net.

In the bottom left-hand cell list all your opportunities. Once again, only list the opportunities that are relevant to your business or to the project that you are thinking about launching.

In the top right-hand cell list all your weaknesses that may have an influence on your business or on the project you're thinking about. Here it's important to be brutally honest so if you're one of those people who likes to think that you're the Rambo of the affiliate marketing world when you know that you're just a 95 pound weakling then face the reality and be honest with your weaknesses.

In the bottom right-hand cell list the threats that you see to the success of your business or to your project. Look within at yourself and your capabilities and look outwards to what is out there in the world that might threaten your business or your project.

Applying it to your business or project
Once you've done all that you will find that you're looking at a tool that will let you analyze your business ... or the next project ... in some depth. You will have a much clearer picture of the difficulties that you will have to overcome to succeed ... and not all the difficulties that you need to overcome will be listed in the cell labeled 'Threats'

Some of the difficulties that you will need to overcome will be listed in the cell labeled 'Weaknesses' and if these are personal weaknesses then sometimes they can be harder to overcome than anything that might be listed in the 'Threats' cell.

And just be a little critical of what you have listed in the 'Strengths' cell too. It may be that one or two of those traits or skill sets that you think of as strengths aren't strengths at all. Instead they might be some fairly serious weaknesses that will prevent you from achieving your goals with your business or with your project.

The items you have listed in your 'Opportunities' cell are worth some critical analysis too. If you're doing the SWOT analysis with a view to seeing how your business may fare in the future then the opportunities you've listed may need to be prioritized so that you can see which opportunities to tackle first.

You should also compare the 'Opportunities' list to your 'Weaknesses' list because some of your current weaknesses may restrict your opportunities.

Doing a SWOT analysis is definitely an interesting and worthwhile exercise no matter where you are in the life of your small affiliate marketing business. It will show you some interesting aspects of your business and you're future that you really need to know about so that you can be sure you're business will survive and grow.