Good affiliates are just ahead of the curve

Jason Calacanis has ignited a debate about the ethics of Affiliate Marketing. Joel Comms blog reports that at the 2008 Affiliate Summit in Vegas he's accused Affiliates of creating spam sites which have very little value. His view, along with the colourful way that he delivered his message, is provoking quite abit of response.

I have not yet seen the video of Jason's presentation so I wouldn't want to comment on what he did / didn't say but I have some sympathy for his point of view and would like to add something to the debate.

Affiliates are a diverse bunch, from the dyed in the wool fan of a product who promotes it out of love, to the bedroom enthusiast who's trying to make a fast buck, through very little effort. Therefore it's is unfair to tar everyone with the same brush.

In the most part, my experience of affiliates has been with the handful of sharp, professional outfits that drive 90% of your affiliate sales volume. These are smart individuals who provide cost efficient sales. All good then?

Well to a point. Or should I say - to a point in time. Successful affiliates occupy the the space 'ahead of your curve'. They generate incremental sales doing the things you haven't learned how to do yet. Once you learn how to do these techniques yourself the game changes and your affiliates move onto the 'next thing'. Only they've already been looking at it for a while because they're smart...remember.

I track key competitor terms in the blogosphere through Google Blog Search and Technorati and I can see the growth in spam blogs (Splogs) targetting those words, and to an extent they must be working. But I suspect they will become less effective when more corporates realise it and start blogging actively themselves. Thereby helping Google rank everybody more effectively.

Hat tip to Mitch

Comments

[Arjo Ghosh]

Hi Steve

It seems that the affiliate market has always been a response to the inefficiency of big companies in digital marketing. The good ones add a lot of value because they have innovated and worked hard to develop a high value outsourced model. The problem long-term is that the affiliate model doesn't build brand equity in search marketing or social media.

If a brand is going to be successful in networked media, it has to build it's own connections - this cannot be outsourced.

[marketing digital]

I liked the article..

Alex

[Jeff Paul Internet Business]

I find internet marketing the same as marketing a product in the real world. In real marketing one really has to go through different means to promote a brand and product. Same tasks are applied in internet marketing but this can also be done at the comfort of one’s bedroom.

[affiliate marketing]

I love affiliate marketing- though iv not made a fortune yet.

With the results of great affiliate marketers, it serves as a great inspiration to us beginners. Besides, if they can attain such degree of profitablility, we beginners could too if only we apply same efforts and determination.

[Internet Affiliate Program]

Internet Affiliate Program Trade Secrets

An internet affiliate program is used to sell different products and services to online customers. Due to the nature of this business it is also called performance marketing. Here the advertisers use registered online members as the virtual sales team.