RE: Affiliates-ass-milliates
BRANDI JASMINE <brandi_at_brandijasmine.com> WROTE:
> I haven't made enough money from any affiliate program
> that would even come close to making the effort
> worthwhile.
The problem with affiliate programs is that most web
publishers haven't been able to make them work for their
sites. Inevitably, many people then blame affiliate programs
as a concept, and not the way they've implemented them.
It's the "it didn't work for me, so it can't have worked
for anyone else" fallacy that so many people seem to fall
victim too.
And those who simply don't or won't believe that a website
publisher can do well out of affiliate programs need to read
some of the affiliate discussion boards, sites and newsletters.
It's not impossible, just harder than most publishers think
or are prepared to accept. Much easier just to write off
affiliate programs as flawed.
Some will argue that those who do well with affiliate
programs ought really to be getting involved in more closer
business partnerships with their merchants.
That's true in many cases (and there are many "affiliates"
with their own private deals with merchants). But there
are many web publishers out there who don't have the kind
of sites that fit a merchant's definition of a "desirable
partner". Or they don't have the business or social skills,
or even desire, to find or build partnerships. Or the
merchants themselves just aren't up to it.
Such publishers are quite happy earning a decent income from
automated programs. I was one of them. For details, see my
post in Online Ads August 8th (for the record, the main
affiliate program in question was the one run at the time
by http://ask.elibrary.com/ , which I neither own nor paid
to get into).
Mark
Mark Brownlow
Web publisher and writer
http://www.KeepingtheKey.com/
Turning ezine subscribers into enthusiasts
Received on Tue Sep 04 2001 - 11:35:29 CDT
