RE: Affiliates-ass-milliates

From: Adam Lasnik <alasnik_at_smilezone.com>
Date: Mon 10 Sep 2001 10:50:41 -0500

BRANDI JASMINE <bj_at_brandijasmine.com>WROTE:

>Oh puhlease. I don't know a single person who is not and
>has not been involved on the affiliate side who has made
>much more than coffee money from these things. And one
>usually implements them as instructed by the affiliate
>program - so whose fault is it if they are badly implemented?

Well, Brandi, either you didn't read my previous
posting, you think I'm a ghost, or you think I'm lying
(or all of the above).

I even shared with you some of my more profitable programs.

As for Amazon... their payout is stingy, but I still make
a few hundred bucks off them each month.

I do agree with you, though, that many of the affiliate-
learning sites consist of two main groups; the whiners
and the make-money fast crowd. Isn't it about the same
in the real world? The people selling you books on
how to make millions are often frauds, and those who
ARE making millions are too busy or selfish to help
everyone else.

> I don't know anyone making claims to make a lot of money

Depends on what you call a lot of money. I make a few
thousand a month.

Barely enough to live in San Francisco, but a decent
income elsewhere :)

> Yeah - work 80 hours a week for 20 bucks a week, I'd say
> that's a HECKUVA lot harder than I am prepared to work,
> you got that right.

It often runs itself, at least for a bit, when you get
your links up and running. I took a month-long vacation,
and still earned nearly the same as the previous month.

Of course, MOST of my time isn't spent technically doing
affiliate stuff...it's spent adding and updating content
to my site. That's what gets people interested and coming
back... and buying stuff.

> Hah! Try asking this question: "I have 200,000 page views
> per month - under your program, can you estimate, given
> average responses, how much money I will make if I place
> your banner on every page in my site?" ... and see if you
> can get an answer!

Two problems with that, Brandi:
1) How many UNIQUE visitors do you get?
2) How the heck should the company know how well their
products will sell on your site? They're YOUR visitors!
It depends where you place the banner or text copy, whether
you personally endorse the product or services in your
e-newsletter, the income and interests of your visitors,
and so on. The burden (sorry) is on you to see what
works.

> Or - the obvious - the affiliate program is simply a scam.

Just because YOU are not making money doesn't make something
a scam. I think it's unfair for you to paint with such a
broad brush... especially since you're not arguing that the
programs are illegal or deceitful, simply that they're not
making money for YOU.

> The payouts are unrealistically low.

Some of the affiliate programs I belong to pay me 50% of
sales. Others pay me a flat fee of $25 per credit card
acquired. For a while, Pitney Bowes paid me $50 every
time someone took a free trial of one of their products.
I'm not complaining.

> There is no
> "relationship" because no-one at the affiliate program
> will give you a straight answer.

Despite Amazon.com's relatively low payout, I've found
them to be superb at communicating with me. I've even
had various people from their company write or call me
with suggestions for making my site sell their stuff
better, thus making me more money. And they return my
e-mails promptly, and that's saying something, since I'm
not a "huge" site.

> I would be delighted to make a partnership with an affiliate
> program that would be willing and interested in forming a
> lasting partnership. I have 200,000 page-views and a highly
> desirable target audience of mostly female 30-40-somethings.
> I have YET to encounter a proposal that would remotely meet
> my idea of what my traffic is worth.

Perhaps you need to alter your ideas, then. Reality can
be painful sometimes. Affiliate programs are not the key
to instant wealth; you DO have to work at them a bit.

> I have tried over a
> dozen different affiliate programs and wasted weeks of time
> setting up some poorly implemented schemes (like Amazon.com
> which really was a complete waste of time) and find time and
> time again I am greatly disappointed.

I'm sorry you've had such a rough go at it.

> I will be the first to admit I am wrong - publicly - and to
> sing the praises for the world to see for any affiliate program
> that truly delivers what it promises.
>
> Consider the gauntlet thrown, gentle peoples. SHOW me.
> Show us all.

What exactly do you want to be shown? My quarterly bank
statements?!? <g> In my last posting, I specifically
outlined some of the programs in particular that are making
me money. What else is going to make a believer out
of you? And why am I even spending so much time typing
this?!? :-D

Regards,
Adam Lasnik
adam_at_smilezone.com
http://smilezone.com/



Received on Mon Sep 10 2001 - 10:50:41 CDT