RE: Affiliates-ass-milliates

From: Mark Brownlow <mark_at_keepingthekey.com>
Date: Mon 10 Sep 2001 12:00:54 -0500

Brandi, I'm not a merchant, nor do I use any multi-tier
programs, so this is just an honest web publisher's
opinion. Nor am I going to post on this subject again,
since the merchants can bang their own drum for a change
(and I'm going offline for 2 weeks!).

BRANDI JASMINE <brandi_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.

Well, now you know 1.

Site: http://www.sciencekomm.at/
Period: 2000 - Spring 2001 (then sold to its current owner)
Pageviews: 200-300,000 a month
Affiliate revenues: US$3-4,000 / month
Estimated time spent on affiliate program implementation
and management over the lifetime of the site: maybe 300
hours max (that's total, not per month).

This doesn't mean affiliate programs work for everyone,
but it is possible.

> And one usually implements them as instructed by the affiliate
> program - so whose fault is it if they are badly implemented?

If you wait around for a benefactor to hand you a set
of instructions, a perfect banner and a large check,
you'll have a long wait. If you want to push all the
responsibility to the affiliate program that's fine, but
that doesn't help your bottom line in today's environment.

The fact is, even ignoring the scam programs, there are
those affiliate managers quite happy to see you rack up
banner impressions on their behalf without getting any
commissions. There are those who have no idea what
affiliate marketing is - their instructions are hand-me
downs or copied from some template somewhere. There are
also plenty of affiliate managers who can really help you.

But don't rely on them. Use your initiative. Learn from
other affiliates. Ask questions. Test. Experiment.

The first dozen programs on my old site were dud too. But
then I found the one (eLibrary) that worked. And when
they saw the numbers coming in, they upped my commissions
and paid bonuses. They even provided a reference when I
sold my site.

> The only people making money are those who are
> prepared to snag others into selling the program itself.
> It's a giant ponzi scheme or the most part.

Sure, affiliate programs have more than their fair share
of scams, poor programs, unethical affiliate managers and
so on. But to generalize is to miss the opportunity.

In a March article at ClickZ, Joel Gehman reported that
over 50% of the top 100 websites run affiliate programs.
Companies like eBay, Dell, Hallmark, GE Capital,
Bertelsmann are running affiliate programs. Hardly scam
merchants.

> 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!

The answer would generally be "very little". But do you
want to be the average? That's the whole point. The average
website doesn't do well out of them. Don't be average.

Also, any successful affiliate marketer will tell you that
banners are the worst tool in the affiliate's box. If you
rely on banners for affilate program revenue, forget it.
That's the mistake behind so many "failures".

> 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.

Nobody cares about a small site like that. I'm not demeaning
your efforts, Brandi - I put myself in the same publisher
bracket as you. But your average affiliate manager or
advertiser isn't going to bother developing that partnership
off spec. Some are too inept, some aren't interested, most
simply have other priorities or much better alternatives.

We can whine about whether that's fair or whether that makes
business sense. But that doesn't change the fact. Nor is the
situation likely to get easier.

So I say again, don't rely on them giving you a hand. Do it
yourself.

> 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 posted guidelines to choosing affiliate programs on another
list recently. I've put a copy up at:

http://www.keepingthekey.com/online-ads.htm

(and no, there are no referral links in there :-)

Maybe that will help. I can't promise affiliate programs will
work for your site Brandi, but writing the entire sector off
carte blanche is wrong.

> Consider the gauntlet thrown, gentle peoples. SHOW me.
> Show us all.

You may get more mileage out of challenging yourself. The
small publisher is on their own. Unless you have a really
cracking demographic or some other feature (such as good
sales skills), you're not going to attract the interest you
may think you deserve.

Mark Bronlow



Received on Mon Sep 10 2001 - 12:00:54 CDT