Re: affiliate junk

From: Glenn Sobel <YourWebURL_at_aol.com>
Date: Mon 24 Sep 2001 12:37:36 -0500

I'm finding the responses to my post on Commission
Junction stats very intriguing. Don't you just love the
way numbers can be twisted to prove almost anything?

WAYNE BROWNING <coffeenews_at_homepagers.com> WROTE:

> that only means 50,000 affiliates made 4.00 each.

Hm. Did I say anything about there being 50,000
affiliates?

TO WHICH GAIL LEINO <Gail_at_PersonalizedPartyFavor.com> REPLIED:

> Glen, we need one more figure to complete this
> maticatical problem.How many affiliates received a slice
> of that $200,000?
> 100? That's $2,000 each for the month.
> 1,000? That's $200 each for the month.
> 10,000? That's $20 each for the month!

> We await the missing number.

No offense intended, but these responses are clearly
indicative of the reason why so many people make
unwarranted complaints about affiliate marketing.

Why? Because they are both based on the same
misconception. Notice how they both want to use
averages to prove that each affiliate is only making
a few dollars.

Remember the old 80/20 rule? On the internet it's
more like 90/10 or 95/5 because of the low barriers
to entry, etc. and there is no reason why CJ or any
other affiliate opportunity would be immune to that.

Does anyone really expect that someone who
spends 10 minutes building a banner farm and
then does nothing to promote it should be earning
any real money from that "effort?"

Then why would anyone who wants to evaluate
the potential benefits of joining an affiliate program
factor their lack of performance into their decision?

Let's get real. The answer to Gail's request for the
missing number is that there is no missing number
that has any relevence to the question. The real
answer is that if less than 2% of CJ's merchants
paid out over $200,000 in one month then the
entire list must have paid out several million.

The bottom line is that professional affiliates are
making good money. What lazy or uninformed
affiliates make has no bearing on the value of the
opportunity and is a waste of time to even argue
over. I've already spent more time working on this
email than most of them spend all month promoting
their sites.

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that affiliate
programs are easy money or that anyone can
succeed with them. It takes marketing skills and
a lot of careful effort to make them work, but I
know enough people who are doing it to know
that it can and does make people a very good
living.

Don't forget, the typical stockbroker or insurance
salesman quits the business within a year because
they can't make a living while others get rich doing
the exact same job. Sales is a skill that not every
one has. It's not fair to judge an entire industry by
the performance of its failures only.

I really hope this helps put an end to the faulty
mathematical logic being applied to "prove" an
incorrect conclusion. Now I'm going back to
promoting the programs that support my family.

Take care all,

Glenn Sobel

AffiliateAdvisor.com
Marketing Director - DatingTech.com
Director - AffiliateUnion.com



Received on Mon Sep 24 2001 - 12:37:36 CDT