RE: affiliate junk

From: Brandi Jasmine <brandi_at_brandijasmine.com>
Date: Thu 18 Oct 2001 16:27:57 -0500

GLENN SOBEL <YourWebURL_at_aol.com> WROTE:

>3. Anyone who has done their homework knows that
>CJ gives more merchant performance stats than any
>other affiliate marketing entity anywhere.

I've read their stats. Meaningless marketing bumphf -
sound and thunder signifying nothing. We still don't
know the specific information we asked for - which
may or may not be relevant in the long run. One thing
it tells me is they want to keep that information
under wraps.

I have not received one red cent from the CJ programs
I participated in - that's the "stat" most important
to me. I have looked at the sites of some of the
people claiming to make lots of money here. I don't
see any glaring differences between the way they handle
their affiliate programs and the way *I* did it -
namely carefully select programs for my demographic,
place banners at strategic places, advertise within
my mailing lists and regularly mention programs to
those who write in.. A number of them implied there was
some mysterious "more" they were doing but did not share
just what that was (THAT tidbit is obviously about the
only information that truly interests anyone at this
point - so either share it, or make your responses
private - thanks).

>5. Whining about your failures in public is very unattractive.

And how would you characterize taking criticism of
an _industry_ and turning that into a direct attack
against an _individual_ for expressing her opinions
...? Consider that a rhetorical question.

>Saying affiliate marketing doesn't work is equivalent to
>saying that advertising doesn't work. You won't win either
>argument, you'll only end up looking foolish to all of the
>professionals who know better.

Show us some independent Forrester-Jupiter-like figures
that show that small sites with traffic of say 200,000
page views can make even a moderate income (over $2,000)
from affiliate programs - say ... more than 25% of the time.

I will be HAPPY to eat my words publicly if you can do that
and it leads me to a program that DOES work for my sites.

>I suggest you give serious consideration to one thought.
>If affiliate programs don't work, why are they still growing?

If that's true (I see no evidence presented to support that
assertion) that only means there are a lot of gullible,
desperate people out there for the affiliate marketeers to
prey upon. There are equivalents: spam, MLM, and the old
"Make Money Now" scams. They never leave us, despite their
obvious lack of worth to the majority. Affiliate programs
for the most part are only a few steps above these - they
all function on exploitation of the masses by a select few.

>Can't we all just get along and go back to work now?

Why do some people treat people in a patronizing manner,
slap others in the face in public, then ask if we "can't
all just get along" and get all shocked and surprized when
we don't? Please consider that a rhetorical question also.

>Geez, this whole subject is starting to give me a
>headache.

Stop perpetuating it yourself, or filter it out then. Affiliate
marketing *is* a form of online advertising, and it is entirely
legitimate to critique and discuss it here until the moderator
says otherwise. I'll be *happy* to let it go after this. I
have learned just about nothing except that at the best those
few who are claiming to succeed in it are vague with solutions.
At the worst, people are willing to call you down as an "ugly
whiner" or imply you must be crazy, lazy or a bad business
person when expressing natural frustration with a program that
doesn't work.

---

Brandi Jasmine - Writer, Photographer, Illustrator
www.brandijasmine.com - www.astrology.ca - www.twostar.com



Received on Thu Oct 18 2001 - 16:27:57 CDT